IKARIS

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Moral, kind, and charismatic, Ikaris boasts incredible strength, flight, and the ability to project cosmic energy beams from his eyes.”

A week and a half ago, after a year of waiting, the WORST MARVEL EVER was released.  Oh, wait, sorry, no, Captain America was ultimately released as a TV movie in 1992.  That wasn’t this year at all.  What came out a week and a half ago?  Oh, Eternals.  You guys confused me here, because that’s actually not the worst Marvel movie. Or even close to it.  Seriously, have you seen the Matt Salinger Captain America?  It’s bad, guys.  It’s really bad.  Eternals is, notably, not really bad.  It’s not perfect, but there have been far worse things.  I mean, just this year.  Remember Snake Eyes?  Because I do.  And I you don’t, could you share your trick for that with me?  That’d be great.  In the mean time, let’s focus on that not bad thing I was mentioning and do some Eternals reviews.  Let’s kick things off with their resident not-Superman, Ikaris!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ikaris is part of the main Eternals tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends.  While the rest of them all have parts for Gilgamesh, Ikaris is the non-BAF double packed figure.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  His movement is definitely a little bit restricted by the design here, especially with that skirt piece, but it’s not terrible, and he does get some okay range.  I wish the neck and mid torso were just a bit more mobile, but otherwise, it’s pretty workable.  He’s got the pinless construction on the elbows and knees, which help with the overall sleekness of the design.  Ikaris’s sculpt is an all-new one, based upon his updated design from the movie.  He keeps a lot of elements of the comics design, while adding a few more ornate pieces and turning it into more of an armored look.  It removes him a little more from his Kirby roots, but it also makes him feel a little bit more alien compared to the rest of the MCU, so I can get what they’re going for.  The sculpt does a decent job of capturing this look, and the detailing on the suit looks pretty good.  The head sculpt is okay, I guess.  It’s not the worst take on Richard Madden, but it’s also not really spot on.  Like, I can get who it is through context, but I don‘t think the head on its own really sells it.  It’s definitely the best of Hasbro’s attempts, though.  Ikaris’s color scheme for the film was slightly tweaked, removing his usual red, presumably to remove him a bit further from Superman.  The paint work isn’t bad, but it also doesn’t hold up so much to close scrutiny.  The face looks okay with the printed technique, but the lines on the forehead aren’t helping with the likeness.  The suit looks cool and sleek with the metallic finish, but the gold details on mine are misaligned in quite a few spots.  The overall design of the suit does mask this a little bit, but it’s still a bit frustrating.  Ikaris is packed with two sets of hands (fists and relaxed), as well as an alternate head with laser effects on the eyes.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I know just enough to get by about the comics Eternals, so the movie tie-ins had me going in a little bit blind.  They looked cool enough that I thought they’d make good toys, but I had no clue on the film.  Ultimately, I did like the film, but it changed how I felt about the figures a little bit.  Ikaris winds up suffering a little bit for me, not because he’s a bad figure, but more because the rest of the assortment kind of got elevated a bit in light of the movie.  He’s still a solid figure, even if he’s perhaps a slightly flawed one.

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.