Sunday 23 February 2014

Beetle (Marvel Legends)

Marvel Legends Beetle
I'm not too familiar with the Beetle- like I don't even know this guy exists in the comic books, but here's what I think about him. If I take a Kamen Rider and a Mark 33 Iron Man, shove them both inside a can,  and add a ton of nasty stuff, it would probably result to this guy! He is one of Spider-Man's "deadliest foes" and from the looks of him, I think he is a lot cooler to be a superhero than a super-villain. From what I heard, this is the more modern version of the Beetle, or shall we call him the Ultimate Beetle. I'm a little surprised Hasbro went with him instead of a more prominent character but... you know, it's always nice to have something or someone new to come around.













If only I weren't in too much rush on getting all these figures while they were still on the shelf, I could have gotten a better Beetle action figure without the paint defect. Mine has these scuff marks at the chest, which I am bummed about. But anyways, I like how the silver and red colour scheme, which blended perfectly on Beetle. If you look closely, you can see that he got multiple eyes sticking together on each side which I think is wicked. It would have been better if Hasbro added some line work to put more detail on his face.


But what I really liked about is the sculpting. It just seem like a new body mold with all these bumps protruding all over his suit and with the antennae and arm guns that made him appear more menacing. What's quite surprising is that his hands got only four fingers, not common to your average Marvel Legends hand, let alone his big feet that only got two toes on each.


The Beetle comes with just one accessory and that's his butterfly-like wings that you can latch it on a peg hole at his back. These wings have shades of green underneath it that is fading as it move outward to the edges. Just having this accessory made him twice cooler than him without it. One can only imagine how awesome this figure could be if the wings are retractable just like that of an insect.


This figure is not as articulated as it looks. Beetle is missing mid-calf rotations, and bending his spine to the back is limited. However, he can still execute a decent flying pose! His neck is on a ball-joint that lets him look straight up. His arms got ball-hinged shoulders, double-jointed elbows and hinged-wrists that flex and rotate. Like I said, his ab crunch is useless but has a nice forward movement. He has waist swivel and T-joints at the hips. His legs got rotation at the upper-thighs, double-jointed knees and hinged-ankles that moves up and down and pivots to the sides.


The Ultimate Beetle is part of the Amazing Spider-Man 2 Wave by Hasbro Marvel Legends and I would say this may be an easy pass since this character is not as a big deal of a character as guys like the Lizard or the Green Goblin. I probably would still recommend this figure to someone who needs to collect all Spidey's enemies or who's just a huge fan of the comic books.


8 comments:

  1. I like the Beetle i just wish this was the original green and purple version v.s. Ultimate one. Am too reminded of Iron Man with the colors but the wings are sweet.

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    1. I think DC also has their own Beetle but he's blue. I know, this character is a little Iron Man-ish.

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  2. It's either Kamen Rider/Silver Centurion Amalgam, or the "super human cyber squad" is what he reminds me of. But … we'll go with Silver Centurion/Kamen Rider. Honestly, I love this figure. Like you I know, NOTHING about Ultimate Beetle; been exposed to the Green and Purple Beetle more often, but this guy looks cool. The distinguishable things with this mold is definitely a nice add. Again, this new wave Hasbro brought in with Spidey has potential to be the pave way for our future BAFs, if so, I wish they just build on improving.

    Curious, is that the Bandai Tamashii figure stand you are using?

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    1. Yes, that's correct. It's the Tamashii Act 5 clear stand by Bandai and I got 3 of these in one single set. It served me so well that it's impossible for me to work on my figures' "photo shooting" without it.

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  3. He looks a bit like Japanese masked rider :)

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    1. Once I get a hold of that S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider, I would definitely take a photo of them both.

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  4. I've no knowledge of him whatsoever Combollector......hehehe.....not ashamed to admit that. But as you've pointed out, it's always to get new characters for our ML line-up.

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    1. We're going to have another "unfamiliar character" in this wave soon, and it's going to be the Boomerang - one of Spider-Man's deadliest foes.

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