KANG

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Born in the 31st-century, Kang employs time travel and hyper-sophisticated technology to conquer all of time.”

Perhaps the Avengers greatest foe (and certainly their most *numerous* foe, at least in terms of identities), Kang the Conqueror has been a thorn in the team’s side since their first year as a team, first appearing in issue #8 of the series, which was coincidentally, two months prior to the appearance of Immortus, his future incarnation, and 11 months after the appearance of Rama-Tut, his past incarnation.  Also 41 years prior to the appearance of Iron Lad, his even past-er incarnation…time travel’s messy.  Though a prominent fixture in the team’s history, he’s never been the most marketable of their enemies, so he’s also not had the most toy coverage.  He’s still done better than Jocasta, of course, with at least one notable release in every major style of Marvel figure.  He’s been in the Legends game once before, and now he’s gotten back into it.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Kang is the third figure in the Joe Fixit Series of Marvel Legends, and is also the third of the four comics-based figures included in the line-up.  As I touched on in the intro, Kang has been included in Legends once before, during Hasbro’s first run with the brand in 2008.  That figure was actually just a re-release of the super rare Fantastic Four Classics Kang Toy Biz put out right before handing over the reigns, but the 2008 version ended up being a really rare exclusive in his own right, making neither version very easy to track down for the average collector (or me, for that matter).  It’s also a mold that’s 14 years old at this point, so it was in need of a replacement.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  Though the articulation count is a bit on the lower side, the range of motion on the joints follows the recent trends of being much improved compared to older figures.  The most impressive joint is definitely the ball-jointed waist, which gives him a lot of possible tweaking to his posing.  It’s a lot of fun to mess with.  Kang is sporting an all-new sculpt, and a quite nice one at that.  It’s undeniably a classic Kang design, and there’s a ton of detail work going on, from the way the tunic “hangs” on the body, to all of the piping and folds on his very, very tall boots.  The head manages to capture Kang’s rather goofy headgear in such a way that’s not totally ridiculous, which is certainly a plus, while also capturing Kang’s stern expression.  It definitely works well.  The paint work on Kang is pretty straight forward stuff.  It’s mostly just base application, and that application’s all pretty cleanly handled.  The color palette is appropriately vibrant, and works well for the character.  Lack of vibrance has actually been a recurring issue on prior Kang figured, so I’m glad it worked out here.  In addition to getting a whole brand new sculpt, Kang’s also got quite a nice selection of extras, including five different hands (R and L fists, R and L open gesture, and L grip), a large futuristic blaster rifle, and the left leg to the Joe Fixit Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Kang’s definitely high on my list of favorite Avengers villains, and I’ve been wanting him in Legends form for a long time.  The last version was never easily found, and as such I never got one.  I’ve been waiting for this one for a while, and I was very pleased to see him crop up in this assortment.  On top of that, he’s really just a top-notch figure.  Everything about him just works very well.  Finally, this Avengers foe has really gotten his toy due!

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this guy for review.  If you’re looking for Marvel Legends, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.