Tag Archives: Infinity Saga

#3217: War Machine

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

WAR MACHINE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“With a new modular Gatling Cannon and enough firepower to take on a legion of enemies, the War Machine — AKA Colonel James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes — is a true one-man army.”

Hey, do you guys wanna talk about the implications of Secret War‘s big Skrull identity reveal on the events of everything post-Civil War as it pertains to Rhodey?  No?  Yeah, me neither.  Wanna pretend its not a thing until we have no other choice?  I certainly do.  Let’s do that.  But, hey, while we’re on that, can we address that the Civil War era armor design for War Machine is, like, peak War Machine design?  It’s pretty solid, and it’s got a figure, and I’m looking at that now!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

War Machine is part of the 2023 assortment of the Infinity Saga sub-line of Marvel Legends.  He’s one of the three Captain America: Civil War-based figures, which, rather amusing, doesn’t include a Captain America, but *does* does have both Iron Man and War Machine; way to upstage a guy in his own movie, guys.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  War Machine is a total mold re-use of the original Civil War release, which I looked at when it was repainted as Punisher War Machine.  The only times it was released in standard colors were as a Target-exclusive in a two-pack, and as a Disney Store-exclusive in a four pack, so a single release does make a lot of sense.  It helps that its also a pretty solid sculpt, and it still holds up pretty nicely, apart from a few spots where the articulation is a little bit stiff.  That said, it’s a really good looking sculpt, and very accurate to the source material.  I also found that the guns and baton stayed in place better on this release than my Punisher War Machine, which is a definite plus.  The only area with notable change from the original release is the paint work.  Admittedly, even that’s minor, but this time around the application is a lot sharper and cleaner, and the reds on the eyes and arc reactor now have a fade to white, giving them a bit more depth and realism.  In general, it’s just a much better look, all around.  This release gets the same accessories set-up as all the prior releases of the mold, meaning he includes two sets of hands (in fists and gripping), deployed and stowed versions of the baton and cannon, and the two removable forearm guns.  Its a shame we couldn’t get an unmasked Rhodey head, since there’s not new parts on this one, but it’s not like he’s a light feeling figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My saga of owning this version of War Machine is…well, it’s frustrating, and it’s entirely my own fault.   I passed up on the figure in the two-pack a couple of times, even when I saw it on clearance, which felt silly once they were gone.  Shortly after getting the Punisher version of the mold, I finally managed to track down a loose one…and then I opted to get rid of it when streamlining my collection, since I had the Punisher version and the Endgame armor.  Then I decided to downsize my Punisher figures, and I realized that I wouldn’t have this armor at all, which…well, it was annoying.  But, then they announced this release, and that made things better, especially since this one is just the two-pack figure, but improved.  Definitely my go-to MCU War Machine.

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

#3212: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Equipped with a streamlined new uniform and his Vibranium shield, Captain America leads a team of covert S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives on clandestine missions into the most dangerous corners of the world.”

