Last night I reviewed the Marvel Select Moon Knight figure and tonight I'm taking a look at the first couple of Moon Knight offerings, including the ToyBiz 10 Inch Moon Knight figure. The first Moon Knight action figure was the Marvel Gold Moon Knight. He's a pretty rare figure for his time, but never amounted to much because of his awkward body shape, crappy belt and plain design.



Just a couple years later Toy Biz would use this same idea to create an even better figure and I'm focusing more on that here. Although this figure was sold under the banner of Marvel Universe, I'm not going to refer to is as that, since I'll be reviewing the much more mainstream Hasbro Marvel Universe Moon Knight later in the week.



This figure isn't getting the full review treatment, instead this is more of a spotlight segment. The figure follows the same format as the Marvel Gold version of Moon Knight. Which is a cheap repaint of a very basic buck body. However instead of the thick wide body that the Marvel Gold version sports, this one has a thin medium build.



The 10 inch Moon Knight is vastly superior to the Marvel Gold figure. Toy Biz was just starting to put better articulation on their figures and this guy came out in the mid to late 1990's. He was the first real Moon Knight readily available in stores. I remember being miffed that he was so big and that they never released a smaller version into their 5 inch line.



My brother got this figure for me, a birthday I believe many years ago. He gets major props for that and I've held onto this guy ever since. All his details are painted on, but he's a pretty good approximation of Marc Spector even with the soft goods cape. It works better here than it did on the Marvel Gold figure. If Toy Biz had went the extra mile and made a sculpted belt or even a Ninja Turtle style rubber fasten-on belt this guy would still be a knockout.



The 10 inch figure features a cut neck, cut shoulders, hinged elbows, t-crotch, hinged knees and rocker ankles. That was pretty good articulation for the time and as much articulation as a DC Infinite Heroes figure now! In fact this guy follows the DC Infinite Heroes model of having everything painted on and a cape. He even came with NO accessories, just like Mattel's current 3 3/4 line!



Moon Knight's simple design allows him to make for a simple figure. Although this old Toy Biz 10 inch figure is dated and out of scale with pretty much every toyline, he's a fun throwback and certainly the best of the early Moon Knight figures.

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Creativity in Hollywood is dead, but we all knew that didn't we. Everything is either a sequel or a remake, with more often being the latter. Amazingly there are lots of movies out that are remakes that I sometimes didn't even know was a remake. That's not to say I'm against all remakes, sometimes a movie can be improved upon or redone in a way to make it relevant to a new audience. Today comes the news that "An American Werewolf in London" is going to be remade.



John Landis spoke on the matter to BloodyDisgusting:

"Yes, Dimension is now in negotiation for the 'An American Werewolf in London' remake rights. Perhaps someone will make a brilliant movie out of it, regardless, my film comes out on Blu-ray this summer and looks amazing. I was afraid the digital cleaning of the negative would result in too clear a picture and hurt Rick Baker's make-up, when in fact the incredibly crisp detail actually makes Rick stuff look even better!"

Apparently Dimension films and the Weinstein brothers will take a crack at this at some point down the road. While I think the original film is a tad dated, it's not really up for remake material. I consider it one of the real modern classic horror movies. The film isn't exactly a traditional werewolf story, but it more or less could be. There isn't anything there that couldn't be replicated while being original. You could write your own werewolf story and not have it be a "remake"... Which ultimately will probably be what this film is. American Werewolf in London in name only, which will probably benefit fans of the old film.

They made a sequel some years later that wasn't a terrible film but was a complete comedy. I never really understood that as I know there are some dark comedy elements to the original, but it's hardly a movie that you laugh at. I remember seeing An American Werewolf in Paris and laughing right off. Intentional laughs mind you, not ones based off the crapiness of the movie.

As long as the new movie features Warren Zevon's Werewolves of London song I approve. Want to talk about bad remakes? Kid Rock's recent riff of that song. Everytime I heard that familiar piano tune on the radio I'd crank it about to jam out to some Zevon, only to realize it was that Kid Rock disasterpiece.

I guess werewolves will be the next big thing. Benicio Del Toro's Wolfman remake looks to be incredible from what little I've seen, so maybe this will follow in those footsteps and be a truly good remake. Expect to hear about a Howling remake any day I'm sure.


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Like Werewolves? Well one of Moon Knight's oldest enemies is Marvel's Werewolf by night! Be sure to tune into Infinite Hollywood tonight at 11PM EST for more exclusive Moon Knight content here on Moon Knight week!

