If you haven't noticed by this point, I've been in a bit of a 90s Marvel kick thanks to the review I'm making for the Fox Kids Marvel Universe (as well as the DC Animated Universe). The 1994 Fantastic Four show wasn't perfect, especially compared to the X-Men and Spider-Man shows made in the past, but season 2 was a massive upgrade compared to Season 1. A similar thing happened to Iron Man, and the reverse occurred with The Hulk. I also wanted to have my own chance of getting the Fantastic Four since, unlike the average MCU fanboy, I want to have these iconic characters in some form. Now that these guys are discounted on Walmart.com, I now have a chance to own these cool characters with no issue! The only concern is seeing if they weren't rushed on quality control, but let's see how they turned out!
Let's first take a look at Reed Richards. He is currently donning the lab coat he's normally worn in the lab on top of the Baxter Building. It's likely been reused from previous figures, as are the arms, but it fits well with him being one of the smartest humans in the world. It kind of hides the fact that the paint apps underneath the suit aren't that applied onto him as well, but it's something we'll get to in a more up-close look. At the very least, the labcoat helps him look unique from the other members with the way it covers most of his uniform.
Head sculpt is fairly alright, though I'm pretty sure the eyes are painted on weirdly, though probably not as weird as the gray temples looking pixelated due to the digital paint transfers rather than being properly tampographed on. At least there is a subtle use of paint for the lips. As for the articulation, it's on-par with the average Marvel Legend seen in the past; ball peg for the head, hinge for the neck, shoulder rotation and hinge for in and out movement, bicep swivels, double-jointed elbow bends, wrist swivels from the pegs and inward hand movement; both sets of arms have this amount of articulation. Because the arms are swappable, there are no butterfly joints. There is an ab crunch and waist swivel, hips that move front and back as well as in and out rather tightly, thighs swivel, knees bend at two points, the ankles hinge up and down as well as rock on both sides as expected.
Next up, here we have Susan Storm, the Invisible Woman. This figure is undoubtedly using a female mold, but it carries over the same uniform design Reed is wearing. In fact, I believe the dark blue spandex/white glove & boot combo was used in the 90s, as shown in the animated series as well as the unreleased movie. Her deco is sort of like Mr. Fantastic's where the white parts aren't really applied on as well as they should be, and I feel that the more mass-produced characters suffer from that. Either that or Hasbro doesn't see this wave as crucial as the other lines.
Head sculpt is not that great. It's not terrible, but she feels like she's about to get upset over someone making the same damn joke about her or the team as a whole. Her hair could use more of a dry brush to make it look realistic. Her articulation is mostly sane apart from her torso articulation featuring only the diaphragm joint and the elbows having a single bend; her alternate splayed open hands go well with the effect piece representing her forcefields made from bending light. Some people may see her as needless for having invisibility as a power, but it has benefits for keeping people unaware of her presence while also making forcefields for both offense and defense.
After that, we have Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch. He's the member that is best known for not just being one of the two popular members of the Fantastic Four, but he's also the most interesting when it comes to trivia: his name originally belonged to the android Invader that teamed up with Captain America in the 1940s, Johnny Storm himself was not in the 1978 Fantastic Four show because of some weirdo rights issues that had him belong to NBC for a movie that was scrapped, he is usually paired up with Spider-Man, he was previously portrayed by Captain America actor Chris Evans in the two movies made in the 2000s, and then he was portrayed by Killmonger actor Michael B. Jordan, and if you ask me, the raceswap for Johnny Storm in Fant4stic is the least of the movie's problems given how everything else about it sucks dick. And yes, this guy has the similar suit design and so-so paint app quality on the white parts.
His head sculpt is the best of the three normal human-type members, and I dig the confidence he possesses as typical for the character. I still wish he had a bit of dry-brushing for the hair. His articulation is similar to that of Reed Richards, except his boots swivel and he possesses butterfly joints. He has a neckpiece and leg accessories that allow him to flame on somewhat, and he also has alternate hands with white painted on to make them look opaque apart from the flames.
There is also a variant of himself that is cast in clear plastic and uses a few lines on parts of him to represent comic art details of the past as well as new sculpting to make his flame powers more presentable. You can swap some parts of him to further make the flame powers work. Flame on!
And now, The Thing. This guy is chunky as hell, and it makes sense considering his character design combined with the increased strength and height he has. He may not be as strong as The Hulk, but he is much faster and stronger by comparison, so perhaps The Thing would have some form of opportunity to win. The heft of this guy is appreciative, especially being at the same price tag that the other figures in the line share. He could easily have been a BAF or have parts of him cheapened out, but the simple character design and subtle use of paint apps make him a lot more appreciative. All he needs is a simple wash to accentuate the sculptwork and the blue trunks to ve set.
He has one of two different head sculpts in the line, with this one being more of a neutral expression that some may find as a bit dumbfounded. Perhaps he can use this head sculpt for when he's confused by any weirdo shit going on in the Marvel universe. With his fists and snarling head sculpt on, he shows his articulation by possessing the same amount of joints that the other characters possess, with the main differences being he has single jointed elbows.
One of the things I wanted to do is get Morlun and have the thing accuse him of stealing his catchphrase, only to realize it's not Morlun that's the culprit but Morbius. Regardless, it's clobberin time!
Overall ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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