During this site’s very first year, I got back into Marvel Legends hardcore for one major reason: Captain America: The Winter Soldier.  That was a pretty crazy shift.  And, as of next April, the movie is a decade old.  It tracks, of course, but, you know, it does still feel a little crazy to me.  Whatever the case, ten years means more toys, right?  It sure does.  In fact, we’re even getting them just a little bit early, so that’s not so bad.  Today, I’m taking a look at our latest update to Cap’s stealth look from the movie.  Oh yeah.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America is part of the 2023 assortment of what has become the ongoing Infinity Saga sub-line of Marvel Legends.  I guess we’re just revisiting it every year now.  I got no problems with that, of course, so let’s do it.  We’re finally getting Cap in a standard release assortment for the line, which I’m always happy to see.  Cap is seen here in his S.T.R.I.K.E. suit from the movie’s opening half, which is patterned on his Commander Rogers gear from the comics.  It’s a very good look, and certainly one of the MCU’s most memorable Cap designs.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  His articulation is a lot like the Stealth Cap from 2014.  In fact, it’s identical to the articulation on the Stealth Cap from 2014.  Do you know why?  Because this figure is, aside from the head, the Stealth Cap from 2014.  The thing is, I liked the sculpt a lot in 2014, and it was very good in 2014.  But that was a decade ago and Legends has definitely made some advancements since then.  This figure, with his visible pins, somewhat limiting ab-crunch and waist swivel, and kind of scrawny arms, is…well, he’s dated.  Don’t get me wrong; the sculpt was top of the line when it hit, and it’s not completely outmoded in this day and age…but it could be better.  In 2021, we got a totally upgraded Mark III sculpt to replace the old movie figure, and this is serving as an update for a figure that’s almost as old, relatively speaking.  At least a new upper torso would go a long way.  He does at least get the updated helmeted sculpt from the First Ten Years two-pack; that sculpt is at least a very strong one, with a much better Evans likeness than the last release of this body.  This figure’s paint work is, unsurprisingly, very similar to the last one.  It’s a little cleaner this time, and he gets the printed face, as opposed to the rather thick paint from the last one.  In terms of accessories…we run into some issues again.  He’s got an unmasked head and a shield.  I can’t tell if the head is the same sculpt as the First Ten Years one, or not.  If it is, the paint’s not holding up its end, because the likeness doesn’t feel as strong this time.  It also looks a bit large on the body, which doesn’t help the overall scrawniness feeling.  The shield is the updated version from the two-pack, now in the stealth colors.  It’s a fine piece, but it again seems too large compared to the rest of the figure, making him feel a bit small by comparison.  And that’s it on the accessory front.  The last release included a shield and an alternate head as well, but also had a second set of hands, as well as a Build-A-Figure part, and he was $5 cheaper.  Now, I understand rising costs and all, but given that this figure features at most a single new part, it sucks that he can’t at least get extra hands.  We finally got a pair of gripping hands for Cap with the Infinity War update, so the fact that we’re back to him not being able to grip his shield properly so shortly after that is definitely frustrating.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been waiting for an update to this look for at least five years, and I was very happy to see his name crop up on this list.  And then the figure arrived and…well, it let me down.  It’s very frustrating that after ten years, we don’t actually get an update to this design, and instead get yet another release of a mold that needs to be retired.  This very definitely should have been our chance to finally get a new Cap mold, built from the ground up, rather than continuing to get MCU Caps cobbled together from old parts.  It feels like a real missed opportunity.  Okay, ready for the flip around?  This figure?  I like him.  I know, I tore him to shreds up there, and brought up a ton of issues.  And I stand by those issues.  But, I also acknowledge that, viewed purely on his own, this is still a very good figure.  After getting through my issues with him, I just sort of sat back and took in the figure by himself, with no other figures, and I remembered why I loved this mold in the first place.  I’d still love an actual update (maybe they can do a new one without the shield and helmet and just say it’s him from the beginning of Endgame), but at the end of the day, there are worse things they could have done than re-use these parts.

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

#2971: Thor

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

THOR

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Armed with Stormbreaker and Mjolnir, the son of Odin steps onto the battlefield to face Thanos one final time.”

