Diamond Selects Magneto and Deadpool for the Marvel Select Treatment

Diamond has picked up the pace in the output for their Marvel Select line in recent times, and it's been a very welcome development. There was quite a delay in releases there for awhile, and now they're coming thick and fast! Diamond has been following a steady pattern of releasing X-Men related characters, and I'm looking at two of them tonight - Magneto and Deadpool.

Magneto has pretty much gone right to the top of the list of my all-time favourite Marvel Select figures. The outstretched hands and his facial expression really capture the character, and the design and sculpt is top-notch. The basic MS male buck has some issues - the men can appear a bit barrel-chested, and the legs popped on to the (ick) ball-jointed hips makes the thighs seem huge. I think Magneto's cape helps distract from these issues. It's beautifully done. Paint is perfectly applied, and the different but complimentary shades of purple really lift the piece.

My enthusiasm for this figure isn't just about the figure itself, however. One thing that I'm not always wild about in terms of the Marvel Select figures is the bases, as they can be rather bland and require too much room to be of use in my cramped display space. Magneto's base is an example of the best Diamond can do when they really put their minds to it. Magneto is standing on what appears to be the remains of Xavier's School for the Gifted, complete with Colossus' hand popping out of the rubble. This is a sensational piece that reflects the individual character and can be displayed without taking up a terrible amount of room. It goes right up there with Iron Man's burst of take-off cloud and Ghost Rider's flaming base with demon-ish hands emerging from it as the best of the smaller MS bases to date. It also lifts the Marvel Select Magneto from a great figure to a brilliant figure in my book.

There is an unmasked "variant" for Magneto which I haven't purchased. I wonder how well these unmasked variants sell - seems to me I've paid enough for the extra head to be included! I don't mind paying a bit more for these when they have a great base like Magneto does, but to pay double just for an unmasked version? No dice.

Deadpool is a character that came about during my long hiatus from comics, and I've never quite connected with him. I don't know much about his backstory, but I do know that he has an interesting physicality, and that's something that the standard MS buck isn't quite up to capturing. This is still a great looking figure, and the paint and sculpting work are excellent. I'm not a fan of over-articulated figures, but this character makes me think that if Diamond is going to produce a wider range of characters in this line, it needs a slightly more lithe and articulated buck for characters like Deadpool - this figure isn't up to the types of crouching or leaping poses I'd like to use. Perhaps something could be done here in the same way that Mattel has introduced a more articulated buck into the DC Universe Classics line for characters like Blue Beetle III.

Deadpool comes with one of those boring Marvel Select bases I mentioned earlier - something that doesn't reflect anything specific about the character and that would take up too much room on the shelf to display - straight into storage for this one!

These are both very solid figures, but Diamond's effort with Magneto captures the character in a way I just don't feel is achieved with Deadpool. Both figures are great to have and will be happily displayed, but Magneto's getting pride of place for sure!

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Until next time!