Welcome to Flashback Friday: The Marvel Cinematic Universe. In this series you’ll get a discussion and brief review on some of your favorite Pops and Dorbz from the MCU. Here, we really appreciate the shared universe so the figures will come from film, television, and streaming. “Faded” Vision from the Avengers: Age Ultron set is this week’s choice for discussion.
Discussion: Vison was first introduced into the MCU in the 2015 film Avengers: Age of Ultron. Vision was created by Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, and Ultron. Tony infused his J.A.R.V.I.S. program into Vision which is why his voice sounds identical to J.A.R.V.I.S. Ultron used an Infinity Stone to complete Vision’s creation. Vision went on to join the Avengers and help take down Ultron. His next appearance is in Captain America: Civil War in which he joined Iron Man’s team and fought against Scarlet Witch whom he seems to be infatuated with. Vision is still very new to the MCU but I do think as we see him in more films he’ll become a big fan favorite.
The Avengers: Age of Ultron Pop set is a very large set. Pops started trickling out throughout 2015 and continued through 2016. We pretty much got all of the characters we could hope for except Quicksilver. I’m not quite sure why we didn’t get Quicksilver. It might have something to do with the movie rights that Disney and Fox share for the character. Either way I don’t really have any complaints about the set. It’s a huge amount of characters with quite a few exclusives and variations that the set feels complete. This particular Vision is labeled “Faded Vision” online. This is due to the bottom portion of his body being transparent. I would prefer it referred to as “Phasing Vision” because that’s what he does. He phases through objects. The word faded doesn’t makes much sense to me.
Most of the Age of Ultron Pops are fairly inexpensive because they are still fairly new and only about two years old. You can definitely still find the occasional Pop in a Hot Topic or Barnes and Noble. As far as I know nothing from this set has been vaulted which means the production run continues. I remember when this particular Vision was released it was pretty hard to come by. Since it was exclusive to Target you had to constantly ask the employees if it was in stock. I had to trade for it through our Facebook group which can be found here. The value at its peak was right around $20.00. Now it looks like it’s dropped around retail of $10.00-$13.00. I’d check out eBay, Amazon, and our Facebook group which I mentioned earlier if you want to add this pretty cool looking Vision to your collection.
Avengers: Age of Ultron Set: Vision is numbered 71 within the Marvel Pop series and joins the MCU for the first time in this set. The set includes 2 Black Widow, 2 Captain America, 1 Hawkeye, 3 Hulk, 1 Hulkbuster, 2 Iron Man, 1 Scarlet Witch, 1 Thor, 2 Ultron, and 3 Vision for a grand total of 18 Pops. Exclusives included Amazon, Barnes and Noble, FYE, GameStop, Hot Topic, San Diego Comic Con, and Target. This is a really solid set with the main characters all getting some love and really showcases Vision with the most variations. Perhaps if the rights can be worked out we’ll eventually get a sweet Quicksilver Pop for full completion of the set. Actually, we still need a Nick Fury and War Machine Pop since they both make appearances in this film.
Description/Review: Vision’s face is a pinkish color. The majority of the head is surrounded in silver with a yellow Infinity Stone placed in the center of the forehead. The eyes look like metallic gray. The suit is a light gray with some gold around the neck. The hands and lower portion of the body are becoming translucent which allows him to phase through walls and other objects. This design gives him the “Faded Vision” nickname. Overall, I think the Pop looks decent enough. The translucent portion would’ve been better if it was a bit more crystal clear. As it stands, the faded portion has a yellow tint. Hopefully future variants correct this issue.
What’s next? The Avengers: Infinity War films will likely be where Vision makes his next appearance. Look for him to take on a larger role in the MCU if he survives those films. As you can imagine Thanos will want that Infinity Stone on his forehead. More Vision Pops should be on the way as well. Hopefully we’ll get some really creative variants like a phasing one where his head is transparent while his body is still solid.
What did you think of the Faded Vision? Sound off in the comments section below.
Would you like to see a specific Pop or Dorbz in a future article? Post your choices in the comments section and you just might see your favorite character “Pop” up in the coming weeks.
Check back next week for another MCU flashback. Excelsior!
Matt Norris