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Kraven

I have another new guest reviewer tonight, a fine gent named Harry Hosono.  His first review covers the brand spankin' new Kraven figure from the Spider-man series by Toybiz.  Take it away!

Kraven (or Kraven the Hunter) is a B-list Spider-Man villain. He, along with Daredevil, is one of two non-Spider-Man characters in the most recent ‘Spider-Man Classic’ line.

Just a quick question before we get started – Has Kraven the Hunter ever successfully hunted anyone or thing? Maybe he got the “Hunter” moniker for just finding a Twilight Frodo or a Marvel Legends un-masked Wolverine or something…

 

Onto the review…



Packaging - ***
Not particularly bad, not particularly great. I suppose most of are a bit tired of this card and would like a slight change (a la the purple tinge found on the most recent He-Man card’s) but some collector’s are just as happy to have the same design through out the line.z

Sculpting - ****
This is just a re-hash of the Marvel Legends Namor figure with a sharp new vest and face sculpt. The bodywork’s perfectly and the face sculpt, a sinister sneer, is great. It’s the kind of sneer Hasbro has been trying to give Anakin Skywalker for a while now; only Toy Biz got it right.

Paint - ***1/2
Nice colors, clean lines EXCEPT for a) the articulation joint on Kraven’s heavy metal pants aren’t painted and b) his face is a slightly different color then the rest of his body. It’s also glossy compared to the flat paint of the rest of the figure.

Articulation - ****
It’s a base Marvel Legend’s body. I’m not sure exactly how many point’s it has but at least a few more than the new Justice League line.

Accessories - ***
Accessories aren’t super important to me. I like my Green Lantern to have his lantern but I can do without an “ember-essence-space-field”, especially if I’m paying more for it. Kraven has his double-barreled harpoon rifle for the kids and a knife and machete for additional display possibilities for Spider-Man otaku. All this is okay but compared to the recent Marvel Legends line the figure might be a bit lacking. Maybe an animal companion or two, some additional weapons or a few plaques with the mounted heads of all the super-hero’s he’s added to his collection. 

I wouldn’t be surprised if the cost of the Spider-Man license itself causes Toy Biz to pinch a few pennies. Which leads to…

Value/Overall - ****
I found this at Target and for $6.89 I got a great addition to my Marvel Legends line. Kraven would have never been released as part of the Marvel Legends line itself so I don’t mind it having a few less accessories as part of the Spider-Man Classic line. 

Kraven is the chase figure but I encourage patience. You could walk into just about any toy store right now and find ex-chase figures Hobgoblin or Morpheus that I’m sure some people spent way too much money on from eBay or the secondary market.

 

Where to Buy -

THey are showing up at Targets right now, but will most likely hit Wal-marts and Toys R Us stores soon as well.


Figure from the collection of Harry Hosono.

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