If you’re somewhat ignorant of Marvel continuity, like me, then you may be wondering why we picked this two-pack for Thor week. Well, as it turns out, the Absorbing Man was originally a Thor villain. This was a surprise to me because I’ve always associated him with the Hulk. (Something that was reinforced by the new–and awesome– Avengers cartoon.)
Carl “Crusher” Creel was originally given a magical Asgardian potion by Loki that allows him to absorb the properties of whatever he touches. These properties can also be absorbed by his prisoner’s ball and chain. (I’m not really sure how that part works, or even why he would want to change steel into most other substances which are weaker.) Ultimately Thor defeated him by turning him into helium and dispersing into the atmosphere.
Absorbing Man uses the same body as Luke Cage except for his left hand, which is outstretched. I don’t really mind the reuse of parts here because he still looks nearly spot-on for the character. So, all that was really required was the addition of a newly sculpted pointy head. Although I would have really liked to see a new left arm as well. The Marvel Legends Absorbing Man had these great sculpted rock and brick textures. Repeating that here would have really added a lot to this simple paint job.
Speaking of paints, aside from his purple prison pants (things must have been a bit different in 1965), the most interesting part of him is the dark absorbing powers coming over the left part of his torso. I really like how uneven and random they look. Plus, he has this shiny looking golden left eye.
Crusher’s got the basic MU articulation. His head, upper chest, and hips are ball joints. The shoulders and ankles are swivel hinges. His biceps and wrists are swivels, while his elbows are hinges and his knees are double hinges.
Crusher only gets one accessory: his giant ball and chain. This is really the same one that came with the Thunderball figure, although this one has way cooler paint apps that make it look like tarnished metal.
This is one of the better Marvel Universe two-packs just because it contains two new figures. But the folks at Hasbro took it a bit farther and added in a tiny unarticulated figure of Wasp in her purple and green outfit from Secret Wars. I love tiny little figures like this because they can fit in with any scale toy line you collect. She’ll look just as great with my Marvel Legends as she does with the Universe figures. I just wish she had some sort of stand so I don’t have to hook her onto one of the figures.
All around this is one of the better MU two-packs. You technically get three new figures and they all have decent paint jobs and accessories. It’s getting a bit harder to find in stores though, so if you’ve been waffling about picking it up you’d better decide now before it’s completely gone.
-Vault
crusher’s a badass. your question about steel is easy to answer… sometime, it pays to be something other than steel. especially when the guy you’re fighting can bend steel with his nutsack and regularly fires off lightning bolts.
when we were younger, my brother was into quasar. quasar fought AM at one point, and crusher, after no fairing very well, managed to get a hand on the quantum bands. he big, and powerful… too powerful. he had no idea how to wield the power that he had just acquired, it ended up making him explode. that was just kind of fresh. this was just post “acts of vengeance” as i recall, and loki had granted crusher one other power, he altered the ball and chain so crusher could toss it and fly behind it like thor does w/ his hammer… good stuff.
OK, I guess I can see that being useful.
I didn’t know he could fly with it though, that’s kind of cool.
This is a good two pack, but Crusher looks less like an Absorbing Man and more like an Unabsorbant one that couldn’t mop up very well. Either that or someone did a Wyle-E on him and put Acme dynamite in his Mountain Dew…….
Seeing as we all knew we would get Doom on a single card sooner or later I too would have loved a Secret-wars accurate version – that was the only Secret Wars figure I ever had and even then I whined about the lack of knee-joints when compared to Super Powers. It’s never too early to start whining about Mattel ruining your life……little did I know it would become a life’s work.
Lol, as a kid I remember wondering why the Marvel figures couldn’t move as well as the DC ones. I didn’t realize different companies made the two lines. Heck, I didn’t even know there were different companies. Toys were just something that existed at a store and I brought home. 😛
I can’t remember Doom using his sidearm in the comics either, but I think it’s an occasional move in Marvel Super Heroes, and maybe the later games. I love that Doom has it, here and in the comics: I think it’s intended as a ceremonial thing, but Doom’s absolutely not above pistolwhipping Richards or finishing him execution-style.
Yeah, I remember him using it in the games, just not the books.
Anyone one else out there know if he ever used his pistol?
The lack of a Secret Wars Doom was a big negative for this set here, Vault. Had to pick it up for Crusher, but I wash Hasbro would’ve done up done right.
I know! What’s even more annoying is that version of Doom would have required the same amount of pieces as this one. Plus we’re getting another version of this Doom later this year. He has better colors, but I still want my armored version.
And 2099, since I’m being demanding.
Fun fact about the original ML-Hulk line’s Creel with orange pants: his prison serial number is actually the birthday of ML/DCD/various other lines’ paint master Ed Wires.
(and the day after mine! LOL)
RIP Ed.
That’s a cool tribute. A sad one now too.
That was nice of them to do. Very cool.