Tag Archives: Infinite Series

#0533: Hellcat – Fierce Fighters

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

HELLCAT – FIERCE FIGHTERS

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

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Alright, now we get to the real winners. Here’s where we get into the figures that really test how well you know your stuff (wait, Batroc didn’t already test that?). Here’s where we get the figures we all assumed wouldn’t ever happen (again: Batroc?). I’m referring, of course, to Hellcat. “Who’s Hellcat?” you say, “Is she the demon fighting pet cat of fan-favorite Hellboy?” No, she’s actually Patsy Walker, a character who first showed up in the 40s as the star of a teen humor/romance comic. In the 70s, she was reformatted into a costumed hero and added to the roster of the Avengers. Then she joined the Defenders, whom she stuck with for a while. After that, she died for a while and stuff, but that was, unsurprisingly, temporary. Nowadays, she’s working as a private investigator for She-Hulk. And she also has an action figure! Yay! Let’s look at it!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hellcat2Hellcat is yet another figure from the second series of The Avengers Marvel Legends Infinite Series. She has the title “Fierce Fighters,” which she shares with Spider-Woman, though she’s still listed as Hellcat on the back of the box. The figure is roughly 6 inches tall, with 27 points of articulation. Hellcat appears to be a real exercise in how far Hasbro can get with nothing but re-used parts. She uses the female body introduced with last year’s Storm, with the feet from the Spider-Girl body, hands from Black Cat, and a sash from Iron Fist, all topped off with a brand-new head sculpt. Of the three existing female base bodies, I think the Storm body may be my least favorite. It’s certainly not a bad sculpt, and it’s nice that there’s a middle ground between Spider-Girl and Moonstone. However, something about the lower torso/pelvis piece doesn’t look quite right to me (it also feels hollow, which is just… odd). On the plus side, Hellcat has the sash that hides the waist piece a bit, which looks a bit better. Aside from that one part, the Storm body is actually quite well sculpted, with lots of clean, even pieces, and a very balanced set of proportions. The hands from Black Cat mean that she has the proper claws, but the Spider-Girl feet unfortunately mean that she doesn’t get the appropriate clawed feet, which is a tad disappointing. At the very least, they did make sure to give her flat feet instead of heels. That makes the lack of claws a little less annoying. Hellcat’s all-new head sculpt is definitely the highlight of the figure, translating the character’s cowl-ed look pretty much perfectly. All the lines of the mask are nice and sharp, and the underlying face is also quite nicely sculpted. The hair attaches as a separate piece, glued in place, and, while it’s not a perfect transition from hair to head, it still looks pretty decent. Okay, let’s talk about the paint here. From the knees up, the paint work is pretty much perfect. The line work is generally pretty clean, and there’s some nice, subtle accent work on the yellow body suit. The face, which has the most detail work, is cleanly handled, and the eyes are even properly placed, something that Hasbro’s had a little trouble with. So, what’s the issue? Well, below the knee, the figure’s calves are molded in dark blue, to match the color of the feet. This means that the top portion of the calves had to be painted yellow to match the rest of the leg. Unfortunately, light over dark doesn’t really work out with paint, so the blue of the plastic bleeds through the paint pretty badly. I’m not sure why Hasbro didn’t just mold the calves in yellow and paint the blue over that, like they did on the figure’s arms. It would have produced a far better end result. Hellcat includes a billyclub (shared with the Spider-Man Marvel Legends Infinite Series’ Daredevil) and the head and left arm of Thanos, which were also included with Spider-Woman. Since Hellcat’s never actually used a weapon, the billyclub is an odd-choice, but I guess Hasbro was trying to add some value to the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like just about every other figure in this particular series, Hellcat came from Big Bad Toy Store. However, there was no apathy towards Hellcat like there was with the others. Hellcat is a figure I was very much looking forward to. This is the first Hellcat ever, and I’ve definitely been waiting for that! The final figure isn’t perfect, but she’s far from bad, or even mediocre. She’s a really good figure with one or two minor drawbacks. And if getting a Hellcat means there are a few drawbacks, I think I can live with that!

