The Avengers Movie: 3.75" Wave 1 Complete Review!!!

And it begins!

The countdown to the May 1st release date of the Avengers here in Singapore has begun!

Why now, you ask?  It's not because the Rangerlord sounded me out a week ago that the toys were out.  It's not because I walked into Toys R Us five days back and saw the 3.75" figures, the Quinjet, the Deluxe figures, the masks, or Captain America's Frisbee shield.

It's not even because later that same evening, I was picking up my wife at the nearby mall and she texted me "You're gonna wanna check out the department store.  There's lots of Avengers stuff!"

No.  It's because I walked into that very department store and saw these!

Oh, and if you've read this far, Happy April Fools! ;P

Yes, as you can tell, these ain't no action figures, nor are they 3.75" tall.  They're just, well, Mini Muggs!  And this is a review of the complete 1st wave!  (Gotcha!  Maybe.)

There was a set, only one complete set, and I had to snag it.  Sure, some other guys will probably pick up my leavings of a couple of Nick Fury and a Hawkeye or two, but I, I have the complete first wave of The Avengers Mini Muggs!  Mwahahahaha!

And here I review it. :P

Like: That these may very well be the best versions of the movie characters in the entire toy line planned for The Avengers.  What happened to the 3.75" figures?  Well, apparently after the Captain America movie, Hasbro felt that taking away wrist and ankle joints and charging the same price as before would make figures more popular to us collectors.  Well, it don't. :/

So if I'm gonna get some Avengers that aren't so well articulated, then I might as well get the Mighty Muggs because you can sure bet that they'll be well painted--good aesthetics at least!

Assemble!

Like: Their size.  It was a darn good move for Hasbro to shrink Mighty Muggs to Mini Muggs.  The former was just as awesome, but they took up way to much space.  And when it came down to whether to have a display full of Muggs or fully articulated 6" figures, the Muggs always lost out.  Both would look great on display, but the fully articulated figures were playable, poseable, and ultimately better value for space.

You put your left leg in, you pull your left leg out...

So now with their greatly reduced size (about 3.5", I ain't got no measurin' tape!), they no longer need to compete for real estate.  Sure, everything with mass takes up space but these six little dudes would fit into the same area as one Mighty Mugg.  And there's even space to stack more above them if you insert some sort of extra shelving!

You put your right leg in and you shake it all about...

Like: Their cuteness.  Each one of them looks like my 11th month old son playing dressup.

You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around, that's what it's all about! Hey!

Like: The good variety of expressions. Nick looks serious as Sam Jackson does, while Hulk is cross but not quite mad yet.  Thor looks tired (with dark circles under his eyes), like the duty of being a god is weighing heavily upon him, and Captain America has a happy lopsided grin.  Hawkeye looks smug and Tony Stark is definitely drunk under that Iron Man armour. Lol.

Dislike: That their accessories aren't removable! Hand around accessory is sealed.

Like: That despite the non-removable nature of the accessories, those that have an empty hand have a sculpted slot to grip things in that same hand.  This means there's a chance they might yet still come up with characters that have removable accessories, or accessories that these guys can make use of.

MUGG RATINGS

Hulk: 8/10 - He's just a bare Mugg but really well painted. What I dig the most is that he's not all-out raging.  the somewhat mad expression makes him look all the more funny, like he's kinda of confused.  The round eyes under that huge scowl, the little nose, and the uneven teeth are excellent touches.  Throw in the classic purple paints and a couple of dots for nipples and we have a great Hulk!


Captain America: 7.5/10 -  Love the shield--the paint, the size, the fact that it's smaller than his head.  But I wish it was removable.  He's got a ruddier-coloured chin and nose, which I like, and they got his costume down pat so there's very little not to like there too.  He's got a couple of tiny painted-on ears, but I do wish some of details were sculpted parts.


Iron Man: 7.5/10 - He's shiny, his paint doesn't chip off easily (like when you wrestle him and the others out of the plastic in the packaging), and he's red and gold.  (Like a Lannister. ;P).  He's also very nicely varnished, though there are some very minor paint splashes/drops here and there.  Those I see probably happened when they were waiting for his varnish to dry.  It's ok though, like Hulk, he's all paint and they done an excellent job.


Thor: 8/10 - As bare as Hulk and Iron Man are, Thor is the opposite.  He's got a removable cape and his mighty Mjolnir.  But he's no slouch in the paint department--check out his lightning eyes, light eye bags, facial hair, long blonde locks, and armour!  Very Hemsworth/Eric Cartman indeed!

Hawkeye: 7/10 - Love the bow, small details like his earpieces, protective forearm pad, smirk, and his chin dimple.  I wish there was more to his Mugg costume though.  While it'll probably work really well in the movie, it makes for a not so exciting Mugg. Haweye is also the only one who's box doesn't say his accessory isn't removable so beware--it isn't.

Nick Fury: 8/10 - I have to confess that I'm a huge fan of the Samuel Leroy Jackson version of Nick Fury (sorry David Hasselhoff!)  It now looks like from here on out, this version will be the predominant version and we have Mark Millar to thank for that!

This version of fury doesn't have his trench coat, because it's the all-action version with two guns!  He's even painted well enough to look like he aim through one of them.  What I really liked were the two laser sights on the guns.  Yeah, it's the funny little things that get ya.  I think this guy really captures the spirit of Fury in his face.  One look and you know it's Nick Fury.  Not by the costume, not by the eye patch, but by the attitude.  Oh, yeah.

Overall: These Mini Muggs  certainly keepers! - But I do wish they had more molded parts, especially accessories, wings on the head, helmets and the like.  It's really hard to resist them, though because their paint is great and they come in tiny, individual packaging.

I usually don't get Muggs until they go on major clearance but I made and exception in this case.

Perhaps knowing the 3.75" line had poor articulation got to me more than I thought.  Opening these guys up and displaying them side-by-side was really fun and they look great on display.  Now I really can't wait till the movie hits the big screens in a month's time!