1/6 NEXT Hot Toys MCU Figure...?

[matticus]

Scarjo thinks Hot Toys nails actors likeness:



All of you critics are wrong.

P.S. She has no idea what I do to my Black Widow figures

 

[Garlador]

Uh… I’m scared to ask.

 

[Omega9300]

I do wonder how they'll pull She-Hulk off. We could also get a Hulk figure from the show too. I don't think an Abomination is likely, but he's in it.

You actually have more chances of seeing Nova now than before. Gunn hated Richard, and the internet Dick Rider Defense Squad didn't do him any favours. With him leaving after GotG 3 and abandoning the Cosmic side, and it getting more attention with the FF and the such, I think we'll see some version of Nova show up. Now, if that's Rich or Sam is unknown. Depends on what demographic they'll try to reach, and how they'll treat the character.

There's still a LOT of fuel left in the Cosmic tank. Annihilation is something I can see them really building up to. Properly done, it'd blow IW/EG out of the water in sheer scope. I'm just sad we probably won't ever get something like this:

But Pratt could stay on like Hemsworth did, so who knows? With Mar-Vell being a woman in the MCU and most importantly being pretty much a blip, I don't know if we'll get to see Genis or Phylla in the MCU in any capacity. And that'll be a shame. I guess we're bound to get Galactus, Norrin and so forth, but characters like Terrax are longshots. Still, who knows, right? These flicks are getting crazier.

Toys have started leaking from Thor 4, so I think the two Thors are a given. Maybe Gorr. I'd kill for a Crowe Zeus, but I don't think he's got any chances of being made. I still don't know why they're literall killing off the entire Greek Pantheon to set up Gorr, when they could do the same with an alien Pantheon, like in the comics, as Gorr is a Cosmic type. But the Greek Gods get reborn as they're Immortal, in contrast to the Asgardians who are dependent on the Golden Apples, so maybe they'll bring them back. Still, a Crowe Zeus would be a blast of a figure.

To bring it back to Namor because I've been thinking about it lately, this is the Atlantean cast thus far:

The Attuma guy looks bulky, though I haven't checked to see how tall he is. The rest... I don't know, every pic I see of them depends on the angle. The woman has nice cheeckbones and a stare, but I really don't know. I doubt they'll even paint them blue. Which to be honest I always found silly, so I'm not that mad about it. But why use Namora and go through all the incest nonsense instead of just going for Lady Dorma? Who knows, maybe leaks are wrong and she is Dorma and not Namora. Or Hell, Namorita. Who knows?

We're getting close to the supposed release of the film now, but we know literally nothing about it. 10 months away and not even knowing who the MC is concerns me. Is it Shuri? Nakia? M'Baku? Who's the antagonist? Just what is going on? Either way, I still think the guy's pudgy, too short and not regal enough, but he does exclude an arrogant air, which is needed in Namor, even though I think it's undeserved in his case. I guess it depends on where they go. I've said it before, but if they did Atlantis as a Proto-Civ with similarities to all cultures near the Med, I'd be fine with it breaking the classic GrecoRoman mold. But giving them an entire race & culture lift that's so removed from the source is baffling. What, are they going to change the names too? Why does a Mayan culture have names like Namor, Namora and Attuma? It's just too weird to me. They could've just gotten MENA people you know. I'd have been fine with an Asian Namor, maybe Korean. He is supposed to be mixed race, so I could deal with his dad being Asian instead of Scottish like in the books.

Dunno, maybe they'll give him a good costume and he'll win me over, but I'm not optimistic. I'm more open to it than the Clownish Kang I witnessed, but I'm genuinely thinking of getting an AquaMomoa to represent Namor on my shelf. But that ticks off my OCD. I'm dependent on the branding, I'm weak like that. It's why I can't get into unlicensed figures, even when they look great... The whole reason why I liked Namor better was because he was gung-ho about being King of Atlantis while Arthur was always more restrained and hesitant. I find AquaMomoa charming, but having him in place of Namor just feels wrong. He's too much of a good guy, when Namor is legitimately a huge dick. This is what I want to see in the MCU:

I love Namor, which is why I'm torn here. I want to come around, but nothing I'm seeing and hearing entices me. I'm still in that 70/30 stage, tilting negative, but I have an inkling of hope. It'll really depend a lot on the costume and attitude. Good aesthetics can go a long way. I've seen some takes on his modern look that I think would be cool:

We'll see, anyhow. It's just weird that we know literally nothing about the whole thing. Would it hurt them to at least throw out a synopsis and a confirmed cast? At the very least I want a new T'Challa/Black Panther with a cape:

If we're being more concrete about it, the way I see it, this is what we have to look forward to:

• Spider-Tobey
• Spider-Garfield
• Clint & Kate
• Moon Knight

And then it's onto Doctor Strange. February's almost over and they're still not done with the MCU characters of 2021. It doesn't bode well with how packed 2022 is, unless of course they got early material to work with and will unleash it all at once. Although with how Ock turned out, I doubt that's the case. Strange times...

I absolutely love the costume and trident look in the picture you use here. If Hot Toys made a version of Namor like this I would PO it immediately regardless of the casting. Like you I enjoyed how arrogant Namor was and what a prick he could be. I had a couple of great comics long ago that had him fighting the Hulk that I remember loving, I think they were fighting in Europe for some reason and I think they were in black and white. Anyway Namor is a cool and really interesting character and I hope he is portrayed well.

Like you and Maticus I would also love to see Black Panther with some sort of cape. I have to admit I am also a bit concerned about the like of information about the main character in BP2.

I have been waiting to see Nova in the MCU since he was first rumored a few years ago. Nova was one of my favorite heroes as a little kid in the 1970’s (behind Thor and Mar-vell).

*Btw I was referring to this picture of Namor:

 

[ironwez20]

Uh… I’m scared to ask.

No you should definitely ask

 

[matticus]

 

[Victοr]

P.S. She has no idea what I do to my Black Widow figures

I absolutely love the costume and trident look in the picture you use here. If Hot Toys made a version of Namor like this I would PO it immediately regardless of the casting. Like you I enjoyed how arrogant Namor was and what a prick he could be. I had a couple of great comics long ago that had him fighting the Hulk that I remember loving, I think they were fighting in Europe for some reason and I think they were in black and white. Anyway Namor is a cool and really interesting character and I hope he is portrayed well.

Yeah, that costume is pretty cool. Myself I'm torn on this because I had this idea of Atlantis in my head, and seeing them go in a totally different direction kinda makes me feel disappointed. On the other hand, Atlantis as being Mayan-influenced has been a hypothesis, with the whole "Lost Continent Of Mu" bit. There was even less evidence to support it than other theories, but it has precedent. There's even a proposition that Atlantis was in Ireland. So I guess there's a reason why they went that route in the MCU. What worries me isn't that they're taking a different approach. It's that the actor doesn't fit the role. They couldn't find a handsome 30 YO guy? Mayan Atlantis could be cool and have great aesthetics. Apocalypto is one of the most stunning films of the new millenium:

If they manage to get even a fraction of the glory Gibson captured, it'll make for some nice designs at the very least. I just want them to completely divorce it from its Med origins if they go that route. Make it its own thing. Fine, no problem with that. Just don't give me MesoAmerican Poseidon. Go with Kukulcan as their god. Just completely divorce it, and then I'll be able to enjoy it as its own thing. I'm afraid of something Twitter-pandering more than I'm opposed to the idea itself.

I'm trying to keep an open mind. It could be cool. It just depends on how they handle it all. I want the design to be good, I want to enjoy the character, I want to buy the figure out of excitement, not obligation to finish my Illuminati display. The recent designs do away with the classic GrecoRoman look and they embrace the sea element:

That could work as it's close to the general Mayan aesthetics. I just hope he doesn't have exposed feet. But yeah, I could go for something similar to that. Like I said, I had a different idea of it in my head, and that's why I'm peeved about it. But I can come around if they pull it off. It's not something I'm trying to make myself hate. It's just that there's so little info out there that I'm jumping to the worst conclusions.

