#1051: Marvel’s Rogue

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

MARVEL’S ROGUE

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES (HASBRO)

roguehas1

 

“With just one touch, Rogue can absorb anyone’s superpowers – making her capabilities in any matchup nearly limitless.”

Here she is. The one that started it all (No, not the whole X-Men thing; that had been going for a good twenty years before she came along.)  Back at SDCC last year, Hasbro showed off their Red Onslaught prototype. This was immediately followed by questions of whether or not he’d be getting a regular Onslaught head. Hasbro said not in the same series, but that they were working on a solution. A few months later, at New York Comic Con, this figure showed up in the display case, with an Onslaught head beside her. Was she part of the Captain America series? Would she be some sort of exclusive? Or, was it possible that she was just the first piece of an entire series? Well, if you’ve been following the site for the last week, you know which one it was. Now, just under a year later, the Rogue figure is here (so’s the Onslaught piece, but that ended up elsewhere). Let’s see how she turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

roguehas2Rogue (who, like Havok and Phoenix before her, gets the “Marvel’s” possessive added to her name) is figure 5 in the Juggernaut series of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends. This is only Rogue’s second time as a Marvel Legend, following the X-Men Legends boxed set version from more than a decade ago. How we went that long without getting a single Rogue* is beyond me. This Rogue uses the same Jim Lee design as the last Legends Rogue. It’s kind of her signature look, and it was very much in need of an update. The figure stands about 6 ¼ inches tall and she has 26 points of articulation. Rogue is built on the Moonstone body, which, in addition to being a good fit for the character is also just an a pretty decent base body (aside from a few minor issues). The figure gets a new head and upper arms, as well as add-ons for her jacket, belt, and the cuffs to her gloves and boots. Her construction is in many ways quite similar to the Marvel Universe Rogue (which I reviewed waaaaaaaaay back in 2013), but the increased scale makes the add-on pieces mesh a bit better this time around. One of the main roguehas3issues with prior Rogue figures was that her face always seemed to end up looking…less than stellar. Like Scarlet Witch, her Toy Biz figure suffered from rather mannish facial features. This figure doesn’t fall victim to this issue, and ends up being one of the best looking Rogue figures to date. The sculpted jacket is also a marked improvement over the pleather jacket from the Toy Biz version. The only real issue I have with the sculpt isn’t the sculpt proper, but the assembly of my figure: she has two left upper arms. It’s an annoyance, but it could be a lot worse. Overall, Rogue’s paintwork is pretty decent. There are a few minor spots of errant paint, but it’s mostly pretty sharp. It’s also really bold and pleasant to look at. I’m really digging all the warm bright colors in this series. Rogue included an extra, un-gloved right hand (which is a really fun piece to have), and the left leg of Juggernaut.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Rogue was the figure I was most anticipating from the series. Of course, she was the figure a lot of other people were anticipating too, meaning she was the most difficult of the seven figures to obtain. I actually found the packaging for this figure a month or so back, but some dipstick had swapped out the Rogue figure inside for the old X-Men Legends version, which was a serious let down. After searching for a few weeks, I ended up just sort of stumbling upon Rogue last week during a quick stop-in at my nearest TRU. I’m really happy to have found this figure, and she’s definitely one of my favorites from the set. I can’t wait to get some more Jim Lee X-Men to go with her!

*Hasbro had planned to release a more modern Rogue as part of the Puck Series of Marvel Legends that tied into The Wolverine, but when that assortment was moved to specialty, she was bumped from the line-up.