Moon Knight Week is in full swing here at Infinite Hollywood as it's off with our first Moon Knight figure review. This figure comes from the Marvel Select line and was made in 2006 right around the same time that Moon Knight was relaunched in Marvel comics. Moon Knight returned in a mini-series called "The Bottom" after having been dead and not in print for several years.

My brother purchased this guy for me this past Christmas and claims to have paid $50 for it. Although the price tag pretty clearly says $18.99 and not the $48.99 he claims to have paid. I'm sure if he ever reads this, he'll swear he paid the other price. But I'm onto you brother man.

Packaging:


This package is huge and clunky. I can't stress how big this package is enough. Now for sure, Marvel Select figures are themselves in a wonky 8 inch scale that fails to be compatible with Marvel Legends in most instances, but this guy really feels like he's in a lot of wasted space. I've included a picture of the package next to both a GI Joe 25th card and a MOTUC card to give you an idea of just how gigantic the package is.



The rest of the box itself isn't really nicely designed either. It hits all the major points, including showing off some vintage card art and the 2006 comic cover that was the return of Moon Knight. As well it shows off the other figures in the series, gives a brief bio and has a neat side picture that opens up with Moon Knight... But it all feels very clunky. It's just an ugly design.



Inside the shell is Moon Knight and all his accessories. They're held in with twist ties and there aren't too many of them but the ties are all so poorly tied that you have to clip them to get them loose. There is a stand/base of a half moon that's taped underneath the inner shell.





Articulation:
Early Marvel Select figures didn't have as much articulation as their Marvel Legends counterparts, but this one is fairly close to what is standard in the ways of articulation for both Hasbro and Toy Biz. He has a ball jointed neck, ball shoulders, swivel just below the shoulder, hinged elbows, swivel wrist, cut waist, ball jointed legs, swivel thigh, hinged knees and rocker ankles.



You could certainly make a case for more articulation, but I think it's wasted breath. This guy has more than enough articulation to be serviceable for any pose you could need him for. Obviously the big missing piece is an ab hinge. Depending on how you feel about ab hinges, it could be a negative or a positive. Not having the ab hinge allows the torso to be better defined and the sculpt isn't broken up.

I'm not an articulation junkie so I'm content with the articulation here and it all seems to work pretty well. The major issue comes from the ball jointed legs. The ball joints force his legs into an awkward bow legged position. In a nutshell he can never stand straight up. It just looks weird.



Sculpt:
This guy is chocked full of detail and it's all sculpted in. His body is full of wrinkles and veins as well as other little crevices. Often times you just see stuff like this represented via a paint wash, but here we get both the paint wash and the detailing. It makes the sculpt seem a bit busy, but it fits the rugged style that is seen in some of the newer Moon Knight comics. In those issues he appears very jagged and not smooth and this figure is a pretty good representation of that, although I don't think it was intentional.



Moon Knight's costume is fairly well presented with nice crescent moon logo on his chest that stands out well. His belt seems a little more disco than I remember but I think that has a lot more to do with the translation from 2D to 3D than anything. His gloves are done well and he's featuring his spiked knucks on his right hand. Obviously someone's getting their ass kicked tonight.

One hand is sculpted to hold his Moon shaped throwing discs which is nice but the other hand is completely closed and I always like to have at least one neutral hand. The plus side is that the throwing hand looks really good with a Moon disc in it. The cape is really a work of beauty with a thick texture that makes it flow but looks leathery and organic.

The paint work is solid, with a plethora of washes about. Moon Knight is an interesting character color wise because it's not clear what color the guy really is. Is he white, gray, silver? A mix of all three is represented here and depending on where the light hits it he looks like any one of those colors. The cape is lighter while the inside is painted with a darker gray wash. The boots, gloves and belt are all a nice clean white that stands out well with silver highlights.


Marvel Select scale doesn't fit in with much, maybe Thundercats.
Accessories:
This is where this figure shines through the most. One of the things that separates Marc Spector from Bruce Wayne is that he has been emblazoned with the powers of the Egyptian spirit Khonshu. Moon Knight himself is known as the Fist of Khonshu because he uses his powers which become enhanced with the Moon to do the bidding of Khonshu. Essentially this Egyptian god gave Spector the ability to be superhuman and what we get in the Marvel Select figure is a statue of Khonshu.



