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We said before that the X-Men are a big team, and so they need a big enemy to face - but one enemy more than any other really seems to take that directive literally.
Who can stop the overweight menace of the Blob?!? Covered by oozing layers of fat, this evil mutant can increase his own obese mass with but a thought! When the practically immovable Blob stands his ground, you might as well try to move a mountain!
Blob was one of the earliest mutants introduced to the Marvel Universe - he first appeared in the third issue of the X-Men's book, meaning that the only enemies introduced before him were Magneto and the Vanisher. And really, he wasn't much of a villain - just kind of a jerk. If you re-read the issue and ignore the fact that you "know" the X-Men are the good guys, they come off much worse than Blob does.
There has been one Blob figure before (two if you count X-Men: Evolution), ages ago in the X-Force line. Of course, since 12 years have gone by, that figure is pretty dated; we needed a new Blob, and this is the only way that made sense. As the ML2 BAF, Blob comes in 10 pieces - you have to build him before you can build him, he's so big! Mojo proved that organic shapes could work as assembled pieces, and Blob carries that idea forward.
The sculpt is simply hideous.
Disgusting. Disturbing beyond all measure. Very good. Blob's usual representation in the comics is like a water balloon: big, round and jiggly, but still mostly smooth. This figure, however, is decidely lumpier. He has overlapping folds of flesh on his face, arms and torso, and the rippling layers of cellulite that coat his legs are anything but even. It's like someone squashed a tube of cookie dough. Mmmm... cookie dough... arrgllll. The back of his neck doesn't look like a pack of hotdogs, it looks like a pile of unsliced salami. Even his manboobs have manboobs. This is one rotund baddie.
Judging by the shapes of his forearms, we said that the Blob pieces included with Jean Grey and Quicksilver were switched - that the left arm was the right, and vice-versa. However, the shoulder pegs only fit into the torso one way; the way the packaging claims. That is, Jean has the right arm, Pietro has the left. Still, the shape of the arms seems to suggest the opposite. The most likely answer? An assembly error, where either the forearms or the shoulder balljoints got switched - and since it's not a glaring error, it's not one worth fixing.
When Blob's powers first manifested, he got a job at a carnival sideshow, which is why his "costume" is just a unitard. His schtick was that he'd invite the townies into the ring to see if anyone could move him. Of course, no one could - that's his mutant power. The fat is just a side effect. One that also happens to make him nearly impervious to harm. Despite his size (500+ pounds), he often surprises foes with his agility: he moves as nimbly as a normal-sized athletic man. Weird! His bulk gives him some degree of enhanced strength, too, though it's mainly an effect of leverage and his ability to control his center of gravity. To convey his powers, the previous Blob figures have had some sort of squishy belly - this one doesn't.
In his first appearance, this corpulent mutant was drawn by Jack Kirby, whose mastery of subtle body language extended only as far as "evil = ugly," so he was a squash-faced goblin with a flat head. Er, the Blob, not Kirby. This figure treats him much more gently. Sort of. His face isn't handsome, by any means, but he's not immediately repulsive, either. Well, not for his facial features. The big jowls and the engorged dewlap see to that. Still, he's an average-looking fatty, not an ugly fatty. Mega-fatty. He even puts Mojo to shame.
Blob isn't quite as well-articulated as the other Marvel Legends, moving only at 22 points: hinged toes, balljointed ankles, balljointed hips/thighs, hinged fingers, balljointed wrists, hinged elbows,
balljointed biceps/shoulders, swivel chestand swivel neck. There are no knees under the cottage cheese in his legs, and his gut is far too big for a waist - the chest joint makes up for it, though. The neck is technically a balljoint, but it's between two flat surfaces, so all it does is turn. And hey, here's something you won't hear many fans say: "this BAF is too big." Yes, while the fanboys love to bitch about how small they think the recent Build-A-Figures are, Blob stands about 8" tall. The character's height is listed as 5'10", so at this size he's more in scale with Sigma 6 than Marvel Legends. He shouldn't even top the 6" mark, though his size has necessarily varied from artist to artist over the years. Maybe this is supposed to be the 8' tall, 976 lb. version?
The paint is good, save for one noteworthy flaw. His skin is a nice shade of pink, but it's speckled all over with variegated brown dots, making him look even more unpleasant. Even the inside of his mouth is painted. What?
Look at the size of this landwhale: you thought they were going to sculpt him with his mouth closed? The blue of his costume is nice and dark (like Ultimate Wolverine's should have been), and the yellow is crisp. Unfortunately, it's that yellow that's such a problem - you have to snap the two halves of his stomach together, right? But the stripe doesn't line up on the halves! Annoying! There is an easy solution, though: since the gut is molded from blue plastic, you can just scrape off yellow until the lines line up again. The yellow on his shoulders comes from his entry in the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe - they weren't a normal part of the costume in the real comics.
This series of Legends faced something of a problem - it was supposed to be out by April, but it took until July for most fans to find any of the figures. Why? Good question. Hasbro Legends 1 was a slow seller, but steady - they didn't fly out of stores the way some ToyBiz lines did, but they moved consistently, leaving only one or two figures as slight pegwarmers. Why, then, did we have to face months of empty space before HL2 shipped? There were rumors that HL1 sold so poorly that Hasbro actually recalled the figures, but how can you recall what's not in the stores any more? The pattern is repeating itself with HL2 - the initial releases sold fast (too fast, in the case of the Spring shipments), and the restocks are trickling away at a slow but acceptable pace. But that doesn't stop the fanboys from trying to pretend there's a problem, though, just because they're committed to disliking Hasbro. You know, because it's more important to stick to your guns than to judge the figures on their merits.
Blob was just "Blob" for decades - he had no name when he debuted in Uncanny X-Men #3, and wasn't called "Fred J. Dukes" until #140. Poor chubby. With his inclusion in Hasbro Legends 2, we're one step closer to completing an incarnation of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. We already had Mystique and Pyro as Legends, and got an Avalanche in the X-Men Classics line, so all we realy need now is Destiny - though a First Appearance Rogue wouldn't be awful, either.
P.S. - For the record, Juggernaut vs Blob? Juggernaut wins. Easily.
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