Tag Archives: Build a Figure

#1284: Sandman

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

SANDMAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

And here we are again, with another Build-A-Figure Build-A-Figure-d.  Nice.

Meet Flint Marko, aka Sandman.  He’s one of Spider-Man’s oldest foes, debuting in Amazing Spider-Man #4.  He’s also a recurring member of the Frightful Four (though there seems to be some sort of a time share thing going on between him and Hydro-Man), and he was even a reserve member of the Avengers at one point.  He also shares his name with two DC Comics characters, with which he shares absolutely no relation.  Fun.  Let’s have a look at his figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Sandman is the Build-A-Figure for the Sandman Series of Marvel Legends.  I know, what a shock.  He’s the sixth Spider-themed Build-A-Figure since the line’s rebranding back in 2014.  This is actually Flint’s second time as a Legends Build-A-Figure under Hasbro’s run.  Of course, the last one was movie-based and also was a horrible abomination.  Prior to that, Sandman was one of the best entries in Toy Biz’s Spider-Man Classics, but like so many of TB’s later releases, most actual fans never saw that one at retail.  The new figure was definitely warranted.  There was a pre-paint version of this figure in last summer’s SDCC-exclusive The Raft set, which had him in a sandier color scheme, but this one returns him to his classic colors.  The figure stands just shy of 8 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  Sandman is built on the same body as Absorbing Man, which is itself based on the Terrax body.  The body was a bit large for Absorbing Man, and it still feels slightly large for Sandman, but you can write that off as him making himself larger, I suppose.  It’s not like he’s never done that before.  Aside from the size thing, the other main issue I have with this body is the hip articulation, which is not only weird looking, but also a bit of a pain to pose.  Those issues aside, the base body certainly isn’t terrible.  Sandman gets a new set of arms, as well as two new head sculpts.  The arms are partially sandy, showcasing Flints powers.  I really like the sculpts on these, and I appreciate all the extra detail, like the way his hands look like they’re being effected by gravity and have some sand pouring off of them.  It’s not just the sandy parts that are cool, though; they’ve also added some slight wrinkles to the upper arms, so that he actually looks like he’s wearing a shirt.  I wish it extended to the torso, but it’s nice nonetheless.  The heads provide us with normal and “battle-damaged” versions of Flint.  The normal is okay; it gets his goofy hair down and has lots of nice detail work.  I don’t know that it’s quite my ideal version of the character; something about the face feels off.  It’s too wide, I think.  I like the second head a lot more.  It’s got a much more intense expression, and has been sculpted to look like he’s just taken a good punch to the face from a certain wall-crawler.  The details match up well with the arms, and unlike Absorbing Man, there aren’t any issues with the change from head to torso being super jarring.  The paint on Sandman is decent enough.  He get’s his classic color schemes, and they even manage to make the transitions from sand to normal colors pretty believable.  The battle-damaged head pulls ahead again in this category, largely due to the goofy pupils and spotty application on the teeth of the normal head.  In addition to the second head, Sandman also gets a spare set of hands, in block and spikes ball formations.  They swap out pretty easily.  I know there was demand for a set of normal arms to be included, but I actually prefer the alternate hands, if I’m honest.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Building Sandman sure took a while, didn’t it?  I think this may be the longest I’ve taken to finish one of these guys since…gosh, I don’t even know when.  Before the Mandroid Series, for sure.  To be honest, I wasn’t 100% sure I was gonna complete this guy.  I mean, I like Sandman, and all.  I’ve just always been really bummed that I never got the Toy Biz figure, and no version since has ever been anything but a pale imitation.  But, then I got the whole series but Green Goblin, and I couldn’t stand to have him just sitting there headless, so I was compelled to buy him.  I’m still not sure he’s a replacement for the TB figure, but he’s pretty fun in his own right.  I’m happy I decided to finish him.  Now I want a Hydro Man, but NOT on this same body.