The statue is in every way more impressive than the figure itself. Deeply and accurately sculpted with a great paint wash. It really looks nice. Also included is a base that can fit around the statue or elsewhere and it's made of the same look but of a thick heavy plastic. These two accessories alone make this worth a purchase for Moon Knight fans.



Moon Knight also comes with two Moon-a-rangs, or Moon throwing discs. Everyone always makes a big deal out of those as an area to compare him to Batman and honestly, they are just boomerangs. I'm still glad we get two and they have some sculpting on them as well. They're made of a very pliable rubber material.



The only fault that can be made of Khonshu is that he's hollow and doesn't have a back at all. I'd rather the statue been as heavy as the base is. Moon Knight is missing his staff, but considering all else that's here it's no big loss.

Additional Notes:
There aren't that many Moon Knight figures out there. This Marvel Select one is a treat if only because Marvel Select itself hasn't made that many figures in the grand scheme of things. It's nice to have a bit of variety.

Value:
If you paid $50 then you probably paid too much. He's worth up to about $18 or so I'd say though. Mostly for the statue. If you're just a casual Moon Knight fan though, I'll have some other figures later in the week that would definitely be more worth your money.

Score Recap:
Packaging - 5
Sculpting - 8
Articulation - 7
Accessories - Khonshu Statue, Base, Moon Throwing Discs
Value - 8
Overall - 7.5 out of 10

If Moon Knight could stand up straight he'd probably score an 8. If he didn't have the cool accessories he'd probably score a 6. See what's going on there? His accessories really raise the bar on this guy. I'm a big fan of Marc Spector in all his forms and Moon Knight is a great addition to any collection but the Marvel Select scale pretty much limits him to hardcore comic or Moon Knight collectors.



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Theme weeks are always fun and it's something you see a lot of on toy blogs as well as pop culture sites like mine. One of the nice advantages of running your own blog is that you can pick whatever theme you want. Obviously it's good to pick a popular theme, but I wanted to do something a little different that's probably never been done before. Back in March I ran a whole Dr. Who month which was a lot of fun but was probably a bit ambitious.

This week I've decided to launch "Moon Knight Week" which will be a full week of Moon Knight content. The hook of this will be that I'm going to be doing reviews of all sorts of Moon Knight toys, comics, etc at 11 PM Eastern Standard Time each night. The gimmick being that at 11 PM the moon is out in full, which is of course very important to Moon Knight.

Why Moon Knight and not something or someone more popular? Moon Knight is my favorite Marvel Comics superhero. Although Moony doesn't have a ton of toys or merchandise there is just enough content out there with Moon Knight on it to make a full week's worth of fun. I'm going to review EVERY Moon Knight figure that's been produced to my knowledge as well as some of Moon Knight's nemesis' who are also favorites of mine.

So be here at 11 PM EST tonight for the first night of Moon Knight Week, as I review the Marvel Select Moon Knight!

Does Transformers 2 have the ability to be the biggest grossing movie of the summer? Can it beat Dark Knight of last summer? Well it could. I still haven't gotten around to seeing Optimus and gang for the second time and I keep hearing bad things, but obviously someone likes this movie.

Transformers 2 has already made over $201 million dollars and is now the highest grossing movie to open in June. I think Transformers is on it's way to being the big summer blockbuster of 2009. Of course GI Joe, Harry Potter and a few other movies have yet to come but it's hard to imagine any of them will be able to take down Transformers.

Here's where all the big summer movies set so far. Remember, Transformers has only been out a week and already has almost as much money as Star Trek. From these numbers we can see that Terminator bombed, as did Land of the Lost and Year One (Although that movie did just open) and perhaps the biggest winner of the summer will be guy comedy, The Hangover which had a $35 million budget and has brought in high triple digits.

1. Up - $250 million
2. Star Trek - $246.2 million
3. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - $201.2 million
4. The Hangover - $183 million
5. Wolverine: Origins - $177 million
6. Night at the Museum 2 - $163 million
7. Angels & Demons - $130 million
8. Terminator Salvation - $120 million
9. Land of the Lost - $46 million
10. Year One - $32 million

Transformers looks like it will knock off Star Trek by next week and should sail on it's way to the #1 movie this summer soon. What's your thoughts? Should Transformers be making all this bank? What movie will end up as the #1 summer flick?

