Logically I would follow up my 2020 Marvel Legends Invisible Woman review with a look at her brother (the Human Torch), but instead I’m going to mix things up and focus on the character who would be this wave’s headliner if not for a certain Victor von Doom! Fantastic Four Legends The Thing is in-stock and shipping out now via online stores, and hopefully there will be enough to meet demand this time (as Ben is packed at two-per-case), because this ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing is a real winner of an action figure that every fan deserves a shot at!
While most collectors eventually managed to find the Walgreens Fantastic Four Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch and Invisible Woman figures in stores, The Thing proved to be an extremely tough pickup for many, many disappointed FF fans.
Luckily, Hasbro was able to create a mass release Fantastic Four Marvel Legends series to kick off the new decade, bringing all four members of the quartet (plus Dr. Doom, She-Hulk and Super Skrull) to the masses!
And not only is Ben Grimm getting a new version in this Super Skrull series—he’s doing so double-packed so that twice as many fans will be able to get him as the other three members of the team! The Thing is easily the most marketable and popular member, so Hasbro unquestionably made the right call with the case ratio here.
While a portion of the collecting world is dissatisfied with the modern Slott-era F4 costumes in this wave, I think that will be less of an issue here. Ben is still in black and blue trunks like the Walgreens iteration—just with some extra details added on. For those who just want a standard Thing on their shelf, this looks pretty dang similar to the “iconic” version most picture in their minds.
The trunks have a belt add-on piece with the “4” logo on it that sits super tight and does its job perfectly, adding an extra level of depth to the costume.
The head sculpt is obviously not the Jack Kirby-styled Thing (nor should it be in this costume), but I love the characteristic huge jaw and unibrow on this action figure. The mug on this toy is just great, and I can definitely feel Ben’s personality radiating from the portrait.
I also totally dig the various shapes and sizes of the craggy rocks that make up the Thing’s body. This mold will be familiar to those who got the last version from Walgreens, but it’s outstanding whether you’ve owned it before or not. For whatever reason, I especially find the rocks making up Ben’s back impressive-looking.
This is a bulky action figure that both looks heavy and is heavy, and the heft gives a feeling of high quality. All of the joints are tight and hold chosen poses well, and any paint flaws are minor enough that they’re not even noticeable to me. The Hasbro QC team really kicked ass with this whole wave thus far.
The articulation set is identical to the Walgreens exclusive (obviously), and consists of:
- Ball-Hinged Neck (with a terrific range of motion), Shoulders and Elbows
- Swivel-Hinge Fists
- Ball-Jointed Upper Torso and Hips
- Swivel Waist and Thighs
- Double-Hinged Knees
- Hinged Feet with Rockers
Swivel biceps would have been nice, but for the most part you can get Ben Grimm into whatever clobberin’ time poses you desire—so long as the pose you desire is achievable with fists…
Besides than the two choices of heads for the Super Skrull Build-A-Figure, Ben comes with zero additional accessories. Ordinarily I wouldn’t complain about a figure of this size not getting extras at the standard price-point, but the exclusion of the grappling hands from the Walgreens Thing really kinda sucks since we already know the tooling exists.
Otherwise, my only real issue here has to do with a stylistic choice: Hasbro chose to use a dry-bush looking style of shading on Thing’s chest, arms, head and feet. I go back and forth on if I like this cel-shaded feeling detailing, but I do know I don’t like that his abdomen, fists and legs don’t have it. I don’t think it’s a dealbreaker on such a solid figure, but I do admit that I don’t think the execution here is ideal.
Overall: For the many collectors who couldn’t get their mitts on the Walgreens Exclusive Thing figure, this Fantastic Four Legends version is a pretty great alternative. The quality, detail, articulation and heft all get high marks, and I think the modern costume will be met with less resistance from fans than the other three team members’.
Not having the existing grappling hands be included here is a real irritant, though, and I’m still not 100% in love with the shading on parts of Ben Grimm’s body. This is an excellent action figure I can absolutely recommend, but I do think there’s still room to improve for an eventual Future Foundation or other variant.
