I’ve been working on updating all our checklists – I think I’ve become “the Living Checklist”. If there were contests to see how many figures in a line you could name, I’d win. With this great power came a realization. Marvel Universe has gotten very deep into the roster and it’s still the Fantastic Three.
As I said, I’ve been working on revamping the Marvel Universe checklist – figuring out a nice way to work in the wave groupings – and getting ready to add in the deluge of news from SDCC. In the middle of CSS inserts and image resizing, I realized that the Fantastic Four was incomplete. Reed Richards appeared courtesy of a 2pk with Ultron. We’ve seen three Things with briefs and with pants in a couple decos. Johnny has been made three times over. And yet, there’s not been one Invisible Woman…
…insert your impulsive, beaten to death “you just can’t see her” joke here. I’ll wait…
Feel better? Now, with that out of the way, let’s get on to the meat of it…
I don’t really fault Hasbro for not having this done yet. They’re about 80 characters in and while they probably should’ve tossed her in there somewhere by now, we live in the age where toy companies lord team completion over us. DCUC is still months away from Martian Manhunter – crucial member of the Justice League across multiple eras – and when released he’ll be the 175th figure in the line. Ouch! So, by no means is the first lady of Marvel being slighted that badly, but it was still a shock to me that Sue Storm had not yet graced the Marvel Universe line.
I thought back to past Invisible Women and maybe Hasbro is waiting to do her right. I’ve wanted a good Invisible Woman figure since the 80s and, uh, I’m more or less still waiting.
See, there have been a lot of Invisible Woman figures over the years, but few have been noteworthy for good reasons. The old Marvel Superheroes line had pinhead Sue – which Toy Biz enshrined in their “Hall of Fame” in two more decos no less! The 90s Fantastic Four made a Sue out of that one female body they used for just about everyone. Toy Biz Marvel Legends had a few Invisible Women, but if I recall correctly, they all shared some artist-specific head sculpt that I couldn’t stand (I still have the clear one because you couldn’t see the particulars). There was an awesome animated figure that was cancelled before seeing release. I would’ve bought that for sure. There are the movie figures too of course, but I don’t want Jessica Alba in an F4 costume on my shelf, I want a Sue. Hasbro has done two Invisible Women figures in their line so far. The first back in FF Classics and the second in one of their 2pks – these figures are probably among the best, but I didn’t really like either. Oh, and there is that rare one from the Dragon Man wave. I might like that one, but I’ve never seen it. (Sigh… I know, it’s still not funny.)
So maybe she’s been held back until Hasbro can work the kinks out of the female figures? Judging from Mary Jane, Hasbro’s not ready to take on Invisible Woman just yet – things could go wrong and the curse of bad Sue figures would continue. Maybe Hasbro should go radical and break the cure by doing a 90’s “cut-out” costume in all its over-sexed, character-inappropriate glory!
Whatever Hasbro does, they should do it soon. The Fantastic Four should be complete – in white and black decos since they’ve already got the ball rolling on those two collections. With SDCC in the can and the line announced up until Spring, we’ve got a ways to go before we hear word on the Invisible Woman, so let’s collectively cross our fingers for Toy Fair 2011.
And maybe with the return of Marvel Legends… maybe we can actually get a nice 6″ one too? Wait… I guess I’ll save that one for 2012.
Sue is one of the biggest glaring holes in that line. If Hasbro is hesitant they should put her in a 2pk.
I know her 90s costume is generally hated, but it’d make for a cool toy.
It all goes to your earlier posts, Moisy. Getting complete teams is just an exercise in frustration anymore. Even more so if there’s a lady in the group.
It seems impossible that here we are, the first decade of the 21st century and they STILL cling to the “but it’s a boy’s toy line! They don’t want any icky girls!” mantra.
And when they DO finally admit they have to toss a chick into the line, many times it’s like it’s been sculpted by someone who either hates women or just has no clue what a woman LOOKS like. The overuse of standard ‘bucks’ doesn’t help any, as while you can fudge with the guys somewhat, gals tend to be pretty unique because of proportions.
I mean, it’s not so bad that, say, Batman and Superman are built off the same buck (even tho, again, they SHOULD be proportioned somewhat differently, depending on which period of their comic books lives you’re depicting) but Sue Storm is NOT built like, um..damn, I’m not very hep on Marvel…Kitty Pryde. Am I right? I mean other than they both have the breasteseses.
rargh.
ARGH! NOISY! How did that M get in there?!? I AM FAIL! 🙂
Hee hee hee. ^^
John Byrne sure drew an ugly Sue Storm. I loved the last panel of your collage BTW!
They need to release a white trim figure as a single, but the black trim could come in 2pk with Mr. Fantastic because we still don’t have that either. Not to mention a chunk of their villains…
I’ll take Jessica Alba in just about any costume.
I can understand the difficulty in completing an ideal set of the always changing ranks of the X-Men or Avengers, but Fantastic Four has essentually had the same members for 50 years. Only four members. It’s right there in the name.
After waves of single FF in the standard Legends, Sue never showed up in her Kirby uniform, then she looked pretty dumb in sets that required buying recostumed versions of the 3 guys. I understand she’s not exciting, I guess.
For Marvel Universe, it wouldn’t hurt to redo the stocky Reed with stretch accessories and the piss-poor Johnny.
The dragon man wave of ToyBiz classics had the best head sculpt by far, but the uniform was more like the Ultimate FF, rather than 616.
Even in the minimates line, Sue is neglected. She’s had three releases (compared to 7 Things), all with the same 60’s hair. Thank goodness it’s easy to give her supergirl hair to modernize her…
yeah, the limited (except for Torch) 2 waves of the last TB FF line were based on the then-new Ultimate FF. As much as I wanted an Impy, I passed on them because I already had enough Torches and was NOT going to buy another one without SUE. As a result, I own nary a one of that line.
(bright side: that line also featured KANG, which Hasbro re-released as part of the ARES BAF wave!)
and what’s wrong with Mike Weiringo’s art? a little cartoony, but more vibrant and alive than most of the artists out there, today. too bad we’ll never see any more. 🙁
Inivisible Woman is being held hostage!
They have to get to her pretty soon.