Marvel Legends Maximum Series

Re: Maximum Punisher

Punisher is one of my favorites so there's a good chance I'd be interested, but I'm also fervently of the opinion that it's a waste of a spot and does not need to happen. There is nothing -intrinsic- to Punisher that requires it. We already have a perfect Punisher body in the regular line. Besides a couple of heads, a couple of hands, and a couple of guns, he doesn't really need anything. And there's enough guns in ML already that 'we included a bunch of guns with him' isn't even really a selling point.

I would not be at all surprised if the classic Punisher many of us want ends up being a Max release, because they can artificially inflate the price on a bunch of parts they already have that way. But I strongly dislike the idea.
 
Absolutely agree with there being no pressing value in wasting a Maximum slot on Frank. They’ve already shown a willingness to recycle accessories and too many of the stockpile of weapons are only just okay, nothing special or a weak effort compared to the stuff in the Classified arsenal.

If they focused on the main figure for the Maximum innovation then having a well engineered body that poses well under an alternate tactical vest or with swappable arms/coat/(soft goods) could be at least part way there in the effort stakes but still only on a par with a deluxe GI Joe and those are 35/39 ish so the maximum price point of 50/55 is going to leave a sour taste in the mouth of “why didn’t I just kitbash this myself?”

Maybe they can improve the offering with a selection of live action heads:

- Lundgren
- Jane
- Stevenson
- Bernthal (with beard this time perhaps, or an open mouthed roaring expression, just no longer generically ‘sad’)

…. but then we’re firmly out of comic book territory so it wouldn’t work in the Maximum theme and also I don’t think a single physique would look good as all of those actors because I’m pretty sure there’s about 6 inches in height difference from tallest to shortest and they have varying builds.

Yeah sadly a Maximum Frank just seems like a no.


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I think Norm and Reefer Shark had the right idea for a potential Max Punisher - load him out with all the options for multiple looks - swappable black and white boots and gloves, removable vests, a load of head sculpts, removable holsters, and a wired trench coat. A regular figure with a ton of ML weapons just isn't gonna cut it, cause ML just kinda sucks at guns and there are too many better options out there. He needs to include *some* weapons, and people will inevitably bitch and moan if he gets made without a full armory, but I'd much prefer the effort go into the base figure and we just use any of the multitude of better options for arming him.
 
Yeah, you guys are right. Punisher wouldn't really be a prime candidate for a Max figure - I'm just being selfish because he's one of my top 5 Marvel characters and I want the best version possible.
 
Unfortunately, I have been completely uninterested in anything they've produced to-date in this Maximum line. I mean they all seem like decent ML figures, but they all have their individual issues IMO.
Spider-Man leans way too hard into the McFarlane look for my tastes. I might have considered a purchase if they had simply included a more classic Romita-inspired portrait. He's also a bit too dark blue and has a super creepy unmasked headsculpt. And what's up with the flying spooge on a stick? Baby, that's nasty.
Hulk obviously has those one-off, experimental rubber boobs that I don't imagine will age well. Besides that, I feel his accessories are weak and those modern headsculpts are all wak-a-doodoo. Homey should have at least come with one of those bendy I-beams or maybe some smooshed-up car fists?
Copiel Thor looks nice for what it is, but again is just not my era. Even if it was, those headsculpts still look peculiar to me. Ignoring the soft-goods (of which I'm no fan), he reportedly lacks calf articulation, which doesn't exactly read as "Maximum" to me. Hopefully, that's his only real issue and people don't start reporting some other weirdly specific engineering problem/defect.
I feel like "Maximum" should reflect the end-all-be-all of action figure technology and execution distilled into the ultimate package; so far, they've all been barely decent. I'm not sure which character is next-in-line for the maximum treatment but so far we're three for three raspberries in my book.
*end curmudgeonly rant*
 
Lucid Silverback said:
Unfortunately, I have been completely uninterested in anything they've produced to-date in this Maximum line. I mean they all seem like decent ML figures, but they all have their individual issues IMO.
Spider-Man leans way too hard into the McFarlane look for my tastes. I might have considered a purchase if they had simply included a more classic Romita-inspired portrait. He's also a bit too dark blue and has a super creepy unmasked headsculpt. And what's up with the flying spooge on a stick? Baby, that's nasty.
Hulk obviously has those one-off, experimental rubber boobs that I don't imagine will age well. Besides that, I feel his accessories are weak and those modern headsculpts are all wak-a-doodoo. Homey should have at least come with one of those bendy I-beams or maybe some smooshed-up car fists?
Copiel Thor looks nice for what it is, but again is just not my era. Even if it was, those headsculpts still look peculiar to me. Ignoring the soft-goods (of which I'm no fan), he reportedly lacks calf articulation, which doesn't exactly read as "Maximum" to me. Hopefully, that's his only real issue and people don't start reporting some other weirdly specific engineering problem/defect.
I feel like "Maximum" should reflect the end-all-be-all of action figure technology and execution distilled into the ultimate package; so far, they've all been barely decent. I'm not sure which character is next-in-line for the maximum treatment but so far we're three for three raspberries in my book.
*end curmudgeonly rant*
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Im totally with you Lucid. All 3 Max's have missed the mark for one reason or another for me too. The only one I've considered so far is Spidey, The figure itself seems nice and well engineered - but really just don't like the super dark blue they went with. If they ever crank that out in classic light blues, I would most likely go for it.
 
