Deadpool & Warpath
Ah, Mr. Liefeld.
Although he is generally the target of scorn because of his douche bag behavior and his blatant disregard for proportion and anatomy, you have to hand it to the man. Rob Liefeld took some third rate characters (the cast of The New Mutants) of the Marvel Universe turned their book into an undeniable success. He created many characters in that book that went on to create lasting impacts on the 616 timeline. Later, his X-Force #1 became the best selling debut issue in history (if quickly overthrown by Lee’s X-men #1). In the pages of that book, he came up with two characters who became icons of the 90’s comics. One of them was Deadpool.
You know Deadpool, right? The merc with a mouth? The guy in the red tights who can’t stop talking? The disfigured, mentally unstable, unkillable, killing machine?
Ryan Reynolds in X-Men Origins: Wolverine?
Yeah, there you go! That guy. He’s known to have wittier banter than Spider-man, a faster healing factor than Wolverine, and more guns than the Punisher. He’s the irreverent bad-ass that never stopped being the kid on the bus who keeps fidgeting and talking about how his dog likes to lick its own butt. Which is probably why readers love him so much.
It’s no wonder that he was chosen as one of the Marvel Legends Fan’s Choice figures during the poll Hasbro had last year. Despite so many of the senior collectors of various toy sites calling for some sanity, begging others not to vote for good old Wade Wilson because, duh, there was NO WAY that Hasbro wasn’t going to inlcude him in the assortment, and despite him having a decent version in the same scale, he won out in the end.
While I’ll admit that I’d have loved it if we could have gotten a 6” Constrictor, or a Bi-Beast, or even a Fantomex, I really can’t fault the people for voting this guy in. Yes the old version was good, but the proportions were always a little weird, the articulation a little funky, and what the hell was up with the Doop include? Not to mention that Marvel Legends Wave 6 was one of the hardest to find, and Deadpool being as popular as he is, getting a complete figure now can cost you as much as Php 4,000.00. Who wants to pay that much for a 6” piece of plastic?
The problem is, that Hasbro went and did it again. Made a deal with a retail outlet for exclusive distribution rights to one of it’s toys. This time Toys R’ Us. In the Philippines, Toys R’ Us has a habit of jacking up the price of their exclusives to obscene levels. I was anticipating that these things might hit the Php 2,500.00 mark. Thankfully, I heard the news that they would be distributed to Toy Kingdom as well as TRU, and would in fact be lauched at another leg of the Hasbro Toy Fair for a “mere” Php 1,800.00.
Too bad I was out of town the day the new figures were to be released. ARGH! I really had resigned myself to not owning these any more, and after I got off the plane on Sunday, I trekked to Megamall thinking to at least pick up the new Powercore Combiners.
Lo and behold, however, there was still stock of all 3 of the boxsets! Valkyrie and Hulk, Black Widow and Winter Soldier, even… dare I believe?… Deadpool and Warpath!!!
Almost 600 words in and I haven’t even talked about the toys. Let’s just say “WORTH IT!”
To understand why it’s “WORTH IT!”, click HERE.