On this site you often hear me refer to DC Infinite Heroes, but aside from a mini review I've yet to actually sit down and give one a full review. I highlighted what I felt was the best figure, but I've never fully examined a DCIH guy. One of the reasons I mention DC Infinite Heroes is often to compare them to other figures. I feel there is a 3 3/4 figure scale, with GI Joe's being the bar set for high and DC Infinite Heroes being the bar set for low.

So today I figured I would take a look at one of the better DC Infinite Heroes figures so you could fully examine the suck for yourself. Which is why today I'm reviewing the Manhunter Robot for the DC Infinite Heroes line by Mattel. I consider this to be one of the better figures in the entire line and certainly from the first few waves, so that should give you an indication on just how this line is doing.



The DCIH figure line is a unique one, in that most of the first few waves of figures were squarely directed at JLU collectors. For example, the Manhunter robot was one of the most requested figures in the Justice League Unlimited figure line. Along with guys like Hal Jordan and Gotham City Policemen. Instead of giving us those figures in JLU as had been requested, Mattel in their infinite wisdom used them in the launch of their DCIH line. Hoping that fans would jump onto a new scale and style in hopes of getting their new line off to a successful start.

How did they fair? Well, I don't think DC Infinite Heroes is a big hit thus far, but they did manage to get some JLU collectors on board. Of course, DC Infinite Heroes has proven to be as hard to get as most Mattel lines with most of the true DCIH collectors forced to order them online. Not because of their popularity though, the things shelf warm pretty bad but because of Mattel's crack distribution. Let's see where they went wrong, shall we?

Packaging:
The package by itself isn't terrible. Mattel sculpted the bubble to appear as a hand, presumably one of the Monitors from their recent DC storylines. The clear bubble hand could also represent your hand as well. With the logo up front and the catch phrase "An army of heroes in your grasp"... It's catchy if a bit kitschy and reminds me of Pokemon more than DC. Gotta catch em' all!



The front of the card is pretty nice but the back isn't as good. While they do prominently display other figures in the series, they don't tell us anything about the character. They mention a bit about the Monitors who well... Monitor the universe, but every card says that. It's not exactly a "story". If you've read my other reviews you know I love a package that gives us a story right out the gate.



The file card, if you want to call it that does include some basics. It tells us that this guy is a villain, his strength is a 70 and that he's a super powered android soldier. But the details are very basic. This would be an exceptional file card if it had a bio. Instead all I know are stats on this character. No idea who or what his purpose is. Does he work for the Joker? Kids will never know. A little bio can go a long way.

Articulation:
These guys have been trounced by the articulation junkies for their paltry articulation. Some of that is a fair piece of ridicule, but they do have a bit more articulation than some figures I suppose. They have ball jointed shoulders, hinged elbows, hinged knees, cut waist and a cut neck. It's serviceable articulation at it's most basic.



The problem with the articulation is that most 3 3/4 figures feature a lot of articulation. This guy technically has less articulation than a GI Joe from 1982. Which hurts his overall score. I'm far from an articulation junkie, but I do think he could use some wrist swivels at the very least. He feels more like a M.A.S.K. figure due to the plastic, articulation and small stature than he does a GI Joe. If this was out in the 1980's you'd think it was made by Remco.



Sculpt:
When it comes to sculpt these guys haven't been exactly hitting homeruns. However the Manhunter is a nice change of pace. He has a detailed face sculpt that features simple clean cut lines but it looks like the artwork. He has a sculpted neck collar and big gloves and boots that feature unique sculpting on them as well.



Part of the problem with the line overall is that the Manhunter Robot here is one of the BEST sculpted figures in the line. Take a look at that sculpting, because it's the pinnacle of what the early series' of Mattel's DC Infinite Heroes is capable of. That's where things kind of come apart. If everyone was at this guy's level or above, you'd have decent sculpting, but when you factor in that he's the best it let's you know how bad everyone else is.


Making the Punisher look good.

Manhunter has HUGE hands and feet. His fist is actually bigger than his head. This is by design on the Manhunter figure... But the rest of the DCIH figures also have hands that are like big oven mitts. So while it works for this guy, it doesn't for everyone else.



His paint is pretty basic with a little slop but it's not too bad. The paintwork on his body is a little disappointing because the two reds don't stand out, making some of the paint on the chest nearly invisible. Mattel went with a route to paint more on the designs than sculpt, much like they have with their DC Universe Classics line so you should make sure that the paint stands out. On his back is also an ugly plug where you can see they've glued in his neck collar. It's just fugly, but sadly Mattel does the exact same thing on ALL their DCUC toys so I guess I can't complain about that. But I don't like it on DCUC and I sure as hell don't like it here.