Happy Thor’s Day, everyone!  Man, it’s been too long since I’ve gotten to use that one.  I blame my own poor forward planning when it comes to review schedules.  But I totally remembered this time, so a-ha!  Though Avengers Endgame got a lot of coverage in Marvel Legends, the nature of a good chunk of the designs either being downplayed for the Quantum Suits, or kept completely secret until the film’s release, like Thor here, meant that there were still a number of designs still left out in the cold.  Thor effectively has three main looks during the film.  His pre time-skip look, which we got with the Infinity War stuff, his post-time-skip “the Dude” look, which we got as a Build-A-Figure in 2019, and his final battle attire, which we’ve just gotten now!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Thor is the last single-release standard figure for the Infinity Saga sub-line of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends.  He’s one of three items in the sub-line based on Endgame, which is the movie with the heaviest coverage here.  The figure stands about 6 3/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  After years of the MCU Thor’s being almost comedically larger than the rest of the figures, it seems they’ve begun to slightly down-size him, ever so slightly, for more proper scaling.  So, this Thor is actually a little smaller than prior versions, but that’s actually more accurate to Hemsworth’s relative height to everyone else.  In terms of articulation scheme, this figure more or less sticks to what the Infinity War versions of him had, albeit slightly more restricted by his added bulk.  He does get the pinless construction on his elbow and knee joints, however, which is pretty cool.  Thor’s sculpt is all-new; the arms look similar to the IW ones, but, as noted previously, they don’t have exposed pins on the elbows, so they’re new too.  It’s a pretty solid sculpt overall.  Since it’s being released two years after the film, it doesn’t have to worry about odd preliminary design details that got changed, meaning it matches up pretty well with the design seen in the finished movie.  The head sports a respectable likeness of Chris Hemsworth, which, much like the Bro Thor, I think is aided a bit by the more distinctive features of the more disheveled appearance.  I quite like the detailing on the braided beard, and they’ve done alright with capturing the more scraggly-looking hair.  The body gets the slightly heftier build down pretty good, and the texturing and small detail work on the outfit’s all rather nice.  The paint work on Thor is generally pretty basic.  Most of the outfit and such is just molded colors, with more of the intricate work on the head.  The head ends up doing the same thing that the three-pack Infinity War version did, going for a more “powered up” appearance.  While I’m not opposed to the general concept, or even how it turned out on the figure, it’s a little bit limiting of a choice for the only included head.  Maybe at least throw us an extra head with standard eyes?  Like I said, it does at least still look pretty cool, so I can’t entirely fault it.  Thor is packed with both of his hammers, done up in clear blue to somewhat match his powered-up look, as well as two sets of hands (gripping and open gesture), and two lightning effect pieces.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was honestly a bit surprised when we got the full-on Bro Thor before this one back when the Endgame product was first hitting, and even more surprised by the complete and utter lack of this figure in any of the immediate follow-up.  I was at the very least expecting some sort of multi-pack with the big three in their final battle attire or something.  Honestly, I wasn’t expecting a single release on him, but I can’t say I was disappointed by the choice.  Thor’s a pretty solid figure.  He’s a bit late to the party, perhaps, but that means we only have to contend with just the one of him from the start.  It’s certainly nice to get another final battle figure.

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

#2970: Happy Hogan & Iron Man Mark XXI

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

HAPPY HOGAN & IRON MAN MARK XXI

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Moving along the Iron Man timeline with our reviews here, we make our way to the final entry in that set of films, Iron Man 3.  IM3 had the good grace of being the first MCU film to get the Legends treatment proper, which was a pretty big deal at the time.  That said, it was just two movie-related figures in an otherwise comics assortment, which meant we just got the rather barebones Mark 42 and Iron Patriot releases, with scrapped releases for War Machine Mk II and Ben Kingsley’s Mandarin.  Later Legends treatments got those additional two released, and there’s been a slow trickle of a few additional House Party armors every so often.  We get one tribute to the film in the Infinity Saga set, featuring Stark Industries Head of Security Happy Hogan, as well as one more House Party armor.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Happy Hogan and Iron Man Mark XXI are a Target-exclusive two-pack, released in the Infinity Saga sub-line of Marvel Legends.  They started hitting retail at the beginning of October, and have thus far been hitting in at least okay numbers.

HAPPY HOGAN

“Stark Industries’ new Head of Security gets caught in the middle of the battle as Iron Man gears up to face an all new powerful threat.”

After six film appearances (with a seventh in later this month), Jon Favreau’s Happy Hogan finally gets some Legends coverage.  Not bad for a guy in a suit, I guess.  The figure stands just shy of 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Happy is a much larger guy than any of the other suit-wearers we’ve gotten, so he requires mostly new pieces.  He borrows the arms from the Logan version of, well, Logan, but is otherwise sporting all-new parts.  I certainly appreciate getting more variety to how the guys in suits are built; things were beginning to get a bit samey.  I do appreciate that he’s even got a pocket on his shirt under the jacket, showcasing that he’s just a little bit more working class than most of the other suit wearing guys we’ve gotten.  The only downside to the sculpt is that they’ve neglected to give Happy his ID badge, which is definitely gonna set him off.  C’mon guys, everyone needs to be wearing their ID badges.  By far the best part of the sculpt is the head, which has a pretty spot-on likeness of Favreau circa IM3, which is when Happy really comes into his own, so it’s a good choice.  He’s got a good recreation of Happy’s usual “sunny disposition.”   Happy’s paint work is reserved, but works well.  Mostly it’s just the face, which is quite lifelike.  Theres a few other spots on the suit, namely the belt and buckle.  It’s all pretty clean, and it does the job well.  Though he may not have his ID badge, Happy does at least get his cellphone.  It’s a tiny little piece guaranteed to be lost, but hey, it’s still a cool touch.