GRADE: A-
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I was fortunate enough to get the Walgreen’s Thing. I only seen him at one store, and it was only one time, so I was in the right place at the right time. I live in a small town that has a Walgreen’s, so I have been able to find every exclusive. Thing and Mystique were the hardest to find, but I got them.
This Thing looks pretty decent, but again, I have no desire for these costumes. I agree it’s a good pickup to fill the void if someone wasn’t able to find the classic Thing. Some people actually like the shading on this figure better than the blackwash shading on the classic, and I saw pictures of someone actually swapping the trunks on both figures, and this new shaded Thing actually looks better with the classic trunks, while the new trunks look good with the old blackwash body.
Dani Moonstar was the hardest Walgreen’s exclusive for me to obtain and I got her at a Walgreen’s in a small town.
The small town Walgreen’s are the gold mines, but it also depends on how much product they move. My small town one is about 5 minutes away from me, so I always kind of think that I get first dibs on things. I found Dani before I found Emma, and I got both at my hometown one….even though I would drive a half hour to the bigger cities and search about 6 other Walgreen’s and find nothing. For Thing, I actually searched all the big city ones first and found nothing, and then stopped at my hometown one on the way home and there was 6 Things on the shelf. I drove around for nothing. Those other 5 Things didn’t stick around though, as they were gone the next time I stopped in.
I envy… my small town one is roughly 2 hours away from me. But the Walgreen’s stores in my area always seem to have at least one of the recent exclusives on hand… and several Submariners, Black Ants, and yellow Daredevils. And the Walgreen’s closest to my house still has Thundra figures.
They are sitting here along with mystique
Must be nice…
I’m still getting this figure regardless and since I haven’t received it in hand as of yet, I’ll hold off judgment but I pretty much lean towards the notion that the Walgreen’s version is superior aside from the inclusion of the two Super Skrull heads. The head/face sculpt seems a little off and I’m wondering if one of the alternate heads from the Walgreen’s version would be a good fit. Still in all, I agree with the A- rating just from this review. Wish I would have thought ahead and grabbed a few more for fellow collectors because the Walgreen’s store I got mine from had several on hand and I’m not happy at what the scalpers are asking for at this time. I’ll try to network better in the future but I’ll still be displaying this new version as soon as I get the rest of the wave.
It’s a pretty nice figure, but one that I didn’t need at all since I got the Walgreens exclusive version. BUT… gotta complete that BAF. The only thing I really don’t like about this one is his face. That lower lip comes up so high it practically covers his face. I get the expression they are going for, but I think they overdid it a bit.
The Walgreens one is better and I guess the reason there is a limit on the accessories is to show why they charge more for the first one. I had to pay silly money for the Best Thing ever and then I found a cheaper one so now have two plus I have this wave on po, so not too fussed and this one is not just a straight re-paint with this classic face sculpt.
I’m torn between dry-brushing the rest of the body or hitting the factory dry-brush with acetone. I kind of like the yellowy-orange color the dry-brush conveys but the way they just globbed it on the head, upper chest, and feet makes it look like he slammed head first into a Cheetoh’s truck. Its just like the Walmart 80th Cap. Great figure that they ended up kind of undermining with that weird half-paint app strategy. Just my 2 cents.
Yeah, this should be a definite pick up for anybody who missed out on the WG version, but i do think the WG version is better for the reasons you noted. It does seem weird that they didn’t include the grappling hands or an alternate head since they already exist.
I just picked up a couple of the new Thing figures (need extra Skrull heads for custom figures!). I was lucky to find a loose WG Thing on ebaY for $35.00 shipped a few months ago.
Now that I have him, I’m a bit baffled that the new Thing is not dry-brush painted 100% as Dabid said. It’s very strange, and I see myself breaking out the acrylic paints on my next day off to correct this.
I love that he has the “4” on his belt. The WG Thing doesn’t have that element and it sort of casts him as an outsider to the team IMO.
While new Thing’s head pops off with little effort, his hands do not! So while the tooling exists, the WG Thing’s hands and new Thing’s hands are not easily interchangeable. I would imagine you’d need to to do the “boil and pop” method to remove new Thing’s hands.