This wave proves that Hasbro's distribution is so bad now, they can't even get their own products to their own store in order.  This wave still hasn't popped up at HTS and just now is getting shipped by other online retailers.  That is what you call a mess and there are no signs of it getting better.

Many are calling this the new "Vision" wave (in that it appears only to have arrived in certain places).  However the same can be said about the Archangel wave or in some cases Ghost Rider and Mystique.  Frustration is the least of it. 

Still let's move on to the figures and skip the unplesentries as they are tiring. 

First up is Dark Hawkeye, and let me preface this by saying I really want to like this figure, but I have a hard time doing so.  At essence he has a big sensation of "why" written all over him.  Sure he is supposed to be Bullseye disguised as Hawkeye and thus look a great deal like him.  As a figure though, he really comes across as some otherworldly Hawkeye, but one that isn't much different from our own reality and not as the vicious killer we all know Bullseye to be.  Also I think there is a bad taste in my mouth because I know so many fans never found the first Bullseye.  I did, but I still emphasis. 

But also there is the fact this version of Hawkeye is really not different from the Comic Pack version from Secret Wars packs last year, but that pack had the distinction of being new.  Dark Hawkeye has only a new head and new arm to differentiate himself from Hawkeye.  I think what made the Dark Avengers Wolverine and Spider-Man pack work was while they were similar the things that made them different were very noticeable and not subdued as they appear to be with this figure.  As such there is nothing special about him.  Part of that is a design flaw from the comic, but also the toy designers should have recognized this and tried something to make Dark Hawkeye more unique. 

One note is that the right arm is bare, this really sticks out to me as Secret Wars Hawkeye had an armband that makes the figure work.  This kind of backs up the idea that there might be a lack of effort within the figure and that he is a simple repaint with a darker pallet. 

Also he doesn't seem to fill a vital role when placed with the other Dark Avengers.  For some reason he actually looks out of place, even with Sentry involved.  Of course the figures isn't all bad, he has the bow, arrow, and quiver of the old one and pretty much every positive the Secret Wars Hawkeye has is here (since the mold is almost exclusively reused).   Still he seems like he is a waste of space and that something with some more thought as well as more dynamic could have gone here. 

I was very surprised to see Constrictor's name with this list of this wave.  Constrictor is one of those "Z-List" characters, he rarely makes appearances and often he is alone.  There is nothing outstanding about him as a villain, no big storyline he has ever been a significant part of, often his role is a background character.  He was invited to the Serpent Society but turned it down, he had brief stints in Masters of Evil and The Frightful Four but for the most part has been a loner.  Pretty much he shows up, gets beat up, and leaves.  Nothing at all dynamic or spectacular about him.  I doubt he even ranks in the top 50 of most comic fans favorite villains.  Then again the Marvel Universe line does need these types of characters.  Who will Spider-Man beat up or go up against Captain America between the huge fights with Dr. Doom or Ultron.  In that respect Constrictor is a worthy character for a figure I guess. 

Constrictor appears to be a new mold, or at the least a mold that hasn't been used to death in the Marvel Universe line.  The arms have a bit of bulk to them suggesting something stronger than the overused lanky molds in MU.  That is where he scores a great many points with me cause the recycling in the line gets rather annoying after a few years.  This line should be giving us some varied molds by now.  Constrictor also has those oddball red on his teeth.  This appears to be a mistake in the painting but is an odd effect that I am pretty sure was never intended.  That or he was eating peppermint candy.  

Unlike Whiplash from the Iron Man line, Constrictor's tendrils are not malleable.  They are pretty well stuck in the positions they are in.  Still the positions are pretty versatile and look good in various poses.  Not sure what the deal is on the shiny metallic paint at the end when the rest of the tendrils are transparent.  Perhaps Hasbro was going for some effect here that isn't coming through very well.  Hard to say. 

Like I said, a no-name villain that is unexpected. That ends up being a good thing.  I hope some other obscure villains mysteriously wander into this line, the rank and file villains need representation in this line as well as the big guns. 

As strange as Constrictor is to be in the line, Yellowjacket is even stranger.  I say that because of all of Hank Pym's identities over the years, Yellowjacket is the one that kind of carried with it some baggage.  Hank took up the mantel of Yellowjacket after suffering a nervous breakdown.  He hit his wife for getting in his way of manipulating his way back to the Avengers (to which she divorced him later).  Yeah it was a weird time in comics.  

With this figure comes a mini Ant-Man which is where this figure gets a great deal of points.  It has no articulation but with it we now have Hank in three sizes, tiny with Ant-Man, regular with Yellowjacket, and huge with Goliath.  Thing is that I would really rather have a Giant Man at this point.  Maybe even a Giant Man multipack with Giant Man large and regular sized.

So Ant Man is stuck in this pose of "Get 'em" and is a bit awkward.  I think he should have been given a tiny bit of articulation like shoulders and hips at least.  Even better if he had been with a larger version of Ant-Man to have to shrink down.  Defiantly would have been cooler. 