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

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#0532: Iron Man – Mark 43

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

IRON MAN – MARK 43

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

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When it comes to casting comic book characters for the big screen, it can be difficult to find someone who can properly convey such an important, larger than life character. Often times, things end up toned down, causing a less entertaining end result. Occasionally, those casting directors strike gold, and end up finding someone who is irreplaceably brilliant in a role. That’s what happened with Robert Downey Jr in the role of Tony Stark. That guy is just totally spot on! He’ll be reprising the role for the fifth time in this summer’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, which is, of course, getting its fair share of action figures. So, let’s have a look at a figure of RDJ as Iron Man, shall we? (I need to work on my segues a bit…)

THE FIGURE ITSELF

IM43bIron Man is a part of Series 2 of Hasbro’s Avengers Marvel Legends Infinite Series. He’s the second of three figures in this particular series to be directly from Age of Ultron (following Sunday’s Captain America). From the looks of things, Iron Man will have at least three different looks over the course of the film. This figure is based on the first of those, the Mark 43, which appears to be just a re-decoed version of the Mark 42. The figure stands about 6 inches tall and sports 31 points of articulation. Sculpturally, the Mark 43 is 100% identical to the Mark 42 released in the Iron Man 3 tie-in line. Luckily for you, dear reader, I don’t own the Mark 42, making this one all-new to me! It’s a pretty good sculpt; it looks accurate to the film design, it has pretty good internal proportions, and it’s at least a little bit feasible that there’s a person inside of this armor. The legs could probably stand to be a little thicker, as they seem just a tad thin currently, but that’s minor. The details of the armor are all pretty well handled, and everything seems to line up with where it would be on the “real” armor. One issue of note has to do with movement related to the shoulder pads; if the arms are in an upward position for any decent length of time, the shoulder pads get a little bit warped. Previous Hasbro figures with such a design have usually had articulated shoulder pads in order to prevent such issues, so it’s possible that said joints are just stuck on mine (which is a whole other issue). Paint is one of this figure’s key areas, what with it being a re-paint and all. Fortunately, the Mark 43 ends up with a generally well-handled paintjob. The colors all seem right, and everything is applied to the right areas. Some of the gold areas are a little fuzzy around the edges, but they are generally pretty good. The only real issue I encountered on my figure was a bit of paint rub on his right thigh, where some of the gold rubbed off. It’s a minor issue, but one to keep an eye on if you find them in-store. Another thing that separates the Mark 43 from the 42 is the accessory complement. In addition to the requisite Build-A-Figure piece (Thanos’ left leg, in this case), the Mark 43 also includes an extra head with the faceplate up, revealing Tony’s face. It’s a well-sculpted, well-painted piece, and it actually manages to get a pretty decent RDJ likeness. It’s a really great piece to have, especially given how often IM is presented this way in the movies, and it’s even backwards compatible to the Mark 42 figure!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Okay, if you’ve read the Cap and Spider-Woman reviews, it really shouldn’t be too hard to figure out where the Mark 43 came from. Mostly, I just wanted this figure for the Thanos piece, but I was interested in the figure at least a little bit. I didn’t actually have a proper Movie-style IM in this scale, and I will admit to liking the 43 design a fair bit. The 42 wasn’t bad, but the colors didn’t jibe with me. Reversing them for the 43 really makes it work. Add in that the figure is actually pretty well executed and the inclusion of that pretty sweet flipped-up faceplate head, and you’ve got a figure that is quite a lot of fun. And he also comes with that Thanos piece!

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#0531: Spider-Woman – Fierce Fighters

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

SPIDER-WOMAN – FIERCE FIGHTERS

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

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When any male comicbook character reaches a certain level of popularity, there inevitable comes the female counterpart. The reasoning for such characters is really just a shrewd business move. See, if Marvel is publishing Spider-Man, and he’s really popular, it’s totally fair game for a completely different company to come along and claim Spider-Woman. In fact, the cartoon studio Filmation almost did, before Marvel stepped in and created a Spider-Woman of their own, just as quick as they could. Now, what’s interesting about Spider-Woman is that she actually doesn’t have anything at all to do with Spider-Man. She just has a vaguely similar power set. Also, a super complicated backstory. It’s easier just to not get into that. Anyway, she’s had more than a few figures over the years, including one in the most recent series of Marvel Legends Infinite Series. Let’s have a look at that one.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