I just dislike it when myths of all kinds get pop culture'd and lose their original meaning. But I guess Atlantis is more like a worldwide folk tale, and Plato most probably meant it as a story, possibly inspired by some local sinkings, and not as some ultra-futuristic ancestral land, so I suppose it's not as bad as Asgard and Olympus looking like modern day LA. We have more concrete stories of the Amazons and they've gotten mishmashed in the current landscape too, so... eh. Whatever, if the dolly's cool, I'll get it. If not, I'll skip it. There's been about 10+ Illuminati members by now, I'll find someone else to fill Namor's spot if I'm that disappointed.

Y'know, if I'm being honest, Namor's a character I enjoy on the surface, but he can get on my nerves at times too. I like arrogant ***** & dicks in general, but they have to earn the right to be like that. Unearned arrogance is something I despise. So while Namor can be fun, if you think about it for more than a second, he's more of a problem than he's of help. He constantly pursues a married woman, his Kingdom is stagnated and he has no plans or vision, he's a hot-headed moron who always dives head first into all situations, he's not half as wise as he thinks he is, and ultimately isn't some grand cultured genius. Doom, Richards, Stark, Strange, T'Challa, Emma Frost, Magneto, Xavier, Sinister, Apocalypse, they're all arrogant too, but they're all incredibly smart people with genuine wins under their belts. Namor's just a hotheaded Royal who thinks the world belongs to him because... he just does? He's constantly rude, then pretends he's some refined and cultivated gentleman, which makes him a hypocrite. And he does all that evil, petty, nonsensical ********, day in, day out, and gets a pass because Mutants and Cap flank him. He's a net negative on the world, if you think about it. Imagive living with the thought that at any moment an unstable manchild could summon massive tsunamis and drown the Earth...

I think I've had a moment of clarity. Why do I even like the guy? He's like Doom but without the smarts, culture, charm, looks, wisdom an- He's just a ****! A huge **** is what he is! When Magneto high on Speciesism makes you look insufferable, you have a problem... You know what, let them do what they want. I have no emotional investment in it anymore. I might even scrap Namor from my Illuminati lineup. Put in Captain Britain when they get around to him. How is a man like that allowed to make decisions about the Earth? Why the Hell did Tony invite that psycho back in the day instead of Doom?

Man, poor Black Bolt is the king Namor only dreams of being. And he's more powerful. And he's got a hot redheaded wife. And he's got a cooler costume. Huh. Well, let's hope he's in DS2 then and we get a figure. I feel bad for the guy they had because he really fit the role but they completely screwed him over. He could use another chance. The costume wasn't bad either, it was just on a tv budget. With some upgrades it could be really great. Blackagar's got that Tron aesthetic that I dearly love, so a figure could really be one of my faves if done properly.

Huh. Guess I solved that problem. I suddenly don't much care about Namor anymore. Imagine that... Anyway, now let me tell you all about how much I hate the Kang casting. That I legitimately loathe. Juuuuuuuust let me get my cocoa ready and type out the entire 5K word easy first!

Like you and Maticus I would also love to see Black Panther with some sort of cape. I have to admit I am also a bit concerned about the like of information about the main character in BP2.

Exactly. We know nothing about BP2 and it makes me worried. I still need a BP, as I passed on the previous ones due to them not being regal enough. I'm starting to think I missed my chance though. I was rooting for something similar to this:

They swapped the gold for silver, which I'm fine with, but the lack of a glorious cape doesn't sit right with me. For action scenes yeah, he wouldn't wear it, but as I'd like to display him as a King, I want a good, flowing cape behind him. I've got no idea what'll happen with BP2 so it's all just wishful speculation.

I have been waiting to see Nova in the MCU since he was first rumored a few years ago. Nova was one of my favorite heroes as a little kid in the 1970’s (behind Thor and Mar-vell).

I got into him with the DnA run and the general Post-Annihilation Cosmic Marvel push. He was in my top for a while, but those lists changed a lot when I read comics regularly, so he's on that "yeah, he's cool" tier for me. An interesting portrayal, some good casting, a nice costume, and I can see myself getting him. I do wish they'll get around to doing Annihilation in general. Imagine the scope.

-

Nothing today either. I'm really starting to wonder just what the Hell they're going to do with such a big backlog and with how packed 2022 is. We're basically one month away from Moon Knight launching, and they've not even at least teased the Spider-Men. How the Hell are they gonna swing everything? I'm starting to think that we won't be saying anything beyond some Strange Variants from DS2, basic Moon Knight and so on. They're really behind for them to put out all of that. I'm going to write off Doctor Fate now, there's no chance they're making anything beyond Black Adam. Guess I'll have to kiss that Gruffudd Reed bye-bye, even if he does appear...

 

[Darth Snoopy]

P.S. She has no idea what I do to my Black Widow figures

Naughty boy!

​

 

[Random Killer X]

Marvel and Feige have to get rid of and end the storylines for some of these characters. The universe is getting too cluttered and there are not enough months in a year to keep adding movies on the yearly calendar and holding on to these actors for that long . Now I wouldn’t have gotten rid of the big names as Iron Man, Captain America or Black Widow but I understand they had to go for the purpose of the story.

GOTG I believe served their purpose for the Thanos story line and are as good as gone I think, same goes for Ant-Man and his movies were also not box office hits anyways. Like someone said earlier hopefully Eternals are one and done but unfortunately I doubt it.

Marvel should move forward and focus on X-Men, FF4, the street level heroes, and a new trilogy of Spider Man for the next decade and a half at least

 

[dawson85tr]

Guess it should come from Hawkeye tv series i am a huge fan of Hailee Steinfeld she did well at Bumblebee and deserve this role plus she is a nice singer

 

[Victοr]

Marvel and Feige have to get rid of and end the storylines for some of these characters. The universe is getting too cluttered and there are not enough months in a year to keep adding movies on the yearly calendar and holding on to these actors for that long . Now I wouldn’t have gotten rid of the big names as Iron Man, Captain America or Black Widow but I understand they had to go for the purpose of the story.

GOTG I believe served their purpose for the Thanos story line and are as good as gone I think, same goes for Ant-Man and his movies were also not box office hits anyways. Like someone said earlier hopefully Eternals are one and done but unfortunately I doubt it.

Marvel should move forward and focus on X-Men, FF4, the street level heroes, and a new trilogy of Spider Man for the next decade and a half at least

Well, the whole point of the MCU was that things would carry over, but yeah, some stories and characters have to end. I think the GotG have places to go even after Gunn's done with them, you just have to change them up a bit. Stark's dead, but his stories are still kinda getting continued with Ironheart and Armour Wars. There are too many threads still left hanging for them to completely move on. They're just now setting up the Midnight Sons characters. The Illuminati were supposed to get their own film set in "our" MCU. Cosmic is already somewhat explored but now the FF are coming in too.

The thing is that the X-Verse is so big that it can swallow up everything else. I doubt they'll make Namor a mutant and have him throw his lot with them, but even without going into such insertions of the X-Lore into the wider MU, there's too much. Will Magik start appearing in the Supernatural stories with Strange and co? What's the deal with Captain Britain? Will SWORD take over SHIELD's role in the narrative? And that's not even counting just how many X-Movies and shows they can make. X-Men, X-Force, Excalibur, New Mutants/Generation X/Academy X, solos for Wolverine, maybe Cable; it's too much.

They have to streamline things somewhat, or things will get far too ugly.

