Marvel Select Unmasks Ant-Man

Marvel’s latest big screen hero gets his best toy yet, thanks to Marvel Select and the Disney Store.

Marvel Select has been on a roll with their recent releases, and the newest big winner is one of the smallest heroes in the Marvel universe– Ant-Man.  Based on his movie appearance, Scott Lang’s debut in Diamond Select’s toy line is far and away the best rendition of this character on the market.

Ant-Man features an all new sculpt, and his high tech costume is filled with film-accurate details.  The intricate gadgetry and tech built into the suit’s shoulders, neck and belt compliment the sleek, stylized bodysuit in basic black and red, making Ant-Man one of the more subtly dynamic hero designs in the Marvel film universe.  Unlike the Marvel Legends version of the character, Marvel Select’s Ant-Man also sports a film-accurate helmet, with the mouthpiece that completes his cinematic look (while also saving Paul Rudd a few days of work).

The Select Ant-Man stands just under 7″, making him the perfect height for Diamond’s collection, as well as other similar scale figures such as NECA’s releases.  Ant-Man is impressively poseable, with a ball neck, ball shoulders, half-ball elbows and wrists, a ball joint ab, swivel waist, double hinged hips and knees, thigh cuts and rocker ankles.  The figure also includes three sets of interchangeable hands, so he can be posed with closed fists, neutral open hands, or Jack Kirby-style grabbing hands.  Between the wide range of articulation and these extra pieces, this figure is a blast to pose and play around with.

There’s actually two versions of the Select Ant-Man out right now.  The Diamond/ specialty shops version features the hero with the extra hands and a 2″ shrunk version of the hero.  The Disney Store exclusive includes all the same stuff, plus a swappable second un-helmeted head.  I usually like to support specialty shops over big retail chains, but in this case, I’d highly recommend opting for the Disney version, for the great extra piece.

The unmasked head looks great.  It’s not the perfect portrait of Paul Rudd, but the likeness is definitely there, especially in profile.  The heads can switch back and forth on the neck joint easily, and the general sturdiness of the figure makes me feel comfortable that even frequent swapping won’t wind up breaking this guy.  I’d love to see Marvel Select continue this unmasked trend of other figures in the future… it’s a great added bonus for Ant-Man, and between that, the hands and the mini figure, I can’t say I miss the display base, which this figure does not include.

Ant-Man is available now at Disney Stores nationwide, and at DisneyStore.com.  The standard edition is also available at specialty and comic shops now, so I guess get that one if you hate Paul Rudd.  But I don’t know why you would– he’s America’s boyfriend, after all.