Tag Archives: Kingpin Series

#1928: Kingpin

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

KINGPIN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

It’s an event seven days in the making!  What’s that?  Seven days doesn’t make for much making?  I mean, I guess…

Wilson Fisk, better known as Kingpin, isn’t historically the most toyetic character.  He’s a chubby guy in a suit.  Doesn’t scream fun.  But, he’s an important character, both to Spider-Man and Daredevil, and is definitely one of the Marvel universe’s best villains, so he gets his toy due from time to time.  The advent of Build-A-Figures, especially in their current incarnation, is well suited to his sort of character, making him a natural choice for the latest round of Marvel Legends.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Kingpin is the eponymous Build-A-Figure for the Kingpin Series of Marvel Legends.  Believe it or not, this isn’t his first time as a Legend; Toy Biz released a figure if him (as well as a variant version) alongside Daredevil in their “Face Off” sub-line from 2006.  That figure is still considered one of Toy Biz’s finest, but I think an update was certainly needed.  The figure stands 7 1/4 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  He’s sporting an all-new sculpt, which is really to be expected.  How many guys have Wilson Fisk’s physique? Given Hasbro’s propensity for re-use, I imagine we’ll be seeing at least some of these parts crop up again, though the whole body getting a re-use seems unlikely.  Regardless of re-use potential, there’s no denying that this is a well-crafted sculpt.  The suit is nicely defined and very sharply tailored, and the articulation is fairly cleanly worked in.  Impressively, the articulation is still quite functional; obviously, his design restricts movement a little bit more than smaller figures, but for him it’s all very useful.  There are two different heads included for the figure, depicting Kingpin in his two best known moods: calm and raging.  Both heads are nicely defined, and open the figure up to a great variety of posing options.  The calmer head is my personal favorite of the two, but I definitely like both of them a lot, and I appreciate how consistent the features are between them; these are very clearly the same guy.  The paintwork on Kingpin is basic, but very well implemented.  The application is clean, and the white and black look shows a nice contrast.  He doesn’t have the wacky purple pants that I’ve become accustomed to, but he’s clearly a more modern take on the character.  Purple pants just won’t do anymore.  In addition to the extra head, Kingpin also has his diamond-topped cane.  He has a little trouble securely holding it, but it does look really nice when balanced between his hand and the floor.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Without a doubt, Kingpin was the selling point for this whole assortment of Legends.  I never got the Face-Off release, and I’ve been wanting a good representation of Fisk in my collection.  The individual figures we’re pulling me in when they were shown off, but as soon as I saw this guy, I knew I was in fore a whole set.  He did not disappoint, and he’s definitely put the 2019 Build-A-Figures off to a great start.

In a similar fashion to the Venom Series from last year, this line-up has been an odd one for me.  There were no clear-cut standouts like there have been in prior sets, and I can’t really put my finger on any of them as being “must-have” (apart from the BaF, of course).  That said, with the exception of the Red Goblin figure, I was pleasantly surprised by every figure in this assortment.  I may not have wanted them at the start, but Hasbro sure made me glad I got them all.  If you’re interested in getting a set of your own, all seven of the single figures are still in-stock at All Time Toys’ webstore.  And, as always, if you’re looking for other toys both old and new, please check out All Time’s website and their eBay storefront.

#1927: Red Goblin

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

RED GOBLIN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“When Norman Osborn merges with the Carnage symbiote, he becomes the villainous Red Goblin.”