SpiderWoman2Spider-Woman is another figure in Hasbro’s Avengers Marvel Legends Infinite Series. She shares the name “Fierce Fighters” with Hellcat, though they’re both in initial case shipments, so they aren’t technically swap figures. What’s interesting is that both characters are actually listed by their individual names on the back of the box, which I do believe is a first. The figure stands about 6 inches tall and sports 28 points of articulation. As there are two main versions of Spider-Woman, it’s important to note that this figure represents Jessica Drew, who is both the first and the current person to bear the name. She’s only really had the one costume, though initially her hair was contained by the mask. This figure opts for the more common hair out look. As far as the sculpt goes, Spider-Woman makes use of the Moonstone body, with a unique head, bicep pieces, and funky pose hands (previously used on Satanna). The Moonstone body is one of Hasbro’s better sculpted bodies. I don’t personally like it quite as much as the Spider-Girl body, but it’s serviceable. The biggest issue with it is that the waist is really flat, which makes the figure look odd when viewed from the side. A lot of the figures that have used this body have had some sort of belt or something to mask this issue, but Spider-Woman doesn’t, so it’s just kind of there. The hands are sort of pseudo “web-shooting” hands, though they are a little different. They’re decently sculpted, but they seem to be just a bit on the large side. The biceps aren’t much different from the Moonstone arms; they’ve just been retooled to accommodate Spider-Woman’s web-wings. The head is easily the shining point of the sculpt; it’s very attractively sculpted, with lots of nice fine detail work. The hair is a little restricting to the neck movement, but the quality of the sculpt makes up for it. Spider-Woman marks the first figure I’ve looked at from this particular series of Legends who hasn’t disappointed me when it comes to paint. She’s not anything amazingly spectacular, but the colors are nice and bold, the application is even, lines are sharp, and there’s minimal bleed over. There’s even a little bit of darker airbrushing on yellow parts of the costume to help bring out the sculpt, which manages to look pretty good, especially for yellow. Spider-Woman includes two sets of web-wings, in both extended and folded layouts, as well as the head and left arm of Thanos. While the new web-wings are certainly better than the thick rubber pieces on the ToyBiz version, they’re still a bit of a pain to deal with. They figure ends up working a lot better with them removed.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Spider-Woman was purchased from online retailer Big Bad Toy Store, along with the rest of this particular series. While I had a pretty decent interest in the other figures in the series, I wasn’t really expecting much of anything out of this figure. I’m happy to say I am pleasantly surprised by the final figure. She’s got one of the best female head sculpts I’ve ever seen, she’s got pretty good paint, and she’s on one of Hasbro’s better bodies. This figure is just a whole lot of fun!

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

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#0530: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

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We haven’t yet begun this year’s summer movie season, but it is fast approaching. The movie I’m most anticipating is May’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, which looks set to be a fantastic ride. Hasbro’s been steadily pumping out product in anticipation for the movie. Their 6-inch line started off with an assortment of exclusively comics based figures in Series 1, but Series 2 brings a few of the movie’s main players into the game (though still not freaking ULTRON!!! Sorry, I’m a bit impatient…) in true Legends style. First off, I’ll be taking a look at everyone’s favorite sentinel of liberty, Iron Patriot…no, sorry, Captain America!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

CapAoU2Captain America is part of Series 2 of Hasbro’s Avengers Marvel Legends Infinite Series. He’s one of three movie based figures in this particular series. The figure stands just over 6 inches tall, with 32 points of articulation. The figure is, of course, based upon Cap’s look from Age of Ultron, which appears to be a melding of the two costumes he had in The Winter Soldier. It feels like the closest we’ve gotten to the classic Cap design in the movies, so I’m a fan. If you feel like you’ve seen this figure before, that’s because you pretty much have, at least from a sculptural standpoint. Cap gets a new upper and lower torso, but other than that he’s a pretty straight re-use of the STRIKE Suit figure from the Winter Soldier line. This certainly isn’t a bad thing since a) the costume in the movie looks to use a lot of the same tailoring as the STRIKE suit, and b) the STRIKE suit figure had a pretty tremendous sculpt. All the texturing and fine details are still there and they still look really great. Also, it’s minor, but the belt has been glued in place on this figure, so it doesn’t rattle around like it did on the STRIKE suit Cap. The new torso matches up very well with the other parts, in style, size and texture, and it’s even a touch longer than the previous one, giving Cap some much needed additional height. Unfortunately, the paint is where the figure takes just a bit of a dip. From a general standpoint, it’s certainly passable, and better than that seen on Batroc the Leaper yesterday. However, it’s not quite up to the same level as STRIKE suit Cap, which makes the issues more noticeable. The colors are actually pretty well chosen, and he’s certainly more exciting to look at than CapAoU4the much more drab appearance of the last Cap. The biggest issue at play here is bleed over. Pretty much all of the base color work exhibits some form of it, which is really annoying. Also, the white on his lower torso isn’t consistent, letting the underlying blue plastic show through in a couple of spots. And to top it all off, the right eye on my figure is painted just off center, which makes Cap look just a tiny bit cross-eyed. Cap has pretty much the same accessory load out as the STRIKE figure: unmasked head, saluting hand, pointing hand, shield, and Thanos’ leg (subbing in for the Mandroid’s leg). The head, hands, and shield are all pretty much the same as the previous release. The head seems to have paint that’s just a touch better, and the shield is in the more traditional colors (which makes it look less over-sized, for some reason).

