DOCTOR STRANGE SUPREME

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“When an unforeseen event changes Stephen Strange’s perspective on life, the path he chooses is one filled with even darker magic.”

In the comics, What If…? stories could have a real tendency to end on a major downer note.  The show didn’t do that quite as much, but episode 4, “What If…Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?” goes full-on into that downer territory, as a desperate Stephen Strange’s path winds up having reality destroying implications.  It’s also the first episode to show the Watcher in any way interacting with those he’s watching, setting up the events of the season’s final two episodes.  All-in-all, it’s a very classically “What If…?” story, albeit not one that exactly gets the warm fuzzies going.  As such a overarching plot relevant story, it’s not a huge shock that the altered version of Stephen Strange got a figure, which I’m taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Doctor Strange Supreme is figure 4 in the Watcher Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s the only figure based on his episode of the show specifically, but there aren’t a ton of other looks to choose from, so he can kind of mix in with pre-existing figures, and also pairs off pretty well with the Watcher Build-A-Figure that I’ll be looking at next week.  The figure is specifically based on Strange’s darker “Supreme” appearance from late in the episode, as well as his reappearances in the final two episodes of the season.  Definitely a solid choice for design, since it gets a lot of play.  The figure stands just shy of 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Strange’s sculpt is a mix of old and new.  His lower half is re-used from the first movie Strange, while the rest of the figure is an all-new sculpt, based more directly on the show’s tweaked design for the character.  He sticks much closer to how Peggy’s sculpt handled things in regards to walking the line between animation and realism.  His head sculpt in particular is clearly very much based on the animation model from the show, but it makes it work, and he doesn’t look completely out of place with standard MCU figures.  No doubt, his exaggeratedly gaunt appearance in the episode aids in that.  Also like Peggy, I feel that this cartoony sculpt manages to have a better overall likeness to Cumberbatch than even the improved Infinity War release had.  I really quite like it.  The torso and arms are a good middle ground between the realistic legs and the more cartoony head.  They’re slightly simplified in terms of texturing, and the proportions are certainly a little more exaggerated, but it’s generally a good look.  To denote his different path in the show, Strange doesn’t get his Cloak of Levitation, but instead gets a slightly more evil coded equivalent.  It’s an all-new piece, and, while the Cloak of Levitation didn’t get this, this new cloak pegs into place on Strange’s back.  It’s a little loose, but generally it looks pretty good, and I love how dynamic the sculpt is.  Strange’s paint work is pretty much on par with the rest of the figures in the set.  His base work is clean and colorful, and there’s some solid accenting on the face to help sell how far gone he is, which works pretty well.  In terms of accessories, Strange is packed with the alternate Time Stone effect hand we saw with the IW figure, as well as the left leg to the Watcher figure.  I like getting the Time Stone hand again, and I’m glad that it’s just an alternate piece this time around, but it’s a shame we couldn’t get any alternate parts to represent the alternate forms Strange took while absorbing all of his power.  That definitely would have been cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Doctor Strange episode wasn’t my favorite episode of the season, but it did certainly resonate with me on a slightly more personal level.  I also did really like the redesign they gave him, and it wound up translating quite well into toy form.  While I wasn’t in a crazy rush to get this one, I did certainly like the look of him a fair bit.  He’s definitely one of the better figures in the set, behind Peggy and Zombie Cap.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.