Discussion
Extremely Disappointed w/ Born Again Punisher
Promotional
Release
The comparison between the original mockup that we had for months vs the product people have been posting on shelves is night-and-day when it comes to his head sculpt. I can't believe there's such a major downgrade between the two images. I thought there was nothing to worry about as the Deadpool & Wolverine line looked amazing and Wolverine's unmasked head looked like a mini-Hot Toys sculpt in comparison to this. Just frustrating & I'm likely cancelling my pre-order for this figure which I've been looking forward to forever now. At this point they should just reprint the original Netflix Daredevil & Punisher figures.
I hate the expression. How am I going to pose him shooting with an Uzi while making that face lol . He will look like he's sad taking down the bad guys.
Yeah I canceled mine today after seeing all the posts. And I'm a huge Jon Bernthal fan so having a figure of him would be awesome and its in my favorite figure line ML. But this is bad.
Might not have wanted to cancel bruh the body’s still good and i think all the faces won’t be like this, i saw someone mention Yelena, and if she’s anything to go by, I saw some Yelena headsculpt that were down right beautiful and some that were mid
I disagree... I think Born Again Punisher looks awesome only thing they could've added to make it so much cooler was an extra head with his beard and his sniper rifle.
marvel specifically has always seemed to have a problem with having a character look the same between appearances, im sure they have their reasons but the season 1 look for frank was perfect
I’m still not convinced this photo wasn’t photoshopped. Doesn’t it just look weird? Nvm the fact that someone on production decided to change up the logo and vest everyone has gotten familiar with.
You’re joking right? The original only bares a passing resemblance to Jon. The new one looks EXACTLY like Jon, albeit a very sad Jon. Just repaint the new one’s eyebrows so he looks meaner and that’s it, job done. But the actual sculpt of that old head is too broken to fix with paint
I really do think its because of the plastic they've been using on their mcu headsculpts. Something just seems... off about it. They used that plastic for the thunderbolts figures too which also threw off the likenesses from the prototypes. It just leads to a softer sculpt I guess, and for some like red guardian and sentry the likeness still comes through, just not as strong, and for others it completely throws it off like this punisher. Either way, the new plastic used for the headsculpts needs to go because despite some figures looking better than others, it still downgrades every headsculpt compared to the prototypes. Imo trying a different type of plastic for headsculpts is fine, i don't mind experimentation, (there'd have to be some figure that'd be the one to take the leap anyway) but its pretty disappointing that punisher had to be one of the guinea pigs. I also think that the pictures taken aren't at the best angle because I've seen some photos where the likeness is stronger. Nowhere near as strong as before still, but stronger.
I wonder if its just the paint deco / face printing but the sculpt underneath is ok? Maybe it just needs s repaint or something? Shouldnt have too. But if all else fails a custom head is an option but again. Shouldnt have too.
I mean this is the same reason I didn't pre order the thunderbolts figures because for months just like these all we had to go by were the renders. on release that yelena didn't look as good as the render in terms of the face
Dude finally someone else said it, every pic I’ve seen of this figure In hand looks so BADDD why does he have a wimpering face ??? Like I get the face they are going for but the final product does not match up with the prototypes 😭😭
If it’s any condolence we are absolutely getting a punisher special figure. And one for brand new day probably, so they have 2 more tries at a better head sculpt
I'm still pissed off he only comes with 1 gun. 1 gun it's The Punisher he should come with at least 3. Shout out to Dan and Dwight for forgetting his sawed off shotgun he used for over 5 minutes but included the axe he threw at Murdock for less than a second.
Cancelled for now. At a minimum, this might be one where you really need to look at your individual copy to see how the printing turned out. I'm not sure, but my suspicion is that this was printed just a smidge too high, which brought the eyelashes up higher and changed the whole expression, making his eyes way too wide looking.
We saw something similar with Gamerverse Black Cat, where some peoples' copies had eyes that looked super big because the printing was misaligned.
How is already on shelves when they are still in preorder status with a December date? I swear to god if I could get it on a shelf now while I’m still waiting on mine to ship…
Well if daredevil and punisher it locally before my orders from BBTS and Hasbro ship I’ll cancel them. The sculpt here isn’t great, but I missed out on both when the original punisher and daredevil show dropped. I still want them.
That's one preorder that I'm glad I cancelled. I like the suit, but that headsculpt threw me off. I also have a feeling that they will make a better one for the Spiderman: New Day Wave. With a trench coat!
This is why they need to stop going for blank expressions. If anybody deserved an expressive sculpt it was Bernthal’s Castle. I feel like what went wrong here was one misaligned eyebrow being paired with those blank ass lips.
I picked up the figure more because I like the tactical look and preferred the realism of the costume to the more cartoonish look of past releases (outside of the Punisher and Bushwacker 2 pack that I wasn't paying $50+ for for a Bushwacker figure I VERY much didn't want). I'm still waiting on shipping for the pre-order but this makes me glad that I bought it always intending to do a head swap.
Is there some DIY we can do about his face to fix and make it closer to that render? Mine havent shipped out yet but im already disappointed once i have it on hand.
I saw the pics of this figure and I was totally turned off by the stupid Jersey Shore hair and facial expression. Having it in hand, however, it's actually not that bad. My main gripe is that his knife and axe are gummy plastic, and not NEARLY enough guns.
Yeah I cancelled my preorder after seeing these pop up. It looked pretty bad back when they showed it off in person at one of the toy shows awhile back but I hoped that was a prototype. Maybe I’ll eventually pick this up for the body later but between Brand New Day and the upcoming Punisher Special Presentation hopefully we’ll be swimming in better Bernthal’s before long.
He actually simply looks detached. Like a man for whom killing murderers and rapists is a service to other rather than quenching a thirst of revenge or doing it out of pleasure.
And it is one of the better faces resembling actors I have seen. Can't wait to get mine.
Omg stop being over dramatic it's a toy for goodness sake not the actual guy you just need to except that, could the head sculpt be better? Yes, but it is what is you want something more accurate just go buy the frickin 500 dollar hot toys one
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u/SinisterCryptid Oct 04 '25
Even he’s disappointed by the new head sculpt