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Cap was purchased, along with the rest of Series 2, from Big Bad Toy Store. For the most part, I got him because I was getting the rest of the series, but I will admit to digging the new costume design. I definitely like the more traditional color scheme. The STRIKE suit Cap was one of Hasbro’s best Cap figures. This figure, making use of a lot of the same pieces, does pretty well. However, it’s really held back by the paint work. The level of detail just isn’t there this time, which is disappointing. Not enough to ruin the figure, but certainly enough to hold it back from being as great as it could have been. This figure should have overtaken the last movie Cap with ease, but instead the choice between the two comes down to personal preference of costume design. And that’s too bad.

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#0529: Batroc

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

BATROC

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

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Alright, before I get too far into the review, I want to set something straight. The name on the box of the figure I am reviewing today is “Batroc.” I’m not usually one to get too stuck on accuracy and such, but that’s just all wrong. This guy’s name is Batroc the Leaper; no more, no less. Without “the Leaper” he’s just some silly mustachioed French guy. With it, he’s some sill mustachioed French guy who leaps. It’s an important difference. Hasbro, who just seem to be firing on all cylinders when it comes to character selection, have seen fit to include Batroc the Leaper in their current round of Marvel Legends. As a good Batroc the Leaper fan, I very obviously had to pick him up!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Batroc2Batroc the Leaper is part of the second series of Avengers Marvel Legends Infinite Series. Batroc the Leaper was originally shown as one of the figures set to be released before Marvel Legends was refitted into Infinite Series, but when his series never made it to stores, most assumed he wasn’t going to see the light of day. Fortunately, Hasbro seems dead-set on not letting any sculpts go to waste, so Batroc the Leaper found himself a home. The figure stands about 6 inches tall and he features 32 points of articulation. Batroc the Leaper is based upon the character’s classic design. He’s had a few other looks over the years, but none of them have really stuck around, so this was a good choice. As far as sculpting, Batroc the Leaper is a pretty formulaic approach. He uses the Bucky Cap body with a brand-new head. The Bucky Cap body is as good as always, and I’m happy to see Hasbro putting it to use where it’s appropriate. The head sculpt is one of Hasbro’s best Legends efforts to date. It’s got plenty of detail, and the features and expression are incredibly unique to the character. Some of Hasbro’s more recent Legends faces have suffered from strikingly similar features, but that’s not an issue here. Batroc the Leaper’s head sculpt is very definitely Batroc Batroc3the Leaper’s and no one else’s. Plus, get a load of that mustache! Lest you start fearing that Hasbro’s just gotten too good at this for their own… good, fear not, the figure is brought down from perfection by the paint. The paint isn’t the worst I’ve ever seen, but it’s really rough. The edges of the transitions from gold to purple are pretty fuzzy, the black line work, while clean, is worn off in several areas, the beard has flecks of skin tone showing through, and the white of the eyes and teeth is just missing in several places. Also, while the colors are generally pretty good, the small bit of purple on the front of the lower torso doesn’t match the purple everywhere else on the figure.  Batroc the Leaper’s only accessory is the Build-A-Figure piece, which, in this case, is the torso of Thanos. Yay?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I preordered Batroc the Leaper through Amazon and, shockingly for an Amazon preorder, he actually arrived when I was expecting him to. Go figure. I’ve been anxiously awaiting Batroc the Leaper ever since the first prototype was shown a ways back, so I’m happy that he finally found his way to a release. The figure is hampered a bit by the paint apps, but the sculpt is strong enough that the figure isn’t a loss. Still, it would really be nice if Hasbro could work to improve the QC on paint apps. But, I can honestly say I never thought I’d be seeing Batroc the Leaper as a retail released figure, so I’m ecstatic to even have him.