 

[Omega9300]

Yeah, that costume is pretty cool. Myself I'm torn on this because I had this idea of Atlantis in my head, and seeing them go in a totally different direction kinda makes me feel disappointed. On the other hand, Atlantis as being Mayan-influenced has been a hypothesis, with the whole "Lost Continent Of Mu" bit. There was even less evidence to support it than other theories, but it has precedent. There's even a proposition that Atlantis was in Ireland. So I guess there's a reason why they went that route in the MCU. What worries me isn't that they're taking a different approach. It's that the actor doesn't fit the role. They couldn't find a handsome 30 YO guy? Mayan Atlantis could be cool and have great aesthetics. Apocalypto is one of the most stunning films of the new millenium:

If they manage to get even a fraction of the glory Gibson captured, it'll make for some nice designs at the very least. I just want them to completely divorce it from its Med origins if they go that route. Make it its own thing. Fine, no problem with that. Just don't give me MesoAmerican Poseidon. Go with Kukulcan as their god. Just completely divorce it, and then I'll be able to enjoy it as its own thing. I'm afraid of something Twitter-pandering more than I'm opposed to the idea itself.

I'm trying to keep an open mind. It could be cool. It just depends on how they handle it all. I want the design to be good, I want to enjoy the character, I want to buy the figure out of excitement, not obligation to finish my Illuminati display. The recent designs do away with the classic GrecoRoman look and they embrace the sea element:

That could work as it's close to the general Mayan aesthetics. I just hope he doesn't have exposed feet. But yeah, I could go for something similar to that. Like I said, I had a different idea of it in my head, and that's why I'm peeved about it. But I can come around if they pull it off. It's not something I'm trying to make myself hate. It's just that there's so little info out there that I'm jumping to the worst conclusions.

I just dislike it when myths of all kinds get pop culture'd and lose their original meaning. But I guess Atlantis is more like a worldwide folk tale, and Plato most probably meant it as a story, possibly inspired by some local sinkings, and not as some ultra-futuristic ancestral land, so I suppose it's not as bad as Asgard and Olympus looking like modern day LA. We have more concrete stories of the Amazons and they've gotten mishmashed in the current landscape too, so... eh. Whatever, if the dolly's cool, I'll get it. If not, I'll skip it. There's been about 10+ Illuminati members by now, I'll find someone else to fill Namor's spot if I'm that disappointed.

Y'know, if I'm being honest, Namor's a character I enjoy on the surface, but he can get on my nerves at times too. I like arrogant ***** & dicks in general, but they have to earn the right to be like that. Unearned arrogance is something I despise. So while Namor can be fun, if you think about it for more than a second, he's more of a problem than he's of help. He constantly pursues a married woman, his Kingdom is stagnated and he has no plans or vision, he's a hot-headed moron who always dives head first into all situations, he's not half as wise as he thinks he is, and ultimately isn't some grand cultured genius. Doom, Richards, Stark, Strange, T'Challa, Emma Frost, Magneto, Xavier, Sinister, Apocalypse, they're all arrogant too, but they're all incredibly smart people with genuine wins under their belts. Namor's just a hotheaded Royal who thinks the world belongs to him because... he just does? He's constantly rude, then pretends he's some refined and cultivated gentleman, which makes him a hypocrite. And he does all that evil, petty, nonsensical ********, day in, day out, and gets a pass because Mutants and Cap flank him. He's a net negative on the world, if you think about it. Imagive living with the thought that at any moment an unstable manchild could summon massive tsunamis and drown the Earth...

I think I've had a moment of clarity. Why do I even like the guy? He's like Doom but without the smarts, culture, charm, looks, wisdom an- He's just a ****! A huge **** is what he is! When Magneto high on Speciesism makes you look insufferable, you have a problem... You know what, let them do what they want. I have no emotional investment in it anymore. I might even scrap Namor from my Illuminati lineup. Put in Captain Britain when they get around to him. How is a man like that allowed to make decisions about the Earth? Why the Hell did Tony invite that psycho back in the day instead of Doom?

Man, poor Black Bolt is the king Namor only dreams of being. And he's more powerful. And he's got a hot redheaded wife. And he's got a cooler costume. Huh. Well, let's hope he's in DS2 then and we get a figure. I feel bad for the guy they had because he really fit the role but they completely screwed him over. He could use another chance. The costume wasn't bad either, it was just on a tv budget. With some upgrades it could be really great. Blackagar's got that Tron aesthetic that I dearly love, so a figure could really be one of my faves if done properly.

Huh. Guess I solved that problem. I suddenly don't much care about Namor anymore. Imagine that... Anyway, now let me tell you all about how much I hate the Kang casting. That I legitimately loathe. Juuuuuuuust let me get my cocoa ready and type out the entire 5K word easy first!


Exactly. We know nothing about BP2 and it makes me worried. I still need a BP, as I passed on the previous ones due to them not being regal enough. I'm starting to think I missed my chance though. I was rooting for something similar to this:

They swapped the gold for silver, which I'm fine with, but the lack of a glorious cape doesn't sit right with me. For action scenes yeah, he wouldn't wear it, but as I'd like to display him as a King, I want a good, flowing cape behind him. I've got no idea what'll happen with BP2 so it's all just wishful speculation.


I got into him with the DnA run and the general Post-Annihilation Cosmic Marvel push. He was in my top for a while, but those lists changed a lot when I read comics regularly, so he's on that "yeah, he's cool" tier for me. An interesting portrayal, some good casting, a nice costume, and I can see myself getting him. I do wish they'll get around to doing Annihilation in general. Imagine the scope.

-

Nothing today either. I'm really starting to wonder just what the Hell they're going to do with such a big backlog and with how packed 2022 is. We're basically one month away from Moon Knight launching, and they've not even at least teased the Spider-Men. How the Hell are they gonna swing everything? I'm starting to think that we won't be saying anything beyond some Strange Variants from DS2, basic Moon Knight and so on. They're really behind for them to put out all of that. I'm going to write off Doctor Fate now, there's no chance they're making anything beyond Black Adam. Guess I'll have to kiss that Gruffudd Reed bye-bye, even if he does appear...

Yes you make some really good points about Namor and how his arrogance is made more insufferable when considering his accomplishments or lack thereof. It’s like listening to some young athlete who continually talks about how great he is yet has not won anything. That said, I still find him an interesting character and look forward to Hot Toys making a figure of him. I agree with you that if they are going to go with a Mayan themed Atlantis they should go all in. It is not how imagined it either but if it well done and makes sense within the context of the story I am fine with it.

I am a bit biased toward the Mayan aesthetic because on some of my past travels (long past) in Guatemala and parts of Mexico I encountered a lot of Mayan artifacts and Maya art which I have always thought was very cool!

And yeah I don’t think that Namor is even close to the type king that T’Challa and Black Bolt. Speaking of Black Bolt I hope that there is some sort of return of the Inhumans in the MCU. I have always liked Black Bolt a lot and would love to see his story properly told …and to get a Hot Toys figure of him of course.

 

[Victοr]

Yes you make some really good points about Namor and how his arrogance is made more insufferable when considering his accomplishments or lack thereof. It’s like listening to some young athlete who continually talks about how great he is yet has not won anything. That said, I still find him an interesting character and look forward to Hot Toys making a figure of him.

Exactly. In small doses, he's fun. And for me, it was those moments where he displayed regality and the willingness to do what needed to be done that made him one of my favourites. Granted, apart from my Top 5, "favourite" means like 50 people for me... The bit where he detonates the bomb during the Incursions while everyone else chickens out. Although looking back that was less of a good Namor showing, and more of a bad showing for everyone else... Anyway, the problem is that most of the time he'd be an annoying dick for no reason, and without really being able to back it up. I dismissed it and just focused on the good, but as I got thinking about it, he really is more trouble than he's worth. Come to think of it, I still don't know why he was added to the Illuminati in the first place, considering the whole point was that they were safeguarding the Infinity Gems. Who'd trust the guy with the temper of a five year old with one of most powerful weapons in the universe? Tony must've been drunk the day he called the meeting... Regardless, I enjoy him, but dunno, I had that epiphany and now it's hard for me to look at him the same way.