Of all the things you could borrow from DCUC, that's what you borrow? The gaping plugged hole? Sounds like a movie I rented once. But I digress.

Accessories:
Nothing.

That's right NOTHING. Nadda, zip. Is this figure huge and big like the Red Hulk? Nope. He's a regular sized DCIH. So why doesn't he come with SOMETHING? The best you can do is play with the plastic bubble hand. He does feature a clippable Anti-Monitor point... Which is ONLY redeemable at this year's SDCC for a small Anti-Monitor. That's right, you can't mail away and get the figure. You can't order him online or in stores... Nope, you have to use these points at the Comic convention.



Yes, okay you can buy him on MattyCollector.com later in limited quantities, but why even have the clip points? Fans expect Pizza Points or Flag Points to lead towards a mail away. SOME sort of incentive. How the flippin' flip are kids supposed to redeem their points? Oh that's right, they aren't obviously. It's just an epic fail on every level. Even the Nick Fury "mail away" that forces you to buy digital comics is more plausible to kids and most of the universe than this promotion.

Additional Notes:
The real problem with the DC Infinite Heroes line is that nothing works exceptionally. The package is average. The articulation is below average. The sculpts are middle of the road. The price point is too high. Nothing comes together really well and that's a major issue.

This guy is a true 3 3/4 and he's one of the bigger figures with the extra neck collar. What does that mean? It means these guys are tiny. It's not necessarily Mattel's fault that 3 3/4 has come to mean a bit bigger closer to 4 inches, but it does seem to make them a bit behind with the times. I was hoping the Manhunter could maybe be fudged into my JLU display but it just ain't happening.

If you only collect this line and don't want it to be semi compatible with anything else, then you'll probably be happy. But if you've been waiting for 20 years to have a Superman that can save your GI Joes... You better keep waiting. Because if a DCIH Superman shows up, your GI Joes are going to give him a wedgie and kick him to the curb for looking like a doofus.

Value:
This is where DC Infinite Heroes completely falls apart. This guy retails for $6.99 at most stores, but can be priced as low as $4.99 at Target. At $5 it's not a very good value. At $7 it's akin to having your first born child beaten with a stick. Honestly the pricing scale is all over the place on these things. Some 3 packs only cost $10 which isn't too bad of a value. Then at other stores 3 packs cost $16 which is nonsense. Toys R Us has 5 packs for the low price of $50!

The best place to get DC Infinite Heroes is in discount retailers like TJ Maxx where they often go for about $3.99 and surprisingly Mattel is shipping the new figures to those stores at those prices while Target and Walmart are getting some of the older figures and charging twice as much. What is the price of a DCIH? No matter what your answer is, it's probably too much. These guys should cost $3.50 and that's that. Anything more than $3.50 is a total ripoff. Don't let collectors with too much money to spend tell you otherwise.

Score Recap:
Packaging - 6
Sculpting - 6
Articulation - 5
Accessories - Nothing
Value - 4
Overall - 5 out of 10

There you have it. The best DC Infinite Heroes figure out of the first set of guys and he barely cracks a 5. That shows you just how screwed up this line is. With improved sculpting, articulation, packaging and accessories this figure would be worth the price. As is, comparing him even to the WORST Marvel Universe figure (The Punisher) he's still far behind. If Mattel dropped the price significantly and continued to sell them as is, then maybe they'd be worth it a bit.


"You are so not taking me to trial."

But even with a price drop, some of the figures look so downright laughable that they aren't worth a purchase. Captain Marvel, or Shazam, isn't worth more than a $1 because that's what he looks like. A dollar store toy. A lot of times you'll hear collectors say something looks like a "Happy Meal Toy" and usually they're being an idiot. However most of the DCIH guys do in fact look like they came from a clown meal. And if they did, it'd be a better value.

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You can't run a website dedicated to pop culture and not mention this. I actually found about the death of Michael Jackson before most of the internet was even reporting it, but wasn't sure what to post up. I am hardly the hugest fan of Jackson, but anyone who grew up in the 1980's was a fan of at least some of his songs.