Since Norman Osborn’s return to life at the end of “The Clone Saga,” there’s been some confusion about what to do with the character.  His goblin mantle had been filled in his absence by both his son Harry and the mysterious (or at least very illusive) Hobgoblin.  While he has returned to the Green Goblin a few times, there always seems to be something of a caveat to its presence.  He’s also taken on other identities, serving for a time as Marvel’s answer to Lex Luthor, a ruthless business man with no true secret identity, then as a twisted “savior” as the Iron Patriot, and then finally as the leader of an army as the Goblin King.  His latest identity, born from the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #799, is that of the Red Goblin.  Red Goblin is about as clear-cut an example of escalation is serialized fiction as you can get.  He’s the combination of Spider-Man’s greatest foe, Norman Osborn, with the deadlier, more un-hinged spawn of another of his greatest foes, Venom, all in a dark reflection of Spidey’s own time as host to the Venom symbiote.  Hey, when you get to issue #800, you kinda have to pull out all the stops, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Red Goblin is figure 6 in the Kingpin Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s the final single-packed figure in the assortment, and the only of the individuals to be a clear-cut villain.  He also marks the second quickest turnaround from page to plastic in this assortment, being beaten out only by the Symbiote Spider-Man created to stop him in #800.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and has 32 points of articulation.  Like the last version of Norman, Red Goblin is built on the Bucky Cap body.  He makes use of Carnage’s tendril-ridden lower arms and legs, as well as his tendril back-pack piece, a sensible bit of re-use, since it’s the same symbiote and all.  He also uses Superior Venom’s feet and 2099‘s hands for properly clawed appendages.  Red Goblin is topped off with a brand-new head sculpt and a tail that’s been stuck to the back of the basic Bucky Cap pelvis.  The Red Goblin design is one that’s very dependent on specific lighting and a fluidity to the design, and because of this, it’s a design that’s not ideal for translation to toy form.  This is evident in the sculpt, and how it looks when viewed from most angles.  The head looks downright comical when viewed straight-on, like an old toothless man.  Also, as versatile as the Bucky Cap body tends to be, I wouldn’t say it really lends itself to “fluid”.  It’s a more realistic, balanced physique, so you throw a cartoony looking head on there and the head just looks even more cartoony.  Not helping matters is the tail, which is a big, solid chunk of unmoving plastic.  I can kind of understand Hasbro’s hesitance to do bendable appendages, with the long term issues that can plague them and all, but on a figure like this, it’s really limiting his play value, and ends up looking downright silly just sitting there in the exact same pose no matter what you do with him.  Furthering the issues with translating the design into three dimensions?  The paint.  They tried.  They really did.  They’re clearly taking a page out of the Carnage playbook with how they handled this, but it just doesn’t work as well with this particular design.  The black sections just look kind of random and blotchy, and there’s too much un-broken red between them to make it look convincingly like the symbiote is in motion.  The hands and feet being solid black also looks goofy, because it kind of looks like he’s running around with opera gloves and some toe-socks.  It’s undoubtedly too clean and too collected, and, again, it just ends up looking comical.  Maybe he’d look better molded in slightly translucent plastic?  Or something with various colors injected in?  It’d be an inconsistent effect to be sure, but I think that would only further help the figure.  He just needed something better than all the solid colors we see here.  Red Goblin is a rather sparsely packed figure, with only a single Carnage-infused pumpkin bomb.  No glider, which seems kind of criminal with any Goblin figure.  He’s also packed with the right leg of Kingpin, which is, without a doubt, the best thing he’s got going for him.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve long felt that Norman Osborn was the sort of character that was better off dead.  Apart from a few decent stories here and there (the Goblin King angle was one I liked), he’s felt like he’s sort of out of place.  I appreciate the Red Goblin concept for what it is, but I can’t say I was that invested in it, nor was I that crazy for a figure of the design.  Having the figure in hand, my feelings really haven’t changed.  He just doesn’t work as a toy, and I struggle to find much to like about him.  I appreciate their attempt to be timely with this release, and he pairs off alright with the Symbiote Spider-Man, but he’s ultimately just not very well-made, and a very clear weak point in the assortment.

Red Goblin was purchased from my friends at All Time Toys.  He’s currently in-stock at their webstore.  If your looking for other Legends or other toys both old and new, please check out All Time’s website and their eBay storefront.

#1926: Silver Sable

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

SILVER SABLE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Fearless mercenary Silver Sable makes her mark as a skilled martial artist and lethal sharpshooter.”