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#1050: Cable

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

CABLE

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES (HASBRO)

CableHas1

“A lifelong soldier, Cable perfected his fighting prowess when a technological virus suppressed his natural psychic abilities”

Wow, that’s definitely a streamlined version of Cable’s background. I guess “son of Cyclops and the clone of Jean Grey who was kidnapped, sent to the future, contracted a deadly made up disease, was raised by his father and the non-clone Jean Grey’s consciousnesses transported into two unrelated bodies in the future, who came back in time to just after he was originally kidnapped, and who may or may not actually be a clone” was just too much for the non-comics-reading fans. It might scare them away! Despite his complicated backstory, he’s a pretty straightforward ’90s anti-hero. He’s had a number of figures throughout his career (most of them are from the ’90s), but it’s been a few years. Fortunately, Hasbro’s seen fit to give him a brand new figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

CableHas2Cable is figure 7 in the Juggernaut series of Marvel Legends. This is Cable’s fourth time as a Legend (counting the paint variant from Series 6). The last one was way back in 2007, as part of a Walmart exclusive two-pack, so this one’s long overdue. He’s based on his Ed McGuinness-designed look from Avengers: X-Sanction. It’s a bit of an oddball choice, but it is the book that brought Cable back following his death during “Second Coming.” It’s not a bad look (even if it lacks shoulder pads…), and it fits pretty well with the rest of the series of figures. The figure is a little over 7 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation. Of note with the articulation is the inclusion of a ball joint for his mid-torso movement. It’s a lot more poseable than the usual hinge joint, which adds a lot to the playability of the figure. Cable reuses most of Nuke’s legs (he gets a new set of shins), as well as the right arm of the basic Hyperion body. The rest of the figure’s sculpt is new to him. It’s actually very nicely handled. The armor has lots of fun little details (including bullet damage, which is an impressive thing to see on a mass-produced figure), and a ton of great texture work. While this design was exclusively drawn by McGuinness, the sculpt sticks more with the basic style of the line, which makes Cable a bit more versatile than he might be otherwise. The paintwork on Cable isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty solid. Bleed over and slop is minimal, and the colors definitely fit the design. I do wish that the bullet damage were actually painted, but that’s minor. Cable includes two big sci-fi guns. The larger of the two has a removable ammo belt, and is in general my preferred of the pair. Cable also includes the pelvis of Juggernaut.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up Cable at the same time as Wolverine. I wasn’t sure if I was going to pick this guy up initially (Cable’s hardly one of my favorite characters), but I kinda wanted to finish Juggernaut. I’m actually really glad I picked him up, because he’s a surprisingly awesome figure. How’d they manage to make a Rob Liefeld character into such a cool figure?

CableHas3

#1049: Wolverine

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

WOLVERINE

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES (HASBRO)

WolvHas1

“Virtually indestructible and always ready for a fight, Wolverine’s specialty is sending bad guys running.”

Well, I’m out of figures to compare to the new X-Men Legends.  Not because the remaining figures aren’t re-dos (because they are), but because I don’t own the originals (shocking, I know).  Today’s focus, Wolverine, is no stranger to action figures.  He’s not even a stranger to Marvel Legends (though he’s been a little more absent as of late).  So, he’s not really anything new.  Except that this might very well be the most anticipated Marvel Legends Wolverine since the very first one.  Because he’s that cool, that’s why.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