Michael Jackson's Thriller album can still stand toe to toe with any album out there today. As a kid I even had one of those red Michael Jackson coats that could unzip at the sleeves. Good times. I'm sad to hear he died despite all the calamity that he has been caught up in the last few years. Going from pop star to freak show.

I've never been afraid to blast some Billie Jean or play any other of the classics in the radio. I'm sure we'll be hearing a whole lot of MJ stuff in the weeks ahead. But if I can sum up Michael Jackson's influence in one statement it'd be that upon his death, MTV is playing music videos again. A fitting tribute to the man who basically built the genre.

And the deaths continue in threes. Something I was eerily thinking about earlier today when I read that Farrah Fawcett had died. I wondered who would be next, but I never could have imagined.

Edit: Larry King just said it best:

"What's coming now... Stories about what Michael Jackson did to me. The tabloids next week are going to be horror stories. In this realm that is the calmness, let's miss what was his talent. He gave us his talent and we sure did enjoy that."

Today we're taking a look at a board game from the past that always stuck out to me as completely awesome: Fireball Island. The game was produced by Milton Bradley in 1986 and remains one of my all time favorite games. This board game never achieved the level of success and popularity as say Monopoly or Clue... Heck it wasn't even as popular as Crossfire or Guess Who, but it was fun.



The premise of the game is that you are an explorer in the same style as Indiana Jones and are attempting to get the ruby jewel off the island. Standing in the way is the ancient idol Vul-Kar who when enraged will send fireballs to attempt to roast you to your doom. The game channels a lot of Raiders of the Lost Ark as you adventure along this island avoiding traps and pitfalls.

Making the game even harder is the fact that you're not alone. Up to three other players are also adventuring trying to get the jewel as well. Imagine yourself Indiana Jones but having to deal with three other Rene Belloq's!



Not only can Vul-Kar send fireballs at you, but you can send fireballs at your opponents too. However you have to be careful because if you select to use a fireball and it turns out only you are in the path, you must roast yourself! Fireballs send you into a pit where you lose a turn. The fireballs themselves are little marbles with red and yellow stripes on them.

One of the really cool elements of this game is that you can backstab and double cross the other players. You aren't just racing to get the jewel, that's only the first half of the game. Once you have the jewel you're racing to get away on the escape boat with the jewel. Other adventurers can steal the jewel from you, as well as you stealing it back from them.



There are a variety of cool cards such as the "Fake Jewel" card which you can pawn off to someone trying to steal your jewel. The "Magic Talisman" which prevents you from being hit by a fireball and a "Fireball" card which allows you to use the fireballs. Among a bunch of more traditional cards like "Take another Turn", etc. The cards all featured really cool artwork.



All of the pieces of this board game not only made it fun but was great for kids playing GI Joe or He-Man. You could use the ruby jewel in all kinds of plot, the Vul-Kar idol was pure awesome and fit well with Skeletor and even the little bridges were fun toys. I remember using the whole board game which was big and stood out as an actual island during some sessions of play.



Whether playing the game itself, using Vul-Kar with He-Man or playing with the assorted pieces of Fireball Island, Milton Bradley really hit a homerun in the middle 80's with this game. Anyone who ever owned Fireball Island knows how awesome this game was and those of you who may have never owned one have no idea what fun you missed out on.

Next time I'll take a look at: Omega Virus!

What you see before you is a selection of images from the new Direct to DVD (Despite probably debuting on TV) Ninja Turtles movie. It's for the big 25th anniversary this year and is being made by Dong Woo animation studios in association with 4Kids.



One of the first things you might notice is, Rocksteady, Bebop and two sets of turtles. Say what? Apparently this new DVD movie will deal with the original 1980's animated Turtles meeting the 2003 animated Turtles. It's one big meeting of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Crisis in Infinite Sewers, for lack of an official name.



Over at the 4Kids blog they're running a viral campaign or alternate reality game where you can uncover errors like this one Here and see a little bit more of the green teams meeting up.

There are a bunch of little clues in the error message as well:

[ERROR://1988] instance_001

Trans.Dimen.Web.PolicyException: Policy level 'NOSHIFT' could not be executed.

at TCNODRM.Security.PolicyManager.EncodeLevel(PolicyLevel levelX)

at TCNODRM.Security.PolicyManager.EncodeLevel(String label)

at TCNODRM.Security.PolicyManager.Save()

at TCNODRM.Security.SecurityManager.SavePolicy()

at TCNODRM.CAS.CASInstaller.ConfigureCodeAccessSecuri ty()

at TCNODRM.CAS.CASInstaller.Dimension(X)

INITIALIZING.SECURITY

SCAN2K3

Obviously referencing the 1988 animated turtles and the Technodrome, as well as the 2K3 turtles. One would imagine this will involve some sort of storyline where the current 2K3 turtles cross over by way of the Technodrome's Dimension Portal in to the 1988 Universe.



