Family Dollar Marvel Universe Hulk

I'm a sucker for Hulk figures.

He's always been my favorite Marvel character and even if a figure is less than stellar in the articulation, accessories, or appearance categories, I might pick it up if it's one of the Hulk. It happened when I saw the Titan Heroes Hulk from the Avengers Assemble line in the toy store. It was cartoon-y and only had five points of articulation and didn't look like it had been sculpted too well, but dammit, it was a Hulk figure!

This time it happened with the Family Dollar exclusive Marvel Universe Hulk 3.75" figure.

 

I'm not exactly sure when these came out. Must have been either 2013 or early 2014 that I first saw them. Since we don't have Family Dollar here in the Philippines, Toys 'R' Us (TRU) is the one distributing these in the country. They were originally priced at about Php 500, but have since been marked down to Php 300.

The packaging is a simplified version of the standard Marvel Universe packaging with the blue and white motif and the "also available" line up on the back. They dropped all the ad blurbs on the back about the character and also did away with the plastic heat molded trays inside the bubble. These figures are free to roll around the interior of that bubble as much as they want, so getting one that's perfect is going to be a challenge for the more anal among our MOC friends.

With the name "Family Dollar" tacked onto this figure, they've got to cut corners somewhere, and that is basically what they did with the package.

If you want something with a nicer card, you might want to go to Toy Kingdom at your local SM mall and pick up the Avenger Assemble All-Star version instead. This one comes in the nicer Avengers Assemble packaging. The toy itself is identical in every way except color, which is a much brighter green.

Speaking of the figure, I really like the sculpting they did here.

The face isn't the roaring, pissed-off Hulk that I love, but it's definitely rocking the furrowed brow, and clenched jaw. The position they chose to freeze him in isn't as stiff and unnatural as the 10"Titan Heroes Hulk, and though it isn't really an action pose, it looks pretty good. His muscles look particularly muscle-licious.

 

Paint applications are pretty much limited to his hair (black), eyes (blue pupils on white), and pants (dark purple). The samples I've seen on shelf are mostly pretty good, but a few turn out slightly wall-eyed or cross-eyed, so be ever vigilant when picking one up.

Articulation is pretty much your classic five points: neck, shoulders, and hips. The neck is a nice ball joint that allows him some up and down directionality, and you can pop that off pretty easily. Gives me hope for a proper screaming desktop Hulk one day. The rest of the joints are pretty limited since you can't really balance him in many positions. The way his legs are sculpted means that there are only really two stances which you can use where he stands on his own; standing with both feet flat, and stepping slightly forward with his right foot whilst swinging his right fist forward.

Try to switch it up, say with his left leg leading, and he'll fall right over.

But then I really only bought this figure so that I can have something relatively cheap but nice looking for my desk at work. Something that's not going to freak me out if it's broken or lost. This thing looks pretty good just standing there, and the construction of the thing is solid. It feels like good solid plastic all around. If you threw it at someone, you could probably brain him.

I wanted this version of the figure rather than the All-Star one because 1) the other one costs at least twice as much and 2) I really dig the super dark green on him, since so many of my 3.75" Hulks are lime or olive green. You might differ in your opinion, so be sure to check them both out if you're interested in it.

Me, I'm pretty convinced that this was a worthwhile purchase, and I'm interested in picking up the Wolverine and Spider-Man figures that remain on the discount TRU shelves. It's too bad that both Captain America and Iron Man are gone, but I'm not sure I would have been willing to pay Php 500 for what are essentially pretty awesome paperweights.

Unless they were Hulk. Because Hulk is the strongest one there is.