WolvHas2Wolverine is figure 1 in the Juggernaut series of Marvel Legends.  He’s the 24th version of Logan to grace the Marvel Legends line.  Wolverine is wearing his brown and yellow costume from the late ‘80s (making its first Legends appearance since way back in Series 6 of Toy Biz’s Legends).  The figure stands just under 6 inches tall and has 34 points of articulation.  One of the big things about this particular Wolverine is that he’s the first Wolverine since very early in Hasbro’s run to get a new body sculpt.  Yes, after over a decade of use, the old Brown Costume Wolverine mold has finally been retired.  Now it’s been replaced by…the Brown Costume Wolverine body.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.  So, how is the new body?  Well, it’s not perfect (what is?), but it’s pretty good.  It does short and stocky very well. I might like it if the arms were just a little more worked into the rest of the sculpt, but they aren’t awful.  Also, the range of motion on a lot of the joints, especially the shoulders is awesome, which is a definite plus. More than any of Hasbro’s base bodies, this one feels specifically tailored to the character premiering it.  I can’t really think of many characters who are built similarly to Wolverine, so I imagine Hasbro’s more thinking of using this for variations of just him.  The character specific elements (the head, hands, boots, and belt) are very nicely sculpted.  The head sits just a touch high on the neck, but it’s otherwise a pretty great sculpt.  It’s a lot cleaner than earlier Legends Wolverines, which I actually quite like, especially since this is supposed to be Wolverine from before he got quite as grungy.  The belt and boots fit well on the body, and both sport some decent texture work.  The hands are the best hands any Wolverine figure has ever gotten, due mostly to the claws being separate pieces, which prevents them from warping.  They aren’t perfect, but they’re very close.  Paint is probably this figure’s weakest part.  It’s not awful, but it’s a bit sloppier than I’d like.  Still, he’s not as bad as some Hasbro figures.  My biggest issue is the mismatched yellow from the hips to the thighs, which just throws the whole figure off.  Overall, though, he looks really cool.  Wolverine was packed with a spare set of hands with the claws retracted, as well as the head for Juggernaut.  The hands are particularly noteworthy, as it makes him one of only two Legends Wolverines to include such a thing, which is surprising, because they’re such a cool, easy to do feature.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, you know how I said this was the start of the reviews where I didn’t have the older figures to compare to?  Well, I actually did at one point own the Toy Biz Brown Costume Wolverine.  For reasons I can’t begin to explain, I sold him, which I’ve greatly regretted ever since.  Because of that, I’ve been greatly anticipating this guy.  I ended up finding him at Toys R Us, without much fanfare, which I was quite happy about.  He’s not a perfect figure, but he’s a very nice one, and one I’m very happy to have.

WolvHas3

#1048: Kitty Pryde

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

KITTY PRYDE

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES (HASBRO)

KittyPrydeHas1

“With her ability to elude attacks by making herself intangible, Katherine “Kitty” Pryde is a master of defense.”

Remember yesterday when I said that Kitty Pryde hasn’t had much luck with action figures?  Well, that changes today, with my review of the latest attempt at a Kitty Pryde figure.  Full disclosure: I really like this figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

KittyPrydeHas2Kitty Pryde is figure — in the Juggernaut series of Marvel Legends.  This marks Kitty’s second Legend, following the travesty we looked at yesterday.  This Kitty figure is based on her more recent appearances from after the time Magneto retrieved her from the giant space bullet she had to bond herself with to save the world from ancient alien mutants…it’s a long story.  The look isn’t much different from her Astonishing look, and I quite like it. It’s definitely a strong choice.  The figure is about 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Kitty is built on the same basic body as Phoenix, which I’m definitely okay with.  She gets unique pieces for her head, upper torso, and forearms, as well as an add-on piece for her belt.  She also has flat-soled feet, which I much prefer to the high-heels on Phoenix.  All of the new pieces exhibit very clean sculpting, and fit together seamlessly with the basic pieces.  I particularly like the head.  It’s easily one of Hasbro’s best female sculpts, and it manages to make Kitty look neither too old nor too young, which is a definite improvement over prior attempts.  Now, my figure does have some fairly KittyPrydeHas3present mold lines, especially at the chin, which is a bit annoying.  However, since her head is molded in the correct colored plastic, it’s actually a pretty easy fix, so it doesn’t mar the figure.  The paint on Kitty is pretty decent overall, though there are a few minor issues, with some uncovered spots, and one or two issues of bleed over.  On the plus side, the color scheme on this figure is much better than the Toy Biz figure, which just makes her a more exciting figure all around.  A good yellow can be hard to find, but this one is definitely right.  Kitty includes her pet dragon Lockheed, who can securely sit on her shoulder, as well as the left arm of Juggernaut.  She also includes (or is supposed to, anyway…) the head of Onslaught.  Apparently, the only way that Hasbro was allowed to release a proper Onslaught head for their Red Onslaught B-a-F was to pack it in with an X-Men figure in a completely unrelated set.  Kitty gets the honor of being that figure for…reasons.  I’m not really sure why.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Kitty from a nearby Walgreens (actually the same one where I got Jean, just a week later). Kitty was the fourth of the new figures I found, and she was a somewhat bittersweet moment.  While I was excited to find her, I quickly noticed that some dipstick had swapped out the Onslaught head for an ASM2 Electro head. I bought her anyway, in part because I wanted the figure more than the piece, and in part because I didn’t want anyone else to get stuck with the mucked up figure.  However, just to prove that most people don’t suck, my Dad picked up another Kitty figure later to get me the Onslaught head, and I was also contacted by my friend Cindy Woods, who offered me the piece that came with her figure.  So, now I have a complete Kitty figure!  Yay!  Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect from Kitty when the series first started hitting, but she may well be my favorite figure in the set!

