Silver Surfer

The bad-guy, tragic-guy from the Marvel universe gets his first treatment in the Hasbro full-size action figure line. This figure is being released in the first wave of toys for the summer movie, “Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer”, the second Fantastic Four movie. He is packed with Raging Thing, Battle Stretch Mr. Fantastic, Fire Blast Human Torch, and Lightning Attack Dr. Doom. A follow-on series will include the Invisible Girl and different versions of the Torch and the Thing.

From what I have seen from promotional images of the movie, this Silver Surfer carries a close likeness to the film character. He has an intense, furrowed brow, a piercing nose, and a strong jaw. His upper body musculature is body-builder like, but the legs are long and a little lean. Since he is clothed only in a covering of silver, it’s a good thing he’s in shape! The figure and board are painted in an even coat of fairly flat silver. There are no highlights. Looking at the images, you can see finish detail is not especially clean. This is a mass-market toy.

This figure easily stands upright on its own and can attach to pegs on the Cosmic Board. When new, the peg attachments are firm enough to allow the figure to lean significantly on the board. The figure and board can go “flying” and stay on the board, even inverted. Outside loops, however, are likely to cause separation of figure from the board.

This figure is on the high end of the articulation spectrum. Knees and elbows are double-jointed. The trunk will twist. I count 20 points of articulation. What he can’t do is bend at the waist, or bend forward at the hips. Because of this I cannot make the figure pose as in the promo pictures you see in the movie graphics, where the character is bent forward low on the board.

The joints are stiff enough to allow Silver Surfer to pull some showboat moves for the tourist chicks–handstands on the board, “hanging 10” (although he does not have toes), even a Burt Reynolds number. Why not? A surfer dude’s gotta eat.