VULTURE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Adrian Toomes uses a specialized flying suit to soar through the skies as The Vulture.”

Hasbro has been really working at wrapping up a lot of iconic Marvel team line-ups.  In the Spider-Man department, they’ve had their sights set on a fully updated recreation of the original Sinister Six.  We’re still not *quite* there, but at least we now have all six members in generally classic costumes and from the same universe, thanks to a proper update of classic foe the Vulture.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Vulture is the final single figure in the Demogoblin Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s actually our third Legends Vulture under Hasbro’s tenure, following the movie and ultimate incarnations of the character, but this is the first proper classic old-man Toomes since back in the Toy Biz days.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Like the last comic-inspired release, this guy is built on the Pizza Spidey body, with a new set of arms, a new head, and an add-on piece for his collar.  The head is impressive, because while it’s definitely a new sculpt, replicating Adrian’s aged appearance, it’s got the same exact expression and likeness as the ultimate head (…which, *technically* isn’t Toomes, but the package still identified him as Toomes, so…).  It’s also a good match for how he tends to look in the comics.  The new arms come in tandem with a new set of wings, which plug into the shoulders and forearms.  They’re really great…from the front.  Yeah, they’re really only presentable from one side, which makes them look weird if you catch them from the other direction.  I’m not quite sure why Hasbro opted to handle this way.  It’s not the end of the world, but it is annoying.  It also continues to the paint, where one side gets a nice gradient and the other is just unpainted plastic.  Not hugely surprising, but again a little let down.  The rest of the paint is pretty solid, though.  Rather than paint lines all over the body suit (which has the potential to look sloppy and a little goofy), they’ve done them at key points more as accents.  I wasn’t sure about it at first, but in person I think it really works.  They also did a solid job again with capturing the old man look on the head; he’s even got liver spots!  Vulture is packed with a second head sporting some head gear.  Technically, this should make the second head Blackie Drago, but the face still seems to be Toomes.  Not sure if someone at Hasbro just missed that it’s supposed to be a different guy or what the deal is.  Still it’s a pretty cool piece, and gets us closer to a proper Drago than anything else has.  Vulture is also packed with the head of Demogoblin, which I’ll be looking at alongside the rest of the figure tomorrow.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Ultimate Vulture figure was a perfectly serviceable figure, but as we got more proper classic incarnations of the old Spidey foes, he looked more and more out of place, so this update was very much appreciated.  I’m not the world’s biggest Vulture fan, but I like a lot about this figure, and I think he does a fine job of giving us that classic appearance.

I picked up Vulture from my friends All Time Toys.  If you’re looking for other cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay Store.