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#1047: Kitty Pryde

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

KITTY PRYDE

MARVEL LEGENDS (TOY BIZ)

KittyTB1

Kitty Pryde is really a marker for change in the X-Men comics. She was the first new mutant to be added to the team following the All-New, All-Different change-up, and represents perhaps the only hopeful note to come out of the Dark Phienix Saga. Almost as soon as she joined, she became a focus point for the series. She’s also noteworthy for being one those rare instances of a comic character who was allowed to grow up, as her quest to become a full-fledged X-Man was one of her major story points. And, above all, she’s pretty consistently a fun character. Unfortunately, she’s had some rotten luck with action figures (if you don’t believe me just look at the last Kitty I reviewed). Toy Biz tried their hand at making her twice, with mixed results. I’ll be looking at that second attempt today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

KittyTB2Kitty Pryde was released in the Walmart-Exclusive Giant-Man series of Toy Biz’s run with Marvel Legends. She was based on Kitty’s then current Astonishing X-Men design. The figure stands a little over 6 inches tall and has 38 points of articulation. For the most part she’s the same figure as the Jessica Alba Invisible Woman that I reviewed a few months ago. That’s not great, because that body had some major issues, including, but not limited to: incredibly obvious joints, an impossibly small waist, and super fragile arms and legs. It’s not a particularly strong body. What’s worse, the details on the body don’t quite line-up with Kitty’s Astonishing design. It’s a weird body choice all around. I’m not really sure why they went with it, but I’m not Toy Biz. I’m also not out of business, so I think that I won this one! Kitty got a new head sculpt, which is okay, but hardly one of Toy Biz’s best.  Like Hasbro’s smaller attempt, she feels a bit old for Kitty, and the total lack of ears weirds me out a bit. Also, her hair is pretty much completely wrong for this interpretation of Kitty, being all around too long and just too bushy. Were it not supposed to be this specific Kitty, that would be fine, but it stands out here. The paint work on Kitty is probably some of the weakest on any of the Toy Biz Legends.  The face is alright, but the eyebrows are slightly off from the sculpt, which throws her whole look off. Also, the color scheme of the costume is totally off. In the comics, her costume was black and a warm shade of yellow. Here, it’s a dark grey/pale yellow combo that looks incredibly boring and drab. It’s not a fun look, and means she’ll tend to get lost in a group. Kitty included her pet dragon Lockheed, as well as the upper torso and head of Giant-Man.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t find this figure at retail, due to the all-around difficultness of finding this series at Walmart. My dad bought her for me from a reasonably priced eBay auction. At the time, I was really excited to get this figure. I mean, she was my first Kitty Pryde figure, and I’ve always loved the character. That being said, I very quickly found the flaws in this figure, and she’s never been one of my favorites. She’s probably one of the older Legends most in need of an update.

KittyTB3

#1046: Iceman

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

ICEMAN

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES (HASBRO)

IcemanHas1a

“Iceman keeps his cool in battle with his ability to turn water to ice and freeze his own body to temperatures below zero.”

