Madelman Secret Agent

After I bought those Madelman 2-Packs at Toys 'R' Us, I went online to look up manufacturer and the toy line that those four figures came from. There’s not a lot about the series out there (how did we ever survive without the Internet?) but there was enough to make me sad that I didn’t know about these toys earlier. Though the figures are too generic to really get me excited, but the various 1:10 scale accessories that they come with really make them worthwhile.

Sadly, these aren’t a lot of places that you can buy these things online. Most of the places I found had placeholders, but had notices that the items were out of stock. There was a whole mess of figures that were released by Popular de Juguetes before they went belly up. The Madelman Secret Agent was one of the figures from that search that really killed me since it looked like it had some choice gear that I could use for my gun savvy superheroes.

Lo and behold, I walk into Lanz Collectibles in St. Francis mall (the little one between SM Megamall and The Podium), and there it is, hidden among the G.I. Joes, Marvel Universe, and WWE figures. They had two of them and I bought both for Php 800.00.

Yeah, I know that’s 400% of the price I paid for my first four Madelman figures, but I couldn’t pass these things up. It’s a secret agent, man! James Bond, mother*!

So yeah, I bought both the figures and I don’t care if they are about a decade old.

The box is basically just like the current Marvel Select series of action figures from Diamond Select: a carded blister (albeit a relatively huge one) with rectangular card board support to the side. This one is missing anything appealing on its “spine” though, so it’s not going to be something you can display bookcase style. It’s a pretty ugly shade of green, and the back of the package looks extremely crowed with three or four translations of each of the blurbs. None of the photos are that exciting either.

At least he’s got a huge window where you can see most of the figure and its accessories. Without that window, I doubt anyone would have ever stopped to pick this thing up.

I’ll admit, though, the age of the figures does put a damper on my excitement. Right out of the package, a problem becomes immediately apparent. The trench coat is made from soft goods that have been coated with something that simulates leather. The material doesn’t really bond will to the cloth underneath, and being in a box for a couple of decades doesn’t help. The black top coat began peeling and flaking off as soon as I started moving the figure.

For anyone who’s ever owned this type of accessory for one of their toys will tell you that it’s happened before. I don’t know if there’s a way to stop it, but I wish I’d known that process when I’d first picked up my X-Men Legends boxset Gambit several years back. At that time, the figure was only about five years old, but the coat was already flaking heavily. I’m guessing that the only reason the coat on our Secret Agent here survived all this time.

In any case, I completely ruined the first coat I removed. After discovering how fragile it was, I did he next one bit by tedious bit and managed to get it off without too much obvious damage. The only thing is, I’m unlikely to ever be able to pull it back on to the figure. And here I was hoping to use the coat on my various Marvel Legends, like the Nemesis Series Punisher.

Oh, well.

The rest of the figure and its accessories was in pretty good shape despite the hiccup with the trench coat. He comes with quite a lot of gear, more than even the pair of scuba divers I bought last time.

Here's the list of accessories:

• 1 Trench Coat
• 1 Turtleneck Sweater
• 1 Pair of Pants
• 1 Pair of Shoes
• 2 Suction Cups for his hands
• 2 Suction Cups for his knees
• 1 Shoulder Holster
• 1 Pair of Sunglasses
• 1 Briefcase
• 1 Red Projectile for the Briefcase
• 1 Communication Device with Earpiece
• 1 H&K MP5
• 1 Pistol with Removable Laser Sight
• 1 Silencer (can be fitted to both weapons)
• 2 Stacks of Madelman Money
• 1 SLR Camera with 2 Interchangeable Lenses

Quite a package for Php 400.00. Even with the demise of the trench coat, I think it's still worth it. The number and quality of the accessories really sells this as a worthy toy. It doesn't have a (recognizable) brand name on it, but it makes up for it in play value. He's even about the size of any of your Marvel Legends or DC Universe Classics toys (though his head, hands, and feet are larger in comparison to those figures).

