Andimus Prime Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 (edited) Well that was quick! I just got these in the mail (I did the free shipping but I guess since I live like a state next to the distribution center it only took a day to ship). Sadly though I don't have access to a camera in order to take photos as much as I'd love to; so I'll try to give a detailed runthough/review of the set. Overall though I'm impressed with the set and I feel it really does the characters justice in establishing why they are called the Dark Avengers. Dark Spiderman/Mac Gargan: Despite having his Thunderbolts iteration and a Black Costume Spidey released within the last year, this figure does alot to seperate itself from the other 2 figures. This is accomplished in the detailing of the body and mask which sets a sinister tone for the character. This is continued with Gargan's face which is well detailed and looks very gaunt and faded, Marvel Boy/Noh-Varr: While I don't know as much as I'd like to about the character; the more I look at the figure, the more I like it. His Kree military uniform is intricately detailed and you can tell that time was definately taken to insure that it was as accurate as possible. My only problem is that the face is pretty generic looking, but it does capture the look of the character down. Dark Wolverine/Daken: Another figure that I think captures the essence of the character and is easily one of my favorites of the boxed set. I really like the brown tones of the costume and I feel it does a great job of recreating the look of that suit than the two Brown Costume Wolverines that came out a couple of years ago. The feet and boots are reuses of the Jim Lee Wolverine that came out in the last TRU Marvel Wave, and I like their sleek design. Daken's Face and mohawk are my favorite parts of the character and I almost like it more than the mask. The claws turned out alot better than I thought, but I wanted them to be a little bigger. He also comes with alternate normal hands (I don't know if any of the press releases ever elaborated on this). Iron Patriot/Norman Osborn: Along with Daken, Iron Patriot is one of my favorites of the set. The figure is big, imposing, and over the top; capturing the essence of the character in the process. The shoulders, feet, and helmet, are all new pieces, which I like as they barely hinder movement at all and when combined with the crotch piece and gloves make the character tall, bulky, and imposing (he's almost as tall as Iron Monger). I'm a bit suprised they didn't try to got for a metalic look for the figure, but with the color scheme I completely understand why they didn't do it. My only problem is the hair piece which I haven't been able to put on his head and not have it look funky, but I'm sure it'll look better on the Norman Osborn thats coming out with the T-Bolts set. All in all, I was pleasantly suprised by the set and I'm more than happy to add them to my collection. I can't wait for the second boxed set. Edited July 24, 2009 by Andimus Prime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karamazov80 Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 (edited) Thanks for the review, Andimus. But one question--when you say Daken has "normal" hands, do you mean plain brown gloved hands with claws sheathed, plain flesh hands, or brown hands with 3 claws as regular Wolvie would have? Thanks. Edited July 24, 2009 by karamazov80 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andimus Prime Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 Thanks for the review, Andimus. But one question--when you say Daken has "normal" hands, do you mean plain brown gloved hands with claws sheathed, plain flesh hands, or brown hands with 3 claws as regular Wolvie would have? Thanks. Plain gloved sheathed hands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karamazov80 Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 Thanks. Dang, was hoping for regular Wolverine claws Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twisted Two-Face Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 Great review. So is there anything special under Norman's armor we should know about or...?? Oh, and in case anyone is interested, Norman in the T-bolts set will have a green suit. Yay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SErge Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 Thanks for the review, ugh, I wish I could get these!! having that iron patriot must feel nice! question: how was the box's condition, I heard Tru sends crammed and destroyed boxes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andimus Prime Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 Thanks for the review, ugh, I wish I could get these!! having that iron patriot must feel nice! question: how was the box's condition, I heard Tru sends crammed and destroyed boxes. It wasn't that bad, I kinda tore through it as soon as I got it but nothing was too smushed. To get the free shipping I ordered the boxed set with a T-1 figure from Playmates Terminator Salvation line (I figured it would make a decent sized Skynet Tank to go with my Terminator mates) and while that wasn't heavy enough to smush the Dark Avengers box, there wasn't anything (like packing peanuts) to prevent it from happening. The mates were unscathed, although Dakens Claws were alittle bent (which has been a problem with my Wolverines since Wave 3), but not significantly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twisted Two-Face Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 Thanks for the review, ugh, I wish I could get these!! having that iron patriot must feel nice! question: how was the box's condition, I heard Tru sends crammed and destroyed boxes. It wasn't that bad, I kinda tore through it as soon as I got it but nothing was too smushed. To get the free shipping I ordered the boxed set with a T-1 figure from Playmates Terminator Salvation line (I figured it would make a decent sized Skynet Tank to go with my Terminator mates) and while that wasn't heavy enough to smush the Dark Avengers box, there wasn't anything (like packing peanuts) to prevent it from happening. The mates were unscathed, although Dakens Claws were alittle bent (which has been a problem with my Wolverines since Wave 3), but not significantly. Daken's claws are still black, right?? Is that accurate (as you can see, i don't read and hate all Wolverines, be it Logan or his kid). And is there anything worthwhile under Norm's armor?