This latest assortment of Legends is just hitting straight at a lot of my Marvel Comics blind-spots, you know that?  Today’s focus, Silver Sable (or, if you want to go by her real name, Silver Sablinova, because, hey, Blackagar Boltagon wasn’t bad enough), is a character I’m again not so well-versed with.  She comes from the same period of comics as Puma (their first appearances were less than a year apart, and they were from the same creative team), which is to say a period I’ve never sat down and read myself.  I’m a little more familiar with Ms. Sablinova, due to her prominent appearances during Dan Slott’s run on Spider-Man.  That, and the toys, which she’s gotten three of.  Today, I look at the most recent.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Silver Sable is figure 5 in the Kingpin Series of Marvel Legends.  She’s another Legends debut, like Puma and Night Thrasher before her.  She’s also our second white-haired femme fatale in this line-up after Black Cat, which is somewhat amusing.  Rumor has it, the two of them were actually in the line-up because of the proposed team-up movie Sony decided to shelve.  Sable’s look changed rather drastically after her original appearance, but since then she’s moved into a more consistent appearance, which is the one we see here.  This figure seems to draw from some of her more modern appearances, as denoted by her lack of fancy buccaneer boots, and the fact that she’s not super shiny and chrome.  A missed opportunity if you ask me.  Anyway, the figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  She’s built on the Phoenix body, which has become Hasbro’s favorite female base.  For good reason, really.  It’s fairly versatile, and it poses pretty well.  I still think the legs are a bit skinny, but it looks reasonable for Sable.  She re-uses the shoulder strap, belt, and thigh pouch add-ons from the Lady Deadpool figure.  As with the Lady Deadpool figure, I really find myself wishing those thigh straps were somehow affixed to the legs, because they fall down a lot, but beyond that, the re-use works pretty well.  She also re-uses Kitty Pryde’s forearms, for some more noticeable cuffs to her gloves, and the hands from Black Widow, so that she can better hold her weapons.  It’s all topped off with a new head sculpt.  At first glance, the head looks a touch too large for the body, but after playing around with the figure and putting her into some better poses than how she was packaged, I didn’t find the proportions to look all that bad.  Sable’s paintwork is decently handled, but not without some issues.  The slight variations in the silver actually work pretty well, and provide a much greater contrast than I’d been expecting.  Unfortunately, Hasbro seems to have had some trouble with keeping the colors consistent from piece to piece, so the bluer silver in particular changes tones as it moves down the legs, to the point that the distinction between the boots and the rest of the leg is almost impossible to see.  Silver is a difficult color to work with, so I think Hasbro did the best they could.  The paint on the the head is particularly nice, with the face being quite clean, and very lively.  Silver Sable is packed with the two blaster-style weapons we saw with Domino and Casual Deadpool, but this time in a dark grey.  There have been some complaints about them cropping up again here, but, if I’m honest, I think Sable’s the character who looks best with them, so I don’t mind them.  Sable is also packed with the left arm of Kingpin.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Silver Sable continued the trend of figures in this line-up that I didn’t really feel like I needed. That being said, I liked the look of her well enough, and I was definitely going to finish that Kingpin figure.  And, as seems to be the other continuing trend of this line-up, she exceeded my expectations and is a solid addition to the Legends line-up.  If nothing else, she’ll provide an adequate body for the Lilandra head that’s being packed in with the upcoming Mystique figure.

I picked up Silver Sable from All Time Toys, who helped me get this whole set to review.  She’s currently in-stock at their webstore.  If your looking for other Legends or other toys both old and new, please check out All Time’s website and their eBay storefront.

#1925: Night Thrasher

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

NIGHT THRASHER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“The founder of the New Warriors, Dwayne Taylor is a martial arts master clad in a special combat suit.”