You'll need to be careful, though.Remember that this thing is a decade old or more and some of the parts are delicate as this is made roughly to scale. I broke one of my silencers about 30 minutes after I'd opened it (I pushed in the wrong direction and snapped the tiny nipple that fits inside the gun barrel). Also, don't try and pull off the head when removing the clothes. It's not meant to come off. I'm going to have to heat the rubber bulb to get it back in there now.

 

You'll see on the back of the package (click on the photo a few paragraphs back to get a bigger image) that the accessories that were displayed had some paint applications. The only one in the production run that gets any is the pistol, which has some silver applied to. It is a fairly nice looking piece.

The MP5, which looks like it has some silver and wood simulation applications, was reduced to the cast color, which is plain black. The briefcase is also black. Kind of hard to see the accessories when their all in place in there, but at least the compartments were still made available. The money is basically just blocks of plastic with some stickers applied.

The case fits the money, the camera and the telephoto lens, the MP5, and the silencer. There is also a small compartment that has a syringe in there, but it's just a sculpted detail: non-removable. Fantastic work, however. The fact that it's there blew my mind.

The pistol fits perfectly in the shoulder holster, with no fear of it falling out. It is kind of hard to fit the holster on him, though, and it doesn't really want to hug his body like it should. The gun isn't really heavy enough to weigh it down either, so it tends to float under his arm pit. Still looks pretty cool, and remember, it was meant to be hidden by the coat.

The wire attaches to the back of the comm package, but it's a rather loose fit. I prefer to just fit the earpiece into the tiny hole in his ear and run the wire down his shirt. There's no real place to fit the comm device, but you can stuff it down his pats if you'd like.

The clothes are tailored pretty well, and the black does hide any imperfections. The shoes help him stand on those relatively small feet. Neither the clothes or the shoes hinder his articulation at all, which is superb. The joints are rather loose, though, so you may have problems holding any poses for a period of time. You'll need a stand to help. Those Bandai Tamashii Stage Act 5 Mechanics Bases work nicely to support his limbs, though the body is too heavy for the stand to hold him up on its own.

 

 

I love the fact that the guns are somewhat modular, with the removable suppressor fitting on either the machine guns or the hand guns. The laser sight only fits on the pistols, however, but it serves to add a little more fun to the set. Again, be very careful with the silencer. I'm still kicking myself for breaking mine.

The MP5 feels a little smaller than some of the other pieces I've gotten from various Chap Mei sets like the Little Bird Sentry Outpost or the new ones that are available at Toys R Us now. They do look more finely detailed, though. I'm not sure which size truly fits the scale of Marvel Legends, but I've got to say I like the Chap Mei size better.

Forget about the suction cups. They're suction cups. If you're a kid, you can pretend he can climb a building with them. If I was 5, I'd be thrilled, but I'm not so I threw them in the Bermuda Triangle Box of Lost Accessories.

"That is a gun, and I am happy to see you."

"It's my costume for the Halloween party. I'm Steve Jobs! With a gun!"

The clothes fit Marvel Legends perfectly, though.

The trench would have been nice if it hadn't been so delicate. It fits on Deadpool nicely. I prefer the sweater and pants however. Makes him look like a Prohibition gangster tough. If only I had a 1:10 hat for him. The shoulder harness is a little tough to fit on him, but the one from Nick Fury works nicely.

 

The harness is too big for Mystique, but a little creative fiddling will help (tape works). And the Sunglasses add a nice touch (again they're a little big, but it's forgivable). The guns look much nicer than her own pistol and the rest of the gear goes well with her sneaky looks.

Over all, I think this is a great set, and I'm happy to have found two of them. The guns are fantastic, and the spy gear is a hell of a lot of fun. The clothes and the figures are just icing. I'll probably use them as hapless victims or witless mooks when I'm goofing around.

If you do find these, snap them up immediately. Even if you don't like them yourself, I think they'd make some little boy in your life immensely happy.

 

 

"Don't worry, Ralph! You're gonna make it!"