IRON MAN MARK XXI

“Mark XXI, codename ‘Midas,’ is a fully loaded high-altitude suit built by Stark that’s outfitted with enriched gold titanium alloy.”

There are a great number of varieties of Iron Man suits presented by the film’s “House Party” concept.  Many of them are quite unique, while others are really just re-decos of prior armors.  This one’s one of the latter.  Dubbed “Midas,” the Mark XXI is a recolor of Avengers‘ Mark VII, done up in all gold as a reference to Iron Man’s distinctive all-gold armor from the early Silver Age.  Unsurprisingly, the figure is likewise just a re-use of the Mark VII mold.  He stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 37 points of articulation.  The sculpt worked well for the Mark VII and it works well for Midas as well.  It’s hard to fault Hasbro for the re-use, especially when the mold is as good as this one.  The color work is changed up, of course, so that he’s now all gold.  It’s a mix of molded plastic and painted sections, so there’s som variety to the finish.  It doesn’t look half bad.  Midas gets the same accessory selection as the Mark VII: two sets of hands and blast effects, all in changed up colors to match with the core figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Happy Hogan is one of those character’s I’ve always loved in the comics, and I’ve been thrilled to see him actually get to grow over the course of his MCU appearances.  I didn’t have the highest hopes for a Legends release, but they’ve been pulling out all the stops recently, so it’s not the craziest thing.  It was definitely cool to see him show up here, and I like that they went with his IM3 appearance.  Midas isn’t one of the more thrilling House Party armors, but the original base figure was nice, and so is this one.  There have been worse space fillers in these two-packs.

#2969: Iron Man Mark III

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

IRON MAN MARK III

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Tony Stark takes on the world’s worst villains in the Mark 3 suit: a technological wonder equipped with a variety of stunning enhancements and upgrades.”

Back in the early days of this great Legends review journey, when I still was young and hopeful about Marvel Legends, I discussed the earliest days of the MCU, back when it was just Iron Man.  Hasbro didn’t quite have their game down at that point, and while the tie-in figures for Iron Man weren’t bad, there’s certainly some room for updating at this point.  I already looked at Iron Monger, but I’m finally circling back around with a look at the title character, sporting his fancy (at the time, anyway) Mark III armor.  Let’s have a look at that one!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Iron Man Mark III is the second-to-last of the five single-packed standard release figures in the Infinity Saga sub-line of Marvel Legends.  He’s the second of the two Iron Man offerings as well, and only the third officially Iron Man-branded offering under the Legends banner.  He’s based on his appearance in the final third or so of the first film, when Tony’s gotten the armor up and running, but it hasn’t yet taken the beating it would during the battle with Iron Monger.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 33 points of articulation.  The articulation scheme marks the really big improvement here.  He takes a few pages out of the Mark VII’s book in terms of layout and structure, but also adds in drop hips, a shoulder armor structure similar to the way the Classified Series has been handling them, and just generally a greater range of motion on all of the joints.  The Mark VII was pretty great, and this one just does a little bit better than that.  His all-new sculpt does quite a nice job of capturing the suit’s design from the movie, properly machined and geometric.  As with the VII, the III benefits from a much better scaling to the rest of the Legends line than other MCU Iron Men, which is certainly a plus.  Not quite so much a plus on my figure (and hopefully only on my figure) was the big glob of glue on the front of his full helmeted head.  I was able to remove it most of the way using a knife, but it was certainly no fun, and it results in my figure looking just a touch rougher than I’d like it to.  Beyond that, the QC does seem okay on the figure.  His color work is generally pretty decent.  I quite like the metallic red plastic, and the application on the gold paint is overall pretty cleanly handled.  I also like how they’ve used the printing to do the arc reactor, giving it more of an actual illuminated effect.  The Mark III is packed with an alternate head with the mask flipped up, two sets of hands (fists and open for blast), and three swappable plates for the right forearm, allowing for collapsed, rocket launching, and shield.  I was genuinely surprised by the lack of any repulser effects, but I’m not unhappy with the selection we got.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I fondly remember my Prototype Iron Man from the ’08 line, but, much like Monger, I knew there was definite room for an upgrade.  With all the fancy suits that have followed, it can be easy to overlook the Mark III and its importance in the grand scheme of things, but I’m certainly glad Hasbro didn’t, and finally gave us a really good version of the armor.

