.

Wave 25 packaging remains the same as previous waves, this time the background is made up of Iron Man and Captain America comic panels, and the colour is a nice dark blue rather than the green of wave 24.

The back of the box has the whole wave pictured, and the bio boxes are still present.

Red Hulk is a fairly recent entry into the Marvel universe. Debuting in January 2008, the Red Hulk is not Bruce Banner, but a being created by General Ross and Doc Samson, among others. As strong as the Hulk without the burning rage, Red Hulk has been criticized in his appearances for dispatching high-powered Marvel heroes such as Thor with relative ease. 

By all accounts, Red Hulk is a calculating fella, with much more intelligence than the Hulk. This is captured in the facial expression; Red Hulk has a sly leer on his face and beady little yellow orbs for eyes. Befitting his backstory as a super-soldier creation, Red Hulk has a military haircut. The hairpiece is tiny as it only goes halfway down the head block. It looks a little silly on the Red Hulk but it’s a nice piece for any customisers out there.

The Red Hulk has the usual problem when it comes to creating a Minimate version of the Hulk. Rad’s reviewed a lot more of the recent Hulk Minimates than me, but the main issue is they keep adding bits to try and make the character more imposing but they never quite work. Red Hulk here has a big powerhouse chest piece with additional large shoulders, I think it’s from a movie Hulk, but it doesn’t really add anything more to the body and just ends up limiting the neck and arm articulation. This figure was also my first experience of the infamous “duck feet”, and boy, everyone was right, they do suck. They don’t have any detail on them, for starters. They also completely change the profile of the figure, and not in a good way. They make the legs look far too long and narrow, when they should be squat, powerful and bulky. This impression isn’t helped on Red Hulk with the decision to keep the muscular detailing representing his abs right in the centre of the chest block, as it further adds to the illusion that he is tall and thin. 

The red coloring is very vibrant and the other detailing on the figure is generally OK, nothing special but nothing sloppy either. Red Hulk wisely comes with normal sized feet in case the duck feet get “lost” somehow. 

In conclusion, this may be a new and different Hulk but he suffers just as much as previous versions that try to shoehorn in changes to the Minimate aesthetic in a vain attempt to better match the source material. There are better Hulks out there, and for my money the Defenders Hulk would have been a better base to start from to do the Red Hulk.

MMC Score – 4 out of 10

Ska’ar is the son of the Hulk and Caiera the Oldstrong, who met each other in the Planet Hulk storyline where Hulk gets booted off of Earth and lands on a gladiatorial planet, eventually overthrowing its corrupt ruler. Part Hulk, part Oldstrong, Ska’ar combines his parents powers. 

Ska’ar has a classic barbarian look to him, accentuated by his long hair, stern expression and chiseled cheekbones. Of course, being a light green colour does slightly spoil things, but seeing as he is the Son of Hulk, you have to expect the coloration. His eyes are green but blank, giving him a supernatural edge. 

Ska’ar gets a powerhouse chest piece with big shoulders, just like Red Hulk did, but here it works better because there is more to it than just a “naked” chest, with the sword harness on the front and place to peg the humongous sheath on the back. The sheer size of the sheath, along with the loincloth and big boots, balance out the thinner-looking arms and legs and give a much better impression of power, of size. Visually the look just works so much better than the Red Hulk. You don’t end up thinking this guy looks skinny. Nice detailing too, with the tribal tattoos all over and plenty of sculpted flourishes on the loincloth and boots. 

To go in the giant sheath, Ska’ar gets a massive, mean-looking sword. It puts pretty much every other Minimate sword to shame, and really adds to the whole barbarian vibe. Good detailing on the sword also. 

In conclusion, this is a surprisingly good figure. I wasn’t really expecting much from him as I have no interest in the actual character, but he does a lot of things very well.

MMC Score – 7 out of 10

Review and pictures by Danny Mills