#1271: Warlock

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

WARLOCK

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

At last!  Self is complete!  Alright!  Now self can interact with all of self’s self friends, in awesome plastic form!  And now self will stop with self’s weird verbal tic, because self finds it hard to keep it up long term.

So, if the weird verbal tic didn’t make any sense to you, then you probably don’t know Warlock.  He’s a member of the Technarchy, an alien race of techno-organic beings.  He’s the son of The Magnus, the Technarch ruler.  He’s primarily a member of the X-Men spin-off team the New Mutants.  He was also the focus of the two-part opener of Season 5 of X-Men: The Animated Series, which is really how I know him.  He’s not the most prevalent character in terms of action figures, but he’s gotten a few.  And now he’s got a Marvel Legend.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Warlock is the Build-A-Figure for—big leap here—the Warlock Series of Marvel Legends, which is the second X-Men-themed series since the X-Men were brought back to the main retail line.  The figure stands about 9 1/2 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Warlock is 100% new sculpt, which is, admittedly, the only way I can really see him being handled.  There’s also not really a lot of re-use potential here, which is a little surprising for a character like Warlock in this day and age.  Of course, I’m hardly going to complain about that.  Warlock’s a character who’s design is always in flux, even just from panel to panel.  This figure seems to take a good deal of his inspiration from Art Adams’ version of Warlock seen on the cover of New Mutants Special Edition #1, with a few tweaks to make him a little more polished and symmetrical.  The sculpt on this figure is really impressive; there’s just a ton of detail work, just everywhere.  Clearly, whoever sculpted this figure had a ton of fun with it and it results in a very strong figure.  What I really like about it is how complicated it is, while still maintaining a degree of cleanness to everything.  The head is my favorite bit; like with the Cyclops figure, when I look at this sculpt, I just see Warlock pretty much exactly how I think of him in my head.  There are some minor issues with the sculp. The most notable are the tubes that run from the arms to the back; they’re just a bit on the short side, which means they pop out of place with just about any sort of posing.  Given the alienness of the design, it’s not actually that big a deal, and a few collectors have had pretty good results just gluing both sides to the arms, thus preserving the both the silhouette and articulation.  Warlock figures tend to go with a black/yellow color scheme, but this one actually does things a bit different.  He’s molded in black, with a gold wash.  It’s actually surprisingly effective in replicating how Warlock tends to be depicted in the comics.  There’s some variance from piece to piece, since there’s no real way to get them all in sequence or something, but it’s done with enough overall consistency that he doesn’t look too patchwork.  Most BAFs don’t get any extras, but Warlock actually gets one: a buzz saw attachment to swap out for his right hand.  It’s pretty cool, and a nice way of showing off his shapeshifting abilities.  There’s a part of me that was really hoping for a swappable Cypher to replicate the old Warlock figure’s removable mask feature, but maybe we’ll get a Cypher proper down the line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Growing up, I had both parts of “The Phalanx Covenant” recorded on VHS.  They’re actually two of my favorite episodes The Animated Series, and they cemented in me a love of Warlock (the old Toy Biz figure was one of my favorites back in the day).  I was super stoked when this guy was confirmed for this series’ Build-A-Figure, and I’ve been anxiously awaiting his release.  This is easily the best Build-A-Figure since the Toy Biz days, and hands down the best Warlock figure in existence.  Putting this figure together was a ton of fun, and I’m just really hyped to have him!

#1053: Juggernaut

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

JUGGERNAUT

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES (HASBRO)

juggernauthas1

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming…

I’m sure those of you who were anxiously awaiting the final figure from my recent X-Men Legends reviews were quite put out with yesterday’s Star Trek-themed review.  Or maybe you weren’t.  You probably weren’t.  Regardless, we’re back with the X-Men today, taking a look at the latest X-Men-themed Build-A-Figure, the unstoppable Juggernaut!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