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

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#0524: Agents of SHIELD

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

AGENT COULSON, NICK FURY, & MARIA HILL

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

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After a few years of treading water and treating the line as second best, Hasbro has really turned things around with Marvel Legends. It seems the 6 inch scale is here to stay, and the 3 ¾ inch scale is on its way out (for Marvel, anyway). One of the things that helped Hasbro to build a successful line is partnering with big retail stores to offer exclusive figures, allowing them to up the number of characters released in a given year. So, let’s have a look at their latest exclusive set, the Agents of SHIELD set!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This three-pack, consisting of Agent Coulson, Nick Fury, and Maria Hill, was released exclusively through Toys R Us (and eBay!) just in the last few weeks. Though the set is named “Agents of SHIELD” it’s not really based on the show (although all three characters present here have been on the show). All three of these figures present the characters as they were seen in 2012’s Avengers. So, these guys might be just a little late to the party, but we’ll let them slide.

AGENT COULSON

AgentsofShield2Yes, his first name is very definitely Agent. Coulson is really the main draw of this set, for a few reasons. First off, there’s that whole “Son of Coul,” most popular character in the MCU thing he’s got going for him. I don’t think anyone would have guessed that was going to happen to the bit part guy from the first Iron Man movie, but holy crap did it ever. The second, more toy-geek centric thing is that Coulson is also the first character to make use of Hasbro’s new suit body, which lots of people are excited about. Anyway, the figure is about 6 inches tall and he’s got 30 points of articulation. That’s a lot of articulation for a guy in a suit, but, aside from his elbows being a touch low, it works out really well. Coulson’s sculpt is all-new from head to toe. The suit body is definitely a strong sculpt. With something like a suit, finding a good balance between movement and sculpt can be tricky, but Hasbro’s done admirably here. The articulation all flows with the sculpt, and the sculpt maintains a great level of detail. The suit has all the proper fold, creases and even the stitching you’d expect from the real deal. He’s even got a proper crease at the front of his legs; Coulson does not let his pants go un-ironed! The hands feature a great level of detail, and work well with the included accessory, so that’s great too. Coulson has two head sculpts included: with or without sunglasses. He comes wearing the “without” head, which has a pretty decent likeness of Clark Gregg. It’s just a tiny bit off, but how much of that is sculpt and how much is paint is hard to tell. The “with” head is the same as the “without,” but with the addition of the sunglasses. The head ends up being the stronger of the two, and the likeness looks pretty much spot-on. As far as paintwork goes, Coulson ends up being mostly straightforward; the suit is molded in black, the shirt is molded in white, and the hands and head are molded in flesh-tone. The paint is mostly on the face and tie. The tie is pretty nicely done, with nice, clean, straight lines. The sunglass-ed head is pretty decent, but the one without has some slightly wonky eyes and eyebrows. Coulson comes packed with the extra head and, best of all, the Destroyer gun, which fits perfectly in the figure’s hands.

NICK FURY

AgentsofShield4Fury here is kind of the requisite “re-issue” of the set, sort of filling the same slot as Cap in the Avengers set. We’ve essentially seen this figure twice before, although there are a few small differences here and there. The figure is just a little taller (though not as much taller as he should be) than Coulson and features 31 points of articulation. Fury makes use of Hasbro’s trench coat body, which was originally sculpted for the Ultimate Nick Fury several years ago. It’s an okay looking body, but the poseability isn’t really up to par, especially when compared to newer offerings. A basic standing pose is fairly attainable, but the biggest issue is easily the shoulders, which can’t get any closer to his sides than about a 45 degree angle. Fury specifically makes use of the Red Skull version of this particular body, which had newly tooled hands and lower legs. The new pieces end up being rather detrimental to Fury. The feet were designed to shorten the body, robbing him of the appropriate height, and the hands have been designed to fit the more meglomaniacal Skull. In particular, his left hand, which was sculpted to hold the Cosmic Cube, makes little sense for Fury. Topping it all off is the head sculpt, which appears to be the same piece used on the version of the character from the Walmart-exclusive First Avenger line. It’s a decent piece, with a good likeness of Samuel L Jackson, so that’s good. The figure’s paint is fairly basic, but good nonetheless. He’s mostly just molded in black plastic, with a few small silver and shiny black details here and there to keep things interesting. The head does have a slightly crazy eye thing going on, but it’s not as bad as some Hasbro figures. Fury includes two small handguns, deco-ed to look like the “night-night” guns from Agents of SHIELD.

