This Avengers Hulk Figure Will Smash You

“Hulk smash!” Seriously, those were my first words upon opening the box containing my latest Hot Toys treasure. As those who have been following know, I’ve been collecting whatever Movie Masterpiece Avengers figures released from the Hong Kong collectible toy company that I can. While I’m missing a couple of side characters and my Iron Man is not the Mark VII (dammit), with this latest acquisition, I’ve managed to amass the main members of the Marvel superhero team.

Right off the bat, you know this Hulk is THE Hulk. It’s not just that he’s green, muscular, and half-naked, but the figure is huge. He towers over all of my other figures menacingly with an amazingly detailed glare on a superbly crafted Mark Ruffalo face, made with the almost life-like quality I’ve come to expect from any Hot Toys figure.

Hulk’s massive frame leads to added features that would be difficult to pull off on a smaller figure. First off, Hulk’s hide is made of rubber with what seems to be a metal skeleton beneath. This allows for seamless bending off the arms and torso, leading to an overall more natural look. The eyes are moveable — a feature usually reserved for figures of the Movie Masterpiece Deluxeline of figures — which allows for a much wider variety of poses and setups than wouldn’t be possible if the eyes were fixed. (The eyes can be individually moved, so it’s possible to do a crazy-eyes Hulk)

The joints are sturdy and semi-locking which keeps Hulk steady and on his feet, despite looking so top-heavy. Also, despite his rubber and plastic exterior, Hulk is surprisingly heavy. Seriously, you could beat a man to death with this thing.

With only one pair of interchangeable hands, accessories are limited, to say the least. But that’s probably because all the real features are densely packed into the figure itself. In fact, the fingers can be individually posed (to a limited degree) which, in and of itself, is pretty damn awesome.

As for other drawbacks, Hulk only has the one head, so no matter where you put him and in what pose, he always has the same perpetually sour expression. Overall mobility is also somewhat limited. While these are things that would be points off for any other standard figure, to be honest, two minutes with the grumpy green giant and you really stop caring about such nitpicks because he’s just that cool.

Hulk’s sledgehammer hands managed to knock a huge chunk out of my wallet, so people with families to look after will want to take pause for a moment before attempting to purchase this big fella . If you’re willing to take the hit ($US300 roughly), the figure is currently being sold in the West through Sideshow Collectibles. (As of writing this article, there is a waiting list)

Now that my Avengers collection is pretty much complete, I wonder what I should assemble next…