Iceman is probably the founding X-Man with the most untapped potential. He’s been with the team longer than anyone barring Cyclops and he’s one of 10 confirmed Omega level mutants (making him one of the more powerful characters in the Marvel universe).  Nevertheless, he’s frequently little more than a prankster, just there to goof off. Which is really a shame, because he’s really a (pardon the pun) cool character. Anyway, he’s at least gotten his fair share of action figures over the years, with his latest being an all-new Marvel Legend, which I’ll be taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

IcemanHas2Iceman is figure 3 in the Juggernaut series of Marvel Legends, which was just released a few weeks ago. This marks Iceman’s third time as a Marvel Legend, following the boxed-set version from two years ago and the single release from Toy Biz back in 2005 (reviewed here). He’s specifically based on Iceman’s Wolverine and the X-Men appearance (the comic, not the show), though he effectively works for any version of Iceman post-early 90s. The figure stands just shy of 6 ½ inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. Iceman is built on the Pizza Spidey base, which is reasonable, since Iceman’s shared a body with Spider-Man more than once. I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about the body being used for non-Spider-Man characters (the exaggerated proportions work for Spidey, but are off on others), but this body works better for him than any of the other bases currently in Hasbro’s inventory. He gets a new head, forearms, hands, shins, and feet, as well as a clip-on piece for his shoulders. The overall appearance is pretty cool. He certainly captures the look from the comics IcemanHas4well. If I were to get really nitpicky, I might say I’d like for the head and hands to be a touch smaller in scale, but it’s a pretty minor issue. Probably the most pressing issue facing this figure is the soft plastic used for his arms and legs. It makes him a little difficult to keep standing, and can also cause his arms to fall off from time to time. It’s a definite bummer (though, I’ll take rubbery limbs over flat out broken limbs like the Toy Biz version). Paint on this guy is the definition of minimal. There’s some white for his eyes. That’s it. The rest of him is just molded in a semi-transparent plastic with a slight blue tint. I feel like it might actually be a bit too transparent, causing the inner workings of the joints to be a little bit distracting. Iceman has no character specific accessories, just the left arm of the B-A-F Juggernaut. I wouldn’t have minded some sort of ice blast attachment or something, but the actual figure has enough new pieces that he doesn’t feel too light.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Iceman was the first figure in this set that I personally found in the store (at a Walmart, to be specific), which was quite exciting, I guess. Of all the figures in the set, my anticipation for this guy was somewhere in the middle. Ultimately, I think he’s the weakest of the set that I’ve picked up so far. To be fair, I do think he’s the best Marvel Legends Iceman available, just due to the last two attempts being even weaker. He’s certainly not a bad figure, and I’m happy to have gotten an update, as the Toy Biz version was looking quite raggedy as of late.

IcemanHas3

#1045: Marvel’s Havok

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

MARVEL’S HAVOK

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES (HASBRO)

HavokNow1

“With control and precision, Havok processes cosmic energy to send plasma waves blasting from his super-charged body.”

After 10 years, my boy Havok’s finally gotten another Marvel Legend! Alright! It’s actually sort of odd timing, really, since he’s been absent from the comics since Axis left him as an “inverted” villain. I guess his presence in this year’s X-Men: Apocalypse made him a good choice. Regardless of the reasoning, I’m just happy to have another Havok figure. Let’s see how he turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

