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Marvel Legends collectors are currently in the midst of a civil war (no, not that Civil War) over the second (and latest) release in the Marvel Legends Maximum Series of figures : Maximum Hulk. Priced at a whopping 59 bucks and shipping out now, fans are divided over whether or not Hasbro’s priciest 6” scale Hulk figure is an incredible pickup or not. Here’s my review to give my own input on the issue…
After just being announced in February, Marvel Legends Hulk Maximum has managed a surprisingly quick three-month turnaround time and is rampaging onto doorsteps now. The figure retails for $59.99 and comes in the same style of rectangular window box that will be familiar to Medicom MAFEX and Revoltech collectors (and matches the Maximum Spider-Man box from earlier this spring as well, obviously).
I don’t mind Hasbro mimicking the style of premium import releases for the packaging, honestly. It looks quite classy.
Inside the box, there are two plastic trays (one tucked under the other) containing the Maximum Hulk figure and its accessories.
The two trays together are an impressive spread, as this iteration of Hulk comes with far more accessories than any of Hasbro’s previous releases.
You get not one, not two, but THREE heads with Max Hulk—and astoundingly, zero of them are a Jack Kirby or classic head. Instead, we get three very stylized, artist-specific-inspired heads. For the sake of ease, I’ll call them the Roaring, Sadistic and Aggro heads. I think it’s pretty self-apparent which is which.
In a vacuum, I rather like the Roaring and Sadistic portraits. They look really wild and sinister, respectively. If even one of the three heads looked classic, I don’t think anyone would be complaining—but none of the heads are.
Hasbro even could have just repacked the 85th Anniversary head repainted and gotten a pass, but they went with a fully stylized assortment instead, and they’re getting flamed by many collectors because of it. I don’t hate the portraits, but I think the selection here is a tad bewildering.
The vast majority of this Hulk mold is straight reused from the awesome 80th Anniversary Series release (shown above), but there are a few differences (beyond the deco and heads). First of all, tie hinge articulation has been added on the feet. These toe hinges have been gaining popularity, so it’s not a shock to see them integrated here.That said—I outright hate the toe articulation on this figure. If I tried to pose him even a hair off balance while taking my review photos, his top-heavy body would make the toe hinges give out and the whole figure would come tumbling down after a few seconds.
This happened over and over, leaving me close to flying into a berserker rage and smashing Hulk myself. Mine may be an isolated incident, though, as I haven’t heard anyone else gripe about this.
The other big update to the mold is the whole upper torso being reworked to have “hidden” butterfly swivel shoulders.
This is accomplished by the chest being made of a sort of soft plasticky vinyl. It’s difficult to explain how the chest feels, but the shoulder articulation works terrifically and finally enables Hulk to achieve his signature thunderclap in toy form. Hasbro seems to believe this soft chest will last the test of time, and I’m willing to take them at their word it will for now.
The green color chosen for this Hulk’s skin is darker than the Marvel 85th Anniversary Hulk’s, but a bit lighter than the Marvel Legends 20th Anniversary Hulk’s. I love the bright color on the 85th one best myself, but I think the color here is a nice middle ground.
Where this Hulk figure really smashes the competition, however, is the accessories.
Instead of just grasping hands and fists, we get “clapping” hands here, and they look great. It takes a bit of maneuvering (which was tough for my half-blind eyes), but you can definitely get Hulk into a full clapping pose now.
And speaking of which, there are 3 other accessories which help make that very pose look spectacular: a trio of new effects pieces.
There are two big energy swishes that attach to Hulk’s hands, and a “Spidey sense”-looking effect you can put between his hands to simulate a clapping energy wave (or you can put it on his head as a silly Hulk sense, as I did for the pic above).
The effects can be a bit finicky to attach at first, but fit well and stay in place nicely once you master them. The swoosh effects make for cool movement effects for punching poses too.
But wait—there’s more! Hulk Maximum also includes an all-new multi-part missile, which can be “torn in half” to expose the internal wiring! This is a super cool prop that’s a lot of fun to play with, and also includes its own removable “thruster energy” effect piece. As a whole, this is one fun accessory.
Aside from the toe hinges that pissed me off and the soft upper torso that impressed me , the articulation is the same as it was 6 years ago—which was very good. There’s still pin holes in the knees and the elbows are still single-jointed, unfortunately, all of which feel outdated now. That ball-jointed upper torso still has an outstanding range of motion, though.
Overall: While I have few qualms about Hasbro releasing their own premium 6” figures for 50-60 bucks, I am not fully convinced that this mildly upgraded Hulk mold with a bunch of new accessories quite reaches that level. That said, If you don’t own one of the previous releases of green Hulk on this body and you like at least one of the portraits, I can give this a firm thumbs up.
But as someone who already has and loves the 80th Anniversary Hulk, this one holds a lot less allure for me. The three-part missile and thunderclap effects are really cool and I think the overall articulation is swell, but the toe articulation and the decision to include stylized heads only are not my cup of tea. This is a nice, expensive Hulk action figure that fails to reinvent the wheel but is a solid release overall.