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andimus Prime Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 (edited) Great review. So is there anything special under Norman's armor we should know about or...?? Oh, and in case anyone is interested, Norman in the T-bolts set will have a green suit. Yay. Nothing too special, the upper body is detailed when you remove the shoulder pads. Norman's face is weird since he's smiling, which makes sense given that the Iron Patriot is designed to be used more as a publicity tool, but is still weird since I'm kinda used to him always scowling. Dakens Claws are black and he even has his tattoo on the exposed part of his left arm. One other thing I forgot to add was that the set comes with an updated marvel poster that includes everything up to wave 28 (the X-Men/Skrull Wave), but not this summers boxed sets except for the Heroes and Villians ones, and a questionare attacted to the bottom. Edited July 24, 2009 by Andimus Prime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rx78jj Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Just ordered two today. Cant wait till i get them. From what I hear this is a great set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattman Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 Here is the Dark Avengers Minimates in all its glory! Attaching more soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrobotC Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 wow,daken,looks incredibly terrible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattman Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 Set One Set Two Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twisted Two-Face Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 (edited) ...am i the only one who thinks some of these look A LOT worse than the prototypes?? Have 'em soon, but thoughts based on that pic: Norm: Sadly, the best of the two sets. Looks like all the work went into him. The armor's fantastic, and i love his expression underneath. Grade: A+ Karla: Wow...i thought i'd hate her with the Fox hair; it looks fantastic!! The only issue i see is that it propels her head forward. Permanantly?? Paint looks nice on everything except the crotch, and i just love the old Ms. Marvel cosume. Grade: A Bob: Wow. WOW. Such an improvement over the two we had before. The hair is a little...odd, but the rest is just great. I love it. Grade: A Noh-Var: WOW. I love it, and i've never heard of him until DA. I gotta say, he's a really cool character and the only Kree (?? Right??) i'll ever like this much. The costume is FANTASTIC; i can't get over how much i love this design!! It just works for minimate transition, and that's great!! Definitely a new favorite of mine; not the best of the sets, but a new personal favorite. Grade: A Mac: Very nice improvement over any other Black Spidey, except for the mask. He's got big-head syndrome, and it doesn't help. Musculature detail is great, and the grey looks better than the blue. Hope he still has the head underneath; if so, he's got a Grade: B+ Ares: Okay, so i'm hardly familiar with the character; in fact, i only know him from the cover of an issue of the new War Machine series. Ironically, i never got around to reading that. Not my favorite design of all time; reminds of The Punisher in Greece...the armor is great, but the character and the design are nothing to me. Grade: B- BullsHawkeye: Ew. The mask and the expression are total turn-offs for this figure. The costume and quiver?? Beautiful; a great improvement over Clint-Hawkeye. The rest is awful. I'll have to get three though; one for the original, one with the BE/MS set head, and one for Hawkeye. There goes my birthday cash...Grade: B- Daken: NO. Just no; i hate the brown costume; always have, always will. It looks worse on Daken. Looks like he got the least amount of work put into him; the costume really would have benifited from some black outlining on the torso to seperate the orange from the brown. The claws are just awful; perma-bend, and they look so silly black. I don't care if its accurate; it's awful and takes away the menacing look. But that isn't the worst part. WTF happened to the mask?!?! Where the hell are his eyes; is that even humanly, or mutantly, possible?! hat and the calm expression take away from the overall look of what could have been a GREAT minimate; i wanted to like this Wolverine variant, and it just sucks. A LOT. Grade: D- EDIT: Hey,Mattman, can we get a pic of unarmored Norm?? Thanks for all the GREAT pics!!!! Edited July 26, 2009 by Twisted Two-Face Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Punisher Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 Is that an actual arrow with Hawkeye!?!?! It's about time!!! Wow, these all look so great. Thanks Matt-Man for the pics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiniFiend UK Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 Cheers for the pics I was really wondering how the would do the Ms Marvel cape/scarf. It looks ok but I would have prefered it hang down in two pieces not just the one section. if ppl can understand that bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karamazov80 Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 After seeing actual pics, Medieval Punisher guy is still clearly the star. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 Thanks for posting pic's Mattman!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dio Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 Thanks for the pics Mattman! I can't wait to get a hold of both of these boxsets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drgnrbrn316 Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 After seeing actual pics, Medieval Punisher guy is still clearly the star. Agreed. Ares is clearly the best of these sets, though they all look good. I'll agree that Daken's mask is just horrid though. I hated that mask when they used it in the Marvel Zombies set and I hate it now. If the eyes had been sculpted instead of just drawn on, it would look about a thousand times better. And I'll probably be using a fine tip Sharpie on a spare Daken to see if I can make the detail lines that are missing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MINI_MYTE Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 Anybody notice that Daken has no ears. It seems Hawkeye/Bullseye was lucky enough to get some. Can't tell if Gargan has 'em. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SErge Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 thanks for that eye candy!!! can't wait for my set 2 to arrive!! more excited for the thunderbolts though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stack32 Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 Does Spider-man only have six legs on his symbol? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andimus Prime Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 Gargan doesn't have ears sadly, especially when his face is so detailed. I'll also say that the big head syndrome isn't as bad with his figure as it was with Black Costume Spidey; it's kinda present, but its not too bad. His spider also has six legs on mine which is dumb but I didn't notice it until it was pointed out. Thanks for the pics aswell Mattman, its nice to see the details of the second boxed set and both sets together. Also, how was the sculpt of Norman's hair in your set? Cause mine came out really wonky on one side so it looks weird when it's on his head. I hope it was just for my set and isn't something that's sculpt wide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthRaider Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 Daken and Mac still look a bit underwhelming to me, while everybody else looks really good. Especially Ares... Iron Patriot still looks a wee bit Liefield-esque in my eyes In other words, my opinion on these actually hasn't changed by much. Then again I might be changing my tone once I actually have these on hand. Thanks again for the pics Mattman! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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