At first look, Doom looks impressive. A big figure in his normal dress, the arms and legs look just like his comic book appearance does, with knights’ armor. A large flowing cape rests on his shoulders, and the head has the familiar mask. Out of the package, I had trouble with my Doom’s shoulders. They didn’t want to go all the way down, and left bent at awkward angles. The detailing on the hands and arms are extremely impressive and well done. The legs look very nice as they are, but unlike my Doom’s shoulders, the legs are pretty loose. This may have to do with the weight of the cape, but I’m not sure. He can stand, but he can’t bend his legs and keep his stance. On to the cape, it does look great, but being solid plastic, it’s heavy for the figure. There’s a back peg to try to help distribute the weight and support it more, but mine isn’t having it, and pops out. So his cape clasps are kind of choking Doom. His head is sculpted to near perfection, but I’m having problems keeping his head snapped onto the ball peg on his neck. His accessory is a handgun, and fits pretty snug into his right hand. His left hand is open, which, ordinarily, I may have some issue with, but I kind of dig the hand of Doom poses you can get with it. In closing, while the figure looks great, mine had some rather serious flaws that prohibit me from fully enjoying the figure.

Absorbing Man was my pleasant surprise in this set. The shirtless beast of a tall man lumbers about. I suppose it does take a big man to wear purple striped pants. One of the small details that I absolutely love about the figure is the workman’s boots. The tanned leather with dark brown soles look really nice to me for some reason. The arms and legs have solid joints. The hips stick out a bit more than I’d like, but are tolerable. His “absorption” painted part of his body is done in a way that looks incomplete on purpose, and I like it. Flesh in the absorbed part peaks out randomly, to give it a more organic look. You can tell that the absorption is creeping over the remainder of his body with the splotches on his chest and back. And, am I wrong on this? Isn’t he supposed to hold the ball and chain with his absorbed hand? Well, with his figure here, he can only hold it with his flesh hand. I managed to finegle a position of him holding it with his left hand, but it wasn’t easy. Articulation-wise, he’s got the normal range of motion for a Marvel Universe figure. Nothing really restricts his body other than holding his accessory. Speaking of which, Absorbing man comes with a detailed ball and chain. It is definitely heavy on the ball end, so that will affect positioning. While he’s somewhat vanilla, I really like the detail points on Absorbing Man. Simple, yet effective.

As for Wasp, I’m not sure if she should be considered an accessory or not, but what you see is what you get. No facial detailed painting, she’s in a green and purple outfit, with transparent wings. No articulation, she’s more “figure” than “action”. One of the things that wouldn’t be a selling point, but a nice add-in. I’m sure she’d look great with Giant Man!

Should you get this set? It’s friggin Doom, man. Yes. But while sculpted nicely, he does have some flaws that can be overlooked, that is until a better one comes around. Absorbing Man really is the surprise hit this time around. Not to mention you get a miniature Wasp figure, I definitely think you should pick this one up if you find it!

As for Hawkeye, he’s definitely the more interesting of the two, in terms of looks. He’s got soft goods, accessories, and a look that isn’t cookie cutter. The head is great with a smirk on his face. The outfit he has is really soft, and does not restrict the movement of the limbs much. I was surprised and happy to see that Hawkeye’s got arm bands that are loose and can be moved up and down the arm, whereas I figured it would be sculpted or just painted on. Here’s where it goes bad for a bit. Hawkeye’s left hand joint was stuck, and I tried to work it out, when, *SNAP*, off comes the hand. I haven’t broken a toy in YEARS… I was rather disappointed. I tried to use some glue to put it back on, with some varied success. So, if you’re trying to work your hands’ joints loose, BE CAREFUL!! Hawkeye’s right hand, while posed in a reasonable arching position, is somewhat worthless otherwise. He can’t hold his arrow accessory in place, and his bow doesn’t have an area to snap it in. So he’ll just have to shoot imaginary arrows, pulling back his imaginary bow string. While we’re there, lets talk about accessories. The bow is pretty nice. No drawstring, which, honestly, is both good and bad, as it will look wrong in one of two poses, really. I can understand why there aren’t more archer figures, because usually the string will be drawn or at rest. So I’m okay with no string. The arrow, as nice as it is, is virtually worthless. I can’t get my Hawkeye to hold it in a decent position, so I just have to make sure I don’t lose the thing. The Quiver is pretty slick. I like how it looks. They could have cheaped out on it, but it’s actually nice looking. It fits extremely tight on Hawkeye’s back, but it works. With articulation, you get the same thing that Piledriver has. This is definitely the draw of the comic pack between the two, as he’s the more interesting and dynamic figure. The smirk on his face REALLY makes me think that he could be the *NEW* Hawkeye, and not the Hawkeye we know from years past.

Anyways, I don’t want to say that Hawkeye’s worth the price of admission, he’s not, and he could be a bit better, but add in an addition figure in Piledriver, a bad guy, that personally, I think the Marvel U is a little lean on, and a solid comic book, and it’s a fair package deal.

What you see as the base figure is a reactive armor chest, with I believe new arms and legs. The head is the common Ripcord head you see on most of his figures. Camoflauged pants with reative armor plating, and puffy greenish-gray sleeves, and black gloves and boots. It doesn’t look bad without the gear, but the figure shines when decked out in full attire. Here’s a breakdown of what his gear includes: helmet, full body vest, air hoses, front and back pack, to exhaust/intakes, spring loaded jet pack, two missle/bombs, rifle and handgun. Absolutely loaded for war. Each item has ports or sections to clip it into, and although it’s not a firm connection, it will hold. An important note, if you come across one that doesn’t have a front pack (as I have), that front pack helps hold in the air hoses, and you may find yourself cursing not having it. As mentioned, the jetpack is spring loaded, and holds it’s position, either closed or open, very well. The leg straps hinder leg movement, but nowhere near the Cobra Paratrooper from the year before last. The helmet is soft, and fits snuggly over Ripcord’s head. As soft as it is, you shouldn’t have too much issue with putting the helmet on another head if you want to do a swap. The handgun can be placed in a boot holster. The missle/bombs snap into the jetpack. Everything on this figure can be held or attached, which is always a plus for me.

The look of this figure, the jagged wings, the helmet/airhose system, I absolutely love this figure. The future apparently doesn’t look too bright for this figure, but if you can get your hands on one, I really suggest you do so. You won’t be let down.