I'm A Grown Man And I Bought This: Marvel Select Juggernaut

When I first started collecting action figures as an adult, circa 1994, a five inch tall figure retailed for five bucks. That was a reasonable price and I bought many, many, MANY action figures back then. Cut to the present day, when most seven to eight inch high action figures routinely cost a whopping eighteen dollars or more! Even the small scale Star Wars figures are hovering around the ten dollar mark.

I'm not quite sure what's behind this drastic price increase. Maybe it's the ever-rising price of petroleum. Maybe it's the fact that Chinese factory workers are finally demanding a living wage. Whatever the reason, it's had a major impact on my figure collecting. I used to collect many different lines: Star Wars, DC Universe, Marvel Legends, Iron Man, Ben 10 and more. Now I'm down to buying pretty much one line: Doctor Who action figures.

I'm an adult and I can't (and won't!) pay $18 for an action figure. If I can't afford it, how do toy companies expect a kid to do so? I have a bad feeling that these out of control prices are going to kill action figures altogether.

Occasionally though I'll see an action figure that I just can't resist and I'll bite the bullet and pay the $18 price for it. I'm almost always immediately filled with buyer's remorse and regret my purchase. That's why it's nice to buy a figure and finally feel like I got my money's worth.

Case in point: the Marvel Select Juggernaut figure.

As you may or may not know, Juggernaut is one of the arch enemies of the X-Men. His real name is Cain Marko and he's the half brother of Professor X, leader of the X-Men. Marko found a mysterious ruby in a South American temple that granted him superpowers. He's virtually indestructible and once he sets himself into motion, is unstoppable.

Make no mistake– this is one massive hunk of plastic. I bet he weighs a good three pounds. It's a big, hefty solid figure that doesn't make you feel like a chump for buying it.

Juggernaut will definitely intimidate your other Marvel and X-Men figures with his sheer height and bulk alone. 

As for the sculpting, they managed to pack a lot of detail and textures into the figure. His helmet and arm bands have a nice metallic texture, while his body armor looks appropriately leathery.

His helmet isn't removable, as far as I can tell. I was afraid to pry on it too hard, lest I have to break out the Crazy Glue. It appears they took the trouble to sculpt an entire detailed and expressive face behind the helmet though.

They even sculpted treads on the bottom of his boots! Now that's attention to detail!

Note that Juggernaut is able to balance himself on one foot. That's a pretty rare talent for an action figure, probably made possible here by his sheer weight.

One of my biggest action figure pet peeves is when they can't stand up under their own power. People have no trouble standing up for hours without falling over. So how hard can it be to make a model of a person that doesn't fall down? Every damn day I have figures who leap from my shelves to their deaths on the hard floor below. I think it oughta be a law that action figures have to be able to stand under their own power, with no stands holding them up or putty cementing their feet into place. In fact I think I'll write my Congressman about it right now.

Based on these photos, Juggernaut figures are definitely on the rise, height-wise. On the left is one of the first Juggernaut figures produced by Marvel, circa 1995. In the middle is a Marvel Legends Juggernaut, circa 2000. And of course on the right, the current figure. Interesting that the past figures featured removable helmets.

 If you're a fan of the X-Men, action figures, or expensive chunky pieces of plastic, then the Marvel Select Juggernaut won't disappoint.