Night Thrasher!  He’s the Thrasher what thrashes at Night! Yeah…that’s all I got.  The New Warriors are a team I can definitely appreciate as a team, made up of characters I definitely won’t turn down as action figures, but I can’t say I know too much about any of them, Night Thrasher included.  As the bio notes, he’s the team founder, and was one of the active members during the team’s ill-fated mission that kicked off the events of Civil War, leading to his death.  But it’s comics, so that didn’t really stick.  Now he’s got an action figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Night Thrasher is figure 4 in the Kingpin Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s not the first New Warrior we’ve gotten, but Nova and Darkhawk were far more modern than he is, so he’s definitely the first one to really commit to it.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall an he has 32 points of articulation.  Night Thrasher’s built on the Bucky Cap body, though like a good number of the recent figures to be built on it, he’s mostly built out of adjacent parts.  The only true Bucky Cap parts are the upper legs and pelvis.  He also makes use of Beetle’s torso, and Taskmaster’s arms and lower legs, as well as a brand-new head sculpt and add-ons for his belt and the bandanna on his leg.  The Beetle and Taskmaster pieces are inspired choices for the figure, and actually end up being quite close to Night Thrasher’s typical comics get-up.  It’s also nice to see them turn up again, since they hadn’t really shown up since their first use.  The new head is a good translation of Night Thrasher’s distinctive helmet from the comics, and is made with a few different parts glued together, allowing for some proper depth to the design.  The belt is interesting, because at first glance it’s identical to the one used on Puma.  However, Puma’s belt has an extra detail stamped on the front that Night Thrasher lacks, meaning they aren’t just the same mold.  I’m genuinely amazed that Hasbro didn’t just use paint to differentiate the two.  Whatever the case, it’s a nice belt.  The one piece I’m not super crazy about is that bandana on his leg, because it never wants to stay in place, and just generally gets to be rather annoying when posing the figure.  Night Thrasher’s paintwork is pretty solid, and not quite as simple as it might look at first glance.  The finish on the black sections of the costume is different depending on if it’s supposed to be armor or cloth, which keeps him from being too one-and-done.  The red sections are suitably eye-catching, and the use of accenting helps to highlight all the nice sculpted details in his belt.  Night Thrasher is the best accessorized figure in the set.  It starts off with the a re-use of those same batons we’ve gotten so many times prior, but they’re made more awesome by the inclusion of a back-pack to mount them on (the back-pack also conveniently covers the wing ports from the Beetle torso).  He’s also got his skateboard, which is a pretty awesome piece in its own right, and can also be stowed on his back when he’s not using it.  I really appreciate his ability to keep all of his accessories on him.  It makes him feel like a more complete package on the shelf.  Lastly, he comes with the left leg of Kingpin.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Despite not being overly familiar with the character, Night Thrasher was one of the figures I was most looking forward to from this set.  Something about his design just seems so inherently toy-etic.  Hasbro did a really good job on this guy, and wisely balanced new and old parts to make a very unique feeling figure.  I foresee this guy being a real fan-favorite.

Night Thrasher from my friends at All Time Toys.  He’s currently in-stock at their webstore.  If your looking for other Legends or other toys both old and new, please check out All Time’s website and their eBay storefront.

#1924: Symbiote Spider-Man

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

SYMBIOTE SPIDER-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“The Venom symbiote gives Peter Parker a black suit with special, enhanced powers.”

After a long hiatus from the line, Spider-Man’s distinctive symbiotic black costume re-appeared in Legends back in early 2017.  That figure was a pretty straight forward “classic” symbiote Spidey, which I guess left the door open for a *less* classic symbiote Spidey?  And wouldn’t you know it?  Dan Slott and Staurt Immomen were kind enough to provide Hasbro with a variant of the symbiote right in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man.  In one of the fastest turnarounds from page to plastic, here’s the newest Symbiote Spider-Man!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Symbiote Spider-Man is figure 3 in the Kingpin Series of Marvel Legends, as the second Spidey variant in the assortment.  This one’s just got the normal number of arms.  He’s based on SPider-Man’s appearance from the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #800, where Peter is forced to re-bond with the Venom symbiote in order to defeat the Red Goblin (more on him later in the week).  It takes the classic black costume, and adds a bunch of minor tweaks.  Some work, some don’t.  I like the re-worked version of the logo, and I don’t hate the claw hands, but I’m still not sold on the monster feet, and especially not sold on the eyes.  He looks like he’s wearing some form of funky eye-wear, and it feels like it’s needlessly breaking up an otherwise streamlined design.  All that said, I’ve certainly seen worse designs, and there’s good reason to include him in this line-up (again, more on that later in the week).  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. Unlike the other Spidey in this set, Symbiote Spider-Man sticks to the formula of the last few years, and is built on the Pizza Spidey body.  He gets the clawed 2099 hands and the monster feet from Superior Venom, with a brand-new head to top the whole thing off.  If nothing else, the whole thing is faithful to the comics design.  The new head is a fairly nice sculpt.  The eyes still bug me, and the fact that they stick out the way they do means that there’s some potential for them to be bent in the package.  Fortunately, they’re a soft enough plastic that you can reshape them with a bit of heat if its an issue.  Beyond the eyes, though, I really like the shaping of this head, especially how you can see Peter’s nose beneath the mask.  I wouldn’t mind seeing a version of this sculpt without the eyes; it would make for a cool basic Spidey head, I think.  Symbiote Spidey’s paintwork is pretty simple, molded black plastic with white detailing.  It’s the usual for this design.  The white for his symbol is a little sloppy in some spots, but he’s overall a solid effort. Spidey’s packed with a spare set of hands in fists, as well as both heads to the Kingpin Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: I wasn’t really that interested in getting this guy initially.  Yeah, with the standard Symbiote look covered, I wasn’t hurting for another version of it, so I wasn’t sure about this guy, especially with some of those weird design elements.  The desire to get that Kingpin figure really drove this one.  I didn’t expect much, but I was actually quite surprised, and I find myself really liking this figure.  Yes, those eyes still bug me, but he’s a fun toy nonetheless.

