WENDIGO

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Based on a centuries old legend, the Wendigo was introduced into the Marvel Universe in the pages of The Incredible Hulk in 1973, and is a concept that has rattled around the background of the ‘verse pretty much the whole time since.  Though not incredibly prominent in its own right, it’s been on the periphery of a number of important events, including the introduction of a certain pint-sized, blade-wielding Canadian.  Being closely related with two of Marvel’s heavy hitters has translated to a decent number of toys for the character, including today’s offering!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Wendigo is the Build-A-Figure for the, you guessed it, Wendigo Series of Marvel Legends.  This is the Wendigo’s second time as a Legends release; the first was during Hasbro’s earlier tenure with the line, and was a single-packed figure rather than a Build-A-Figure.  Being an earlier Hasbro release, the quality wasn’t quite there, but he was admittedly part of Hasbro’s best assortment pre-relaunch, so he wasn’t terrible for his time.  The figure stands 8 1/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  The Wendigo shares a good portion of its pieces with last year’s Sasquatch Build-A-Figure, which is a pretty sensible choice of parts re-use.  The Wendigo has been portrayed a number of different ways over the years, so matching it to Sasquatch ends up working out alright, given the slightly more modern take on the character.  He has a new head, right hand, pelvis (w/ tail), and feet.  The new pieces mix well with the old, and to the un-informed you might not even realize he was mostly a re-used figure, given how well the two sets of pieces mix.  Wendio’s paintwork is a pretty decent selection of accent work, which is good because otherwise he’d just be straight white.  The blue accents can always be a tricky prospect, but they actually don’t look all that bad on this figure, and I also really like how they’ve handled the work on the face.  Definitely some of the better paintwork Hasbro’s put out recently, and that’s actually saying something given how much they’ve improved in recent months.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Completing the Wendigo figure sort of just happened as a side effect of buying all of the figures that added up to him, and less out of specifically wanting to build him.  Like, I wasn’t turned off by the prospect of getting a Wendigo, but he wasn’t high on my list.  He’s honestly a pretty good figure, truth be told, and timing him to arrive right around the Wolverine and Hulk 2-pack was smart on Hasbro’s part.

As a whole, this line-up of Legends figures was a slow burn for me.  I got Nightcrawler, the only figure I absolutely had to have, a couple of weeks before the others, and genuinely toyed with whether I needed the rest of the line-up at all, before ultimately picking them up.  None of the other figures are must-haves for me, and after Nightcrawler, the one I likely would have been the most excited for (Cannonball) was also the one that feels the most truncated and un-finished.  The others are all pretty solid figures, truth be told, and without any pre-conceived notions or expectations, they’re actually all pretty strong figures.