ANT-MAN Ant-Man (actual size)
HISTORY: Ant-Man is the persona of multiple characters who have put on the suit. Originally, Hank Pym, the scientist who discovered Pym Particles which can be utilized to change a host's size, first appeared in Tales to Astonish #27 in 1962. Created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby, he made his first appearance as Ant-Man in Tales to Astonish #35. Pym was fortunate to live long enough to retire the suit. Enter Scott Lang, who while on parole was hired by Tony Stark to install security systems at the Avengers' base and eventually come upon the suit.
FIRST GLANCE: It should be mentioned first that it is uncommon for Diamond Select to get a movie figure out before its theater release. I would assume DST strives for this to be the standard, however one could imagine there can be many speed bumps along the way. The Unmasked Ant-Man is based on the likeness of Paul Rudd as he's featured in the upcoming Ant-Man movie (opening July 17th). Gentle Giant once again handles the movie figures and once again delivers!
PROS: A lot of details! The head is sculpted very well and so is the suit itself. Choices of color are spot on and leave very little room for improvement. The extra hands are a great addition to an already outstanding figure. Each hand goes on easier than any other Select to date and still feels sturdy. Also, the Ant-Man miniature stands on its own and has good balance. Paint on the miniature also has very accurate applications with just a few flaws. Hoses fit into the masked head attached to a neck fixture which is new for DST to try something of that sort. The torso swivel is one of the best yet. Plenty of range from front to back. Finally, there looks to be a new neck joint peg that allows for much more room to move around. Gentle Giant has really stepped their game up to the next level and let's hope they keep it up!
Hoses slide into holes in mask
CONS: Legs have minimal rear movement and not as much forward movement either. The size of the Rudd head seems a bit large, but I'd still prefer the helmet. I did get two and of the two, there were some black paint blemishes here and there on most of the gray parts. Some red areas were off the mark but were only really noticeable close up.
ARTICULATION:
360° rotation with very good vertical movement and pivot
Ball shoulders with no bicep swivel
Rotating elbows
360° wrists with vertical cants
Torso swivel
360° waist
Legs move laterally well, not as well forwards
Thigh swivel
Double knees
Roller ankles
RECOMMENDATION: Since the standard Ant-Man that you'll see in your comic shops is essentially the same figure, you can make your own decisions. Completists, I'd recommend getting the standard first as pre-orders did sell out and many shops had their orders allocated. However, the buzz around social media was turned towards the unmasked exclusive as many withdrew their pre-orders at their local shops. Ideally, it'd be better to have the unmasked figure seeing as the Rudd head is just an added bonus to the standard and Disney exclusives don't sell out too quickly.
You can order the regular version of this figure from Amazon now.
The Unmasked version is available at MarvelShop.com