I bought Spidey from my friends at All Time Toys, who were kind enough to set me up with this whole set to review.  He’s currently in-stock at their webstore.  If your looking for other Legends or other toys both old and new, please check out All Time’s website and their eBay storefront.

#1923: Puma

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

PUMA

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“The genetically engineered Thomas Fireheart can transform himself into a half-mountain-lion, half human known as Puma.”

Hey, it’s Puma!  You know, Puma!  That guy with the…Puma…thing.  I mean, like, as the bio up there states, he technically turns into a half-mountain-lion, but I guess “Half-Mountain-Lion Man” just isn’t nearly as catchy.  Probably would make him easier to Google, though.  Like yesterday’s focus, Black Cat, Puma is another character that began his career as a Spider-Man foe, before ultimately becoming an ally to the webslinger.  Though he’s never been a super prominent character, nor has he had much luck in the toy world (his only prior figure was a Super Hero Squad release, and counting those as figures is dubious at best), he’s got a decent fanbase, and has been a rumored addition to the Legends line for a little while now.  And here he finally is!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Puma is figure 2 in the Kingpin Series of Marvel Legends, where he’s one of two characters making their proper figure debut.  He’s seen here in what would I would definitely classify as Puma’s classic appearance, since it’s the one he spent the most time in.  And if you’re finally going to release a character like Puma, you should probably make the costume choice count, right?  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Puma uses the Spider-UK body as a starting point, and mixes in the arms and feet of Jackal.  I’d imagine the ability to re-use those Jackal pieces played a large role in getting Puma made, since he’s the first figure to re-use them.  Puma also borrows Black Panther’s necklace, and gets a new head, and add-ons for his arm band, belt, and the fur on his lower legs.  The new pieces generally mesh pretty well with the old, and make for a rather respectable representation of the character.  The head in particular is a very well-detailed, very expressive offering, and is rather similar to the quite impressive Sabertooth head sculpt from last year.  If I have one complaint, it’s with the torso.  The design of Puma’s costume means that the sides of his torso are exposed.  However, since the figure’s still using the UK torso, the exposed sections not only lack the fur texturing of the arms, but also have the folds of the cloth showing on them as well.  It’s fortunately a small area of the figure, and not terribly noticeable depending on the using of the arms, but it did strike me as slightly odd.  The paintwork on Puma is mostly pretty solid.  Application is clean, and the colors are well chosen to represent the character.  There’s a slight mismatch between the arms and the exposed section of the torso, but that’s actually not the worst thing, as it sort of makes it look like the orange sections are part of the costume, which keeps the previously mentioned issue with the sculpt from looking quite so odd.  I was happy to see the addition of some accent work on the furrier parts of Puma’s sculpt; it helps to prevent the figure from looking too bland.  Puma’s only accessory is the torso of Kingpin.  It’s sizable, so he doesn’t feel too light, but I can’t help but wish we’d gotten an extra, less intense head for Puma.  As it stands, posing options are slightly limited.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Puma’s not ever been much of a favorite or anything.  I certainly don’t dislike the character, but I can’t say I find him all that notable.  So, his announcement for this series didn’t catch me.  I mostly bought him for the Kingpin piece.  That said, like Black Cat, he’s another solid toy, and I can appreciate the fact that we’ve finally got Puma.  If I can get my Batroc the Leaper, it’s only fair that the Puma fans out there have this guy.

