.

Standard Marvel Minimate packaging comprising of the familiar carton with J-hook. The hook section of the pack carries the usual logos. The sloped section has the Hulk logo, and the front of the carton features waist up photographs of the Minimates themselves. Battle Damaged Hulk’s skin looks a lot lighter on the packaging. The side flaps also feature photographs of the ‘mates, one to each side.

The back of the pack features the ubiquitous group shot of the entire wave. Like the Iron Man movie packaging, the biography boxes are missing from this wave. Must be a movie thing.

This is Hulk as seen at the climactic battle of the movie after going toe to toe with Abomination. I think it’s the first battle damaged Hulk we’ve had in the Marvel line. No doubt it won’t be the last. I’m not a huge fan of the battle damaged figures. To my mind they waste a space that another much wanted Minimate could have taken up. Still, they do have their fans, so lets see if this one does the concept justice.

Hulk’s facial expression is great, it’s full of rage and fury. Unfortunately the hairpiece sits a little too low on the head totally obscuring the forehead and eyebrows and taking the viewers attention away from the eyes as well. Lifting the hairpiece up just a tad reveals the face in all its furious glory and really brings the figure alive. I think I may add some blu-tac between the head and hairpiece to better achieve this effect.

The body has been given a unique (to the Hulk) chestpiece which extends over the shoulders in an attempt to add mass to the figure. The back and torso are sculpted rather than a simple block. It doesn’t look too bad but the overall look is let down by Hulk’s puny (Banner type?) arms which are standard Minimate fare. I have to say I find the paint tone on this figure a shade or two too dark. I like Hulk to be a bit more radioactive in appearance rather than vegetative. This dark tone also means his trademark purple jeans don’t really stand out too well either.

It would be remiss of me to review a battle damaged figure and not mention the battle damage, but really, it’s not all that! A few parallel lines that suggest claw damage, some obscure black tampos that could be anything really. Some panels of damage to the trousers, but nowhere approaching the level of detail we’ve seen on other more recent battle damaged Minimates. It’s not a dreadful figure by any means, but it’s not really living up to its potential. Oh, and it has the duck feet. Damn they ugly! It does however come with alternative ordinary feet.

Battle Damaged Hulk has no accessories.

In conclusion: Should have been sooo much better.

MMC Score – 6 out of 10

Betty is Bruce Banner’s ex-squeeze and the Hulk’s obsession. In the 2008 movie she’s played by Liv Tyler.

Blimey! It almost looks a little bit like Liv Tyler! There’s a first. It was only when comparing the ‘mate to pictures of Liv as Betty that I realised what a great job’s been done in trying to capture her likeness. It’s never going to be anywhere near spot on, Liv Tyler has a long narrow face, but the eyes are pretty much perfect. Good work guys!

Shame then that the good work is let down a little by the hairpiece. Don’t get me wrong; its a good piece, unique to the figure too. I really like the way the hair sits over one of Betty’s shoulders. But unfortunately it’s been really badly painted. There’s a huge section of unpainted hair above the left ear that really spoils the figure when placed under close observation. Maybe it’s just my Minimate? But I find it hard to believe that it’s just me that gets all the dodgy ones (seriously, you should see my War Zone Punisher).

The rest of the ‘mate is very standard fare, all of the clothing is very dark and muted. The only interesting points of decoration are Betty’s watch, which, it’s fair to say is an extremely fine tampo print at this kind of scale, and the white soles and flesh coloured areas on Betty’s feet. That’s not all that interesting really is it? It’s a shame, Betty’s an important character to the Hulk mythos and in the film itself, I just wish her Minimate had been a bit more dynamic.

Betty Ross has no accessories.

In conclusion: By no means an essential purchase.

Review and pictures by Rad Kerrigan

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