HavokNow2Havok (who, like Phoenix, gets the “Marvel’s” preface) is figure 4 in the Juggernaut series of Marvel Legends. This time around, Havok is sporting his Marvel Now! attire. It’s not my favorite Havok look, but it’s a reasonable choice, since it’s still technically his current costume, and it fits in with all of the other Marvel Now! figures Hasbro’s done since the Infinite Series re-branding. It’s also pretty close to his classic appearance, so he fits in alright with some of the more classically inspired figures. The figure stands about 6 ½ inches tall and has 32 points of articulation. Havok is built on the Bucky Cap body, which is a fair choice. His brother has also been built on this body and the two of them are typically depicted as being about the same build. Also, fun fact: this marks the second time that Havok and Daredevil have been built on the same body (they shared a body in Toy Biz’s 5-inch scale). Havok gets a new head sculpt, which is a pretty nice piece. It’s a much calmer Havok than we usually see on HavokNow4figures, but still in line with his comics depictions. It’s nice to get some variety in his expressions. Havok’s paintwork is overall pretty solid. The colors are nice and bold, and I particularly like the way they handled his chest emblem/power measurement thingy. The faint blue hue makes it look like it’s actually the energy he’s emitting, as opposed to just a tacked on logo. There’s a bit of slop on the edges of the headgear, but nothing too terrible. Havok includes a pair of energy effect pieces that clip onto his wrists and demonstrate his powers. They’re a really cool extra, and help make him a much more dynamic looking figure. Havok also includes the right leg of Juggernaut. It would have been nice to get an unmasked head, since he spent a lot of his Marvel Now! appearances unmasked, but he doesn’t feel particularly light, so I can’t really complain.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My parents brought Havok back from a trip they took to Philadelphia a few weekends ago. I was quite excited to get him, since he was one of my most anticipated figures from this set (being my favorite X-Man and all). He’s sort of the reverse of Phoenix, if I’m honest. Where I wasn’t really excited for her and she ended up pleasantly surprising me, Havok here isn’t quite as exciting as I’d hoped. He’s not bad in the slightest bit, mind you, and I’m still thrilled to have him. He’s just not top of the line; more middle of the pack.

*Want a Havok figure of your own?  He’s currently in-stock with our sponsors over at All Time Toys!  Click here to check him out!

HavokNow3

#1044: Havok

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , ,

HAVOK

MARVEL LEGENDS (TOY BIZ)

HavokML1

The X-Men are known for their tendency to change up the line-up a lot. Now-a-days, the team is rather large and nebulous (necessitating at least two X-Men titles to be running consistently since the mid-80s, just so everyone can get a fair shake), but when they first started, there were just five members. The team’s first additional member, Mimic, only lasted for three issues, before being de-powered and written out. Eventually, they would acquire their first full-time addition Lorna Dane (later Polaris) in X-Men #49. Just six issues later, the team would also gain Havok, aka Alex Summers the younger brother of Cyclops. Havok’s sort of been a peripheral member of the team for a lot of his career, but has served as team leader for both the X-Men and X-Factor on a few occasions. He also happens to be my personal favorite member of the X-Men, which is why I own just about every figure of him in existence, including the one I’ll be reviewing today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

HavokML2Havok was part of the Giant-Man Series of Toy Biz’s Marvel Legends. It was the first Walmart-exclusive series of Legends, though it would hardly be the last. This is also Havok’s first Marvel Legends figure, though it’s the fourth Havok figure Toy Biz released. The figure stands 6 ¼ inches tall (not counting the headgear), and has 40 points of articulation. Havok is based on his classic Neal Adams-designed costume from the 60s (my personal favorite). The initial prototype for Havok had him in a more modernized design, but that figure was ultimately shelved for this more classic look. The figure is built on Series 9’s Bullseye body, in one of the earlier attempts at moving ML to a system of base bodies. As I noted in my review of Iron Fist (the final figure to be built on this body, released a full ten years after it debuted with Bullseye), this body was one of my favorites from Toy Biz’s run. It’s become a little clunky when compared to the more recent stuff, but it still holds up pretty well, certainly a lot better than some of TB’s other Marvel Legends. The only real issue I have with this particular iteration of the body is the shape of the lower legs and feet. The legs are clunky and tube-like, and the feet are large and sit HavokML3too far forward at the ankle. Havok’s only truly unique piece is his head, which does quite a nice job of capturing the early depictions of Havok’s face. I like that the expression is angry without going too overboard, and I’m especially glad that they were able to make the headgear look okay in three dimensions. Havok’s paintwork is pretty straight forward. The costume is just straight black and white (excepting, of course, the silver collar). There’s no accent work, but I actually much prefer it that way. The face has a nice, clean paint job, with some great little subtleties to the coloring, making it stand out nicely from the costume. Havok included the left leg (but NOT the left foot) of Giant-Man, as well as a copy of X-Men #97, which is one of Havok’s few focus issues during the “All-New, All Different” era (also one of his best appearances). It should be noted that the issue actually rather deceptively uses the cover to X-Men #58, which is the first appearance of the classic costume and the name Havok.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Pretty much as soon as Marvel Legends started doing X-Men figures, Havok was at the top of my list. I even made my own Havok custom (albeit in his ‘90s costume) from a spare Gambit, just to hold me over. I was beyond thrilled when this guy was announced. Of course, then the Giant-Man Series ended up being rather hard to come by, which acquiring Havok none too easy. Fortunately, my Dad just happened to find this guy the day before my birthday in 2006. Words cannot begin to describe how excited I was to open him. Ten years later, this guy shows his age, but still holds up remarkably well. I think I’d still rank him in my top 10 Legends.