I like Kings and Emperors in comics and other media, because they're supposed to represent the very pinnacle of the human condition. Good or evil don't much matter to me, I just want them to be interesting, capable and worthy of being the top dog. So I can like someone such as Doom, even though he's not as altruistic as someone like T'Challa or Blackagar. But Namor's such a ******* failure at his job, that he's literally a 15 YO coked out trust fund baby flaunting his wealth on TikTok, only he's actually around 100 years old, which makes it even worse. Doom's a genius, Stark's a genius, Richards' a genius, T'Challa's a genius, Braddock's a genius, Xavier's a genius, Blackagar's definitely alien smart considering he's the peak of alien eugenics, and Namor's like a ragetard being dragged around. He's always rude, except when he wants to **** another guy's wife, then he's slimy. So he doesn't meet even the most basic criteria of a good King. It's kinda weird for me to reconcile what he is with how I saw him. The utter failure of an arrogant arse, with the entertaining pompous anti-hero.

As for a figure, it'll entirely depend on the costume and general aesthetic they go with. If it's something too pleathery, I'll skip it. I've been wanting a Loki since forever, but all his figures so far have looked like cosplayers instead of a Sci-Fi God, so I've skipped him everytime. I'm still waiting for a perfect Loki... Either way, BP2 is slated for this November, so I assume we'll see how he looks around the Summer. Maybe a leak of concept art or something by then. If he looks aesthetically pleasing to my eye, regadless if he's more modernised or more Maya-inspired, I'll get him. Otherwise I'll probably skip him. As I've said before I find the actor underwhelming in general, so I can't bring myself to fantasise about possible costumes. Too short, too old, not distinct enough. I can't see him getting great abs to pull off a shirtless look, so they'll probably go with a pleathery suit. But we'll see, I'm open to it. It's not like Kang where I already hate him.

It's just that these figures cost a pretty penny, and the selling point are the realistic portraits and soft goods, so if it's not an actor you like, or at least one who's handsome/pleasing to look at, it's hard to justify it, especially when a character isn't an absolute must-have. Take Wenwu. I like Tony Leung a lot, and am a Mandarin fan comics-wise, but his costume and MCU version are too divorced for me to care about the figure. Gyllenhaal is an actor I love, whereas Mysterio is a character I don't care for, so I skipped him too. It's about finding that sweet middle ground, you know?

I agree with you that if they are going to go with a Mayan themed Atlantis they should go all in. It is not how imagined it either but if it well done and makes sense within the context of the story I am fine with it.

Exactly. I had shaped a different version of it in my head. The classical GrecoRoman aesthetic was never "canon" per se, as it was an analogy and seperate from those cultures anyhow, so I'm fine breaking away from it. But in my mind I'd set it up similar to how Nadia and the Disney flick handled it. As a Proto-Med Civ that influenced the entire region and the Fertile Crescent. That's the story I'd set up in mind, as it fit with where our sources came from, story or not, and that it made sense as a narrative. Plus, I just liked the Proto-Egyptian Sci-Fi aesthetics:

However, there have been one or two proposed theories that Atlantis was a MesoAmerican civilization, so I can see why they did what they did. I just never entertained them, because those theories were too wild and unrealistic (an entire continent doesn't just sink without causing major ramifications, especially in such a short timespan to recorded history) while not making sense (how would a landmass close to the Americas make its presence known to Egypt).. But again, I can see why they did it. It helps them differentiate their version from DC's as well. I assume it's a bit political too, as having a white/white-passing ethnostate go to war with a black ethnostate would be bad optics. Although it's a given they'll come out of it with someone like Doom having orchestrated the whole war, and they'll part in amicable terms.

So it's not like it's a totally left field choice. It's just that I had built up another preference in my head. I'm open to it, but like I said, go all the way. Use the Mayan and MesoAmerican gods. Use the aesthetics to their full extent. Put in the work. Place it close to the Americas instead of the Med. Play it straight and do something interesting with it. I just don't want something Twitter-pandering with retconned history.

I am a bit biased toward the Mayan aesthetic because on some of my past travels (long past) in Guatemala and parts of Mexico I encountered a lot of Mayan artifacts and Maya art which I have always thought was very cool!

Certainly. MesoAmerica is one of the cradles of civilization, so there's lots of material to mine. Problem is Disney is far lazier than Mel Gibson, so they can easily half-ass it. They could either be cool, or they could turn out as poorly made caricatures. It all depends on the execution. You can't just do a 1:1 copy and add some futuristic guns under the water. You have to explain how they even survived under there. In DC they're a distinct species with genetic magical abillities. In Marvel it's a mess connected with Mutants, Eternals and every other proto/meta/sub/whatever-race.

Although, maybe we're looking at it the wrong way. If Atlantis was a Proto-Civ linked to the MesoAmericas, it'd actually be more similar to the Olmecs. Mayas came in pretty late, all things considered. And they were rather recent too. Maybe they won't even go with a MesoAmerican vibe, but with an Andes connection, as that's the oldest Civ known in the Americas. However we don't have much from the period, so I can see them just going for a Maya look and calling it a day. I think I'm putting more thought into it than they will...

And yeah I don’t think that Namor is even close to the type king that T’Challa and Black Bolt. Speaking of Black Bolt I hope that there is some sort of return of the Inhumans in the MCU. I have always liked Black Bolt a lot and would love to see his story properly told …and to get a Hot Toys figure of him of course.

Yeah, and that's what ruins him in my eyes. If he were the arrogant Princeling I'd accept it, but he's supposed to be a leader of men. It's been nearly 100 years of publication now, he should be more mature.

As for Black Bolt, I've always liked him. The restraint he shows and the weight he carries always make him a point of interest when he shows up. The sick design doesn't hurt either. Or how good his wife looks... The problem is that aside from him, Medusa, and maybe Crystal, Maximus and Karnak, all the Inhumans are boring, drab and the entire society is uninteresting. Kirby & Lee continue their weird naming conventions here too, so here we go trying to figure out why a bunch of genetic experiments have, again, GrecoRoman names. I liked the Ultimate version which took the inspiration and run with it. You see the statues and the such behind them, and Crystal mentions that they're 10K years old, much older than even Minoans, so I took it for a connection to Altantis.

I've had the neat idea of mixing the Inhumans with the Atlanteans since then. Blackagar managed to hold together an entire space empire, cleaning up Namor's ******** would be a walk in the park. Well, I could certainly have Black Bolt as a stand-in for a King of Atlantis in my headcanon, as his aesthetics already fit the bill. I want my Illuminati display to be limited to 6, 7 people max. They were originally gathered to guard the Gems, and they're Six (plus the non-canon 7th one from the Marvel/DC crossover) so I need 6, at best 7 people. T'Challa refused, so the original lineup was Reed, Xavier, Stark, Strange, Blackagar and Namor. Reed, Stark, Strange, T'Challa and Xavier make the most sense and bring us to 5, all of them being Earth-based supersmart leaders. Then it's Black Bolt that rounds them up, and one of my personal favourites, Brian Braddock, brings them to 7. I prefer the idea of them all being supergeniuses and leaders of men. In comparison Namor's... eh. I could easily add Doom, but it's a question of how many figures you have and where they can go. I think I'll end up with lots of Dooms, but I can't figure out anywhere else to put a hypothetical Brian (beyond a Dane and an Elsa, who'd go with the Midnight Sons/Magical Display, I don't see myself getting anymore UK characters, and I'm unlikely to build an Excalibur display as X-Men-wise I'll be sticking to the Summers/Greys and some personal favourite one-offs), so it'd be easy to give him a spot there, especially since Hickman made him a proper member of the team, and it fits him like a glove.

