Action Figure Flashback – Marvel Legends Series 8 Man-Thing

Chemist Ted Sallis was assigned to “Project Gladiator”, an experiment aimed at recreating the lost “super-soldier” serum that had spawned Captain America during World War II. Sallis attempted to modify the “super-soldier” serum with another serum, one that had historically transformed people into monsters and got close to success. But he was betrayed by his wife, Ellen. To guarantee that the secret would not fall into the wrong hands, Sallis injected himself with the only existing sample of his modified Super Soldier serum, and fled into the nearby swamp. Sallis should have died, but over the course of several hours, mystical forces combined with chemical science to transform him into the monstrous, misshapen creature who would be dubbed the Man-Thing.

I suppose every action figure collector has their first, that one action figure that was too cool to leave on the shelf and ultimately lead to buying another and another… For me it was the Marvel Legends Series 8 Man-Thing. I was a late comer to Marvel Legends. I had seen them in the stores in the early years of the new millenium. My wife and I had our first son in 2000 and I found myself in toy stores and toy departments much more often than I had been in most of my adult life.

One day in a TRU, I spied something familiar out of the corner of my eye which I had to investigate. It was the ML 5 Nick Fury. Upon seeing what it was I quickly hung it back up on the peg and almost ran from the aisle because I knew, oh I knew, if I bought one, just one, I was headed down a deep black hole that had no bottom. But I had a kid and then in 2004, a 2nd son, I was in toy stores constantly! Of course I couldn’t resist just going to have a look in the action figure aisle, the temptation was too strong, and there they would be hanging on the pegs, beckoning like dancers in the windows of the strip clubs on Bourbon Street, toys way cooler than what was around when I was a kid! Toys I dreamed about having when I was a kid! And here I was looking at them…

The inner beast child would stir, then writhe and demand to be fed! Always I would flee, bathed in a cold sweat, heart pounding, the world swimming in the red haze that clouded my vision… As time passed it got worse… It wasn’t enough to be titillated by the sight of them hanging in the aisles, I turned to the modern toy collector’s favorite guilty pleasure, eBay. It was all innocent I would tell myself, nothing wrong with just looking, my will was strong… until… I saw… Man-Thing.

See I grew up in the 70’s and I was a HUGE Marvel Comics fan. The 70’s were great, Johnny Storm was sporting a red and yellow version of the FF uniform, Shang Chi was kicking ass in color and in black & white, Luther Manning was Deathlok, Killraven dressed like Vampirella (which was kinda creepy), Planet of the Apes, Werewolf By Night, Conan the Barbarian, Monsters Unleashed, Iron Fist and Man-Thing. Man-Thing was a character that I always loved the look of, especially if Frank Brunner or Mike Ploog drew him. The stories were terrible but M-T looked cool. So when I saw that he had been released as a ML and damn near perfectly rendered in 3D as well, that was it. I stepped off into the abyss.

And for all that detail, I can’t remember how I acquired my Man-Thing. I’m pretty sure it was from eBay and I’m pretty sure he was sold to me loose, just the figure and his stand. And what a cool figure he is. The sculpt is dead on and isn’t weakened by all that crazy ML articulation. It’s interesting that the sculpting on his torso is actually done on a rubber overlay that is glued to the hard plastic body.

I’m curious as to why ToyBiz thought a shambling hulk of a muck monster needed 37 points of articulation? Even his thumbs are articulated! It’s not like Manny was portrayed acrobatically swinging through the concrete, glass and steel canyons of NYC like Spidey and DD! I love that his hip balls are mostly obscured by his mossy skirt and that they are set in so that M-T can be made to step forward without having to turn the hip ball so the swivel is facing front. Why ToyBiz and Hasbro stray from that design baffles me.

Manny’s accompanying display stand is also beautifully sculpted. Love the startled frog leaping out for fear of being trod upon by Man-Thing.

Without a doubt, Man-Thing is one of the all time best MLs. If you can find one for a decent price, it’s definitely worth getting.

Man-Thing!

Hope you enjoyed this stroll down memory lane.

Thanx for dropping by!