There are a lot of questions to be answered regarding this movie. Will the original voices be back? Will Uncle Phil be the Shredder? If you click around on the TMNT website you can hear a bit of an MP3 preview, which does sound like Uncle Phil as Shredder, but it's brief and Bebop sounds like himself but it could be an impersonator.



I'm pretty excited about this. Even though I generally think crossovers of this kind are strange. It helps bring fans of all generations of TMNT together and it gives Rocksteady & Bebop a new life, even if it's brief. I'm sure more details will be unveiled in the coming weeks and at SDCC there is supposed to be a lot of info, maybe even a full preview. For now here's all the video footage available.



I basically hate ARGs but this one has me a bit more interested because it involves the TMNT. It's leading up to something pretty cool, even if it's not exactly something I would have dreamed up. Kudos to everyone at Mirage and 4Kids for coming up with this idea to help celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Every now and again a figure comes along that just seems perfect. Often it's a figure you least expect. Sometimes it's even one you weren't prepared for. Such is the case with today's' review, the Marvel Universe Red Hulk figure. For all intensive purposes this figure is nearly identical to the Marvel Universe Green Hulk I reviewed a while back. That figure scored a 7. But Rulk will score higher and I'm here to explain why.



For starters I own all three Marvel Universe Hulk figures. Right off the bat, I have to commend Hasbro for making three Hulks in the exact same style and scale. Sure, it's easy for them because they can largely reuse the same mold, but it's also a real treat for us fans. All of the Hulks that came before have been so widely divergent in both style and scale that they often lack compatibility.

Although I haven't had the courage to open my Grey Hulk yet (He's slowly growing in value) I have looked at him plenty and I can safely say that even though he and Red Hulk share 90% of the same parts, Red Hulk is superior. This body was obviously made for the Red Hulk and then just given to the other Hulks. I haven't seen anyone else on the net review this yet, so I got in a scoop on the big guys. Let's get to the full review, shall we?



Packaging:
The Marvel Universe packaging is still attractive. With a nice picture of the Red Hulk up in the corner. As I've said before, I believe these are all done by Frank Cho and they are really what sells the package. I should mention though that all the red on the package actually made me miss Red Hulk in the store. Had my wonderful girlfriend not said, "Who's Red Hulk?" I never would have noticed him. I just assumed him to be a Hand Ninja.



I still have some minor complaints about the packaging being prone to tearing up the artwork, but it's a minor complaint as if you are careful enough you can get him out without damaging it. Inside he has a rubber band holding him in. Even in the package Red Hulk looks better than the regular green Hulk. I have no idea why, but he's posed better in the package.



Once you crack it open there is a nice container with everything held in place firmly but not too snug.

Articulation:
Red Hulk has all the same points of articulation as the other Hulk. That means he has a cut neck, ball jointed shoulders that work quite well, ball jointed elbows, cut wrists, ab ball joint with swivel... though not with a full range of movement (So not ab crunch really), ball jointed legs which can't do much, ball jointed knees that can bend a decent amount but not fully, and rocker ankles which work perfectly.



Despite having the same largely useless articulation in the legs as the other Hulk figures, he wears it better. In fact he wears all his articulation better. I don't know why but the other Hulk will occasionally fall over and looks a bit bow legged at times, but not with this one. They share the same sculpt so I don't know if it's Rulk colored glasses or what, but he's just better.



He's looks a little taller than the other Hulk in a few pics but it's probably about the same depending on how you have them posed. The head does look meatier so he seems taller even if he really isn't. If he is in fact taller it's by a tiny, tiny margin.


Dropping a gamma radiated elbow!

Sculpt:
Ed McGuiness draws the Red Hulk character in a unique way. It's not necessarily easy to translate into a head sculpt. As of this writing there are only two other Red Hulk figures. The first is the Hasbro Marvel Legends Red Hulk who looks a bit like an anime infused version of the character. The other is a Marvel Select variant which has a very good Ed McGuiness style face but his head is tiny thus inaccurate.

