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The mightiest Marvel heroes are ready to save the day with their amazing abilities and super powers.  Build your team and join in the battle with the MARVEL SUPER HERO SQUAD!

Iron Fist: Fighter with the spirit of an ancient dragon!

Black Costume Spider-Man: Back in black to battle the bad guys!

It’s Saturday!  Time for some more action figure action with Gotta Have It! Figure Edition! This week, we’re going to take a look at a couple of samples from Hasbro’s extremely vast line of mini Marvel action figures… Marvel Super Hero Squad: Iron Fist and Black Costume Spider-Man!

How super is your squad?

Product Line: Marvel Super Hero Squad
Series: Wave 14
Company: Hasbro
Release Date: August 2009
Packaging: Blister Card Packaging
Where to Buy:Pretty much any retail store with an action figure department.
Price: US $6.99
Points of  Articulation: Iron Fist- 4.  Spider-Man- 3.
Height: 3 inches each.
Paint Job: Iron Fist – He’s painted well with yellow, green, black, and flesh color.  There’s only a minor goof on his left leg where they didn’t paint down far enough for his pants.  His Shou-Lao tattoo is painted on perfectly.  The paint is a little messed up on his right hand as they did not paint enough of it leading up to the clear plastic flame of his chi.

Spider-Man – He’s in all black with white accents.  The white spider logo is true to the costume and is one piece from front to back.  The eyes are also white.  What I really like is they painted on the white patches on the tops of his hands.  A lot of the times, that feature is overlooked.  As simple as this piece sounds, there are a few white specs where they should not be.  Most notably under his right eye and on the back of his head.  There is also a little bleeding between the spider legs on his right side.  The thing that is getting me the most, though, is the spots where they don’t belong since the costume is 95% black.

Sculpt: Iron Fist – Well, back when I covered Iceman I noted how I really liked when action figures were able to use clear plastic for special effects.  Danny Rand really has that action going on here with his chi.  That’s good stuff.  It’s like he could punch a bad guy’s face off for real.  This is more of his original costume, as well, with the high collar and yellow booties.

Spider-Man – Paint job blemishes aside, it’s a really nice sculpt.   Aside from the white patches on the hands, every detail is part of the sculpt and textured.  His left hand is sculpted in web-shooting position.  You could argue that that is not how he shoots webs in the alien costume and you would be right, but the back of the package says he’s back in black, so it’s the cloth costume.  He’s shooting his webs correctly.  I’m just really happy they have the white on the hands.  Doesn’t take much to please me, I guess.  Both figures have peg holes in each foot.

Durability: These figures aren’t as fragile as last week’s Thor action figure.  They are made for little guys.  Sometimes the little guys can get rough so these things can take a lot.  Both are pretty sturdy.  The only thing, however, is Iron Fist’s belt and mask ties could bend off it they had too much wear and tear.

Poseability: Since Iron Fist has more points of articulation than Spidey (by one), he is the more poseable of the two, but that isn’t saying much.  Their joints really don’t bend, just rotate at the shoulder and their heads can turn.  The difference in the two is that Iron Fist can turn at the waist.  Since the Iron Fist sculpt has him on the ball of his right foot, balance is sometimes hard to come by.  You have to have him positioned just right because of that, and his mask and belt ties make him a little top heavy.

Spider-Man is even more limited in poseability, but he has the best balance.  You have to physically knock him over.  But the thing about Super Hero Squad figures is that they already come in some pretty cool poses.

What’s Awesome: Both of these figures are pretty awesome!  I like how Iron Fist gets some love in this set.  I haven’t seen too many Iron Fist action figures.  At least not until recently.  There are all kinds of figures being made for this series and that’s great!  It makes it possible for fans of the most obscure characters to have an action figure collection of their favorites.  It’s also really fresh for kids to be exposed to second and third-tier characters that my generation didn’t have action figures for.  The fact that this Spidey is pretty “plain” is also awesome.  Too many times they have Spidey figures posed on a column of webbing or symbiotic goo.  That’s kinda silly to be running up to a bad guy to punch him in the face when you’re stuck on a prop.  Keep it simple, stupid.

What Sucks: Well…this set didn’t include a poster in the package like they normally do, so my little boy is going to be a little bummed.  Dad was, too.  There’s not much else to complain about this set.  I think Iron Fist could have been packaged with a Luke Cage and it would have been more satisfying, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Luke Cage version of the Super Hero Squad.  A Luke Cage paired with him would have made more sense because of the Heroes for Hire angle, but Spidey and Iron Fist did have some pretty good banter battles in the early days of New Avengers.  I also think that Spider-Man is way over produced in this set.  That doesn’t really matter to the younger audience, though.  Some get a kick out of having six Spider-Man figures in their little fists.  It can add an educational twist if you are a parent getting these for your child by playing “Count all the Spider-Mans.”

Overall: 3.5 out of 5.  This duo of Iron Fist and Spidey get three and a half thumbs up.  I really like these figures, but the paint issues with Spidey keep this two-pack from getting a four.  Marvel Super Hero Squad: Iron Fist and Black Costume Spider-Man…gotta have it?  You’re darn tootin’!  HERO UP!

Aron White
aron@comicattack.net