REVIEW: Toy Biz MARVEL LEGENDS "Face Off" Hulk

Released 2006 

Toy Biz SMASHES their earlier efforts with this Incredible HULK figure!

Hulk Airlines

Any collector will tell you, there have been a LOT of Hulk Figures produced since big green saw his debut in May of 1962.  And truth be told, most of those efforts have produced less than stellar results.  But the bulk of these have seen release in recent years as demand for the big guy has steadily grown.

  It's not hard to imagine why the quality of these efforts has been so varied.  While "Huge Green dude" has remained a constant, the DETAILS of the Hulk's design has changed pretty drastically since the 60's.  Part of this is due to the ever evolving skill of the artists involved but an equal amount can probably be attributed to improvements in how toys themselves are made.  We've come a long way.  And by 2002, Toy Biz was going to finally get to take their shot at bringing this beloved character to life via plastic and paint.  Wisely, the Hulk was to be a cornerstone of their brand new MARVEL LEGENDS line of figures... a line that has seen an explosive burst of popularity (amongst comic book fans and collectors at least) in the years since.

CANNONBALL!

  But even Toy Biz had to start somewhere.  And by comparison to their latter day efforts, early Marvel Legends figures still had plenty of room for improvement.  2002 doesn't really feel like that long ago to me, but what a difference four years can make.  That series 1 Hulk was by no means a bad figure, but it wasn't until 2006 that Toy Biz would give us their definitive Hulk Figure as part of their FACE OFF series of two-packs.  And it's that Hulk, that I'm here to review now. 

SCALE and HEIGHT

There's a punchline here about "8 Inches" but I'm leaving it alone.

Face Off Hulk is not the biggest Hulk figure ever produced, but it is one of the bigger figures released in the MARVEL LEGENDS 6 inch scale.  All told, he clocks in at just over 8 inches... enough to make most Legends look small (as they should) by comparison.  He fits in well with Hasbro and Toy Biz MARVEL LEGENDS figures.

 I wouldn't recommend it to be used with the larger scale MARVEL SELECT figures since they are in a 7 inch scale.  You could probably get away with it, but might be better served using the Marvel SELECT Hulk from THE AVENGERS (released 2012).

Sculpt

  In my opinion, the Sculpt is one of this figures greatest strengths.  To be sure, this Hulk is a bit of a time capsule.  Stylistically, he's very much in keeping with the best elements of the Hulk as he appeared in the 1980's.  THIS is the Hulk that reigned alongside the mullet, "The Gipper", BEAT STREET and bandanas wrapped around thighs! It's a very different take on the Hulk than what we see in THE AVENGERS (2012), and that is a good thing (Not that modern Hulk is any less awesome, but I'm all for variety).

A Fantastic Sculpt

 There has been a tendency in other Hulk figures to make them look like EVERY muscle in his entire body is fully flexed at the same time, which is not only impossible, but looks a bit ridiculous.  What I admire here is a sense of realism based restraint in the sculpting.  He still looks massive and powerful, but is not all roid-raged out.  There's almost a look of repose to his physique... the potential for all that power to be released.

Rear view

  You won't find labyrinthine tangles of meaningless (and usually inaccurate) veins or muscles that look like they are about to snap for no reason.  The veins that are there are anatomically accurate and understated.  Hulk's feet are giant (which helps with stability) and his hands are rendered with muscular realism rather than just making his fingers look like fat sausages.

Bob Larkin's classic painting

  And his face... is EPIC, with a wide eyed expression ripped straight from the artwork of Bob Larkin's classic painting (which was used by Marvel's Marketing for years).  Teeth are over-sized, and his hair is messy and disheveled.  The modern Hulk has a much more clean cut hair style and more realistically sized teeth.  More human, less monster.  And I like my monsters.  Face Off Hulk just looks MEANER... scrappier, and more raw.  

The sculpt is otherwise clean.  I didn't spot any messy mold seams or chunks of missing plastic where the figure had been ripped away from the sprues.

  His skin has an almost elephant hide look to parts of it, with well placed wrinkles to seal the deal.  And his pants have an almost burlap feel to them.  This is some quality work, especially when you consider the price point that this figure was released at.

  

Paint Apps 

I know I keep coming back to this, but Toy Biz just seemed to put more "love" into their paint apps than Hasbro does.  For example, you'll find a layer of paint shading over the entire figure along with targeted use of washes to accent certain details.  You just don't see that from Hasbro.

The Face Off Hulk's skin is more of an emerald green than the warm green used for Modern Hulk and shading adds depth to the musculature.  This is more prevalent in the upper torso though, than the ankles and feet.  And fans of the original comics will appreciate Face Off Hulk sporting a snazzy pair of shredded PURPLE pants!  These have been given a wash to deepen the texture, which is a nice effect.

Ready for his close up

A lot of effort has gone into the paint apps used on the head as well.  Rather than just being black, his hair has been given a deep green wash for variety and unlike any other Hulk figure I've seen, the iris's of his eyes POP with an eerie off white color.  It reminds me of the contacts worn by Lou Ferrigno on the old 80's TV show.  Teeth have a brown-yellow wash over them... one more gritty detail unheard of in this era of blinding bleached teeth.

  Paint work overall is thick so none of the underlying plastic color bleeds through, and there are no discernible scuffs to be found.  Edges are crisp and there is no unwanted paint bleed anywhere.  Like the sculpting, the paint apps scream quality.  It's no surprise that this figure is so highly regarded in collectors circles.

Articulation   

  One area where you might expect this figure to fall a bit short is when it comes to the Articulation.  And there you'd be right.  This is not the most articulated figure in the world.  But then, we're not talking spiderman here, so I didn't expect to be able to twist the big guy into Yoga poses.