Still, like you said, I'd love to see Blackagar in the MCU. Problem is you need someone with great presence, and how can you convince a great actor to take over a role that involves no speaking? Maybe appeal to how difficult it'd be to act only with the face. I personally think you need someone with a bit of an otherwordly vibe to them, like Wes Bentley or Cillian Murphy. Luke Evans could do it too. Not that Anson Mount was bad, and the man could use a second chance. Vin Diesel has been pushing for the role, and I love the guy for being a nerd who made it, but he's not right for it. They just need to cast a great lead, a hot redhead for Medusa, use them sparringly and make them almost scarily mysterious and eerie, and they'll be set.

 

[matticus]

Exactly. In small doses, he's fun. And for me, it was those moments where he displayed regality and the willingness to do what needed to be done that made him one of my favourites. Granted, apart from my Top 5, "favourite" means like 50 people for me... The bit where he detonates the bomb during the Incursions while everyone else chickens out. Although looking back that was less of a good Namor showing, and more of a bad showing for everyone else... Anyway, the problem is that most of the time he'd be an annoying dick for no reason, and without really being able to back it up. I dismissed it and just focused on the good, but as I got thinking about it, he really is more trouble than he's worth. Come to think of it, I still don't know why he was added to the Illuminati in the first place, considering the whole point was that they were safeguarding the Infinity Gems. Who'd trust the guy with the temper of a five year old with one of most powerful weapons in the universe? Tony must've been drunk the day he called the meeting... Regardless, I enjoy him, but dunno, I had that epiphany and now it's hard for me to look at him the same way.

I like Kings and Emperors in comics and other media, because they're supposed to represent the very pinnacle of the human condition. Good or evil don't much matter to me, I just want them to be interesting, capable and worthy of being the top dog. So I can like someone such as Doom, even though he's not as altruistic as someone like T'Challa or Blackagar. But Namor's such a ******* failure at his job, that he's literally a 15 YO coked out trust fund baby flaunting his wealth on TikTok, only he's actually around 100 years old, which makes it even worse. Doom's a genius, Stark's a genius, Richards' a genius, T'Challa's a genius, Braddock's a genius, Xavier's a genius, Blackagar's definitely alien smart considering he's the peak of alien eugenics, and Namor's like a ragetard being dragged around. He's always rude, except when he wants to **** another guy's wife, then he's slimy. So he doesn't meet even the most basic criteria of a good King. It's kinda weird for me to reconcile what he is with how I saw him. The utter failure of an arrogant arse, with the entertaining pompous anti-hero.

As for a figure, it'll entirely depend on the costume and general aesthetic they go with. If it's something too pleathery, I'll skip it. I've been wanting a Loki since forever, but all his figures so far have looked like cosplayers instead of a Sci-Fi God, so I've skipped him everytime. I'm still waiting for a perfect Loki... Either way, BP2 is slated for this November, so I assume we'll see how he looks around the Summer. Maybe a leak of concept art or something by then. If he looks aesthetically pleasing to my eye, regadless if he's more modernised or more Maya-inspired, I'll get him. Otherwise I'll probably skip him. As I've said before I find the actor underwhelming in general, so I can't bring myself to fantasise about possible costumes. Too short, too old, not distinct enough. I can't see him getting great abs to pull off a shirtless look, so they'll probably go with a pleathery suit. But we'll see, I'm open to it. It's not like Kang where I already hate him.

It's just that these figures cost a pretty penny, and the selling point are the realistic portraits and soft goods, so if it's not an actor you like, or at least one who's handsome/pleasing to look at, it's hard to justify it, especially when a character isn't an absolute must-have. Take Wenwu. I like Tony Leung a lot, and am a Mandarin fan comics-wise, but his costume and MCU version are too divorced for me to care about the figure. Gyllenhaal is an actor I love, whereas Mysterio is a character I don't care for, so I skipped him too. It's about finding that sweet middle ground, you know?


Exactly. I had shaped a different version of it in my head. The classical GrecoRoman aesthetic was never "canon" per se, as it was an analogy and seperate from those cultures anyhow, so I'm fine breaking away from it. But in my mind I'd set it up similar to how Nadia and the Disney flick handled it. As a Proto-Med Civ that influenced the entire region and the Fertile Crescent. That's the story I'd set up in mind, as it fit with where our sources came from, story or not, and that it made sense as a narrative. Plus, I just liked the Proto-Egyptian Sci-Fi aesthetics:

However, there have been one or two proposed theories that Atlantis was a MesoAmerican civilization, so I can see why they did what they did. I just never entertained them, because those theories were too wild and unrealistic (an entire continent doesn't just sink without causing major ramifications, especially in such a short timespan to recorded history) while not making sense (how would a landmass close to the Americas make its presence known to Egypt).. But again, I can see why they did it. It helps them differentiate their version from DC's as well. I assume it's a bit political too, as having a white/white-passing ethnostate go to war with a black ethnostate would be bad optics. Although it's a given they'll come out of it with someone like Doom having orchestrated the whole war, and they'll part in amicable terms.

So it's not like it's a totally left field choice. It's just that I had built up another preference in my head. I'm open to it, but like I said, go all the way. Use the Mayan and MesoAmerican gods. Use the aesthetics to their full extent. Put in the work. Place it close to the Americas instead of the Med. Play it straight and do something interesting with it. I just don't want something Twitter-pandering with retconned history.


Certainly. MesoAmerica is one of the cradles of civilization, so there's lots of material to mine. Problem is Disney is far lazier than Mel Gibson, so they can easily half-ass it. They could either be cool, or they could turn out as poorly made caricatures. It all depends on the execution. You can't just do a 1:1 copy and add some futuristic guns under the water. You have to explain how they even survived under there. In DC they're a distinct species with genetic magical abillities. In Marvel it's a mess connected with Mutants, Eternals and every other proto/meta/sub/whatever-race.

Although, maybe we're looking at it the wrong way. If Atlantis was a Proto-Civ linked to the MesoAmericas, it'd actually be more similar to the Olmecs. Mayas came in pretty late, all things considered. And they were rather recent too. Maybe they won't even go with a MesoAmerican vibe, but with an Andes connection, as that's the oldest Civ known in the Americas. However we don't have much from the period, so I can see them just going for a Maya look and calling it a day. I think I'm putting more thought into it than they will...


Yeah, and that's what ruins him in my eyes. If he were the arrogant Princeling I'd accept it, but he's supposed to be a leader of men. It's been nearly 100 years of publication now, he should be more mature.

As for Black Bolt, I've always liked him. The restraint he shows and the weight he carries always make him a point of interest when he shows up. The sick design doesn't hurt either. Or how good his wife looks... The problem is that aside from him, Medusa, and maybe Crystal, Maximus and Karnak, all the Inhumans are boring, drab and the entire society is uninteresting. Kirby & Lee continue their weird naming conventions here too, so here we go trying to figure out why a bunch of genetic experiments have, again, GrecoRoman names. I liked the Ultimate version which took the inspiration and run with it. You see the statues and the such behind them, and Crystal mentions that they're 10K years old, much older than even Minoans, so I took it for a connection to Altantis.

I've had the neat idea of mixing the Inhumans with the Atlanteans since then. Blackagar managed to hold together an entire space empire, cleaning up Namor's ******** would be a walk in the park. Well, I could certainly have Black Bolt as a stand-in for a King of Atlantis in my headcanon, as his aesthetics already fit the bill. I want my Illuminati display to be limited to 6, 7 people max. They were originally gathered to guard the Gems, and they're Six (plus the non-canon 7th one from the Marvel/DC crossover) so I need 6, at best 7 people. T'Challa refused, so the original lineup was Reed, Xavier, Stark, Strange, Blackagar and Namor. Reed, Stark, Strange, T'Challa and Xavier make the most sense and bring us to 5, all of them being Earth-based supersmart leaders. Then it's Black Bolt that rounds them up, and one of my personal favourites, Brian Braddock, brings them to 7. I prefer the idea of them all being supergeniuses and leaders of men. In comparison Namor's... eh. I could easily add Doom, but it's a question of how many figures you have and where they can go. I think I'll end up with lots of Dooms, but I can't figure out anywhere else to put a hypothetical Brian (beyond a Dane and an Elsa, who'd go with the Midnight Sons/Magical Display, I don't see myself getting anymore UK characters, and I'm unlikely to build an Excalibur display as X-Men-wise I'll be sticking to the Summers/Greys and some personal favourite one-offs), so it'd be easy to give him a spot there, especially since Hickman made him a proper member of the team, and it fits him like a glove.

