Have. At. Thee.
I love getting all types of characters in Marvel Legends, but there are a handful of characters that amp up my excitement more than usual when a new version is incoming. Hercules is one of those characters.
Hasbro has taken three swings at Hercules in the Marvel Legends line. The first arrived in the very first Hasbro wave. It was apparently a carryover Toybiz sculpt, and it definitely shows its age. Things have progressed a lot since back then.
The second was a modern take on Hercules, one where he wore pants. Pants on a Hercules? Sayeth it not so! But despite the fact that it wasn’t the version I wanted, there was absolutely no denying that it was a fantastic figure, and both it and doing some reading with Hercules wearing that costume ramped up my appreciation for that figure.
But in the back of my head was always the idea of getting a classic Hercules with the quality of that modern one.
Well, again, this 80s version of Hercules isn’t my first choice—my heart belong with the skirt and leg straps—it is a classic Hercules, and as a devotee of Under Siege era Avengers and the character of Hercules himself, it is just one sexy-ass damn figure. And I am aware that my reviews this week (first Tigra and now this version of Hercules) are trending towards some of the least-clothed Avengers members. Coincidence…or planned?
OK…coincidence. But still weird.
But yes, Hercules is a damn Greek god and he wears underwear into battle and you can’t say a thing about it, because your daddy ain’t Zeus.
Dig that crazy H on his belt. I know things like Apocalypse’s A, Galactus’s G and sometimes Doom’s D make people look askance at them, but to be honest Hercules is without question the kind of guy that would have a belt buckle that is the first letter of his name.
I love this figure an unconditionally unhealthy amount. It carries over the strengths from the previous Hercules with all the additional parts necessary for this version—which explains the pinned arms vs. the pinless legs—to create a near perfect representation of this era of Hercules. All I can do is stare at this figure and hope that a skirt-and-leg-strap version is coming sooner rather than later.
The double joints are excellent, the ab crunch gives you a nice deep crunch, the neck joint lets you get some good back and forth, the hips have a decent lateral spread. There are boot cuts that facilitate certain leg poses. The size of the figure is overall perfect.
Hercules comes with two heads. One is a happy go lucky smile because Hercules can be a bit of an oblivious party-loving dolt, and the other is a furrowed angry head because Hercules is easily angered, like most oblivious dolts can be. But mainly he just likes to fight. Fighting is what he does best, outside of drinking and carousing. And having at thee. Nobody haves at thee more than Hercules.
He’s probably having at thee right now…
Both heads feature the pearly whites of the son of Zeus, because the son of Zeus doth brush regularly. Whether smiling or punching, you will knoweth him by the shine upon his teeth.
I like both expressions. I’m not sure which one will become my default. I’m leaning toward the smiling one. Both heads fit on the previous modern Hercules if you want to get rid of the man-bun.
Hercules comes with two sets of hands. One is a set of gripping hands, so he can hold his mace in either hand, and the other is a pair of fists, for bestowing the gift of combat upside yon head. It is a glorious world indeed where a character like Hercules comes with fists, instead of just grippy hands that you have to pretend are fists. Sure, you can fake it, but nothing says fist like fist. FDR said that.
Finally, you get a great looking mace. Hercules doesn’t have anything as fancy as Mjolnir that will come back to him if he throws it, but he does like keeping his own version, something kind of equivalent if not quite the same. Mainly because he just really really likes hitting things.
Sweet fancy Zeus this is a fantastic figure and I will try not to buy about a dozen or so just to litter around the house. Please please please make a skirt and leg strap version soon. Very soon. Like, tomorrow soon. Too soon?
I say thee nay!
Source: Fwoosh