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#1043: Marvel’s Phoenix

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

MARVEL’S PHOENIX

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES (HASBRO)

PhoenixHas1

“An expert of psionic force, Jean Grey uses her powers of telepathy and telekinesis as the mind-controlling hero, Phoenix”

I can’t help but feel that bio severely downplays the whole Phoenix bit of the character. It actually feels like they wrote a generic Jean Grey bio, remembered this was a Phoenix figure, quickly stuck the Phoenix name at the end and hoped no one would notice. Well, I did, so…yeah…that probably says more about me, doesn’t it? So, yesterday I looked at the first Marvel Legends Jean Grey, and now I’ll be looking at her most recent!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

PhoenixHas2Phoenix (or Marvel’s Phoenix, as she’s billed on the packaging) is figure 6 from the recently released Juggernaut series of Marvel Legends. This marks Jean’s seventh time as a Marvel Legend, and the second time we’ve gotten her as Phoenix (following the Toy Biz figure reviewed yesterday). There’s no variant in Dark Phoenix colors this time around (though I wouldn’t be shocked to see one show up down the line), but she’s also not short-packed this time around, so that’s a definite point in her favor. The figure is just under 6 ½ inches tall and has 27 points of articulation. While she may not have quite as much articulation as her predecessor, she’s got most of the same practical movement of that figure. I wouldn’t mind getting a bit more range on the elbows, but that’s really about it. Jean is built on Hasbro’s latest base female body. The upper arms and legs were used for the Red Onslaught series’ PhoenixHas5Mockingbird figure, but the actual body proper is making its debut with the Juggernaut series. It’s a very strong sculpt, probably Hasbro’s best basic female body so far. The legs are just a touch on the long side, but not horribly so. Also, my figure has a bit of trouble standing, but I don’t know if that’s true across the board. In addition to the new body, Jean re-uses the open gesture hands from Storm and Wasp, and the sash from Iron Fist, as well as an all-new head sculpt. I wasn’t sold on the head sculpt in the initial shots, but I have to say, I really like how it turned out now that I’ve seen it in person. It’s still a touch too gaunt for my ideal Jean, but it’s certainly not bad. The paintwork on Jean is quite nice. While she hasn’t got the fun metallic scheme of the last Phoenix, I think that the flatter color scheme still works pretty well. Everything is pretty cleanly handled, especially the face, which is possibly the sharpest work I’ve seen on a Hasbro Legends figure. Phoenix has no accessories of her own, but she does include the torso of the Build-A-Figure Juggernaut.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Jean is the first of the new X-Men Legends I acquired; she was gotten for me by my Dad, who found her at a Walgreens on his way to work. She wasn’t at the top of my list for this series, but I think getting her first allowed me to truly appreciate her. She’s a very nice replacement for the quite outdated Toy Biz figure, and is just a solid figure in general.