juggernauthas2Juggernaut is, unsurprisingly, the Build-A-Figure for the Juggernaut series of Marvel Legends, which has started hitting stores in the last month or so.  This is Juggernaut’s second Legends figure, and his first since way back in Series 6 of Toy Biz’s run with the line*.  Like that figure, this guy is sporting his classic attire, which makes sense.  None of his other designs have really caught on the same way.  The figure stands about 9 1/2 inches tall and he has 28 points of articulation.  Juggernaut is one of the largest of the more recent, dwarfing everyone but the Hulkbuster B-a-F.  He’s built on a body that hasn’t seen use before, but I feel almost certain will see re-use down the line.  In many ways, the construction of this figure is quite similar to Hasbro’s Marvel Universe Juggernaut from several years ago.  That was a very good figure, and by extension, so is this guy.  The build is definitely absurdly large, but appropriately so for Juggernaut.  While most of the figure is fairly smooth and clean, the armored bits, belt, and boots all feature some pretty awesome texture juggernauthas3work, which makes him look suitably worn-in, which definitely works for the character.  The helmet and head are separate pieces, but they are glued together, and the head is just the face and jaw, so it’s not meant to be removed, which is one of two minor issues I have with the figure.  The other is the facial features on the underlying face.  They’re alright, but the eyes feel just a touch too far apart, especially compared to the size of the mouth.  It’s not immediately apparent, though, and it’s not like he’s never been drawn that way in the comics.  The paintwork on Juggernaut is pretty decent.  It’s mostly pretty basic, but mostly pretty clean.  There’s a bit of extra detailing on the armored parts, which helps to accent the sculpted texturing.  Juggernaut has no accessories, but he’s kind of an accessory himself, and he hardly feels like a rip-off, just given the sheer size of the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

If you follow the site, you should have a good idea of where Juggernaut came from; he was pieced together from the parts included with all those X-Men Legends I worked so hard to find.  Despite how hard I was looking for the figures, I think Juggernaut may be the fastest I’ve completed a B-a-F (barring when I buy a complete set online).  I always wanted the Toy Biz Legends Juggernaut, so I’m quite happy to have gotten this guy.

All in all, this has been a fantastic set of Marvel Legends, probably my favorite since the Infinite Series re-launch.  Juggernaut is an awesome Build-A-Figure, and I can’t say I resent having to pick up any of the figures that made him.  In fact, several of the figures here are some of the best Hasbro’s put out.  I hope they can keep up this quality!

*Fun fact:  With the exception of the somewhat tacked-on Thomas Jane Punisher, all of the Series 6 figures (Wolverine, Phoenix, Deadpool, and Juggernaut) received updates in the Juggernaut series.

juggernauthas4

#1019: Giant-Man

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

GIANT-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

GiantManCW1

Huzzah!  We’ve made it to the final part of Giant-Man Week!  It’s time for the literal big guy himself, Giant-Man.  Giant-Man was probably one of Civil War’s worst kept secrets, thanks to both this figure and the Airport Battle Lego set.  It’s not like it was a huge shock or anything, and the actual moment from the film was hardly diminished by knowing ahead of time.  Anyway, Giant-Man is (pardon the pun) one of the bigger things to come out of Civil War, and as such, he’s found his way into quite a good bit of merchandise.  However, this is the first proper movie Giant-Man action figure, so let’s see how he turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