Still, like you said, I'd love to see Blackagar in the MCU. Problem is you need someone with great presence, and how can you convince a great actor to take over a role that involves no speaking? Maybe appeal to how difficult it'd be to act only with the face. I personally think you need someone with a bit of an otherwordly vibe to them, like Wes Bentley or Cillian Murphy. Luke Evans could do it too. Not that Anson Mount was bad, and the man could use a second chance. Vin Diesel has been pushing for the role, and I love the guy for being a nerd who made it, but he's not right for it. They just need to cast a great lead, a hot redhead for Medusa, use them sparringly and make them almost scarily mysterious and eerie, and they'll be set.

F all of those characters. Give me The Ghost Rider.

The new comic is....on fire.

 

[Victοr]

F all of those characters. Give me The Ghost Rider.

The new comic is....on fire.



View attachment 563908View attachment 563910

I certainly want a Ghost Rider, as he's a remnant of my teen edge days, but my favourite archetype is the supergenius monarch, so those guys are the core of my displays.

Although I dread to think of the price if they include the bike, GR will go nicely with Moon Knight and whatever other Supernatural character I end up getting. I've got a shortlist of the usuals (GR, Blade, MK, Elsa) but then there's folks like the Hellstrom Twins. I wonder if I should mix it with my planned Sorcerers display (Strange, Wanda, guess I'd have to scrap Loki and put him on a Cosmic shelf). Whatever, we're like 3 years away from those flicks, so 5 years away from the figures, at the earliest.

ATM I'm only puling two X-Titles (X-Men, Immortal X-Men) and Vader. I'm past the point of caring for reheated plots for Big 2 characters. I'll get my dollies and I'll be fine. But I have been thoroughly enjoying the X-Books. Well, the one I'm pulling, as the others suck and Immortal hasn't been released yet. But Duggan's X-Men is pure blockbuster comic book fun with top tier art.

Man, I love Cyclops. How did people even like Logan when Scott was around? I have to say, I hate what Jackman did to the comics. I like the guy, but being hot and playing Wolverine literally ruined the entire brand. JEAN IS FOR CYCLOPS, OKAY?!

Anyway, I hope the MCU costumes are just as good. I need this Jean.

It'll be hard navigating the X-Verse when the figures hit, but I think if I stick to my plan of getting just the Summers/Grey Family, some villains, and making my own fan-team from years back as a display, I'll be fine. I'll try not to double dip into multiple costumes or things like X-Force and the such. I'll need a Phoenix Jean and a Phoenix Scott if they go there, but I'll try to keep it under control.

 

[matticus]

I certainly want a Ghost Rider, as he's a remnant of my teen edge days, but my favourite archetype is the supergenius monarch, so those guys are the core of my displays.

Although I dread to think of the price if they include the bike, GR will go nicely with Moon Knight and whatever other Supernatural character I end up getting. I've got a shortlist of the usuals (GR, Blade, MK, Elsa) but then there's folks like the Hellstrom Twins. I wonder if I should mix it with my planned Sorcerers display (Strange, Wanda, guess I'd have to scrap Loki and put him on a Cosmic shelf). Whatever, we're like 3 years away from those flicks, so 5 years away from the figures, at the earliest.

ATM I'm only puling two X-Titles (X-Men, Immortal X-Men) and Vader. I'm past the point of caring for reheated plots for Big 2 characters. I'll get my dollies and I'll be fine. But I have been thoroughly enjoying the X-Books. Well, the one I'm pulling, as the others suck and Immortal hasn't been released yet. But Duggan's X-Men is pure blockbuster comic book fun with top tier art.

Man, I love Cyclops. How did people even like Logan when Scott was around? I have to say, I hate what Jackman did to the comics. I like the guy, but being hot and playing Wolverine literally ruined the entire brand. JEAN IS FOR CYCLOPS, OKAY?!

Anyway, I hope the MCU costumes are just as good. I need this Jean.

It'll be hard navigating the X-Verse when the figures hit, but I think if I stick to my plan of getting just the Summers/Grey Family, some villains, and making my own fan-team from years back as a display, I'll be fine. I'll try not to double dip into multiple costumes or things like X-Force and the such. I'll need a Phoenix Jean and a Phoenix Scott if they go there, but I'll try to keep it under control.

I love my Cyclops. He is the Captain America of the X-Men. Singer honestly ruined him further as some whiny, preppy, pompous kind of guy. No, he is a strong leader that doesn't like some wild card Wolverine ruining his missions. Even the Cap/Avengers writers said that they wanted to do X-Men and redeem the image of Cyclops. Nice to hear that.

I'm not much of a Jean Grey guy. She always comes off as the weak, help me and worthless kind of girl. Then they overpower her with the Phoenix. Give me Rogue and Storm any day of the week. I hated Halle Berry's casting. She doesn't give off the tough gal vibe, just an angry one. Rogue is just model material and has Captain Marvel abilities. I like that. Beast is a valuable member too and Kelsey Grammar was exactly the casting choice that felt perfect to me. The Fox-Men stuff was really hit and miss for me. I think Prof X and Magneto casting was pretty good on both accounts.

I like X-Force. The team has some cool characters and is an underrated squad. Not sure if Deadpool 3 will address that further or if the Deadpool 2 team was just a plot device for a good laugh.

 

[Omega9300]

Exactly. In small doses, he's fun. And for me, it was those moments where he displayed regality and the willingness to do what needed to be done that made him one of my favourites. Granted, apart from my Top 5, "favourite" means like 50 people for me... The bit where he detonates the bomb during the Incursions while everyone else chickens out. Although looking back that was less of a good Namor showing, and more of a bad showing for everyone else... Anyway, the problem is that most of the time he'd be an annoying dick for no reason, and without really being able to back it up. I dismissed it and just focused on the good, but as I got thinking about it, he really is more trouble than he's worth. Come to think of it, I still don't know why he was added to the Illuminati in the first place, considering the whole point was that they were safeguarding the Infinity Gems. Who'd trust the guy with the temper of a five year old with one of most powerful weapons in the universe? Tony must've been drunk the day he called the meeting... Regardless, I enjoy him, but dunno, I had that epiphany and now it's hard for me to look at him the same way.

I like Kings and Emperors in comics and other media, because they're supposed to represent the very pinnacle of the human condition. Good or evil don't much matter to me, I just want them to be interesting, capable and worthy of being the top dog. So I can like someone such as Doom, even though he's not as altruistic as someone like T'Challa or Blackagar. But Namor's such a ******* failure at his job, that he's literally a 15 YO coked out trust fund baby flaunting his wealth on TikTok, only he's actually around 100 years old, which makes it even worse. Doom's a genius, Stark's a genius, Richards' a genius, T'Challa's a genius, Braddock's a genius, Xavier's a genius, Blackagar's definitely alien smart considering he's the peak of alien eugenics, and Namor's like a ragetard being dragged around. He's always rude, except when he wants to **** another guy's wife, then he's slimy. So he doesn't meet even the most basic criteria of a good King. It's kinda weird for me to reconcile what he is with how I saw him. The utter failure of an arrogant arse, with the entertaining pompous anti-hero.

