M.o.d.o.k By Herve St-Louis Sep 22, 2007 - 17:32:21 PM

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Created in Tales of Suspense #93, in 1967, Modok is a highly intelligent being created from lab assistant George Tarleton, with the intent of being a Mobile Organism Designed Only for Computing. But Modok rebelled from his masters at AIM who wanted him to be but a computing machine to solve the mystery of the Cosmic Cube. This is not the first Modok action figure, but this one can only be assembled by purchasing several Marvel Legends Series 15 toys.



Likeness
 
There are several versions of Modok’s costume and flying platform. Modok has existed for more than 40 years and his metallic suit design is easy to interpret and modify. Also, there have been other characters bearing the name Modok or impersonating him, so it’s easy to understand the lack of consistent design. Nevertheless, the zig zag patterns on his head band looks close to recent illustrations in Captain America comic book books. The colour scheme is also more blue than purple, as in the several apparitions of the character.

Sculpt

Modok looks like a woman, albeit a very ugly woman! It’s because of the large reddish lips that give him the drag queen look. As Modok looks like a deformed paraplegic villain with the old Doctor Octopus hair cut, it’s hard to say he’s beautiful. However, the amounts of details in his face are incredible. Here Modok grins and shows that he probably has more teeth than the average human! His arms could fit on any standard Marvel Legends action figures, but his legs are interesting. They look like the legs of a baby attached to a high chair.

Modok’s flying apparatus has simpler Jack Kirby design and takes second place to the character’s sculpt. The jet stream is great looking with grainy smoke puffs. One design issue, is that it’s impossible for Modok to rest his arms on sides of his hovercraft. It’s as if his arms just plug into a base inside his armour.

Paint

The paint job for Modok is excellent. Modok’s face has various tone colours making his face look like that of a puppet. Even his lips have zebra-like patterns of highlights. Parts of his armour, around the shoulders, gloves and boots have metallic blue paint. There is not much toning on the rest of Modok’s limbs though. As for the chariot, it has dark gold and copper feel with various nuances around design patterns sculpted in. The paint on the smoke effect and jet stream don’t look as good. The base red translucent plastic is too visible against the grey smoke paint.

Scale

Modok is about seven-inches but will fit with Marvel Legends action figures. It’s not quite clear how big he is supposed to be, but his limbs do match the size of other Marvel Legends action figures.

Stability

Because the jet stream base is flat and wide, it supports Modok’s weight well. But the base is shorter in length in some areas, so it’s best to place the area with the widest length underneath Modok’s legs, where he will tend to lean forward.



Articulation

Modok has 20 articulations. This is impressive for a paraplegic action figure. Although hidden deep inside his armour, he has ball joints at both the shoulders and the hips. His biceps and thighs can curl. Modok has double articulations at the elbows and knees and articulations at the wrists, fingers (counted as one on each hand) and the ankles. The articulations tend to be still or already loose. Because of the action figure’s construction, I advise against trying to use those who are too stiff. You could break them. Both the chair and the jet stream also rotate, adding an extra two articulations to the character.

However, Modok’s head doesn’t move at all once it’s inserted in its base. A rotating head would have been better.

Plastic

Modok’s armour is in light PVC that seems brittle. His limbs, head and jet stream are in softer rubber-like PVC that can bend to some degree. The action figure’s construction doesn’t allow it to be unassembled once all the parts are put together.

Props

If you count it as a prop, the flight joy stick attached to Modok’s left arm rest plugs in the armour and fits in his hand.

Packaging

All parts of Modok were attached solidly to the action figure package he came with. On the back cover of the cardboard cards in the packages, are instructions on how to assemble Modok.

Cost

In order to assemble a complete Modok action figure, one must purchase six of the twelve action figures from the 15th series of Marvel Legends. Most Marvel Legends action figures cost about $10. That means it will probably cost a collector more than $60 to assemble Modok.

Availability

All parts of Modok come with the Marvel Legends Series 15 action figures. Modok’s head comes with both Spider-Woman variants. His legs come with all Wasp variants. His right arm comes with either the Thorbuster Iron Man or the Destroyer armour. His right arm comes with either Moon Knight variants. Modok’s control panel comes with either Captain Marvel variants. Finally the base and jet stream comes with Beta Ray Bill.

Modok’s parts are not produced in the same amount. For example, There are three Wasp variants, meaning the legs are more produced than say the jet stream base that comes with Beta Ray Bill. Within any case of Marvel Legends Series 15 action figures, there is not the same ratio of action figures either. This can make building a complete Modok quite a challenge.



As Toybiz, today known as Marvel Toys no longer produce Marvel Legends action figures, it can be difficult to find this series. It was one of the last one released before January 1st, 2007 when Hasbro took on the Marvel characters’ license. Therefore, no new run will be produced and only existing stocks are available to collectors. I was not a fan of the character at all, but now that he is in my collection, I would not trade him. I say get it.

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