Hulkbuster Squad Soldier (2008)
Not Iron Man’s huge armor from the new Avengers film, it’s part of a two-pack of figures released during the last Hulk film. Hulkbuster had a totally different context back then, as they’re a squad of soldiers, led by Emil Blonsky, who later became the Abomination. According to the package, the group is made up of highly trained soldiers with high-tech weapons. Sounds familiar, right?
The figure itself should look familiar to new sculpt era collectors, as it’s based on the Sgt. Bazooka mold. I was glad to see it again, as the original figure was a bit hard to find in its two-pack release. With a head swap, one could easily create a Night Force Bazooka. The head is new, in a way, in that it appears to be a remold of a new sculpt helmet. The helmet is not removable, which is a bit of a bummer. The pack was a boon for extra weapons, as it came with a missile launcher, four rifles, a submachine gun and a handgun.
I really enjoyed the Hulkbuster Squad set. Blonsky was great and this guy was cool, though I was a little surprised that they slightly retooled both figures’ torsos since they’re both built a little differently than a standard Joe torso. I loved that Hasbro tapped the Joe line to make standard human figures for the Hulk line. I appreciated that they realized that regular humans like Blonsky and the Hulkbuster soldiers deserved figures but that they shouldn’t be the same size as Hulk but should still be in scale with him.
The toyworld in the town i used to live in STILL has 2008 Hulk movie toys.
A decent figure!
Any guesses if that’s a new face sculpt under the Sand Viper helmet? Or just some late years head (Crossfire)?
A smart reuse of tooling outside the Joe line. Was the later boxed set the one with the Steel Brigade Delta helmets? Wish I’d picked that up for parts–instant Steel Brigade squad!
Those figures were Valor Vs. Venom Shipwreck with the helmets from the ‘Plague Troopers vs. Steel Brigade pack from 2006.