As for a figure, it'll entirely depend on the costume and general aesthetic they go with. If it's something too pleathery, I'll skip it. I've been wanting a Loki since forever, but all his figures so far have looked like cosplayers instead of a Sci-Fi God, so I've skipped him everytime. I'm still waiting for a perfect Loki... Either way, BP2 is slated for this November, so I assume we'll see how he looks around the Summer. Maybe a leak of concept art or something by then. If he looks aesthetically pleasing to my eye, regadless if he's more modernised or more Maya-inspired, I'll get him. Otherwise I'll probably skip him. As I've said before I find the actor underwhelming in general, so I can't bring myself to fantasise about possible costumes. Too short, too old, not distinct enough. I can't see him getting great abs to pull off a shirtless look, so they'll probably go with a pleathery suit. But we'll see, I'm open to it. It's not like Kang where I already hate him.

It's just that these figures cost a pretty penny, and the selling point are the realistic portraits and soft goods, so if it's not an actor you like, or at least one who's handsome/pleasing to look at, it's hard to justify it, especially when a character isn't an absolute must-have. Take Wenwu. I like Tony Leung a lot, and am a Mandarin fan comics-wise, but his costume and MCU version are too divorced for me to care about the figure. Gyllenhaal is an actor I love, whereas Mysterio is a character I don't care for, so I skipped him too. It's about finding that sweet middle ground, you know?


Exactly. I had shaped a different version of it in my head. The classical GrecoRoman aesthetic was never "canon" per se, as it was an analogy and seperate from those cultures anyhow, so I'm fine breaking away from it. But in my mind I'd set it up similar to how Nadia and the Disney flick handled it. As a Proto-Med Civ that influenced the entire region and the Fertile Crescent. That's the story I'd set up in mind, as it fit with where our sources came from, story or not, and that it made sense as a narrative. Plus, I just liked the Proto-Egyptian Sci-Fi aesthetics:

However, there have been one or two proposed theories that Atlantis was a MesoAmerican civilization, so I can see why they did what they did. I just never entertained them, because those theories were too wild and unrealistic (an entire continent doesn't just sink without causing major ramifications, especially in such a short timespan to recorded history) while not making sense (how would a landmass close to the Americas make its presence known to Egypt).. But again, I can see why they did it. It helps them differentiate their version from DC's as well. I assume it's a bit political too, as having a white/white-passing ethnostate go to war with a black ethnostate would be bad optics. Although it's a given they'll come out of it with someone like Doom having orchestrated the whole war, and they'll part in amicable terms.

So it's not like it's a totally left field choice. It's just that I had built up another preference in my head. I'm open to it, but like I said, go all the way. Use the Mayan and MesoAmerican gods. Use the aesthetics to their full extent. Put in the work. Place it close to the Americas instead of the Med. Play it straight and do something interesting with it. I just don't want something Twitter-pandering with retconned history.


Certainly. MesoAmerica is one of the cradles of civilization, so there's lots of material to mine. Problem is Disney is far lazier than Mel Gibson, so they can easily half-ass it. They could either be cool, or they could turn out as poorly made caricatures. It all depends on the execution. You can't just do a 1:1 copy and add some futuristic guns under the water. You have to explain how they even survived under there. In DC they're a distinct species with genetic magical abillities. In Marvel it's a mess connected with Mutants, Eternals and every other proto/meta/sub/whatever-race.

Although, maybe we're looking at it the wrong way. If Atlantis was a Proto-Civ linked to the MesoAmericas, it'd actually be more similar to the Olmecs. Mayas came in pretty late, all things considered. And they were rather recent too. Maybe they won't even go with a MesoAmerican vibe, but with an Andes connection, as that's the oldest Civ known in the Americas. However we don't have much from the period, so I can see them just going for a Maya look and calling it a day. I think I'm putting more thought into it than they will...


Yeah, and that's what ruins him in my eyes. If he were the arrogant Princeling I'd accept it, but he's supposed to be a leader of men. It's been nearly 100 years of publication now, he should be more mature.

As for Black Bolt, I've always liked him. The restraint he shows and the weight he carries always make him a point of interest when he shows up. The sick design doesn't hurt either. Or how good his wife looks... The problem is that aside from him, Medusa, and maybe Crystal, Maximus and Karnak, all the Inhumans are boring, drab and the entire society is uninteresting. Kirby & Lee continue their weird naming conventions here too, so here we go trying to figure out why a bunch of genetic experiments have, again, GrecoRoman names. I liked the Ultimate version which took the inspiration and run with it. You see the statues and the such behind them, and Crystal mentions that they're 10K years old, much older than even Minoans, so I took it for a connection to Altantis.

I've had the neat idea of mixing the Inhumans with the Atlanteans since then. Blackagar managed to hold together an entire space empire, cleaning up Namor's ******** would be a walk in the park. Well, I could certainly have Black Bolt as a stand-in for a King of Atlantis in my headcanon, as his aesthetics already fit the bill. I want my Illuminati display to be limited to 6, 7 people max. They were originally gathered to guard the Gems, and they're Six (plus the non-canon 7th one from the Marvel/DC crossover) so I need 6, at best 7 people. T'Challa refused, so the original lineup was Reed, Xavier, Stark, Strange, Blackagar and Namor. Reed, Stark, Strange, T'Challa and Xavier make the most sense and bring us to 5, all of them being Earth-based supersmart leaders. Then it's Black Bolt that rounds them up, and one of my personal favourites, Brian Braddock, brings them to 7. I prefer the idea of them all being supergeniuses and leaders of men. In comparison Namor's... eh. I could easily add Doom, but it's a question of how many figures you have and where they can go. I think I'll end up with lots of Dooms, but I can't figure out anywhere else to put a hypothetical Brian (beyond a Dane and an Elsa, who'd go with the Midnight Sons/Magical Display, I don't see myself getting anymore UK characters, and I'm unlikely to build an Excalibur display as X-Men-wise I'll be sticking to the Summers/Greys and some personal favourite one-offs), so it'd be easy to give him a spot there, especially since Hickman made him a proper member of the team, and it fits him like a glove.

Still, like you said, I'd love to see Blackagar in the MCU. Problem is you need someone with great presence, and how can you convince a great actor to take over a role that involves no speaking? Maybe appeal to how difficult it'd be to act only with the face. I personally think you need someone with a bit of an otherwordly vibe to them, like Wes Bentley or Cillian Murphy. Luke Evans could do it too. Not that Anson Mount was bad, and the man could use a second chance. Vin Diesel has been pushing for the role, and I love the guy for being a nerd who made it, but he's not right for it. They just need to cast a great lead, a hot redhead for Medusa, use them sparringly and make them almost scarily mysterious and eerie, and they'll be set.

Again, really good points and interesting perspectives you bring to the issues here.
I never really thought mush about why I liked Black Bolt so much, but the way you described why he is a great leader and king are precisely what I admire about the character (and yeah he looks awesome.

Also you killed me with this comment:

“ Namor's like a ragetard being dragged around. He's always rude, except when he wants to **** another guy's wife, then he's slimy. So he doesn't meet even the most basic criteria of a good King”

LMAO!!!

 

[willy156]

Scarjo thinks Hot Toys nails actors likeness:



All of you critics are wrong.

P.S. She has no idea what I do to my Black Widow figures

So cool! I wonder if there are any other clips of actors talking about hot toys

 

[Victοr]

I love my Cyclops. He is the Captain America of the X-Men. Singer honestly ruined him further as some whiny, preppy, pompous kind of guy. No, he is a strong leader that doesn't like some wild card Wolverine ruining his missions. Even the Cap/Avengers writers said that they wanted to do X-Men and redeem the image of Cyclops. Nice to hear that.

Exactly. Cyclops is a proper Chad and it pains me that normies latched onto him as their punching bag and jumped on the Logan train, who's a much more inferior and vastly less interesting character to me. Scott's character arc over the years is one of the best in superhero comics, and he's the actual face of the X-Men. He's what they should all strive to be. I've been a Cykefan since I got into the X-Men, and that'll never change. Scott is the man, period.

