Articulation, though, is the one area where the figure falls apart a little for me. MUs and MIS (?) figures have slowly reverted away from some of the great articulation of year’s past. It’s just a combination of costs and what people are willing to pay, but there were a few parts of Ant-Man’s figure that I found frustrating. There’s still a lot here: ball-joints at the neck, shoulders, elbows, hips (limited), & inverted ankles, as well as a waist swivel & double-hinge knees.
It sounds like a lot, it is, but I was sad to see the lack of thigh swivels as that really impacts the legs. If the hips worked better, it wouldn’t be such a big deal. The other thing I was surprised by was the lack of wrist swivels. They’re not as crucial to posing as the thigh swivels, but the figure definitely lost some expressiveness when it lost the wrists.
As advertised, Ant-Man had one accessory: “& Ant”. On the surface, I love this idea! The ML comes with a mini Ant-Man riding this same ant. It’s a cool thing to have the ant in two scales. And the large ant itself is pretty neat! It’s a good size and I love the clear wings and sculpt. The articulation is actually pretty solid too: ball joints at the neck & abdomen, eight ball-joints in the legs, and the ball-jointed wings. Ant-Man can also sit atop it pretty easily. It should be a huge plus to the figure except it just doesn’t stay together! The legs pop off constantly. The wings don’t stay up and pop out when they give out and fall down. It’s just a big mess. As cool as it is, I’d almost rather have foregone the up charge for the big ant and just gotten the figure.
Overall, I’m still happy with this purchase. The figure has a few flaws – a couple more paint apps and an articulation point or two away from being perfect, but it’s solid for a 4” figure. The only real heartbreaker is that the ant just needed to stay together, to feel a little more like quality piece instead of something you’d find in the dollar store aisle. It look great, but it just needed engineered a tad better. Still the whole set for $20 is a pretty good value and it’s cool to have Ant-Man in the two sizes right off the bat.
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Excellent review. Good to know the degree of all the toy’s faults. Reminiscent of the Empress of Rachnoss figure from Doctor Who. Bloody impressive to look at, but damned if she didn’t break apart at the hips way too easily. And I don’t mean her legs would pop out of sockets, I mean her hips would shatter, and there was nothing you could do to fix it, not even Super-Glue.
yikes. I never got around to grabbing her (of ebay, as with most of my DW and Primeval figs, who came with some great animal and insectoid accessories. and REX! LOL), but that sounds worse than the ToyBiz ML8 Iceman, whose hips would simply fall apart at random times, regardless of whether you were pulling him out of the package, or he’d been sitting quietlyposed on the shelf for six months. I know there were a LOT of complaints about that fig!
Personal thing, the flying ant with these toys creeps me the heck out. I’m not keen on bugs overall and these look too much like giant wasps for my liking. Ants, even tho mostly harmless, scare me a bit. Note I refrain from the phrase ‘bug me’ 🙂
So when I buy this, and I will, that darn ant stays in the box!
*ahem* It’s interesting what you say about the articulation on this figure, because it sounds like it has more (even if still limited and not as good as, say, the Captain America The First Avenger line) than the recent Avengers Age of Ultron (4 inch) figs.
Hm. Does that mean there’s gonna be a 2.5 inch scale Ant-Man line? Or did they cover that with the pack-in accessories of the ML figure? 🙂 Geeze that’s so darn useless. Annoys me no end Hasbro pulled that crap for the Guardians of the Galaxy figures AND Age of Ultron.
Good review! I’m loving all of the Ant-Man love.
It’s a shame to hear about some of the problems. Just curious. Would a silver Sharpie and a steady hand be able to draw that silver piping on the figure? Or is there no sculpted detail there either? Also, would some clear nail polish on the connector joints help the ant to stay together? I know we shouldn’t have to do these kinds of things at all, but personally, I’m willing to put forth a bit of effort to make a good toy into a great one.
No photo of 6″ Ant-Man riding the ant?
Saw the movie at a screening Tuesday night and loved it. This will be a popular toy based on the movie and the relationship between Ant-man and his trusty steed “Ant-thony”. I just wish the ant came with a saddle. This movie reminds me of the first Iron Man = simple story with some fun bits. It could do for ants what Jurassic Park did for dinosaurs.
GREAT MOVIE. I had so much fun at it. I’ll see it again asap.
Really makes me want to buy all Ant-Man related toys lol
Loving all the Ant-Man stuff this week! Like you, I would’ve preferred to pick up just the figure, but I like the design too much to hope for a repaint sometime down the line. The ant was originally going to go to my 4-year-old Godson, but the easy-off legs would make it a terrible toy for someone his age. I feel like the figure’s hips provide a great range of motion, even without swivel thighs, certainly better than a lot of the other MU figures I have. I really miss the wrist swivels, though. (BTW, it DOES say Marvel Infinite Series on the box)