LIVING LASER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Driven mad by jealousy, the brilliant research scientist Arthur Parks becomes the villainous Living Laser.”

Man, wasn’t it a huge shock when the Avengers defeated Thanos in Endgame, only to all be instantaneously killed by the Living Laser?  That was a dark turn!  Clearly, this figure is the most timely inclusion ever, just because of that.  What’s this?  Spoilers?  No, not even close.  Living Laser’s not in Endgame at all…whoops, spoilers for all those Arthur Parks fans hoping for a surprise cameo.  I guess you’ll just have to make due with this only vaguely connected figure release.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Living Laser is figure 3 in the first Endgame-themed series of Marvel Legends.  As I touched on in the intro, no, Living Laser is not in the movie, but is instead one of the four comics-based figures in this line-up.  His placement is kind of odd, but I guess no more odd than Grey Gargoyle cropping up in the Captain Marvel series.  He *is* and Avengers villain, so that’s sort of related.  The figure stands just shy of 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation…in theory.  The head/neck combo messes with the mobility of those joints a little bit.  Living Laser’s had a host of rather differing appearances over the years, but this figure goes for his most recent, which, if I’m being totally honest, isn’t something I’m super thrilled about.  For my money, I’d much rather have gotten Laser’s classic design he was sporting from the ’70s on through the ’90s, as hokey as it may be.  This one’s sleek, but I don’t feel it’s quite as gripping.  But, hey, maybe this is the design others want.  I was buying the figure anyway, so my personal preferences certainly haven’t impacted their sales at all.  The figure’s construction is pretty simple.  He’s got a brand new head, thrown on the ANAD 2099 body, funky add-on bits and all.  Aside from the restriction on the neck movement, it’s actually not a bad combo, since the 2099 body’s a pretty solid one.  It doesn’t make for the most thrilling appearance, but it’s an accurate one.  The new Living Laser design has him in a constant state of energy, which the figure replicates by casting him in clear purple plastic.  There’s some airbrushed accenting on it.  It’s fairly decent, though it rather suddenly disappears when you get to the butterfly joints, which is a little bit jarring, but you can make it work with the right pose.  Living Laser is packed with two of the electric effect pieces, this time in an off-white.  It’s a shame he doesn’t have any alternate hands to replace the fists, but at least he’s not entirely un-accessorized. He also includes the torso of the armored Thanos Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I initially heard they were making Living Laser, I was excited, because I wanted to add him to my growing ’90s cartoon Iron Man villains roster.  Then I saw the figure, and he’s the wrong design for that, so my desire to have him quickly dwindled.  It’s not the figure’s fault.  This is his most current appearance, so I can’t really fault Hasbro for choosing it, nor can I say that the figure isn’t an accurate recreation.  He’s honestly not a bad figure, but he’s one I just don’t feel much attachment to.

Living Laser came from All Time Toys, and he’s currently in-stock at their store, here. And, if you’re looking for other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.