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

#2936: Iron Monger & Obadiah Stane

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

IRON MONGER & OBADIAH STANE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Obadiah Stane suits up as the powerful Iron Monger to threaten Iron Man. After a long stint as second-in-command of Stark Industries, Stane is eager to exact revenge on Tony Stark.”

The Marvel Cinematic Universe officially launched in 2008 with the release of Iron Man.  It proved that Marvel had the ability to sell characters beyond just the top of their A-list, and also laid the groundwork for the merchandising juggernaut we have 13 years later.  At the time of the movie’s release, Hasbro was still figuring out what they were doing with the Marvel license, and while the resulting tie-in line wasn’t bad (in fact, it was probably some of the best work Hasbro put out in their first five years or so with the license), it doesn’t quite hold up to modern standards.  Though we’ve had plenty of anniversary stuff, Iron Man has thus far been largely untouched (barring one straight re-deco of an older figure during the First Ten Years line in 2018), leaving some pretty prime real estate available for their latest MCU-centric throwback line.  There are two Iron Man-based releases this time around, and I’m looking at the first of them, Iron Monger and its pilot Obadiah Stane, today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Iron Monger and Obadiah Stane make up one of the two mass-release two-packs for the Infinity Saga sub-set of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends line.  Both of the mass release sets pair off one standard sized figure with one deluxe sized figure, which is an interesting choice.  Monger and Stane are a sensible pairing since, while Monger would certainly sell on his own, Stane’s unlikely to really find a spot otherwise.

IRON MONGER

While Tony Stark is emphatically named “Iron Man” by the events of the first film, Obadiah’s armored persona never actually gets called by the “Iron Monger” moniker within the film proper.  We get a reference to him being a war monger, but that’s really it.  That hasn’t stopped it from being his go-to merchandising name, of course, because why wouldn’t it be.  It’s a cool name.  Iron Monger’s MCU incarnation has always had to contend with the limitations of standard release pack-outs when it came to toys.  Both of his original film figures were quite under-scaled for the 6-inch line they were sold alongside, and that continued into the 3 3/4 inch figure line as well.  This release’s primary aim is getting us a true and proper movie Monger.  To that end, the figure stands 9 inches tall and has 27 points of articulation.  In terms of articulation implementation, this guy starts by taking a page out of the old Iron Man 2 figure’s book, and then using the over a decade’s time since then to further improve things.  He’s obviously still a bit restricted, but given the sheer bulk of the guy, he’s just about as posable as possible.  The sculpt is an all-new offering, as would be expected.  It does a really solid job of capturing Monger’s film design, improving on Hasbro’s prior attempts quite a bit.  Again, it’s been over a decade, so it kind of goes without saying at this point.  The proportions match up well, as does the basic layout of details.  He’s even got some slight texturing going on with the larger sheets of metal, matching up well with the film appearance, and adding a detail usually left off of Mongers.  The engineering on the figure is pretty decently handled as well.  There are a few moving pistons, which don’t quite work as real ones would, but do move to properly allow for posing the figure, and also add some extra depth of detail to the design.  The head and torso also make use of multi-piece construction to add some extra depth to what’s visible of internal mechanisms and the eyes and reactor.  I quite like the clear dome over the reactor in particular.  There’s a part of me that kind of wishes they’d worked in the opening hatch as seen in the film, but I get the extra logistics involved might have caused some issues.  You can kind of cheat it by popping the Obadiah head on there, so it’s not a total loss.  Iron Monger’s paint work is largely rather basic, since so much of him is just unpainted silver plastic.  There’s a fair bit of actual painted silver as well, though, which mixes up things.  Additionally, the paint for the reactor, as well as the weapons on the arms, is all pretty cleanly applied, and makes for a nice little splash of color on the otherwise sort of drab design.  Iron Monger is packed with two sets of hands (fists and open gesture), as well as two separate effects pieces for the gun attachment on the arm, a rocket for his back, and an ammo belt.  Certainly not a bad selection of extras in the slightest.