GiantManCW2Giant-Man is the build-a-figure for the Giant-Man Series of Marvel Legends.  I know, who would have seen that coming?  He’s obviously based on his appearance in Captain America: Civil War, specifically the airport scene.  The figure stands 10 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Giant-Man is another all-new sculpt.  It’s pretty decent work, with a slight caveat.  The figure offers a decent approximation of his design from the movie, but, like with the Ant-Man figures from the solo movie, this guy kind of misses the smaller details. Well, not misses, so much. All the details are there, but they’re sort of out of place. It’s not a bad look at all, just slightly inaccurate. But hey, this is what happens when you keep a main character’s look under wraps for so long.  It’s certainly not a bad sculpt, though.  There’s a lot of really great texturing on his suit, and he’s got nice, balanced proportions.  I particularly like the use of a separate piece for the faceplate, which allows for Scott’s eyes to be seen beneath the lenses.  It’s a really cool look.  Giant-Man’s paintwork is pretty solidly done.  The colors are all good matches for the movie, and everything is nice and cleanly applied.  The silver could, maybe, be a little brighter, but it looks fine as is.  As an accessory himself, Giant-Man doesn’t include any extras of his own, though I can’t really think of much you could give him.  Maybe a chunk of plane?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a build-a-figure, Giant-Man is the result of a few weeks of searching for all the figures in this series.  I think he may be one of my favorite B-a-Fs in a a long time.  In general, this whole series was really strong.  The line-up seemed a little odd at first, but almost all of the figures are top-notch work, especially in terms of paint! Which has been one of Hasbro’s problem areas.

GiantManCW4

#0889: Absorbing Man

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

ABSORBING MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

Absorbingman1

Marvel has something of a tradition of passing foes between their heroes. Kingpin, now Daredevil’s arch enemy, began as Spider-Man foe. Similarly, Sabretooth first appeared in an issue of Iron Fist. Today’s focus character, Crusher Creel, aka the Absorbing Man, made his debut as a foe for Thor, but has spent a pretty sizeable portion of his career menacing the Hulk. He’s also faced off against a few other Marvel heroes, including Spider-Man, which I guess was Hasbro’s justification for having him be part of a Spider-Man themed series of Marvel Legends.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Absorbingman2Absorbing Man is the Build-A-Figure for the fourth series of the Spider-Man Marvel Legends Series line. Absorbing Man has had a few different looks over the years, but for the most part, they’ve all just been slight variations on the same basic theme: a bald, shirtless guy, wearing a pair of pants from a prison. Here, the pants are purple; not the most common color for prison garb, but certainly common for a Marvel character. The figure is just shy of 8 inches tall and has 29 points of articulation. As with most of the Thor-related characters that Hasbro has released, he’s much larger than he’s usually depicted. Creel’s still supposed to be a roughly normal-sized dude, and this figure’s a giant. However, his size is comparable to that of the equally over-sized Wrecking Crew, so he isn’t horribly out of place. Creel is built on the Terrax body, making its second appearance in the last year (it was also used for the SDCC set’s Dormammu). In his “clean” look, the figure uses the Terrax torso, pelvis, hips, and arms. He gets a new head and legs, as well as an add-on piece for his belt. The legs are suitably detailed, and the belt is a very nicely handled piece. The basic head is okay, but I will admit, it’s not my favorite of the two. To simulate his absorbing abilities, Creel has an extra head and arms. The head is similar to the basic one, but the left half now has a rocky texture, and his expression is an open-mouthed scream, which looks a bit better than the regular head’s slack-jawed sneer. The new arms are wooden and stone, respectively, and have some pretty awesome texture work to help sell that. Prior BAFs had some difficulty being taken apart after being assembled, but Absorbing Man goes together and comes apart without too much trouble. The paintwork on the basic parts is pretty straight forward. He’s molded in the appropriate colors where possible, but he’s still got a bit of detailing on the face, pants, and lower right arm. The pants are nice and clean, and the metal detailing on the arm is pretty cool. The face is alright, but the eyes are a bit wonky, which throws the whole head off. The extra pieces make out the best in terms of paint; the texture work of the sculpts for the arms is accented really nicely, and the face is way cleaner and more detailed on the second head. If I had one complaint, it would be that the torso has no marks of any absorbed substances, which makes the extra head a bit jarring. That said, it’s understandable, since the extra pieces necessitated going one way or another. Creel includes his ball and chain. It’s a re-use of Thunderball’s wrecking ball, which isn’t technically accurate (in-universe, it’s actually the ball and chain that Creel had attached to him when he got the powers), but it works reasonably enough that complaining about it seems petty.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

If you’re a faithful reader, then you already know where this guy came from: he’s constructed from the pieces included with this series of figures, which my parents picked up for me a few weeks ago. I’m not the world’s biggest Absorbing Man fan or anything, but I do have enough of an appreciation for the character that I wanted to complete him. His size is a bit of an issue, and the normal head looks a bit off, but this figure is actually a pretty great one.