MARIA HILL

AgentsofShield5The other new piece of this set is Maria Hill. Hill’s comic incarnation got a figure a few years back, but this is the first time Hasbro’s tackled the MCU version. Hill is just shy of 6 inches tall and she sports 26 points of articulation. Like Fury, Hill seems a little on the short side, due to parts re-use. Hill’s sculpt makes use of the legs and upper arms from last year’s Black Widow figure, along with an all-new head, torso, lower arms, and hands. I really liked the Widow figure, but I think that was a “whole is better than the sum of the parts” situation. The individual parts don’t hold up quite as well, and the legs in particular just don’t work quite as well here. The new pieces are okay, but not fantastic. The torso is probably the best. It’s nicely proportioned and decently textured. The head is okay, but it’s too large, and it has some very strange proportions when viewed from any angle but head-on. The likeness isn’t too bad, but it feels more like a caricature of Colby Smolders than a proper likeness. The hands end up being the worst piece of the sculpt. The right’s not bad, but the left is in a fist for some reason, and it’s not even a well-sculpted fist at that. The paintwork on Hill is probably the best of the lot. There’s actually a fair bit of detail and layering. The logos on the shoulders are nice an sharp, and the head manages to avoid any of the wonky eye issues. Hill includes no accessories, which is really annoying. Fury has two guns, so you can give her one of those if you want, but there really should have been enough of those to go around.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Well, feel free to take a guess as to where I acquired this Toys R Us exclusive set. Okay, I didn’t actually get this at a physical TRU location, I ordered it online. And I even had a pleasant experience. Shocking, isn’t it? I, like most people, bought this set for Coulson. For that purpose, the set lives up to expectations. Coulson is the star attraction here. He’s got the best pieces, the best likeness, and the best accessories. Fury ends up being the set’s weakest link, mostly due to the choice of body, and Hill falls somewhere in between the two, but probably closer to Fury than Coulson. All in all, it’s a decent set, and I can’t really ask for much more from Hasbro.

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#0489: Odin

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

ODIN

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

Yesterday, I looked at Thor, God of Thunder! How about a look at his dad? As luck would have it, Odin happens to be the Build-A-Figure of the very series that Thor was a part of! Isn’t that convenient? Or perhaps just proper planning on Hasbro’s part. I guess it could be that. If you wanna be all practical and stuff. So, let’s have a look at the Allfather, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Odin is the Build-A-Figure for the first series of Avengers Marvel Legends Infinite Series figures. Technically, he doubles as both Odin and Future Thor, but the series is dubbed the “Odin” series, so I’m going to refer to him as Odin, and include the Future Thor parts as accessories (for the most part, anyway). Odin is about the same size as Thor (fitting), clocking in at about 7 inches tall, and he has 30 points of articulation. I don’t actually know which particular Odin this is based on, or if it’s a particular Odin at all. I think they’ve actually used the Future Thor design as a starting point and just made it work for Odin, which, when you’re dealing with a character who doesn’t really have a definitive look, like Odin, isn’t a bad move. The look is mostly armored and has an appropriately regal look to it. The sculpt is fairlyt detailed, with a lot of texture work and such. Also, you’ll note that the left arm is armored, while the right is not. This actually isn’t completely accurate for Odin, as the left arm is meant to be Future Thor’s Destroyer arm, which replaced his missing arm. However, the regular Odin arms were packed with Sentry, and I didn’t really want to get him, so I settled for the Thor arms. Plus, the armored arm is a little cooler anyway. As a build-a-figure, the figure works pretty decently. He snaps together pretty easily and, aside from his legs popping off from time to time, he stays together pretty well. Odin’s paintwork is generally pretty clean, and it has some decent weathering to help ring out the sculpt’s details. The blue cape is definitely a cool touch, and it nicely separates him from Thor. It would be a little better if there were a some more gold on the actual body armor. As it stands, it’s entirely confined to his helmet, which looks just a bit jarring. Also, some gold on the body might make the figure a little brighter; it’s just a little on the drab side. Odin includes his trusty spear Gungnir (which never gets the credit it deserves!) as well as a spare head and cape for Future Thor, as well as Future Thor’s axe Jarnbjorn. I think this may be the first Build-A-Figure to actually get an accessory compliment. Let’s hope that idea sticks around!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, Odin is the Build-A-Figure that resulted from my getting all of the figures in this series. I actually kind of wanted to finish him. I’m not the world’s biggest Odin fan or anything, but he’s certainly a fixture in the Marvel Universe. He also makes for a pretty neat figure, drab color choices aside. Odin’s one of the few B-A-F’s I’ve finished of late, and I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that not only is he a pretty solid figure, but also none of the figures required to build him were the dud’s that we’ve inevitable come to expect from the B-A-F model. I’m glad to see Hasbro applying equal effort to all of the figures in the series!

