STRYFE, PRETTY BOY, ZERO, VERTIGO, & RANDOM

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Heroes are only as good as their adversaries and in their 60-year history, the X-Men have faced some of the fiercest foes in comics.”

That bio is definitely some poor Hasbro copy-writer’s way of saying “I’m not looking up info on all of these low tier X-villains.” And who can blame them, really? The X-Men have had a lot of villains, but, admittedly, only a handful have really stuck. Starting in the mid-80s or so, there were more and more space fillers, as every evil mutant gained their own team. And, in honor of those space fillers, Hasbro’s done a whole box set of them, seemingly chosen at random. And also with Random. Get it? Because Random is in the….and his name is…yeah, I’ll see myself out. Or I’ll just jump into the actual review.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Stryfe, Pretty Boy, Zero, Vertigo, and Random make up the Marvel Legends X-Men Villains set, which is a Fan Channel set. There’s not really a strict theme to this one beyond being villains from a roughly overlapping period of time in the late ’80s/early ’90s.

STRYFE

If there’s a solid selling point to this set, it’s this guy. He’s certainly the most notable of the characters included here. He’s also the only one to have a prior Legend. That said, the figure was part of the Jubilee Series, which is one of the most difficult modern assortments to get, leading to a hefty aftermarket value for Stryfe. The figure stands about 7 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. Stryfe has a good number of parts in common with his last release, with the bulk of the body being shared between the two. The legs have been modified to remove the pins at the knees, and he’s got a new head and arms, as well as what looks like a new cape. The new head is definitely doing most of the heavy lifting for this figure; the last one wasn’t bad, but it didn’t have a lot of depth. This one’s using a multi-part construction, which makes it far sharper in terms of detailing, and really sells the absurdity of “Wolverine’s mask but more so” that Stryfe’s mask always had. This Stryfe figure’s color work errs a little closer to his earlier appearances than his last figure, going for a brighter shade of silver, as well as some blue accenting. It’s a lot of molded colors, but there’s paint for the face, as well as those blue accents. The face gets the printing, which adds some life to the sculpt. The accent work for the blue is a touch on the sloppier side, but not awful. Stryfe is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and open gesture.

PRETTY BOY

Pretty Boy’s honestly a pretty decent selling point for this set, too. The Reavers have been kind of a slow build in the line, going back to 2019’s Caliban Series, and with Pretty Boy, we’ve got the original core group. So, of course he’s in a big boxed set. Ah well. Over the years, just how much of Pretty Boy is cybernetic has ebbed and flowed, but this one goes towards the heavier side. The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation. Pretty Boy gets an all-new sculpt, featuring a head courtesy of Paul Harding. It’s a good mix of aesthetics, as you’d hope to see for the character. I quite like the head, which captures the early depictions of the guy quite nicely. The body sculpt gets a lot of fun technical details, and I’m curious to see if it gets pulled again for future uses. It’s certainly a good, solid robot body. Pretty Boy uses a lot of molded plastic for his coloring, but still gets true face printing, as well as a little bit of wire detailing on the midsection. Pretty Boy makes out the best of any this set’s figures for accessories, with two sets of hands, a pair of guns (from Flashback Winter Soldier), two blast effects, and two smoke effects. The effects are in a funky green and I really dig it.

ZERO

The only other Mutant Liberation Front figure in the set besides Stryfe, and also by far the most minor of the bunch, Zero is honestly the best choice for this sort of set. Zero only has a few appearances, so just the one look, but it’s kind of fun in its simplicity. The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and has 32 points of articulation. Zero is built on the Spider-UK base body, which is honestly a pretty good match for how he tended to be depicted. It’s still got all the visible pins, but I’ll take what I can get. He gets a new head, which is all blank. It’s basic but it sits very well on the body, and it gets the job done. Zero is largely just molded white plastic. He does get a little bit of paint for the face and torso for the zeroes, and that’s pretty sharp. Zero is packed with two sets of hands, as well as the portal effect from the Defender Strange figure from last year.

VERTIGO

Vertigo is a character that’s kind of done the rounds in the X-verse, first serving as one of Magneto’s Savage Land Mutates, and then joining Mr. Sinister’s Marauders, and yet she’s still never had a figure. First time for everything. The figure stands about 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation. While all of the other figures in this set have some degree of new parts, Vertigo is a total re-use figure. The head is the modern Invisible Woman, and the body is Psylocke.  While I’m not generally big on direct head re-uses for separate characters, especially for unmasked heads, this one honestly works out okay.  It helps that it’s on the Psylocke body, which is genuinely still a pretty solid one.  The big change-up here is the paint, which gives her the proper white and green set-up, which is pretty distinct.  Vertigo is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and open gesture.  It’s a bit light, given her status as a total re-use, and it’s a shame we couldn’t get any sort of effects pieces for her powers or something.

RANDOM

And now we get to Random.  As random an inclusion here as his name suggests.  Also, very much toeing the line on fitting the set’s whole “villains” theme, since he’s never really been worse than a hired gun, with no real villainous tendencies, and he’s frequently been actively in the heroic camp, notably his time with X-Factor.  But, I’m not gonna turn my nose up at a Random figure, however I get him.  The figure stands about 7 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Random makes use of a good number of parts from the Thanos Series Hercules figure, with the vest from Rage, plus a new head, boots, and left forearm.  The whole thing winds up as a pretty impressive recreation of Random’s main ’90s look. I’m especially a fan of the head sculpt, with its multi-part construction for the head, bandana, and sunglasses.  There’s just a lot going on there, and it really works.  Random’s color work is actually pretty impressively handled.  The head again gets a lot of really in depth work, with printing for his stubble, and even slightly transparent lenses for the glasses.  I also really dig the tattoos on the arms; they add a lot of character.  Random doesn’t get any accessories, but honestly, he makes out alright without them.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set’s announcement filled me with mixed emotions.  They’d shown off Pretty Boy first, and I was excited about rounding our my Reavers, but then they showed off the whole set of them together and I was suddenly less sure.  I mean, it’s a lot to spend, and how attached was I to the whole set?  Well, okay, it was really just Stryfe I wasn’t sold on, as it turned out.  But, wouldn’t you know it, at the same time, Max was frustrated that the Stryfe he wanted was bundled with other figures.  So, we struck up a deal, and he got his Stryfe, and I got my….rest of the set.  Random and Pretty Boy are the real stars here for me, thanks to rounding out two sets I’ve been working on.  But, the real underdog for me is Zero.  He’s basic, but where else are you gonna get a Zero?

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