OBADIAH STANE

Obadiah winds up as more of a glorified accessory to the main piece, but he’s billed separately, and he is a separate figure, so let’s give him that much respect, I guess.  Most of Obadiah’s time in the film is just him wearing a pretty standard business suit, so that’s the look the figure goes with for him.  It makes it more multipurpose than putting him in the jumpsuit, so I can get behind it.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  He’s built on Nick Fury’s updated suit body.  Given Jeff Bridges’ taller build, it’s a good choice for his usual look, and in general it’s a slightly better implemented in terms of how the articulation works.  As with Loki, the re-use here means that Obadiah winds up keeping Fury’s sculpted holster, which isn’t accurate, but it’s completely hidden by the jacket, so it’s never going to be seen anyway.  Obadiah gets an all-new head sculpt, which sports a pretty spot-on likeness of Bridges in the role.  He’s also got an all-new right hand, which features a more open grip, as well Obadiah’s ring.  Obadiah’s paint work is generally pretty good, but not without its flaws.  The face printing works very well here, and I really love the striping on his shirt and the pattern on his tie.  The holster is left unpainted, as it was on Loki, which makes sense.  The neckline is also very uneven, which was also an issue on both Fury and Loki, leading me to believe that its something to do with how the body is laid out for paint masks or something like that.  It’s not awful, but it’s not great either.  Obadiah is packed with the improved Arc reactor he steals from Tony (which fits nicely in his newly sculpted right hand), as well as a briefcase, you know, for papers, um, just papers, uh, you know, uh, his papers, business papers.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As much as I loved the old opening hatch Iron Monger figure from the ’08 line, there’s no denying that there was some definite room for an upgrade.  With all of the various MCU figures we’d gotten in the last few years, it did feel a bit like poor Monger had just completely fallen through the cracks.  I’m glad that Hasbro made a spot for him in this line-up, and I’m also glad he turned out as well as he did.  The main Iron Monger is truly an impressive piece of engineering on his own, and very much makes this set, but I’m also glad that we got a proper Obadiah.  All in all, it’s a very fun set.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with these figures to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.

#2935: Odin

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

ODIN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“The king of Asgard, protector of the Nine Realms, and father of Thor, Odin has learned to appreciate peace over the centuries.”

Thor’s supporting cast kind of gets the short end of the stick when it comes to Marvel Legends treatment.  The line was on hiatus during the first film’s tie-in run, and Dark World wound up as one of the least merchandised MCU films in the entire franchise.  Ragnarok had a much better spread, but it was also the one least focused purely on the Thor cast.  Fortunately, the various anniversary and throwback lines have helped a little bit, and we’re finally getting a second 6-inch figure based on the first film (it only took us a solid decade), in the form of the Allfather, Odin.  Let’s have a look at him.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Odin is one of the five single-packed Infinity Saga sub-set figures from Hasbro’s Marvel Legends, and the second of the four that got a wide release.  He’s based on his appearance in the first Thor film, specifically his fully armored attire from the film’s first half, which is certainly his most distinctive.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  Odin’s articulation scheme showcases a lot of the more recent improvements to how things are handled in the line.  The elbows and knees both have the pinless construction, and the range of motion is generally better than the early MCU-based figures.  It’s certainly more than enough for Odin, given his actions within the films.  The only slightly frustrating bit on the movement is the shoulder armor, specifically the part on his bicep, which has a tendency to pop out of place and get caught on the joint when you’re posing him.  Odin’s sculpt is an all-new piece, as it kind of has to be.  The build is a decent match for Hopkins in the role, and the details of the gear generally match up pretty well.  There are some minor things, like the shoulder pads not quite having the right placement, but it generally works well.  The head he comes wearing has a more stern expression, which fits with Odin’s more typical disposition in the films.  The hair’s a bit more matted down on this one, as it’s directly designed to work with the included helmet.  The helmet is a strong piece.  It’s notably based on Odin’s more ornate throne room helmet, rather than his battle helmet; generally, I think this one has the superior design, so I’m alright with the choice. It sits well on the head, and is secure without being too tight, but also isn’t too bulky or goofy looking.  Odin’s paint work is rather nicely handled.  The mix of metallic and matte finishes sells the armored parts, and the application is generally pretty clean.  The face and hair have rather lifelike features to them, as you would hope to see.  Odin is packed with an extra head, this time with a smiling expression, and designed more for a helmetless look, as well as two pairs of hands (gripping and an open gesture/fist combo), and his spear Gungnir.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I bough Odin largely because I was planning to buy the whole Infinity Saga set.  I don’t know that he really spoke to me on his own, and he’s ultimately the one I had the least excitement about going into it, especially given how little else we’ve got from Thor at this scale.  He did look cool in hand, and I do have to say there’s a lot I like about this figure in the end.  He’s still not gonna be my favorite from this set, and I think he’s one that’s gonna fall through the cracks for a lot of people, but he’s certainly a solid offering.  Now, can I please get the Warriors Three at some point?

