The Fantastic Four, the flagship team of Marvel Comics.
I said that once and got into a big debate about the term "flagship." It seems some people want to argue about anything. The FF really changed a great many things about comics at the time. They were the first superhero group who didn't get along. The first team to try to put a realistic spin on the fantastic (Like Johnny Storm's reaction to their first long journey into space). The characters had motivations and humanity rather than simply being paper cutter people in costumes. The FF did nothing to conceal their identities either, an idea radical at the time (and one not often repeated). And perhaps most important, they are the direct reason for Stan Lee remaining in comics. Stan was about to give it up when he created the FF, he wanted to do a team his way and that is exactly what he did. The success of the FF was pretty astounding for the time and even had bunches of fan mail. Stan the man printed some of the letters in the mail column of FF #3 and that started a bigger trend in Marvel, direct interaction with the fans. Of course in these days of Twitter and Facebook answering letters doesn't seem that direct but at the time it was petty unheard of. Some will point to Spider-Man being the cause of Lee sticking with comics but clearly even if Spidey had doubled his impressive sales it looks like the FF really kept him going. Let's also not forget this is the team that brought us Galactus, The Silver Surfer, the return of Namor, Dr. Doom, the first cross-over (with the aforementioned Spider-Man), The Inhumans, Black Panther, The Kree and the Skrull, Adam Warlock and the Negative Zone just to name a few. In other words the FF is the foundation of much of the common ideas of the Marvel Universe.
Still the Fantastic Four sometimes appear to have lost their way. Some say it's because the team has remained constant while others say that the team never had it. I think that maybe the team isn't as big as they used to be because they quit being what they were. They opened up the Marvel Universe in all ways, many point to the extra-dimensional and interstellar travels but also the FF showed us the world of the Marvel Universe.
So since Marvel Universe began I have waited for the Fantastic Four to be finished as a team. They generally are the first team to get out in figure form due to the simple fact that the roster has remained relatively stable (with some exceptions of course like She-Hulk replacing Thing for a while and of course when Reed and Sue "retired"). We got the Human Torch pretty early and got Thing (as flawed as the figure was). Mr. Fantastic came along after a bit in a comic pack, but where was Sue? In the infinite wisdom of Hasbro they released her in a team pack. In fact they released her a few times in the Team Pack for Fantastic Four. I held out though expecting a single packed version in the more traditional garb like Johnny and Reed had been. Instead we get invisible variants as well as Future Foundation. So finally after all this time I picked up the original pack that had been sitting at my local comic shop for quite some time. The results? Well let's take a look.
Reed is the brains of the operation of course. In recent years it seems that Reed is taking that "guy who ignores his wife for the interest of science" role. Basically an egghead who has no sex drive. Note that this has never been accompanied by any serious problems in their relationship to contribute to this. Sure Reed and Sue have had problems but it seems the most "human" of the super-hero groups actually haven't had that much in the way of "human" relationships. The topic of their separate interests does get touch on but rather than having a long term "working it out" sub-plot things are "just fine" before any real emotions are touched on. There have only been a few real fights between them and even then it's just an "explode and make up" kind of thing
Reed's figure is a vast improvement over the last attempt. This time they switched with the skinny mold rather than the DD/Bullseye mold from Wave 1. The mold fits Reed much better for the character. He'd bee 100 times better with some extended limbs to swap out though.
The head sculpt is also an improvement over the first attempt. His grey highlights on the side are pained much lighter than the Secret Wars pack. In some ways it works but in others it does look like a bad paint job rather than hair. I think if they had left it brown all around it would look better. Maybe a younger Reed or something. But that wouldn't have matched this outfit.
Overall the inevitable comparison to SHS version comes out almost even. I think the body does work better one SHS despite the weird vieniness of the legs on the SHS. However the head sculpt is a bit better for the team pack. In the end if you are going for Sue you are getting Reed anyway. He's good enough but not the greatest.
On to Aunt Petunia's favorite nephew.