#0488: Thor

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

THOR

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

When you’re doing a series of figures based on the Avengers, there’s a few characters you are pretty much required to include. Generally, those characters are Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor. Cap got a few slots in the Winter Soldier themed Infinite Series line-ups last year and Iron Man got a spot in the Guardians of the Galaxy series, so I guess Hasbro thought it was Thor’s turn. So, he’s got the prominent spot in the first series of AoU stuff. Yay Thor.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Thor was released in the first series of Avengers Marvel Legends Infinite Series figures. Unlike Hawkeye and Iron Fist, Thor doesn’t have the “Marvel’s” qualifier on his name, which is actually a little weird, since adding “Marvel’s” to Thor’s name seems like it would be the only way hold the trademark on an otherwise public domain name. Maybe there’s more to it. The figure is gargantuan, at roughly 7 inches tall, and he features 30 points of articulation. He’s based on Thor’s Marvel Now! look, just before the switch to the female Thor. It’s after he got the cape back and lost the chainmail sleeves, resulting in an amalgam of his classic and Copiel looks. It works as a very nice summation of all of the Thor looks over the years and it’s pretty well in line with how he looks in the movies right now, so it’s a good look. The figure is built on the New Thor body that Hasbro sculpted for the first series of re-launched Legends (the one with Terrax as the Build-A-Figure). It’s easily one of the best Thor sculpts put out by any company in the last few years, so it’s a great starting point. They’ve added a new head and arms, which match up very well with the pre-existing pieces. The head exhibits some minor changes, mostly to make the helmet more elaborate, but the face is also a little more intense in expression and it’s a bit more squared off. The helmet is a separate piece, and that works to give the head some really great dimension. The arms have of course been re-sculpted to remove the sleeves. They’re well done, if maybe a little veiny. Overall, the figure’s paint is pretty decently handled, with nice color work and some great texturing on the metallic parts. However, there are a few areas with some issues, most notably the rather obvious slop on the figure’s right wrist. Random flecks of black paint have just gone everywhere. Thor is accessorized with his hammer Mjolnir which is freaking huge and amazingly detailed, as well as a sword which I think is meant to be the Odin Sword (or possibly Gorr’s Sword. I’m not up to date on Thor comics) and the right leg of Odin/Future Thor.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, Thor is another figure that I pretty much only got because I was getting the rest of the series. That said, I actually really like this figure. For one reason or another, I only have one of the previous Legends Thors and it’s not even a “default” one, so this figure fills something of a hole in my collection. This a really solidly put together figure and he ties up a really solidly put together series.

#0487: Iron Fist

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

IRON FIST

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

The latest series of Marvel Legends from Hasbro is definitely based on the Avengers, and all of the figure’s I’ve looked at so far have attested to that. Today’s figure, Iron Fist is probably the one most removed from the team. Admittedly, Iron Fist has been a member of the team in the past, but he’s never really been a member of note, and even when he was on the team it was more due to his connection to Luke Cage. But, Iron Fist’s prototype was sitting there unreleased and that’s something that Hasbro doesn’t like very much! So, here he is!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Iron Fist is a part of the first series of the Avengers Marvel Legends Infinite Series. Like the Hawkeye figure, he’s a figure that got displaced from one of the last regular Marvel Legends series. Iron Fist was originally intended as a swap figure for the Protector figure from the Hit Monkey series. The figure is about 6 inches tall, with 34 points of articulation. The figure is based on Iron Fist’s most recent comic, which is a variation on the costume he’s had for a few years now, just with white in place of the green. It’s the costume the character’s had for a little while, so it’s a reasonable choice for a figure. The figure is built on the body that started its life as Bullseye back in the ToyBiz days. Over the years, it’s gotten a new set of shins, feet, and forearms, but it’s the same basic body. It was one of my favorites from the ToyBiz years, and it’s a decently proportioned and articulated body, but it’s a little clunky and outdated compared to the newer base bodies like Bucky Cap. Iron Fist also features an all-new head sculpt and an add-on sash piece. Both are well sculpted and look good on the base body, though the sash does sit weird in some poses. The figure’s paint is pretty good. The gold is a nice shade, and most of the line work is clean. There is a fairly noticeable bit of bleed over at the edge of the mask, but other than that things are pretty well done. Iron Fist is one of the best accessorized figures in the series, with an pair of fists, knife hands, grabbing gesture hands, and two-figure gesture hands, as well as the leg of Odin/Future Thor.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Iron Fist is really one of those figures I got because I was getting the rest of the series. I wanted that leg for my Odin. I have to say, he’s not the most fantastic figure in the series (in fact he may actually be the weakest), but he’s not a bad figure, and he’s certainly an improvement over the original ToyBiz figure. Plus, it’s really great to see a figure with a large selection of hands. That’s a rarity in domestic release figures. Let’s hope Hasbro does more of that in the future!