IMG_8874

#0738: Hulkbuster

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

HULKBUSTER

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

HulkbusterML1

If you’ve been keeping up with the last week of reviews, the focus of today’s review being the Hulkbuster really shouldn’t come as much of a shock to you.

So, umm, yeah. Hulkbuster! Whoooooo! That’s…well, not really new or different, or anything. Not that that’s a bad thing! Just, everybody and there mother’s been doing Hulkbuster figures recently (gee, I can’t imagine why…), so I’ve kinda run out of things to say about the armor. Let’s just get to the freaking review already!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

HulkbusterML2The Hulkbuster armor is the build-a-figure for the (appropriately named) “Hulkbuster Series” of the Avengers Marvel Legends Infinite Series line. This marks the second time that the Hulkbuster’s made into the Marvel Legends line, but it’s the first one in quite a while. He’s based on the design from Avengers: Age of Ultron, so he goes with that subset of Legends figures, though he also fits in just fine with the comic-based legends. The figure is 9 ¼ inches tall and has 31 points of articulation, which is pretty darn impressive for a figure this bulky. He also weighs a metric ton. No lightweight build-a-figure this time! Hulkbuster gets an all-new sculpt, and while it’s not Hot Toys level of detailing, it’s pretty great. Everything is nice and symmetrical, and they’ve done a pretty decent job of balancing the aesthetic of the sculpt with range of motion on the joints. As far as accuracy to what’s on the screen, he’s a little bit off. Not a lot, but enough to make it noticeable. In general, it seems Hasbro opted to give HulkbusterML4the suit a slightly more “heroic” build, broadening the shoulders, shrinking the head a bit, and lengthening the arms and legs. All minor nudges, but the end result is a bit different. Of course, it also ends up being something that looks more at home with the rest of the figures in this series, so I can see why they might tweak him. If there’s one area on this figure that has room for improvement, it’s the paint. Now, let me follow that up by saying that this figure’s paint is by no means bad. In fact, it’s actually pretty good for Hasbro. What’s there is bold and cleanly applied. It’s a good looking figure. However, the color palate is much too bright to be movie accurate (especially noticeable when this figure is placed next to the Mark 43) and the sculpt would very much benefit from a paintjob that does a better job of accentuating it. As is, it’s solid work, but with a better paint job it could be fantastic work.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Yeah, so, umm, see that build-a-figure part up there? Wanna take a guess as to how I got mine? As soon as this guy was shown off, I knew I wanted one. None of the other Hulkbuster stuff really excited me, but this one did. The final figure may have its flaws, but, like I said, this is still a really solid figure. Both metaphorically and physically. Seriously, in event of my house getting broken into, forget the baseball bat, I’m grabbing this guy!