Although, looking back, Morrison did ruin him. Having him cheat on Jean was a character breaking moment for me. While I do have a nostalgia for the era, and it did have a very nice aesthetic and some interesting ideas, as an X-Fan I think that Morrison just ruined the entire brand and it literally hasn't recovered since. He wrote many characters OOC and that's because he's a DC-loving druggie who didn't have any sort of emotional attachment for them, so he just used them as puppets to get the story moving. I agree with some of his takes, and I love that he's one of the very few writers to make Magneto get off his high horse, but a lot of them got character assassinated.

I'm not much of a Jean Grey guy. She always comes off as the weak, help me and worthless kind of girl. Then they overpower her with the Phoenix. Give me Rogue and Storm any day of the week. I hated Halle Berry's casting. She doesn't give off the tough gal vibe, just an angry one. Rogue is just model material and has Captain Marvel abilities. I like that. Beast is a valuable member too and Kelsey Grammar was exactly the casting choice that felt perfect to me. The Fox-Men stuff was really hit and miss for me. I think Prof X and Magneto casting was pretty good on both accounts.

As a teen and coming off the 00s years, I did grow to like Emma the most out of all the X-Women. She fit that arrogant, powerful smart-arse type I enjoy (and she was actually smart, she used to run a tech company), and going back and reading stuff like Gen X really made me come around to her. But as time went on and they wanted her to be both Queen Bitch and Momma Bear, plus the relationship with Scott which I feel was built on faulty foundation, made me start disliking her. Not her specifically, all the Muties have been getting on my nerves for the last 10 years. But she came off as the very embodiment of "have my cake and eat it too" and it just didn't sit right with me. Plus, she's a genuine whore and 100% plastic, so the more they tried to make her be Scott's soulmate, the more I despised her. Scott shouldn't be settling for a literal whore, and I don't buy that woman as having genuine feelings.

Jean's a bit of a complicated character. She's genuinely motherly, but she's got a temper. I hate what's been done to her, and the "lmao she dies, like, a lot" meme doesn't help matters, since normies see her as either annoying or some saint. Me, I like her because she's the logical pairing to Scott's leader, has a great design and powers, and as a character I find her balanced. She's a protective and sweet gal who can rain hellfire on you. It's simple and effective. She's got enough flaws and qualities to work. I don't like her as some uber-compassionate saint, and all the Wolverine-shipping makes her look like a whore, but it's comics, what can you do? Honestly, it's Wolverine I've gradually come to hate. Back in the day I hated Storm because of her awful fanbase, but now that I don't visit forums and engage with them I'm not bothered by her. Instead it's Logan that I utterly despise, especially with all the writer fanboys he has wanking him. Now there's a character that I wish would stay dead.

Talk about a satisfying page.

I like X-Force. The team has some cool characters and is an underrated squad. Not sure if Deadpool 3 will address that further or if the Deadpool 2 team was just a plot device for a good laugh.

I don't much care for the 90s team. New Mutants, X-Factor, all those spinoffs never did much for me. Excalibur's the closest I've come to liking a spin-off title. Whatever I like about X-Force comes from the '08 kill-squad and Remender's Uncanny X-Force. Before that X-Force was redundant and too similar to the actual team. With the revamp they just brought the idea to its logical conclusion. The slick outfits didn't hurt either, nor the fact that it was basically every badass mutie coming together to butcher suckers. It just works, y'know?

Personally I'm trying to work my X-Men display in my head by breaking it into sections. As I've said, my favourite was always the mainline, with Excalibur and X-Force as the other titles I also enjoyed. Thing is, I read Excalibur primarily for Brian and the UK-ness, not the X-Connection. And from X-Force, I don't much care for most of the characters individually. Brian I've already said will probably go with my Illuminati, Rachel would go with her parents, and from X-Force I'd want one or two characters that can be folded elsewhere. So my plan is

• Summers/Grey Family
• Ideal X-Team
• X-Villains
• Xavier & Magneto
• Randoms

All put in a single part of a moducase, hopefully. For me it's about representing every IP/property with my favourite parts, so that's what I'm doing here too. Thing is, the X-Verse is so big that I can't just buy two figures and call it a day. The Summers/Grey section will be Scott, Jean, Cable, Rachel and Hope. Havok I could buy I guess, but it depends too much on the costume; I don't much care for his character. The X-Villains group would be Apocalypse, Sinister, Stryfe and Madelyne (who did nothing wrong) with Mojo, Shaw, Selense, Mystique, Bastion/Nimrod and Exodus as maybes. Xavier & Magneto deserve their own little corner. Deadpool I'm thinking of putting with Spider-Man, Iron Man and Stan Lee in a small Marvel-General display. Randoms would be all the X-Characters I like but can't fit in my X-Team, which I'd limit to 7-9 members. So we're playing with Cyclops, Jean, Emma, Archangel, Legion, Psylocke, Rogue, Sage, Beast, Fantomex, Quentin Quire, Magik, Xorn/Zorn, Brand, maybe Nightcralwer, Sunfire and Storm. But it all depends on casting and costumes too. I'm just throwing out all of my favourites. I basically wrote down like 30 names by now, that's not choosing, that's writting down... Basically I want to my own Extinction team, and then some one-offs in their corner. With Krakoa being a thing you can have them all next to each other and it'd still make sense.

I'll have to pick and choose, in any regard, not just characters but outfits too. Unless they do an Ultimate/Fox/Morrison bit where my nostalgia gets me, I'm not interested in a uniformal look, so it's just picking and choosing. I'll need to double dip with Cyclops and Jean (normal and Phoenix for example), but considering the X-Verse will run for about a decade, then ending as the MCU finally closes down, I'm fine waiting for my ideal versions. I'll not be jumping on anything unless it's right up my alley. So for Scott it's the one or two from the Utopia, NOW!, Krakoa or Phoenix looks, for Archangel it's the Uncanny X-Force look only, and so on. I'd buy two Xaviers/Magnetos, once in their classic looks and then something like their Krakoa outfits, but I'm getting wildly ahead of myself.

Again, really good points and interesting perspectives you bring to the issues here.

Thanks man. It might be beating a dead horse, but I really liked how Ultimate Namor looked and that was what I was rooting for. A Proto-Egyptian Atlantis was exactly what I imagined.

Funny thing is, while he was an even bigger ****, he actually left the surface alone and was much less volatile than 616 Namor. And he was far more powerful too. Either way, he had great aesthetics, the modernization of his classic look was on point, and he was exactly what I'd have liked to see. Good news is, it's kind of a basic design so I could maybe kitbash it somehow. Get one of those buffed up TBLeague bodies, look for some spare Egyptian clothing from their figures, maybe grab some stuff from the official HT Namor down the line, comission a headsculpt if I can't find any suitable ones, and hey presto, Ultimate Namor is ready!

Sci-Fi Underwater EgyptiAtlantis was always my go-to headcanon. So you can see why I find the MCU direction disapointing. But I may be biased since I love Egyptian aesthetics in general. It's why the Kang casting kills me too.

I never really thought mush about why I liked Black Bolt so much, but the way you described why he is a great leader and king are precisely what I admire about the character (and yeah he looks awesome.

Also you killed me with this comment:

“ Namor's like a ragetard being dragged around. He's always rude, except when he wants to **** another guy's wife, then he's slimy. So he doesn't meet even the most basic criteria of a good King”

LMAO!!!

Yeah, Black Bolt's honestly very underrated for what a burden he bears on his shoulders. More can be done with him, but they ruined him in the comics (turned him into a literal cuck and Medusa into a whore, then did a classic "ebil monarchy hurdur we wantz democracyz" bit) and now he and all the Inhumans are in limbo ever since they got the X-Men back. The Inhumans are a pretty ****** brand, I get that, but Blackagar as the head with Medusa as his Queen work great, and played a very key and interesting role in the entire Hickman saga, so he should come back in the same capacity.

 

[Austano]

Well Hot Toys sure has been dead lately. When can we expect the next announcement?

 

[willy156]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CaUsPbUquKV/tom just went ahead and posted this image, hopefully its greenlight for more spidey announcements now.. looking at you hot toys!