GAMBIT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Gambit has the ability to mentally charge objects with explosive kinetic energy! Remy LeBeau relies on his superior card-throwing abilities and lightning-fast reflexes to turn the tide of battle in favor of the X-Men.”

Today is Super Awesome Wife’s birthday, and so, in her honor, I’m going to use today’s review to focus in on one of her favorite characters (at least in recent years) from the X-Men franchise, one Remy LeBaua, aka Gambit!  Gambit spent a few years away from Legends (due in part to a diminishing prominence in the comics in more recent years), but got a pretty solid release last year as part of the main line.  With Legends generally on the rise, that figure came and went relatively quickly, so Hasbro’s doubled back, tweaked him, and given him another release, which I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Gambit is a Target-exclusive Marvel Legends offering, as part of the Retro Collection sub-line.  To that end, he takes last year’s Gambit, and pushes him a bit further into that Animated Series territory, crafting the character’s third time as a Legends release proper.  Like the prior figure, he stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Gambit is predominantly the same sculpt as the previous figure, which is quite alright by me, because that was a rather strong sculpt, and it had a lot of new parts that have yet to see any other use.  The only sculptural change actually addresses my only complaint about the sculpt the last time I looked at it: his hair.  The last release had the hair all blowing a single direction, and just generally looked far too lop-sided for my taste.  This one replaces that piece with one that’s got a part and a little more of that traditional Gambit hair bounce we’ve all come to know and love.  For me, it just ends up working out a lot better for the character.  I’m glad they took this opportunity to fix that.  The next big change up on this figure is the paint work.  The prior scheme was definitely more comics-based, while this one goes for a much brighter and more saturated look that’s more in line with Gambit’s animated appearance.  I honestly had no issue with the previous paint scheme, but I’ll admit that this one feels like an improvement to my eyes.  The only thing about it I’m not entirely sold on is the swapping out a very dark blue for the black sections.  It’s not bad at all, but I’m just more used to the straight black.  This looks cool too, though.  The last Gambit had a good selection of extras, and this release keeps them all, as well as adding one more.  He’s got the staff, the two playing card effects, and the open hand of the last release, plus a new gripping hand for his left side, so he can two hand the staff.  I also really appreciate how they actually painted the card details on this time; I didn’t miss it the last time, but it adds an extra touch this time around.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I loved the Toy Biz Gambit, and I loved the last Hasbro Gambit, so I wasn’t really feeling like I needed to be in the market for another Gambit.  I’ve got two very good ones to choose from.  So, when Hasbro announced this one (as well as the fact that it was yet another Target exclusive), I was game to skip…until I saw that damned hair, and realized they fixed my one and only complaint about the last figure.  I was expecting him to be really hard to get, but I actually found acquiring him to be quite a breeze.  I caught a message that he’d shown up in stock on Target’s web site, and I was able to get on and get him ordered with no fuss.  Yay!  He’s an awesome figure, and hands down the best Gambit out there.  I don’t really know what could be done to improve him, honestly.