Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Still not a review: the rest of Walmart's Marvel Legends Nemesis wave:

Even though it may sometimes seem like I buy every action figure within a five mile radius, the reality is quite different: not only do I have to be selective with my purchases, since I'm primarily a brick-and-mortar toy shopper, distribution plays a big part. Sometimes I can't afford to blow my budget on a figure, sometimes I never find a particular toy on the shelves; and sometimes it just doesn't seem like a good deal, like buying one just for a build-a-figure piece.

And then sometimes, it all falls into place: previously we've seen the Wal-Mart exclusive Marvel Legends Nova and Tigra, but then after that Black Bolt and Beast sold out, and I gave up on any chance of putting together Nemesis (Holocaust). But, just like true love and disfiguring accidents, when you least expect it...

The four figures I needed, on clearance, five bucks each. While I might have preferred the red Daredevil or the skull-masked Punisher, I was not about to look that gift horse in the mouth. This also makes Nemesis the first builder I've completed since...DCUC's Metamorpho, back in wave one of that line? Seriously?

Nemesis is a great figure, but a warning: you will break the little peg that holds his clear faceshield/helmet thing on. Just accept it as a given, and move on. Once you reattach it somehow--I'm using the blue adhesive putty I use for everything--you'll be fine, and you'll love him.

Wait, 'love'? Whoa, now hold the phone, Mabel: don't put Nemesis anywhere near your Galactus or Sentinel build-a-figures, unless you want to be sad: while the character shouldn't be as big as either of those two (who could also, in scale, be bigger...) Nemesis is less than about half their size. That's a little unfair, since Nemesis is pretty much in-line or comparable with current build-a-figures like Metamorpho or Gorilla Grodd. (Best guess, Atom-Smasher would be a bit taller but narrower?) And I have to find the old "Dark Nemesis" figure, since while he was a bit small at the time, his gun-hand looked like a gun-hand: ML Nemesis' hand looks like a polyhedron, like he's got a twenty-sided die for a fist. So, not saying Nemesis is terrible, but light won't open from the heavens for him, either, sorry.

You can check out a brief appearance of Nemesis, as Holocaust, here, as he gets bwaam!ed in the face by Thor's hammer. I know I've read more comics with Nemesis, but I'm not sure I still have them. With X-Man, he snuck out of the end of the Age of Apocalypse, and showed up every once in a while as the muscle: Nemesis doesn't seem like a big thinker. He also appears in the Legacy Quest Trilogy novels by Steve Lyons.

Some brief thoughts on the rest: although he wore that costume for about fifteen minutes in continuity, the yellow Daredevil is a nice figure. Ditto the Bradstreet-esque Punisher. The new Beast, though...he's not just a little short on the articulation, he's a little short compared to the old (ML 4, a bazillion years ago) Beast. I know there's been some grousing about Black Bolt's wings, but they didn't bother me; but I haven't really kicked that figure around much yet.

For a solid review, check out this one at It's All True. It's nice to have Marvel Legends back, but I'm waiting for the next one to knock my socks off.

2 comments:

  1. He popped as Holocaust midway through Bedard's Exiles run. He was not a total idiot in that, smart enough to see a connection between the Exiles Tallus and the M'Kraan Crystal, which . guess Apocalypse found/stole/something, which they used to find the Timebroker.

    Then he tried to fight evil Hyperion, who promptly cracked his glass helmet, and inhaled Holocaust's (I'm assuming) solar energy self, killing him.

    So, death by being snorted. Rough way to go.

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  2. Well, now I'm curious: is Nemesis/Holocaust like the Legion's Wildfire, or Fuji from Stormwatch; a big ball of gas in a suit? (A suit he kept his old skeleton in, sure.) And was that our Holocaust or an alternate reality one? (Technically, I guess ours wasn't even ours...)

    I just wonder at his motivation for anything, if he has any beyond destruction, since I don't think he's going to interact well with the world, people, co-workers, etc.

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