HulkbusterML3

#0658: Rhino

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

RHINO

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

Rhino1

Ha ha! We’ve reached the end of the set! Yes, after a week of Marvel Legends reviews, it’s time for the review of the Build-A-Figure. No putting it off this time, I swear. This time, it’s one of Spider-Man’s better known foes, the Rhino. He’s a dude in a rhino suit. That’s it. Some things are just simple. Unless you’re in Amazing Spider-Man 2. But we’re not, so yay! Let’s look at the figure already!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Rhino2Rhino is the Build-A-Figure for the third set of Spider-Man Marvel Legends Infinite Series figures. This is the second time Rhino’s been featured in the Legends line, and the third time he’s been featured in this scale, but it’s the first time Hasbro’s taken a stab at him in this scale and the first figure in quite some time. The figure stands roughly 7 ½ inches tall and sports 28 points of articulation, which is actually pretty impressive given the bulk of the figure. Rhino features a brand new sculpt, and a pretty great one at that. The proportions of the figure are pretty great; they’re exaggerated, but in a balanced way, which gives him a nice, solid look. The “hide” of the suit is incredibly well-detailed, on just about every visible surface, and feels pretty unique to the character. I’ll be curious to see if Hasbro is able to find another use for this sculpt. The shoulder pads are removable, if you so choose, which is a nice option, I guess. The figure features two head sculpts, allowing Rhino to be displayed as either his modern or classic look. The fully cowl-ed modern head is more on the calm side, but still looks intense enough for some decent action poses. It’s also got a second, smaller horn, which differentiates it from the second head. The open-faced classic head is more extreme in expression, and I’m not quite sure how I feel about that. On the one hand, it’s well sculpted, and it makes for some really fun potential poses. On the other, it’s a little on the goofy side, and looks absolutely ridiculous in any sort of normal standing pose. It’s not helped by the fact that the paint’s a little wonky on the classic head, particularly around the eyes (a common theme for this particular series, sadly.) The other head fairs a bit better, mostly due to the lack of pupils. The body is mostly just molded in grey, but there’s a nice wash to help bring out the texture, which looks pretty good. Aside from the extra head, Rhino has no accessories, being an accessory himself. Honestly, the head is more than expected, so kudos to Hasbro there.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I hadn’t initially planned on finishing this figure, mostly due to not really wanting all of the figures in the series. But, I did like the look of him, and getting a full set proved easier and more cost effective than tracking down singles. So, here he is. I actually really like him. I wish the paint on the classic head was a bit better, but the modern head is pretty great, and I love the body sculpt. This feels like a pretty worthy version of the character.

Rhino3

#0637: Ultron

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

ULTRON

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

UltronBAF1

Well, it’s a little late, but here’s my Ultron Build-A-Figure review!  I actually had most of this review ready to go a few days ago, but, as I mention in my Orion and Onigumo review, computer issues left me without access to the lovely photos I’d shot for this.  So, I had to shelf it for just a little bit and work with figures of which I did have pictures.  Fortunately, I was able to get my computer issues mostly sorted out, so we’re back in business!  Yay!  So, he’s my review of yet another Ultron.  I know, it’s a real change of pace.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

UltronBAF2Ultron is the Build-A-Figure for the Ant-Man Marvel Legends Infinite Series.  At face value, that might seem a little odd.  I mean, this is the movie version of Ultron, who’s in no way related to Ant-Man.  Wouldn’t he have made more sense as the BAF for the last series of Avengers Marvel Legends?  Well, yeah, he would, but I can kinda see why Hasbro went the way they did.  First of all, it gave them more time to get the details on Ultron accurate to what was seen on screen.  It also gave the Ant-Man series, which had to be something of a hard sell to retailers, more of a hook.  And, seeing as Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man, created Ultron in the comics, there’s at least a little bit of a link.  So, as I noted above, this is the movie version of Ultron; specifically, it’s his Ultron Prime look, which was his main body for the majority of the film.  It’s kind of an important look.  The figure is 8 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation.  This is the first of the Ultron figures from the movie not to feel horribly undersized next to his fellow figures, and that’s actually a pretty big deal.  Ultron also gets a sculpt all his own, though, to be totally upfront, it’s not quite as good as it could be.  A lot of that has to do with how the articulation has been worked in, which is to say very clumsily.  It’s forgivable on the arms and legs, but the fact that the ab-joint doesn’t follow the sculpted detail lines feels inexcusable. Also, the  hands are kinda weirdly posed, which is annoying.  In fact, the hands in general feel less detailed than the rest of the figure, almost as if their unfinished.  He’s got webbed fingers for crying out loud!  However, complaints aside, there’s more than a few things to like about this sculpt.  The head is very well detailed and captures Ultron’s distinctive movie look very well.  They’ve chosen a more pondering expression, which some people don’t like, but I think it works for the character.  Ultron’s sculpt is also a fair bit closer to the on screen design than prior attempts, and manages to get pretty darn close.  Like the sculpt, paintwork is something of a mixed bag here.  Not in the usual sloppy Hasbro paint apps way, either.  No, everything’s clean here, it’s just…inconsistent?  I don’t know how to put it.  The figure is molded in a dark-ish grey, with silver painted over it.  The thing is, the silver is rather heavy in some areas and completely absent in others, with no real area between.  It’s jarring to say the least.  Also, many of the red sections feel like they were tacked on at the last minute, and don’t line up with the sculpt at all.  As an accessory himself, Ultron includes no pack-ins.  I can’t really think of anything to give him, so I guess that’s fair.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

