Packaging
Standard Marvel Universe packaging, and it looks good. From the packaging alone, you can see how massive this figure is. The clam is a tad bigger than it normally would be with the medium sized characters.
We've got some art by Ed McGuinness that looks pretty awesome on the card. At the back, it's the character description and shots of the other figures that come in the wave.
To keep the heft of the figure placed nicely in the clam, he's got a rubber band that holds him down. And when taking Hulk out of the plastic, it felt as if he was breaking out of some sort of force field; I may have taken a little more pleasure in removing him from the plastic than I should admit. Oh and again, this figure has those teks cards that are a nice touch but kind of unnecessary.
Sculpt
It may or may not come as a surprise, but this Hulk is significantly smaller than the Marvel Universe series 1 Hulk. The one that had a face not even a mother could love. And to some, even that bigger Hulk was already out of scale. Having a smaller one, even though it's about 400% more awesome, is even worse. Some people argued that the 5 inch scale movie Hulk figures were a perfect fit for the 1:18 scale figures. But you know what, this Hulk is so fantastic that it barely matters. It's not like it's small. He just isn't as big as Hulk should be.
But look at that mold! It is fantastic! It actually reminds me of the Superhero Showdown Hulk, which wasn't bad at all, only this one's remarkably better! The musculature is great, too. It's really buff and big, but not overly so, not cartoony at all. The entire body is ridiculously detailed with all those veins and the creases in the skin. The same can be said about the texture of the purple pants, especially the little tear details. I like how the pants at the knees were ripped out so articulation isn't compromised.
One of the best features of the figure would definitely have to be the face. Maybe it's because I'm reluctantly comparing it with the very first Hulk, but even without the benchmark, it looks very good. You want an expression of pure, unadulterated anger? You've got it. I'm also a fan of those closed fists, too. Maybe interchangeable hands would've been great, but since we don't have em', we'll have to learn to be happy with what we got out of the box.
Paint
Okay, so Hulk is basically green and purple, yeah? Hasbro takes it a step further and shades in all the crevices in his musculature and really brings the behemoth to life with amazing attention to detail. There's a lot of nice, clean touches everywhere, especially on the the hair and the face. Not a single dash of paint is out of place, not even on the the teeth or the eyes. This is a 1:18 scale figure - that's saying something!
I like that there's a little green on his hair. Hulk's supposed to have blackish-greenish hair. It works! Fantastic work on the paint, Hasbro. Good on ya!
Articulation
For a big dude, I found that he's got just about enough articulation to work. Sure, his muscles get in the way of movement sometimes, especially on his arms, but I think that's the downside to having such a Hulky figure.
He has a ball joint neck, so he can look around well. The range of motion on that neck joint is ludicrous (in a good way)! Especially when compared to that first Hulk, whose head can only really spin on a plane, this head shines that much more. Hulk also has an ab crunch that goes up, down and around. It works as well as expected. There are ball joint shoulders that allow swiveling, pivoting and twisting. There's also a tilt there. Cut biceps allow Hulk to twist his arm. His elbow joint is the most disappointing of all since his bicep is in the way and restricts full movement.
His writs twists. His waist, too. And his hips are surprisingly flexible, allowing Hulk to move his leg forward. He also has a thigh cut, to allow the leg to spin for even more poses. Those work very well with his double jointed knees. His ankles tilt and pivot. I would've wished for toe articulation but that may be asking for too much.
With all those joints available to him, he can come up with some pretty kick ass fighting poses. I do have a tiny gripe, though. I had hoped he could bring his fists closer together above his head or in front of his torso, so he can do the HULK SMASH pose. But alas, I am to be denied. That would have required shoulder joints that move inward, similar to the Toybiz Marvel Legends Bullseye body had. At least, I think so. I'm sure Moon Knight had it, and I'm fairly certain they share the same body.
Still, he can pull off a lot of punches without that ability.
Accessories
HULK DOESN'T NEED ANY ACCESSORIES! Okay, that may not be entirely true because we would've LOVED alternate hands. Ones that can do that thunderclap move of his. That would've rocked hard. Would've also been cool to have some "tank bits" add-ons. Okay, now I'm just being spoiled.
Overall
I dare not call this the best Hulk figure because of the way he fits into the scale. Other people would argue that the best Hulk in this scale is the one that came with Cyclops, in the comic pack. That had the same body as the original one, but with a much improved head and two closed fists. However, I would definitely say this is my favorite Hulk just for the detail on the skin and the level of quality built into the figure.
You find one, you buy it immediately! This figure deserves a solid 4.9 out of 5!