I purchased Puma from my friends at All Time Toys, who were kind enough to set me up with this whole set to review.  He’s currently in-stock at their webstore.  If your looking for other Legends or other toys both old and new, please check out All Time’s website and their eBay storefront.

#1922: Black Cat

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

BLACK CAT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Sometimes Spider-Man’s ally and sometimes his enemy, Felicia Hardy prowls the city as the Black Cat.”

Introduced in 1979, Black Cat is Spider-Man’s equivalent to Catwoman, a foe with whom he had a fair bit of romantic tension, which eventually led to her being less than a foe.  That is, until Peter’s mind was overwritten by Doctor Octopus, and Otto used Felicia’s skills to his advantage before dumping her off with nearest authorities and she swore vengeance against him, leading to her becoming one of New York’s biggest crime lords, all because she didn’t know it wasn’t really Peter in there at the time.  Comics everybody!  Black Cat is a common choice for Spidey-centric toylines, and her latest costume update from the comics has made for an easy transition into more toys, as is the case with today’s offering!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Black Cat is officially figure #1 in the Kingpin Series of Marvel Legends (since Six-Armed Spidey isn’t actually numbered).  She’s based on Felicia’s post-Superior Spider-Man costume, when she was working to become an established crimelord.  It keeps a lot of common elements from prior costumes, but is decidedly heavier on the black sections.  I don’t hate the design, but I’m not huge on the weird cat eyes near her shoulders.  They look sort of off.  Still, it’s a fairly recent look, and it got some solid coverage, so there are certainly worse choices.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Black Cat is built on the catsuited body from the Legendary Riders Widow figure.  I liked that one a fair bit, and it definitely makes a lot of sense here.  She gets a new head, collar, belt, and fur add-ons for her arms and legs.  She also borrows the clawed hands from her prior Legends release, which I suppose is good for consistency.  The new head is a decent enough piece.  I don’t like it quite as much as the last one overall, but I do appreciate Hasbro trying something with the less stoic expression.  I also like that they sculpted her missing tooth, since that’s an important detail from her downfall in the comics.  The fur pieces work about as well as sculpted fur ever does, but they certainly don’t look bad.  The belt’s alright on its own, but it’s a little annoying that it’s not removable, making the included whip piece a little questionable, since they’re actually supposed to be one and the same.  Black Cat’s paintwork is pretty simple and straightforward, but also very clean, which is always a plus.  The lack of the odd blue wash on her hair is certainly a welcome change.  The Cat is included with the previously mentioned whip piece, which is of course a little problematic when taking the belt into account, but is otherwise a decent piece.  She is also packed with the right arm and cane for Kingpin.  Including the cane with Felicia’s an especially smart move, since it can easily work as a piece of loot for her, should you not choose to complete the Build-A-Figure!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was pretty happy with the first modern Legends Black Cat, and am not really enough of a fan of the character that I was really looking to replace her.  So, this figure’s announcement didn’t exactly do a lot for me, nor can I really say I had my opinion of her changed all that much by getting her in hand.  The last figure’s still my preferred version to be sure.  That being said, this Black Cat is still a solid figure in its own right, and for anyone unable to get the last one (which was quite a few people; she was kind of hard to get for a while there), this one’s a more than serviceable replacement.

I purchased Black Cat from my friends at All Time Toys, who set me up with this whole set to review.  While she’s not currently still in-stock at their webstore, they should be getting in some more sets soon.  If your looking for other Legends or other toys both old and new, please check out All Time’s website and their eBay storefront.

#1921: Spider-Man – Six-Arms

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

SPIDER-MAN — SIX ARMS

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Hoping to cure his spider powers, Peter Parker drinks a special mixture and wakes up with four extra arms.”