#0486: Hawkeye

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

HAWKEYE

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

When you talk about the Avengers, there’s one quintessential Avenger who often gets overlooked. Someone who’s been with the team almost since the beginning and has stuck with the team for most of its career. I speak, of course, of Hawkeye. Hawkeye is easily one of the most popular Avengers (Outside of the big three and Hulk, who’s only actually had a short career with the team), and he’s even more popular following his introduction into the movies. And yet he still gets the short end of the stick on action figures. It seems that Hasbro is finally wising up, though, and they’ve chosen him as one of the anchors of their latest Marvel Legends line-up.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hawkeye was released as part of Series 1 of the Avengers Marvel Legends Infinite Series. He’s the first figure I’ve reviewed from this series that actually has his own name on the box (okay, technically he’s “Marvel’s Hawkeye” but that’s splitting hairs!) This Hawkeye figure was originally meant to be a variant version of the Modern Hawkeye figure that made it into one of the last pre-Infinite Series line-ups, but the refresher cases he was meant to be a part of never happened, leaving him unreleased. Hasbro seems to be dead-set against letting any of their prototypes go to waste, so here he is now. The figure is a little over 6 inches tall and features 32 points of articulation. He’s based on the look that Hawkeye was sporting during the “Heroic Age,” right after Clint returned to the Hawkeye mantle. It’s a good look because, while it’s technically a modern look, it’s got all the trappings of a classic Hawkeye. And that’s a good thing, because the last classic Hawkeye in this scale was way back in Series 7 of ToyBiz’s Marvel Legends line (and that one still goes for quite a pretty penny!) The figure is built on the ever-popular Bucky Cap body, with the cuffed boots like we saw on Zemo and Boomerang. The left arm has been replaced with that of the Cap Marvel Legends Infinite Series Winter Soldier, to give it more of an armored look, and that’s a change from the initial prototype. Aside from the slightly small wrist size, it’s a good change, and it does add some diversity to the figure’s sculpt. In addition to the re-used pieces, Hawkeye has an all-new head and a rubber overlay for his upper torso, straps, and loincloth. The head certainly shows some more character than the last classic Hawkeye did, but it seems a bit too… square? I don’t know. It just feels a slight bit off. It’s not terrible, though. The overlay is a pretty good piece, with some very nice sculpting. It would be nice if it were a little thinner, and the snap on the side where it connects is rather obvious, but it’s a good piece. There’s also a quiver piece that plugs into his back to complete his look. It appears to be the same piece from the modern Hawkeye this was meant to be a swap of, which means it’s technically not accurate to the costume, but that’s a minor nit. The biggest issue with it is that it just doesn’t want to stay on his back. It just keeps popping off! The paint on the figure is generally rather straightforward. I might have liked for the purpled to be a little brighter, but he looks pretty good. Everything is applied pretty cleanly, and there’s no real slop or bleed over. I also dig the metallic purple for the arm. It’s a nice touch. Hawkeye includes a bow (molded in purple) and the torso of Odin/Future Thor. The lack of any arrows to hold is criminal, especially since the Toybiz Hawkeye had a metric ton of them!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I never got really, super excited by this Hawkeye figure. I mean, I fully intended to get it when it was originally announced, and I was a little bummed when Hasbro said it wasn’t coming out, but I was pretty content with the ToyBiz figure. In hand, I do really like this figure, and I think it may have a slight edge on the previous one (mostly due to the superior base body), but it doesn’t blow it out of the water in the way that, say, Scarlet Witch does to her original figure. This figure still has a few minor issues that hold it back from perfection. That said, it’s the best Hawkeye in this scale, so that’s certainly a plus.

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