Tag Archives: Marvel Legends

#2598: Captain America – Stealth

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA — STEALTH

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Injected with an experimental Super-Soldier Serum, Steve Rogers has the peak potential of strength, endurance, and dexterity.”

It’s become a surprisingly recurrent thing for Captain America to wear a stealth variant of his regular uniform, just across the board.  I guess there’s just an innate desire to take him out of the bright colors, and perhaps remove him just a touch from being too overly patriotic.  Or maybe it’s just because black is cool, and we like getting cool things, and I’m reading too much into what is at its core a very simple way of getting another use out of a Captain America mold.  That seems to have been the primary motivation between today’s figure.  Does it work out?  Let’s jump in and find out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Stealth Captain America is the final single release figure in the Joe Fixit Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s another game-inspired figure, like yesterday’s Iron Man.  His purpose is fairly cut and dry, I suppose: re-use the standard Gamerverse Cap molds again.  That he does, which means, like that figure, he stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  It’s honestly not a terrible sculpt.  Obviously, it’s going to be rather informed by your personal preferences on the game’s main Cap design.  But, as an adaptation of that design, and just as a figure in general, it’s certainly a solid offering.  The first big difference here is the color work.  The standard look already subdued the usual Cap color scheme, but this one takes things even further, subduing to purely black and white…well, black and rather light grey.  It’s honestly not a bad look, and it’s even got a bit more pop to it than the standard colors.  It honestly feels a little more suited to this particular sculpt, and has sort of a US Agent feel to it, which honestly gives a bit more of a practical purpose, at least as far as my collection is concerned.  It’s worth noting that the application of the paint is also a little better here than it was on the standard version.  That figure wasn’t bad, but notably his face paint was a little bit grey.  This time it’s a little more lively, which looks far better.  It’s a little sloppy on the edges of the mask, but otherwise looks pretty solid.  The area where this figure really improves things from the last one is the accessories.  Standard Cap had his shield and literally nothing else.  This one gets that same shield, plus two sets of hands this time (one gripping, the other fists, giving us two complete sets of the one and one pair from the prior figure), an unmasked head, and the left arm of Joe Fixit.  In my review of the standard figure, I lamented that he didn’t come with an extra head or hands, so them being here certainly helps.  It also helps that I really like the unmasked head.  It’s not quite scaled correctly to the body, but it looks really good on the 80th Cap, so that’s probably where mine will end up staying.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t quite as against the last Cap as some collectors, but I could certainly see his shortcomings.  When another Cap was confirmed for this line-up, even I was less than thrilled, especially with it being something that feels like such a lazy repaint.  Ultimately, this figure is better than the last one in every facet, and is honestly just a pretty fun figure in his own right.  The biggest issue, is that he retroactively makes the last one even more pointless than he already was.  These two figures definitely should have been condensed into one.

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

#2597: Iron Man – Atmosphere Armor

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

IRON MAN — ATMOSPHERE ARMOR

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Tony Stark developed his cutting-edge Atmosphere Armor to defend the world against catastrophic threats.”

The latest round of Avengers-themed Marvel Legends are *technically* supposed to be themed around Square Enix’s Avengers game from earlier in the year, much like its predecessor from back in May.  While that assortment was a 50/50 split between game and comics, mirroring how movie themed assortments tend to work as well, the second line-up is a lot less influenced, with only two of the standard release figures coming from the game.  Said figures are also both variants of prior figures from the last assortment, making their overall impact feel even more lessened.  I’m taking a look at the first of these two today, starting with an Iron Man variant!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Atmosphere Armor Iron Man is the fifth figure in the Joe Fixit Series of Marvel Legends.  He follows the first Gamerverse Iron Man from the Abomination Series earlier this year, though he’s obviously a slightly more specialized armor choice than the first figure.  This one’s a space-themed armor, in line with the Gemini Starboost armor from Iron Man 3 (and also the same game as this one).  It’s got a lot of common design elements shared with the standard Iron Man figure, which makes sense, and keeps a cohesive thing going.  In general, I do like this design a little bit more than the standard armor, if perhaps just because it’s actually got a purpose outside of just being different.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  The movement style on this figure is very similar to that of the first Gamerverse figure, which is to say it’s a little bit stiff and restrictive.  On the plus side, this makes a bit more sense for this design, given its slightly bulked up appearance.  I’m still not a fan of the crunch joint instead of a ball joint for the torso articulation, but at least I knew it was coming this time.  In terms of construction, this figure’s entire sculpt was released previously as the Target-exclusive Starboost figure.  From what I’ve been able to find, these two are supposed to essentially be the same model, so I guess that’s accurate.  I also didn’t pick up the Starboost figure, so a lot of this is new to me.  It’s not all new, of course, by virtue of Starboost sharing his head, biceps, lower torso, pelvis, and upper legs with the standard Iron Man.  Again, this is sensible from a consistency stand point, and I actually find the head bugs me less with this new design, so I’m down for it.  The paint scheme marks a greater departure from the usual Iron Man palette, swapping the red and gold for blue and silver.  I dig it.  It’s unique and again helps to sell him as a more credible variant than the prior figure.  This one’s just drastically different, and that’s nice for the growing hall of armors we’ve got going right now.  Atmosphere Armor Iron Man’s accessory selection’s not bad.  He drops the prior figure’s blast effects, but I’ve honestly got plenty of those at this point anyway.  In their place, he gets a new unhelmeted Tony Stark head, which is pretty decent, if perhaps not my go-to Tony appearance.  It’s also not quite compatible with the standard armor body, which feels like a missed opportunity.  Atmo Iron Man also gets the same two sets of hands as the prior figure, as well as the right arm for the Joe Fixit Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Gamerverse portion of the last Avengers assortment wasn’t really the star point, so I wasn’t feeling a powerful need for more of them.  They seemed kind of inevitable, of course, so I was bracing myself for whatever we might end up getting.  Ultimately, I was rather middled by the standard Iron Man, but this one stands a bit more on his own, largely by virtue of there being less to compare him to.  Sure, he’s not my favorite Iron Man by any stretch, nor is he even a contender for my favorite figure from this series, but he’s perfectly enjoyable for what he is.