  It's surprising how many points of articulation the Face Off Hulk actually DOES have.  What undermines his articulation is the range of motion of each individual joint.  So what can you expect from big green?

Now THOSE are some huge Traps

  Well for starters, the head is mounted atop what I can only guess (you can't see it) is a ball-hinge joint.  This allows the Hulkster to look left and right as well as pretty far down... but not up.  That direction is wholly blocked by his massively over-sized trapezius muscle.

Possibly the only outright oversight on the figure is the lack of any kind of torso articulation.  There is no diaphragm pivot joint or ab-crunch to be found here.  I can understand the decision, since including such a joint would detract from the beautiful sculpt... but personally, I'd sacrifice that to get extra articulation.  What perfection this figure would be, with an Ab-crunch and a wider range of motion to existing joints.  So Face Off Hulk 100% cannot bend forward.  Bummer.

Waist Swivel of Justice

  Instead you get a waist swivel joint.  And that's more than Hasbro's Iron Man Figures can say so I'm glad to see it.

  His shoulders rotate and raise just like most MARVEL LEGENDS do, however this is again limited by his massive physique.  This time the limiting factor is purely his bulk.  Still, what's here is serviceable.

Limited Range of Motion

  Biceps swivel as you'd expect.   As for the elbows, those are single jointed and feature less than 90 degrees of play.  It wouldn't be until 2012 when we'd see a Hulk figure with double jointed elbows (Walmart exclusive AVENGERS Hulk).

Hulk SMAS... er, Slap..

  Finishing out the upper body articulation are wrists that swivel and pivot (which is awesome) and hands that feature the tried and true Toy Biz hand articulation.  This isn't on an individual finger basis, but the four fingers  on a hinge paired to a thumb that doesn't move.  Usually, this is a pretty useful set up, but in the case of Face Off Hulk, articulation is sacrificed again on the altar of sculpting.  Fingers are pre-posed into what are basically flat open palms.  These are better for slapping than punching, and folding them into approximations of fists, just doesn't really work.  A noticeable shortcoming in an otherwise excellent figure, and one that pretty seriously limits your options.

About as much motion as you can squeeze out of these joints

  His lower body articulation is similarly limited by his mass.  Hip joints are standard Toy Biz fare... Ball-Hinge joints.  In their default position his legs can be raised to the side and forward (dorsiflexion) albeit by a very limited number of degrees.  This is made a bit less cumbersome by the addition of upper thigh swivels.  Knees are single jointed and suffer the same limited range of motion.

Toy Biz's early ANKLE ROCKER design

Ankles and feet joints were ahead of their time in terms of functionality though the joints themselves aren't as integrated as modern designs.  Each axis of movement sported an independent joint and these worked together towards the over all motion.  His feet don't rotate (the hip swivels allow this by extension) but they do pivot vertically AND support camber adjustment (for that wide heroic stance) via an early ANKLE ROCKER design.  And there are even toe joints.  

  So it's a solid effort overall.  Not groundbreaking, but good enough to meet the expectations most collectors will have of a big ass HULK figure.

Special Features

Unlike modern Hasbro Legends, Toy Biz often rocked a hole in the figure's back that allowed you to get it up into the air with a flight stand.  While some say that Face Off Hulk is too beefy to allow this, Shartimus Prime (look up his excellent reviews on Youtube) proved that this can be done with a little creativity.

Make sure to use a solid flight stand with this

  Of course, when I tried to be cool like him, my (used) flight stand peg snapped off in his back... grounding my dreams of a green airborne meat missile.  So I had to fall back on a heavy duty aftermarket stand to get the big guy aloft.

Toy Biz going the extra mile

  And I have to give it to Toy Biz again for going the extra mile.  Face off Hulk features Foot Peg holes.

Accessories 

  Had I bought this figure new, he would have come with a two-figure flight stand and diorama card to insert into it.  He also would have come with a less than amazing figure of THE LEADER.  But all I was after was the Hulk himself, so I bought him loose via eBay.

Other versions

Open Mouth Variant

  The Face Off Hulk has an open mouth variant (different head sculpt).  The included LEADER figure has an entirely new head as well.  Otherwise, the Variant is identical to the base figure(s).

Size Comparison

Making Spidey look small

  For the sake of continuity I've shown the Hulk here next to Hasbro's Symbiote Black Spiderman.

Next to Hasbro's excellent AVENGERS HULK

As a Bonus, I snapped another shot of Face Off Hulk next to the Walmart exclusive AVENGERS Hulk figure.  Please note that AVENGERS Hulk has a wide default stance making him look slightly shorter, but both figures are actually about the same height.

Opinion, Value and VERDICT 

With the MARVEL SELECT She-Hulk

  This is a harder figure to come by these days.  Be it the superb sculpt, lovingly applied paint apps or decent articulation, it's one of, if not THE best Legends scale Hulk figure going.  Even used (without the LEADER or accessories) this guy can set you back close to $50 on ebay.  A shiny new two-pack runs closer to $80.  So this is not a casual purchase.  But collectors will likely find the Face Off Hulk an irresistible addition to their collection.

  For everybody else though, you could get just as much figure for a lot less money by picking up a Walmart Exclusive AVENGERS HULK figure (review forthcoming).  It's got a great sculpt, and superior articulation, if not the loving paint apps.

Closing thoughts

  Still the best Hulk Figure for your Legends Collection.  Just not the best VALUE.

  For more REVIEWS like this one, keep checking back on yer' old pal Evotaph and GEEKISH PURSUITS.  In the meantime, please COMMENT and SUBSCRIBE!