Let that be a lesson to you kids: if you drink special mixtures, you might just wake up one day with four extra arms.  And then what are you gonna do?  Hide your four arms in your pants when your Aunt May comes around?  Doesn’t that sound awkward?  It sure does!  The message is clear: don’t drink strange mixtures!

Vague sort of PSA thing aside, the six-armed variant of Spider-Man is something of a classic one.  First introduced in the comics in the ‘70s, and then brought to a new audience courtesy of the ‘90s cartoon, the Six-Armed Spider-Man asks a pretty simple question: what if Spidey had eight limbs, you know, like a spider?  The answer is, unsurprisingly, extra toys to sell.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Man is the first figure in the Kingpin Series of Marvel Legends, the first Spidey-themed assortment of 2019.  He’s one of two Spidey variants, and definitely the most classic figure in the line-up.  He’s also the only one you don’t need to complete the Kingpin figure, but let’s not hold that against him.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has a whopping 58 points of articulation.  All those extra arms are certainly good for something.  Of course, it’s a bit of give and take on the articulation.  Though all of the arms sport the standard articulation, the figure’s torso lacks any sort of movement.  While I can understand the complexities of getting a working ab-crunch in with all of the arms, the lack of a waist joint seems particularly egregious.  There’s no practical reason for that joint to be missing, so I can only assume it was a cost saving choice.   Fortunately, the rest of the figure is able to somewhat pick up the slack, and ultimately the lost posability doesn’t hold the figure back *too much*.  This Spider-Man breaks from the last several mainline variants of Peter by being built on a body other than the Pizza Spidey body.  Upon first glance, I thought he might be an all-new sculpt, but a little bit of double-checking shows that he’s actually re-using the vast majority of the ASM2-based Spider-Man from the Ultimate Green Goblin assortment.  The figure was well-regarded when it was new, and a lot of people were content to have it as their standard comic Spidey, but with the introduction of Pizza Spidey the next year, the ASM2 mold was kind of abandoned.  That makes its use here somewhat odd.  I can only guess it’s one of two things.  Either they developed this figure shortly after the ASM2 figure’s release, before it was clear the ASM2 aesthetics were going to be dropped, and just sat on the mold for a while, or they opted for this mold because of its sculpted weblines, allowing for another bit of cost-cutting.  I’m leaning more towards the latter.  Whatever the reason, it means this sculpt doesn’t quite jibe with the rest of our Spidey variants, much like last year’s Spider-Ham.  I will say that at least the weblines are recessed on this sculpt (in contrast to the raised ones on Spider-Ham), so at least giving him painted weblines on your own won’t be quite as hard.  He does also benefit from the ASM2 figure just being a good figure in its own right, and by extension making this one very playable himself.  Even the newly sculpted torso and arms are pretty solid, with the detailing on the torso matching well with the rest of the figure, and the layout of his arms being such that he can actually let them rest pretty well by his sides.  I was anticipating it would be a lot harder to work with them than that.  I was also pleasantly surprised to find that the shoulders on the extra arms have sculpted torn sleeves; I expected those to just be painted on.  The paintwork on Spidey is fine.  It’s clean.  It’s bright.  It’s missing the weblines, of course, but I knew that going in. I’m still frustrated by those red pegs on the underside of his arms.  Certainly there’s some sort of fix they can come up with for that, isn’t there?  Spidey is packed with no accessories.  At the very least, I would have liked to see some extra hands.  At least with all the arms in the package, he doesn’t look too light.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m gonna be honest, I was prepared to hate this figure.  After being so letdown by the Spider-Ham figure, I saw a lot of the same flaws on this one when its prototype was shown off.  I mostly just bought him because I was getting the whole set.  Then I actually opened him up and played with him a bit, and I realized I really didn’t hate the figure at all.  Sure, there are some definite issues.  I don’t like seeing the articulation cut, and I hope the unpainted weblines aren’t a trend that continues.  Beyond that, though, I found this figure to be a lot of fun.

Six-Arm Spider-Man was purchased from All Time Toys, who got me this whole set to review.  He’s currently still in-stock at their webstore.  And, as always, if your looking for other Legends or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.