First Appearance Hulk - Marvel Legends

Marvel Legends
First Appearance Hulk - Marvel Legends
By Hervé St-Louis
July 25, 2005 - 10:42

Hulk is the behemoth introduced in May 1962 in the first issue of his own comic book series, The Incredible Hulk. Hulk is Dr Bruce Banner, a scientist exposed to dangerous gamma rays that turned him into a Mr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. As Hulk, Banner is strong, powerful, and not very smart. A classic characters who enjoyed a lengthy television run in the 1970s and 1980s, Hulk has had his first feature film in 2003.

Likeness

The sculptor based this figure on the artwork from Jack Kirby’s Hulk. However, his face, whether the green version or the grey is not exactly like the very first Hulk. Instead it’s a good compromise from the best Jack Kirby Hulk illustrations. The face is more streamlined than the in the comic book. In the first appearance of Hulk, his forehead and highbrows are more relaxed than on the action figure. This figure should be called Jack Kirby’s Hulk, instead of the First Appearance Hulk.

Sculpt

The sculp is excellent. In fact it is the best Hulk action figure ever made by Toybiz. This figure passes over the bulging vein look and exaggerated large Hulk to give us a nice sculpt that one would expect more from DC Direct than Toybiz. But at the same time, this Hulk is no soft monster. One can feel his power and might. The face is best sculpt I’ve seen for this character. The grey Hulk’s mouth is closed, while the green one’s open. The sculpt is well planed and all articulations hidden. It doesn’t seem as if any old Hulk parts from past figures are part of this set. If they are, it would be the feet, but they would have sanded off his veins.

Paint

The base plastic is green with painted highlight everywhere. Hulk’s hair is dark green with highlights. The pants are of course purple and the paint in the area covers the base plastic effectively. Although there are but few spills, there are some details that were ignored. For example, the back of the Hulk’s knees are still green instead of being purple. The joint in the shoulder has the wrong colour and contrasts with the shoulders.

Scale

Hulk is about seven inches making him taller than most Marvel Legends action figures, yet, in scale with them. Being larger, Hulk will look good with other action figures such as Sota’s Street Fighter or even DC Direct’s Kilowog. Hulk looks like a toddler next to Galactus. Although shorter than DC Direct’s Solomon Grundy, they are excellent sparring partners.

Stability

Hulk is stable, but his toes don’t touch the ground properly. Most of his weight is on his back so he can easily flip backward. Careful adjustment of his feet and knees will yield good results. Hulk is top heavy, although not very weighty. His structure is hollow. His legs are more than capable of holding his weight. Hulk does have one peg hole per foot for added stability in conjunction with an action figure stand.

Articulation

Hulk has 37 articulations. He has ball joint shoulders, biceps curls, bending elbows, forearm curls, bending wrists, independent bending thumbs, independent bending indexes, palm bending palms, a ball joint neck, an abdominal twist, a twisting waist, ball joint hips, allowing him to move his legs forward, backward and sideways, curling thighs, double knee articulations, bending ankle with sideway rotation and bending toes. The articulations are stiff and have a tactile mechanism to control the exact degree of articulations.

Plastic

Hulk’s plastic is hollow but made of resistant stock that will not bend in warm weather and can resist the abuse of a child. Hulk’s chest seems like it could open is held together by pressure. All parts, such as the abdominal, the shoulders and the head are inserted in the hollow torso. Similarly, the hips hold the abdominal and the ball joints of the thighs. Unlike past Hulk action figures, there are no joints visible in the shoulders, although there are some in the knees, the fingers, the feet and the toes.

Props

Hulk comes with a reprint of the Incredible Hulk #1 published in 1962. Also, Hulk comes with one of the left arm of Galactus, the gigantic 16 inch action figure one can assemble when each of the Marvel Legends Series 9 action figure are bought. Galactus and the comic book are exactly the same whether one purchases the green or the grey Hulk.

Packaging

Hulk comes in a bubble package glued on a cardboard. One needs scissors to open the package. Inside Hulk and Galactus’ arm are tied with wires. The comic book is inserted on top of the cardboard. On the back cover, there’s a short bio on Hulk and some statistics about his ability and skill. On the flip side, there are instructions on how to assemble a complete Galactus action figure.

Cost

Depending on which Hulk, price vary. The green Hulk is rarer so many retailer sell it for more. The grey Hulk is more common so its price is similar than other Marvel Legends action figures. However, in large surface stores, there are no mark ups for the green Hulk, but often these figures are swiped by professional scalpers and are never found on the shelves.

Availability

There are two grey Hulk figures in every case of twelve Marvel Legends Series 9 action figures. Cases with variants have one grey Hulk and one Green Hulk per case of twelve. As there are less Green Hulk, one may have to check auction sites or specialized stores to find the green Hulk. There has been many Hulk action figures recently, so not many people might be looking for another one. Most collectors who already Hulk action figures are probably buying this one because it’s the most similar to the comic book and because it contains a piece of Galactus.

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