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

#2933: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Armed with Wakandan Gauntlets, Steve Rogers steps forward to defend the world from the impossible threat of Thanos and his minions.”

Okay, I’m gonna level with you guys: you better like Marvel Legends reviews.  Hasbro’s been really switching it into turbo with the line, and though they’ve been *trying* to space it out, that hasn’t so much worked out.  The result is a metric ton of them all dropping at once.  So, it’s gonna be at least a month of Legends around these parts.  I hope I can cling to my sanity.  Let’s kick things off by jumping back into Hasbro’s Infinity Saga sub-line, which is yet another throw-back to the first decade of the MCU.  It’s covering films from the beginning of the saga, up through Endgame, filling in some holes in a few of the line-ups, as well as offering some updates to figures that weren’t quite there the first time around.  Today’s figure, Captain America from Infinity War, falls into the latter category.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America is the second of the 10 figures in the Infinity Saga sub-line of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends.  He’s one of five single-packed standard figures, and also one of the three exclusives in the line-up.  Yes, once again Cap is a Walmart-exclusive.  I’m going to do my best not to harp on that too much, but it continues to feel like really terrible planning for overall line performance to have one of your central pieces always wind up as an exclusive to a chain that’s really bad at handling exclusives.  Moving on.  Cap is based on his Nomad appearance from Infinity War, a design that has been done in Legends once before, but not in a particularly accurate fashion.  This one aims to fix those issues and go a little more screen accurate.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  He’s a bit of a mix of old and new articulation styles, due to the nature of his construction.  His arms are using the pinless construction, which looks quite nice, and they’ve reworked how the bicep cuts work to make them a little more pleasant to look at when posing.  The rest of the movement more or less remains the same as it was on the first version.  A lot of that is due to most of the parts being shared between the two figures.  The head and arms are new, but everything else is re-use.  It’s sensible, since most of the old figure was pretty decent; don’t fix what’s not broken and all that.  The biggest issue with the prior Cap was the inaccuracy on the head, which this one fixes, more or less.  The hair and beard are far closer to their on-screen looks this time, which is a definite improvement.  I don’t know that the likeness is quite as spot-on as, say, the Endgame figure, but it’s certainly not un-Evans-like.  There’s a second head sculpt included, this one more expressive than the first.  It’s not a bad face sculpt, but I’m not sure the hair works as well.  He looks like he’s got some very serious helmet hair going on.  The new arms not only improve the aesthetics of the articulation, they also fix the issue of the last figure only having the one glove.  Now he’s nice and symmetrical.  In general, the new sculpt is a resounding success.  If things seem to be going too smoothly, that’s because they are.  The sculpt is great, but as with pretty much every IW Cap, there’s always a trade off.  In this case, it’s that the paint ends up making his uniform much brighter and cleaner than it should be.  The colors were one thing that the first figure did alright on, so the move to something brighter feels like an odd misstep.  It’s not terrible, but it’s definitely off.  The paint on the heads is at least up to the usual standards, so that’s good.  In addition to the previously mentioned extra head, he also gets two sets of hands (gripping and fists, both gloved this time), as well as two of the Wakandan shields.  The shields aren’t a matched pair; one is open and the other closed.  It would be nice to get two sets of each version, especially given the extra price on this round of releases.  At least they actually gave us two this time, though.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure fills me with mixed feelings.  I wanted an improvement on the last release, and that’s what I got, but there are once again trade offs, and I do really feel like if you’re going to force us to buy the same figure twice, you could at least go the extra mile by throwing in more accessories.  Just to spruce him up a little bit.  And that’s all without getting into the Walmart exclusive thing, which continues to be a rather stupid move on someone’s part.  Not entirely sure whose, but someone’s.  All that said, I was at least able to get mine without any major issues (apart from the one delay that pretty much everyone got), and in-hand, I do really, really like this figure.  It’s a shame we couldn’t just get him this way from the start, but then I suppose we wouldn’t appreciate this one as much.

