Nick Fury

October 1, 2012 | By More


One of the things that I think really brings the comic book feel to the newest Marvel films is the sense of shared universe. The best example is Nick Fury, played by Samuel L Jackson. He is one of the common threads through these films that helps unite them.

Appearance:

I don’t know what they did to SLJ, but he looks a bit more bad ass here than he did as Mace Windu. Must be the eye patch. This figure has a bald head, eye patch, and trench coat with a popped collar. Each of these is a key to getting this figure recognizable as Mr. Fury.

Obviously, the head is the stand out feature of this otherwise monochrome figure. And I have to say I’m fairly impressed. For this scale, Sam’s likeness is there. They’ve also put in traces of the scarring around his eye socket and patch. The nice thing about a one eyed figure is that he can’t be crossed eyed. Honestly, I think he probably looks closer here than any of the Mace Windu figures to the actor.

The trench coat is typically for these days. It has some detailing to it, but I’m guessing this isn’t a screen accurate piece. To me it really makes him look very bulky, especially across the back of the shoulders.

Now, past that point, we start diverging from the movie look of Fury. The body, and legs I believe, are straight up reuse of Winter Soldier from the Captain America line. So, while SJK wears some sort of zip up sweater in the film, it’s not what we have here.

This isn’t the worst choice. Nick Fury fits more in the soldier aesthetic than superhero. To be honest, I thought this might have been a GI Joe body at first.

With this resuse comes some downsides. The First of which is a chest pistol holster. It’s large and bulky under the coat, and is non-functional. I really wish Hasbro could have found a way to change this or leave it off. It doesn’t help that it has a Mauser type handle coming out of it. (Think Han Solo type pistol for the non-gun folks.)

Speaking of holsters, Nick gets a working one.  But, it’s on the wrong side. It’s on his left. Which is odd, because the chest one is rigged for a right handed person. The right leg gets some ammo pouches.

 Fun:

The weapon that goes in that working holster? Another broom handled Mauser. There is no way that with all of the tech available to him at Shield that Nick Fury would carry around not one but two antique pistols. Were they even trying here?

Speaking of weapons, he comes with a couple more, the first of which is an assault rifle. Now this is Samuel L. Jackson, so you know it needs to be a BFG. He gets an M16 style rile with a under mounted grenade launcher. I realized as I was taking him out of the package Marauder has turned me into a action figure gun snob. My first thoughts on seeing this gun were that it was flat and lacking detail. To me the handle on the top, front site and foregrip all look dated. (Check out this gun from Maruader for comparison.)

The other piece is a rocket launcher, and this time we get futuristic instead of vintage. I really suspect with the overall look that this is piece is reused from the Captain America line as well. That said, it’s not the worst of these spring loaded launchers we’ve seen. It has some paint to it as well.

I do have some general issues with the articulation of this figure. The coat hampers quit a bit of the useful movement it seems. My bigger issue is with his knees. They feel like they are going to twist off every time I move them. That combines with the fact I can’t quite find the right spot for the feet to make for a bit of a wobbly figure.

Overall:

This figure is a bit of mixed bag. Yes, I’m glad I have a Sam Jackson Nick Fury. However, the accessories and articulation are a bit of a let down. Also the fact that it isn’t a movie accurate figure in a movie line doesn’t quite make me happy.

Even with those facts in the negative column, I really didn’t get him for the accessories or poses. I really wanted him because I thought he’d look cool hanging out with my GI Joe figures. And he will fit that role pretty well.

Engineernerd Score: 86/100

 

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Category: Featured, Marvel, Toy Reviews

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  1. Errex says:

    REally nice review. I was unsure if I needed to get this Nick Fury, and now that I’ve read your opinion on it, I think I should get one. Oh, and yes, he uses the exact same body mold and pistol as the Winter Soldier, only with different head and sleeved arms.