Yellowjacket is packed in a way that it is near impossible to not damage the figure slightly getting him out of the package.  The wings go into the plastic and out the other side.  Would have been smarter to have them resting in the bubble.  Sure that isn't as secure but if a shoplifter has gotten to that point it's not really too much more effort to just take the plastic out and stuff it in a winter coat.  Hell you can do that with the whole package if you think about it.  Also Yellowjacket is one of the first MU figures to really show a bad torso joint.  Most of the MU figures have been pretty good about not having too big an issue with it but Yellowjacket's bulges out worse than many of the GI Joe figures.  Hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come.

Probably the only reason I gave Yellowjacket such a high score is because he is in one of my earliest memories of Iron Man.  If you remember those old drug stores that sold comic 3-packs with the covers torn off for a quarter, then you know what I am talking about.  Many of my comics came to me that way in the early days and that is why I can't remember exactly which issue of Iron Man it is.  But Iron Man was fighting Growing Man and had some help from Pym as Yellowjacket, truth is I can't even remember why Yellowjacket was there as he spent most of his time at a terminal.  I do remember Iron Man said "DAMN YOU!" at one point as well. 

Even though I do kind of like this figure, I think there is much, much more that could have been done here.  Still a normal sized Hank Pym is one of those things I have needed but not put a lot of thought into.  I mean the Avengers aren't the Avengers without Pym, Ant-Man being with this version of Hank as Yellowjacket is Icing on the cake.   

When I first saw this figure I was excited.   Machine Man was a favorite mini-series when I was younger and I kind of liked the idea of Stark having a relative in the future that was his opposite.  For the most part IM 2020 has been left to the side with very little done with him over the years.  He pops up from time to time but most often is left by himself for long periods of time.  Still I think that he could be a bigger character if one were to think of him as Tony Stark's antithesis.  

What makes me not like this figure isn't the Iron Man burnout.  This is one of the figures I have had on my want list since I thought of one.  I actually think this is a terrible bit of execution of the character on the part of Hasbro and that they missed the boat here.

First off IM 2020 is just the "Classic" Iron Man armor from 2009 with some parts molded and added in.  I can get why this was done as IM 2020 does look very similar but it adds to the overall negative effects.   The head sculpt is a bit off, one of my favorite aspects of IM 2020 was how wicked his mouth looked and with this figure it just looks like a frown.   The face could at least have some sort of smear or something to make it look better than "Mr. unhappy face."

Another aspect I don't like is the fact that the extra pieces of IM 2020 are simply add ons.  Seriously Marvel has had so much mileage out of the Iron Man mold here that they could have sprung for a new torso as well.  The lack of a torso makes the figure look cheap which is something in a line that is already overpriced rubs one the wrong way.  At least they put the wicked blades on the side, but making them removable would have been something to make this figure special as I think it should be after the steady stream of Iron Man figures this year. 

Still I am quite surprised he was even made, Iron Man 2020 is so obscure most people thought it was another regular Iron Man and have no idea that he is a totally different character (at least from posts online).  Still I really want to like this figure and find myself just wishing it could be something it won't be due to cutting corners. 

While Hasbro has been weak on the villain front, they have finally made one of Marvel's biggest villains, Thanos.   This is one of the biggest villains ever.  When he does something it is HUGE.  He literally has whipped the Marvel Universe including the biggest of the super powerful when he gathered together the Infinity Gems into the Infinity Gauntlet.  His gathering of the Gems was chronicled in what is arguably the best Marvel Comics mini-series, Thanos Quest.   Anything this guy does is huge and usually spans a few series in the Marvel Universe, but with good reason. 

The figure is made with some recycling of Juggernaught's mold.  Unlike Iron Man 2020 he hides it well although the feet are a bit obvious.  He also has two hands, one in a fist and one with the Infinity Gauntlet.  

Thanos looks mean and ready for a fight.  While at some angles his head appears a bit small for his body it actually works most times.   His appearance is dead on to his comic appearance which is a huge plus.  It is surprising that so much of him is from Juggernaught as he doesn't look it.   His black eyes have a gleam painted in but it doesn't take anything away from the mad titan. 

Thanos is an awesome figure of one of Marvel's greatest villains, as it should be.   His few shortcomings are nothing to sweat about and often he is much better than his weaknesses.  He is huge as he appears in the comics.  Note too that this is where much of my stance on shorter Hulks and others come from as Thanos has gone up against them several times but looks to be the same relative size of his opponents.  

I am going to say that, overall, this wave feels a bit cheap.  Much recycling makes a person realize that the money this line probably deserves is being overlooked somewhere and that most of these figures look as if they are really well done customs instead of figures done as new.  Even though there are gems in that, the recycling does get old very fast and at this point more molds should be around to mix up the ranks, at least by now anyway.   I can't help but think that if Hasbro doesn't step up it's game plan the sales will drop.  The line is one of the most expensive 1:18th lines out there and yet also feels like one of the cheapest  to manufacture.   Right now the only thing keeping my interest in the line is the fact that they are making figures of characters I have always wanted in 1:18th scale.  That well will eventually run dry though as upcoming waves have some characters I do want but less so than the waves from the past 2 years.  Also more recycling in the rumored waves makes the outlook for Marvel Universe less than stellar.  The rumored repacks of Dr. Doom and Ultron attest to that.

Still it is just rumors, the future has yet to be revealed so maybe things will be better.  Hard to say now, but at these prices any excuse to cut back is tempting.