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#1042: Phoenix

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

PHOENIX

MARVEL LEGENDS (TOY BIZ)

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It’s been quite a while since the X-Men got any coverage in Marvel Legends. Back during the Toy Biz run, only 3 of the 16 series released were completely X-Man free, and they even got a boxed set and two different off-shoot lines. Even under Hasbro, the team was pretty well represented. Well, until recently, anyway, since the last time we saw X-Men Legends was two summers ago, and even then they were a pretty hard to find TRU exclusive series (I bought the only one of them I ever saw). Fortunately, Hasbro’s doing their best to make that up, with a new series of X-Men-themed Legends hitting just in the last month, and another on the way early next year. Of course, if you think that means I’m reviewing the new X-Men figures, you’ve got another thing coming! Well, another review coming, anyway. Since this latest set of Legends has a lot of re-released characters from Toy Biz’s run, I thought it might be fun to review the older figures in tandem with their newer counterparts. Today, I’ll be kicking things off with Jean Grey, aka Phoenix!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

PhoenixTB2Phoenix was released in the sixth series of Toy Biz’s Marvel Legends. She was Jean’s very first Legend, and she was only the second single-packed figure in the line, after Elektra (though both Rogue and Sue Storm had beaten her to release as part of larger boxed sets). She was also one of the two short-packed figures in the series. That was awesome. There was a variant of this figure painted up like Dark Phoenix, which was even harder to find. But, that’s another matter entirely. This figure stands about 6 ¼ inches tall and she has 44 points of articulation. While that might seem like of articulation, it’s not as useful as you’d hope. Yep, Phoenix is one of Toy Biz’s “twisting meat” figures, where the joints cancel each other out, resulting in pieces that spin for no reason. Oh joy. Sculpturally, Phoenix shared most of her parts with Elektra (and, by extension, Rogue and Sue). Jean obviously got a new head, but also a new pelvis, hips, and upper thighs, to give her more adequate hip articulation. The head is definitely the best part of the sculpt. The hair is a pretty spot-on recreation of Jean’s Phoenix hair (well, from when Byrne took over drawing her, anyway). The face is decent. She looks a bit like Laura Parker from Dark Shadows, who I can’t say is my ideal choice for Jean, but it’s certainly a more attractive sculpt than most of Toy Biz’s female Legends. The body is…umm, well they tried. I think. Her neck is incredibly square, her arms oddly flat, her bosom disproportionally large (and also covered by something that somehow manages to be both loose and tight fitting at the same time), and feet not unlike that of a duck. On top of all that, none of her joints are particularly well worked into the sculpt. Overall, she looks sort of a bit Frankenstiened, which isn’t really what you want in a Jean Grey figure. The paintwork on Phoenix is decent enough. The metallic green is particularly nice, but all of the colors are well chosen, and the application is by and large pretty cleanly done. The eyebrows weird me out, but I can’t really put my finger on exactly why. Phoenix was packed with a display base designed to look like the fiery bird typically seen surrounding Phoenix, as well as a reprinted copy of X-Men #101 (Phoenix’s first appearance).

 THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When Phoenix was first announced, I was very excited. Marvel Legends was my favorite thing at the time, and I was dead set on putting together a sweet X-Men set-up. Remember how I said she was short-packed? It gets worse. See, there was only one Phoenix for every case of 12, making her instant scalper bait. Now, remember how Phoenix also had a variant figure? Well, the variant was randomly put into certain cases of figures *in place* of the normal Phoenix, thereby making the normal version even harder to get. Because of this, it was actually more than a year before I got a Phoenix, courtesy of my friend Cindy Woods (who, along with her husband Lance, has done a whole lot to help me track down hard to find items over the years) as a Christmas present. Looking back on her compared to what came later, she’s got some pretty serious issues. That said, she was at one point my absolute most wanted Legends figure, and I was beyond thrilled when I finally got her. I can’t help but be a little sentimental.

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