#2893: Quicksilver

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

QUICKSILVER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Quicksilver’s ultra-high-speed capabilities are a major asset to the Avengers in the fight against Ultron.”

While the first Avengers film hit during a period of time when Marvel Legends were dead, so they had to rely on an exclusive run to get the team out in 6-inch scale (and they didn’t even get out the whole team, anyway).  By the time of its sequel, Age of Ultron, Legends was finally getting its footing back, but still wasn’t quite strong enough to support the entire extended line-up of the team as seen in the film.  Three members of the team wound up at mass retail, with an Amazon-exclusive boxed set to fill out the rest of the original core six.  That left the three new additions to the team, Scarlet Witch, Vision, and Quicksilver, out of the line-up.  Scarlet Witch and Vision were both able to get toy coverage out of their later appearances, but that didn’t work out quite so well for poor Pietro, who, you know, died in Age of Ultron and all.  We went through two special anniversary lines with no love for Pietro, but a third one would have just been ridiculous, I suppose, so here he is, after six whole years, finally in Legends form!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Quicksilver is part of the 10 piece “Infinity Saga” sub-set of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends line.  He’s one of the five standard sized single release figures, and one of four of those to be an actual wide release (because of course we can’t release a Captain America that’s not a Walmart exclusive, right?).  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  The range of motion on the joints is all pretty solid, especially on that neck joint.  I do wish the knee joints broke up the sculpt a little bit less when posed, but it’s far from the worst we’ve seen.  I also do dig the full transition to pinless joints here on the elbows and knees.  Quicksilver has an all-new sculpt based on his attire from the film’s final battle, which is a sensible choice, since that’s his most distinctive look, and the one that matches with most of the rest of the team (we still don’t have an AoU Scarlet Witch, so he doesn’t match her at all, of course).  The sculpt is an impressive piece of work.  The head doesn’t quite have a perfect likeness of Aaron Taylor-Johnson, but it’s certainly got a resemblance.  Likewise, the body seems like it might be perhaps a slight bit too small for his build in the film, but it’s again not too far off, and there’s some really amazing texture work going on in the clothing.  Quicksilver’s paint work is pretty basic stuff for the most part.  The head gets the best work, with the face printing to give him a lifelike quality, and some solid accenting on the hair, for his proper eurotrash dye-job appearance.  The rest of the work is rather on the basic side, but it works for what it is.  Quicksilver is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and an open gesture, plus the head, torso, and arm of an Ultron drone.  It sure would be nice to get a full Ultron drone one of these days, but this is certainly a start, right?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Quicksilver, specifically the Age of Ultron version of the character, was one of Jess’s favorite Marvel characters.  She really, really liked him, and she was really upset when he died.  I think I may still have the marks from her hitting in the theater, in fact.  She was also really upset that he didn’t get the same toy love as the other characters.  This figure was shown off just a few weeks before she died, and she was very excited.  It had been my plan to get her one of her own when they were released, but that didn’t happen.  It’s a shame that she just missed him.  I think she would have been very happy with the end result.  I myself am pretty happy with him, and with the extra meaning he brings along with him.

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