If you’ve been following the Ant-Man Legends reviews, you can probably figure out where this guy came from.  I picked up all but Giant-Man from my local TRU, and then ordered Giant-Man online, thereby getting myself an Ultron.  How about that?  This is the movie Ultron I was most looking forward to, and it’s not wrong to say he’s the best we’ve gotten.  That said, he still has more than a few flaws, which prevent him from being quite as cool as he could have been, which is certainly a letdown.

UltronBAF3

#0558: Hobgoblin

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

HOBGOBLIN

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

HobML1

Oooookay, after a two-week hiatus, I am finally going to finish up those Marvel Legends Infinite Series reviews I started a month ago. So, if you’ve been patiently awaiting my Hobgoblin review that I totally put off for way too long, then you’re in luck dear reader! When we last left our legendary friends of the infinite variety, I had just looked at Spider-Girl, the last single release figure in the latest set of Amazing Spider-Man Marvel Legends Infinite Series figures. I noted that she was a “legacy” character of sorts. Well, so is today’s figure, in a roundabout sort of a way. In fact, he’s an exponential legacy. See, this Hobgoblin is Phil Urich, nephew of longtime Spider-Man and Daredevil supporting cast member Ben Urich. Phil began his career as the fourth person to take on the mantle of the Green Goblin (and was actually a heroic character).  In the last few years, he took over the mantle of Hobgoblin, which is itself a sort of a legacy of the Green Goblin title. This dude’s got a serious legacy thing going on, is what I’m getting at here.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

HobML2Hobgoblin is the Build-A-figure for the second series of the Amazing Spider-Man Marvel Legends Infinite Series. Like the last BaF I looked at, Thanos, this is Phil’s first entrance into the world of Marvel Legends. In fact, this is actually the first time Phil’s gotten an action figure at all, so that’s actually pretty neat. Hobgoblin is roughly 6 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation. The figure is based on Phil’s second Hobgoblin design, after he tweaked the one he stole to his own needs.  The design is rather unique, so the figure, somewhat unsurprisingly, features a sculpt that is original to said figure. The figure starts out with a base body, which features some add-on work for the wings/harness, hood, and belt/skirt. Overall, it’s a very good sculpt, though it isn’t without a few faults. Let’s start with doesn’t work. The biggest issue at hand here is the figure’s torso. Simply put, it’s just weirdly shaped. Exactly what is supposed to be folds of cloth and what is underlying musculature is really hard to tell in some spots. Also, the figure’s shoulders seem to be just a touch too broad. Fortunately, both of these issues are more or less masked by the harness for the wings, so they can be pretty easily overlooked. On the plus side, the rest of the sculpt does a pretty fantastic job of translating Humberto Ramos’s drawings of the character. The head is definitely the best part. It’s rather stylized, but that really works for this particular character, and it’s full of tons of great detail, from the pointy ears to the crooked teeth. However, what’s really cool about this sculpt are the seemingly overlookable details, such as the boots, which are just as well handled as the head, and really help to make the figure work. The figure’s paintwork is generally pretty decently handled. The colors are all pretty good matches for the ones seen in the comics, and everything is pretty cleanly applied, with no slop or bleed over. The metallic blue of the boots does an effective job of making them stand out, and there is a decent amount of work done to bring out the details of the sculpt. It’s a rare thing for Build-A-Figures to get accessories, being accessories themselves, but Hobgoblin actually has two! He has a pumpkin bomb and a flaming sword. The figure has a little difficulty holding them, but they are both nicely sculpted and accurate to the source material.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, do you by any chance remember where I said I got the rest of this series of figures? You may have missed it, since I only said it like 13 times, but I picked up this whole series (and the Thanos series too) from Big Bad Toy Store. Phil Urich took over the Hobgoblin identity right as I started reading Spider-Man on a regular basis, so I definitely have an attachment to the character and I was very much looking forward to building the figure. He isn’t without his flaws, but they are rather minor, and he’s really a fun figure that translates the source material very well. I’m very happy to have gotten him. (and it’s also nice that I liked most of the figures I had to buy to get him!)