So when this one was first pictured I was hoping that Hasbro would improve him much as they did Hulk. NOPE! It's the same as the single pack with bare feet (but they did fix that knee at least). The hips still can move other than a swivel. Massively disappointing.
The body can get into some poses, but not a lot. The big thing about Thing is, like before, he can't be put in a pose that he looks sideways.
He has "Man Thing" lumped over stance that kills any chances to get a realistic range of motion with the head. Why Hasbro choose this design nor why they wanted to repeat that wonderful mistake. This could be a good figure without those screwed up mistakes. Of course what makes this worse is the super excellent SHS version.
Unfortunately this comes along with the set, it's a hard thing to get around. Not only have we seen pretty similar before (Along with the Secret Wars version which appears where the calves come from). Hasbro really should have took the opportunity to improve on one of the big characters of Marvel Universe. After all this pack is almost one whole repaint and two repaints with new heads. It's not like there wasn't enough in the budget to improve on Ben, then again if you look at the Guardians of the Galaxy set, maybe they think the team packs should be cheap-o's
Now to the star of the set:
I think one of my most vivid memories of the Invisible Woman was the old FF cartoon from the 1970's in which she only had inviso powers and no force fields (At least I think that's right) and she made a couple of aliens (Skrulls I think) invisible and they couldn't move because they couldn't see where to put their feet as they walked. It was the first moment I ever said "WTF!?" and I really started thinking about how often I walked without looking at my feet, it was quite often LOL. I got the idea but it seemed lame in an action cartoon.
Sue was the mother hen when she first came about. A bit of a tough girl (Some have gone so far as to call her a Bitch in early appearances) she really was never "Sexy" as most female character get slapped with in the modern world (but Namor always had a thing for her either way).
Sue did get some more provocative outfits later though.
and who could ever forget this one:
Hey, it was the 90's. I suppose inevitably there is the desire to "sex up" all the women in comics so Sue went from the sort of "off limits girl" to:
Yep that about sums it up right there.
Still the figure went with a look that kind of surprized me as it was a lesser known FF outfit.
Same basics, blue with dark blue highlights but also with short sleeves.
Sue's hair and face have changed drastically in the several decades she has been around. This sculpt is a bit odd in that I can't help but feel she resembles Markie Post from Night Court, at least in profile (Yeah, and obscure reference). Still it works in that Sue keeps getting "made over" every so often that she really could go several ways in appearance. The female body sculpt is the same one we are used to. We've seen it so much I can't think of a single thing left to say about it so I won't.
In comparison to the SHS version:
No contest. Hasbro wins on head sculpt alone. At least she looks like a normal human being.
There are several variations on this figure including Future Foundation:
Of course there is the Invisible and rumored to be a partly invisible (That I have never seen in person). So I rcommend you decide which you want because those extras are not worth the time (Unless you want both Future Foundation and Fantastic Four versions but those invisible variations are kind of much).
But this still isn't done of course.
So I know someone is going to ask "Hey, why so mean to HERBIE" well let me get it out of the way now, if you take away the stand in front you get:
He falls flat on his face. I have tried to stand him on different surfaces and different ways and this is always what happens. That kills it right there. There is an odd outlet in his back which makes me wonder if he might have been originally intended for some other purpose (maybe attached to the Fantastic car?).
And of course someone is going to start talking about the urban legend that HERBIE was added to the original FF cartoon because someone feared kids setting themselves on fire. Oddly enough the reality was that the torch was going to have his own movie. Yeah, that is hard to believe but the rights to him were tied up so HERBIE came in as the sub.
Ultimately this set comes down to the desire for Sue. Reed and Ben are elsewhere and HERBIE isn't a huge draw by himself. I think this would have worked better as Sue and HERBIE in a single pack (Much like MJ was with Ms. Lion). Since that didn't happen I would have to say a solid Maybe on this set.
But hey, at least my FF is together, that's 3 teams in under a month finished for myself (Avengers and X-Men of course are the others).
