Ant-Man By Hervé St.Louis Oct 7, 2006 - 11:11:00 PM

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Ant-man first appeared in Tales to Astonish #35, in 1963 after being brought back to star as the series super hero. His alter ego, Doctor Henry Pym had made a previous appearance in a short story where he fought ants. This time, Pym had a special helmet allowing him to communicate with ants. They were no longer a threat to him. Later, in Avengers #181, in 1979, former thief Scott Lang reformed and was given by Pym the Ant Man suit (which he had stolen earlier). Scott Lang was killed in Avengers #500, in 2004.
 
Likeness

This suit is exactly like the classic Ant-Man costume introduced in Tales to Astonish #35. Ant-Man sports an helmet with metal antennas and a red suit with blue gloves and boots. As for the character underneath, the head could be either Doctor Pym or Scott Lang. Lang sported a suit different from this one toward the end of his career and Pym as long abandoned the Ant-Man identity. As the character’s hairs are brown, Lang is a best choice as Pym is notoriously known for his brown hair.

Sculpt

Ant-Man’s face is ugly. Granted not all super heroes can look like super models, but I’d rather leave the helmet on Ant-Man.  Ant-Man’s ankles are weird. The sculpt attempts to mimic the folds on top of the base of the feet, but it looks odd as Ant-Man’s feet are flat. It’s as if a part was missing. Ant-Man is buffed, but not one of the larger Marvel Legends action figure. His body could be a recast from another action figure as except for his belt, no other parts have moulds.

Paint

The dark blue hue used to paint Ant-Man’s forearms and trunks are quite similar to the colour of the plastic used for his hands and boots. That’s surprising for Marvel Legends. The rest of his body, except his head and are cast in red plastic. The rest of the design elements are painted on. The application is all right. Ant-Man’s hairs have variable toning and hues. The joints in Ant-Man’s elbows are painted with a red hue that doesn’t match the rest of the figures.

Scale

Ant-Man has a medium size for a Marvel Legends action figure. He’s taller than most female Marvel Legends action figures, shorter than characters like Thor. Marvel Legends action figures have consistent heights.

Stability

It’s not easy to put Ant-Man on his legs for long because he has weak toe articulations. His chest is heavy and tends to make the figure fall on his back. Fortunately, Ant-Man comes with peg holes to put him on an action figure stand.

Articulation

Ant-Man has the limited hip articulations that allow motion in either the front or the side, but not both. He has 36 articulations. Some limbs, like the toes and palms are loose, others are sturdier.

Plastic

Although the plastic is tough enough for kids to play with, while using some the articulations, like the hips, you may notice chips of plastics falling off. Usually, it’s nothing to worry about and it will make the articulations run smoother. It will take a while for the helmet to soften before you can put it on the figure’s head easily. After a while, it will be possible to adjust the eyes correctly in the eye opening.

Props

Ant-Man comes with a copy of Marvel Premiere #47, where he makes a first appearance as Ant-Man. Written by David Michelinie, Drawn by John Byrne and inked by Bob Layton, looking at this book is quite ironic. John Byrne recently worked on first issues of the debut title of DC Comics’s replacement Atom, character, which has similar powers to Ant-Man. It’s interesting to compare how Byrne showed the surprise of a man shrinking for the first time in Marvel Premiere #47 and The Atom #1.

Ant-Man comes with a removable helmet. A smaller Ant-Man figure on top of a flying ant would have been a great addition to the set. He also comes with the the right arm of the Giant Man 13 inch action figure.

Packaging

Ant-Man comes in a clamshell plastic package. The package is the standard one used by Toy Biz for Marvel Legends’ action figure and has no specific design. On the front of the card inserted within the package, are instructions on how to assemble a Giant Man action figure.

Cost

Marvel Legends action figures are sold less than $15 usually but prices at small and online retailers often charge varying prices depending on the characters’ popularity. Being a dead character who never had his own series, Ant-Man is not very popular and prices should stay reasonable.

Availability

It’s not clear if there was a specific case ratio per figures like in previous releases. Currently, in the United States, Ant-Man is distributed exclusively through Walmart stores. Other American stores selling this figure, must have obtained it from other sources. Outside the United States this figure can be purchase from multiple stores.

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