LEGION

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“The son of Charles Xavier, Legion got his incredible mind from his legendary father, but must balance unimaginable mutant powers with his mental illness.”

First introduced in the pages of New Mutants in 1985, Charles Xavier’s previously unknown son David Haller, better known as Legion, is the character most important to the “Age of Apocalypse” story, while also one who is completely absent from it.  In “Legion Quest,” the lead up to the cross over, Legion, who is afflicted by multiple personalities which can cause him great imbalances, believes he has achieved sanity, and determines that the only way to achieve his father’s goal of peace is to go back in time and murder Magneto before the two have their schism.  The X-Men attempt to stop him, and the Xavier of the past is killed in the process, creating the world of “Age of Apocalypse,” and also erasing Legion himself from existence, since his father died before David’s conception in this reality.  He is nevertheless essential to the story, so a tie-in assortment is kind of the perfect time to do a Legion figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Legion is figure 6 in the Colossus Series of Marvel Legends, and is the only non-AoA universe figure in the set.  This marks his very first time as an action figure, which is a pretty solid accomplishment.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall (counting that insanity that is his hair), and he has 32 points of articulation.  Like yesterday’s Iceman, Legion is a combination of a few pre-existing parts, as well as some brand new ones.  His lower half is re-used from Shang-Chi, while his arms are shared with the Pizza Spidey mold.  The head and torso are brand-new to this figure.  His design is clearly most inspired by his “Legion Quest” appearance, which makes sense, seeing as it’s the closest tie-in to the rest of the assortment.  It also presents a Legion that has his most distinctive elements, while still fitting in alright with the more standardized styling of the larger Legends line.  The sculpt is a pretty decent offering for the most part.  The new head certainly gets the hair down well, and while I might have liked a slightly crazier expression, he does at least have that slight glint in his eye of being un-hinged.  The re-used parts are generally pretty decent, though the Shang-Chi legs do result in him having some very muscular and defined legs, while also being rather scrawny up top.  Legion certainly never skips leg day.  They’ve reworked Legion’s feet since Shang-Chi, so now they have peg holes, which is a positive change.  Legion’s paint work is overall rather basic, but there’s some pretty cool accent work that’s been done on his clothes.  It gives them a slightly more dynamic appearance, and prevents him from having too many swathes of just the same color.  Legion is packed with two sets of hands, fists and open gesture, as well as the right leg to Colossus.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Legion isn’t a character I ever paid much attention to, largely due to him being outside of the eras of X-books I really read.  From the outside, he seemed maybe a little hard to approach, but I’ve enjoyed some of his more recent appearances in the Kroaka-era X-books.  His figure was pretty good timing for me on that front.  While he’s not the assortment’s standout or anything, he’s a good take on a character that’s had no figures prior, and one that I’m sure will go far for the character.

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.