I'm happy to report that this is the BEST Red Hulk head sculpt to come out yet. In fact the entire body is the best Red Hulk body sculpt yet. As I said above, the Marvel Universe Hulk body was clearly designed for this character first. It just screams him. While the regular Hulks looked a bit "off", this guy looks like he leaped off the pages.



Interestingly there is no wash on this version of the Hulk as there was with the others. Both the gray and green Hulks suffered because of their wash and thankfully Red Hulk doesn't have it. He does have a bit of a wash on his pants though and they're probably the nicest pants of all three figures. Again Red Hulk just wins in every catagory.


Marvel's Brutes

Paint wise he's got a couple bits of slop but some of the key areas that give Red Hulk his personality, like the teeth and eyes are both painted perfectly. Each tooth really stands out and makes this guy all the more authentic. His hair is painted good as well and it has a little bit of the same rubbing design as the other Hulks so that his scalp color shines through but it isn't done to the drastic degrees that the others were.



Red Hulk has two fists instead of an open hand like the Green Hulk. This is great because Red Hulk loves to pummel and smash. All Hulks should at least have one fist. Two is fine too. I do feel that he could have had a gripping hand though to hold his gun. It mentions him carrying a gun on the back of the package, but he can't hold any guns. Still I'd take double fisted Hulk over patty cake Hulk every day of the week.



The fists also reveal another nice little detail, the painted thumbnails. Red Hulk has unique nails and they always stand out in the comics. Thankfully they do here as well. It's a little detail, but one that Hasbro gave us and should be applauded for.

Accessories:
Remember earlier when I talked about his gun? Well he doesn't come with it. In fact he comes with NO real accessories. Still in past Marvel Universe reviews I've mentioned the elusive "paper accessories"... Don't know what those are?



Basically it's a little manilla envelope with a letter inside as well as a bio card or Superhero Registration Act card. In a nutshell it's a little dossier with a nice picture of the character on the back as well. Typically the letters included aren't that interesting but in this figure's case it's a letter from Bruce Banner to Tony Stark begging him to let him out of the secret underground bunker that Hulk was locked in after World War Hulk.



Why does Banner want out? Because he feels that the only way to stop Red Hulk is with the original recipe Hulk. This really takes this figure to another level because as a kid, you get an instant storyline. Even if you don't read comics, you now have a plotline to follow with your toys. It makes them worth that much more in my view.



The other really nice part about all of this is that you feel like you're getting more. It's little things, but having filecards is what made GI Joe just so much better than all the other toys in the 1980's and I'm a firm believer that all action figures should have some sort of filecards. Since these tie into the storylines so well, it makes things even more fun. Certainly some weapons or crates or barrels or something would be nice, but these little bits do go a long way towards showing why these are just so much a better value to the DC Infinite Heroes.


He craps thunder & lightning!

Additional Notes:
Being completely honest, there is an intangible element with this figure. He just looks perfect. Sometimes that intangible element really makes up for areas that could be lacking. Plus when you factor in that this is the best Red Hulk ever made, it helps.



I almost bought the Marvel Select Red Hulk and I also thought about tracking down the Marvel Legends version. I'm so glad that I held out, because I have NO desire to get those figures now. I've got the best Red Hulk in my hands.



Value:
It's $8 to buy him. It sucks, it'll always suck. But you know what? I'm not feeling it so much this time. I guess this guy just has that much charm that I don't mind paying $8 for. Sure, he'd be THE GREATEST THING EVER at $6, but he's still damn good at $8.


Comparisons with Marvel Universe, X-Men Origins and Superhero Showdown figures...

Score Recap:
Packaging - 7
Sculpting - 9
Articulation - 7
Accessories - Nothing
Value - 8
Overall - 8 out of 10

I could almost go 8.5 out of 10, but I'll stick with a solid 8. He's just a perfect incarnation of the figure. Nothing is overdone. Nothing is missing. Nothing is too dramatic. Yeah his leg articulation could be better, but it's so minor at this point to continue to be redundant about that. This is a really fun version of a fun character and he fits in perfectly with his gamma radiated brethren. I really can't ask for much more than that or recommend him enough.


RULK RAGE!

If you have any interest whatsoever in owning a Red Hulk or a Hulk from the Marvel Universe line, get this one. The figure also gives me high hopes that future version of the green Hulk, such as the Secret Wars version, may be able to use this same sculpt but have a nicer head sculpt and be a knockout figure on their own.