Reefer Shark said:
Yeah, you guys are right. Punisher wouldn't really be a prime candidate for a Max figure - I'm just being selfish because he's one of my top 5 Marvel characters and I want the best version possible.
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Ditto - but I just don't even think we need Max for the best expression of the character. We're already almost there anyway. The two-pack Franks are right on the cusp of perfect (or as near to as ML gets). Classic skull on the black body, with white boots and gloves and you're basically done. Those two-packs already also have a full selection of hands for Frank that can/SHOULD be recycled. If a new Frank comes with that body, those hands, and even just one head - it's essentially a perfect Marvel Legends Punisher. With the added bonus of four other heads he can use from the two-pack figures since they all would share a body.

"Oh, we added worthless toe articulation to help your figures fall down more often and threw in six more of the worst-sculpted guns in action figure history' is just not a selling point and, in fact, I'd argue a Max Punisher might end up being actively WORSE than what they could do with a regular release using existing parts.
 
I think '90s Beast is a good candidate for the line. Make him pinless. Give him a neutral, smiling, and gritted teeth head. Eyeglasses that actually attach to his face, or just an alternate head where he's wearing them permanently. Make sure his colors are compatible with a past release. Give him TWO flat hands for standing, two grips, two fists, two grasping claw hands (TM). Give him the lab coat, flasks and beakers, open and closed books. I know most of this stuff has been released before and could be compiled for an existing figure, but I still see people in search of this guy, and the retro carded version has become rare and expensive. Maybe also give him some of the digs he wore in X-treme X-Men - backpack and goggles/headset. It was essentially the '90s look with some strapification of his costume.
 
Reefer Shark said:
Yeah, you guys are right. Punisher wouldn't really be a prime candidate for a Max figure - I'm just being selfish because he's one of my top 5 Marvel characters and I want the best version possible.
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But Hasbro doesn't want to do that - and even a Max version still isn't designed for that. Each have at least one chosen engineered flaw so far to prevent that.

Also, we're getting BND, Buster, Rivals so far this year and then GV, Born Again and the other two-pack last year - that's six versions of this character in two years. I'm completely sick of this character taking up an entire wave of figures.
 
Reefer Shark said:
Im totally with you Lucid. All 3 Max's have missed the mark for one reason or another for me too. The only one I've considered so far is Spidey, The figure itself seems nice and well engineered - but really just don't like the super dark blue they went with. If they ever crank that out in classic light blues, I would most likely go for it.
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I like that Deadpool doesn't even rank in people's recollection of the Max line. As probably he shouldn't given the lackluster execution.

Spidey is great but not sure he's worth the Max price, I have Hulk but haven't opened him yet, and I didn't bother with Deadpool. Thor is the first one that really looks worth the asking price to me. Excited to get him.
 
hmmberto said:
Spidey is great but not sure he's worth the Max price, I have Hulk but haven't opened him yet, and I didn't bother with Deadpool. Thor is the first one that really looks worth the asking price to me. Excited to get him.
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I still cannot believe (I actually totally can) that they did a Maximum Thor without a spinning hammer effect. That they -already have-.

But I also think we're kind of just inured to the idea that a figure should go way up in price as soon as it has wired softgoods on it. So that automatically means that Thor being 'worth' the Max price is a lower bar than it was for the previous figures.
 
hmmberto said:
I like that Deadpool doesn't even rank in people's recollection of the Max line. As probably he shouldn't given the lackluster execution.

Spidey is great but not sure he's worth the Max price, I have Hulk but haven't opened him yet, and I didn't bother with Deadpool. Thor is the first one that really looks worth the asking price to me. Excited to get him.
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I’m apparently the one sucker who quite likes Max Hulk - nice bright greens, fun power effects and the grinning head, with a few mods, is a decent MVC stand-in. I don’t mind Deadpool either - found him at a decent price, and kinda wanted Doop anyway.

Spidey never seemed worth it to me - might have bitten if the colours were brighter and there were more webbing effects. But there’s nothing I like about that Thor. I doubt I’d buy him for £10, let alone £40.


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Thor-El said:
I admit, the more I look at Thor's head, the less I like it, and the greater the odds I'll put another Thor head on that body.
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The moment I found swapping some of the Hemsworth heads onto the 80th/Deluxe Ragnarok body they’ve been the only ones I use. The Endgame final battle Thor head on the classic comic body looks so damn good, and is a big part of why I looked at the Maximum heads and immediately “noped” I think I prefer the Return of Marvel Legends Coipel Thor head better than this new one even.


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