HobML3

#0535: Thanos

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

THANOS

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

ThanosML1

Hey, man, remember back in 2012 when Thanos showed up at the end of Avengers and nobody knew who he was (well, nobody who didn’t go in with a preexisting knowledge of the character). When I saw it, a guy in front of me totally went “Hey, look, it’s Hellboy!” and his friend was all like “No, you idiot, that’s Darkseid!” and I just sat back and laughed quietly to myself. Well, now a lot more people know who he is! Okay, a few more people. I checked with Super Awesome Girlfriend, and she recognized him, but couldn’t name him. Don’t know where that places the guy. Look, the point is that he’s sort of becoming a big deal, and he’s gonna be important in the next few years. So, perfect time for him to get a Marvel Legend!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

ThanosML2Thanos here was the Build-A-Figure for the second series of Hasbro’s Avengers Marvel Legends Infinite Series. Interestingly enough, this is actually the very first figure of Thanos ever in the whole of Marvel Legends. For a line this long-running and all-encompassing, that’s a little surprising. The figure is about 7 ½ inches in height and he features 30 points of articulation. Before I delve too much into the figure, I should point out that the left calf on my figure is turned the wrong way around in all the pictures. This is apparently a rather common occurrence with this figure. It’s a super easy fix; all you have to do is spin it the right way around. I just didn’t notice until after. Sorry everybody! In a rare move, Thanos is head-to-toe a brand-new sculpt. He’s presented here in his latest look, which debuted during the Infinity cross-over event. It’s not a bad look, and it maintains a lot of the classic Thanos sensibilities. The only real downside is that it means he doesn’t get the Infinity Gauntlet. The sculpt is really solid work. The head is my favorite piece, by far. It’s a perfect translation of the character’s comic book appearance to three dimensions. The texturing on the skin is great and the head gear is sharply detailed. I know not everyone likes the grin, but for me it’s the perfect expression for the character. He is the “Mad Titan” after all, so an insane grin doesn’t seem too far-fetched. The body is appropriately structured to maintain Thanos’ solid, boxy look, without ending up too hulkingly huge. There’s also a fair bit of detailing present on the armor. He’s got plenty of etching and layering, all of which looks really great. If I had one complaint, it would probably be that the collar, as a separate piece, has a tendency to pop out of place a lot. Thanos’ paintwork is generally pretty solid. Once again, the head ends up being the best part. There’s a lot of variation in the purple on the face, the eyes have a great amount of depth, and the head gear is nice and clean. The rest of the body maintains the overall clean nature of the paint, with little, if any, slop or bleed over.  As a Build-A-Figure, Thanos himself is an accessory, so he doesn’t get any of his own, but given the level of quality present in the sculpt, that’s easily forgiven.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Thanos is the culmination of getting the entire second series of figures from the line from Amazon and Big Bad Toy Store. He was a big piece (heh!) of me getting the whole line-up of figures, so there was a lot riding on him to be a good figure. I’m happy to say that he’s far and away the best part of this series, and he’s definitely one of the best Build-A-Figure’s Marvel Legends has ever seen. Hasbro really knocked it out of the park on this one!

ThanosML3