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

#2594: Thunderstrike

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

THUNDERSTRIKE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Kevin Masterson follows in the noble footsteps of his idol Thor—because the world still needs heroes.”

After Walt Simonson’s run on Thor cemented the concept of someone other than the God of Thunder himself (or Don Blake, his usual alter ego) being able to wield the power of Mjolnir, passing the hammer onto other wielders became a recurring feature.  Not terribly long after Simonson’s run ended, Eric Masterson was introduced as a supporting player in Thor.  He was then promoted from supporting player to alter ego for Thor, then just to being Thor proper for a time, and then eventually was given his own, separate identity as Thunderstrike.  Eric’s story ultimately ended with his demise, and eventually his hammer was passed onto his son, Kevin, who took up the identity for himself.  Thunderstrike’s an intriguing alternate to Thor, and makes for a good figure to fill that “Thor” slot in an assortment, which is just what he’s doing here.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Thunderstrike is the fourth figure in the Joe Fixit Series of Marvel Legends, and also the final of the comics-based figures in the assortment.  This marks Thunderstrike’s first time getting the Legends treatment, although Hasbro’s done him before in their 3.75″ line.  In stark contrast to the name attached to the bio, this Thunderstrike is very definitely Eric’s version of the character, not his son Kevin.  Clearly somebody didn’t double check the wiki there.  It’s perfectly alright, however, because Eric is certainly the more logical choice for inclusion, given he’s the one everyone thinks of when they hear the name.  The figure stands 7 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  Thunderstrike makes use of a surprising amount of new parts.  At first glance I’d expected him to be fairly heavy on the re-use, but on the final product the only re-used parts are the arms (which are from the 80th Thor), and the vest (which is from Rage, a parts share that existed in the smaller line as well).  Everything else is new.  It crafts a pretty spot-on recreation of the character’s design from the comics, for what that’s worth.  It’s…not the greatest design, but it’s certainly very indicative of the time it hails from, so I guess there’s that.  The ball joint for the mid torso certainly works out well, and looks better aesthetically as well.  The head’s got a rather dynamic flair to it, with a quite intense facial expression.  It’s different, and I do like the change up, but it’s also a touch limiting when it comes to posing him.  At least it’s pretty well suited to the character.  Thunderstrike’s paint work is pretty basic stuff.  The application’s clean, but the brown sections could certainly use some sort of accenting.  As it stands, some of the details get a little bit lost.  Thunderstrike is packed with his hammer of the same name, as well as two different left hands (the same two included with Thor), and the head to Joe Fixit.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Thunderstrike is a character that’s kind always been just outside of my area of interest.  I’ve got nothing against him, but I’ve also got no real attachment to him (hence why I never grabbed his smaller figure, even after seeing it on clearance all over the place).  His inclusion in this set was kind of a middling moment for me, but I can’t say it’s a waste of a space or anything.  He’s at the very least a pretty solid figure, and another rather classic character for the line-up.

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

#2593: Kang

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

KANG

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Born in the 31st-century, Kang employs time travel and hyper-sophisticated technology to conquer all of time.”

Perhaps the Avengers greatest foe (and certainly their most *numerous* foe, at least in terms of identities), Kang the Conqueror has been a thorn in the team’s side since their first year as a team, first appearing in issue #8 of the series, which was coincidentally, two months prior to the appearance of Immortus, his future incarnation, and 11 months after the appearance of Rama-Tut, his past incarnation.  Also 41 years prior to the appearance of Iron Lad, his even past-er incarnation…time travel’s messy.  Though a prominent fixture in the team’s history, he’s never been the most marketable of their enemies, so he’s also not had the most toy coverage.  He’s still done better than Jocasta, of course, with at least one notable release in every major style of Marvel figure.  He’s been in the Legends game once before, and now he’s gotten back into it.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Kang is the third figure in the Joe Fixit Series of Marvel Legends, and is also the third of the four comics-based figures included in the line-up.  As I touched on in the intro, Kang has been included in Legends once before, during Hasbro’s first run with the brand in 2008.  That figure was actually just a re-release of the super rare Fantastic Four Classics Kang Toy Biz put out right before handing over the reigns, but the 2008 version ended up being a really rare exclusive in his own right, making neither version very easy to track down for the average collector (or me, for that matter).  It’s also a mold that’s 14 years old at this point, so it was in need of a replacement.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  Though the articulation count is a bit on the lower side, the range of motion on the joints follows the recent trends of being much improved compared to older figures.  The most impressive joint is definitely the ball-jointed waist, which gives him a lot of possible tweaking to his posing.  It’s a lot of fun to mess with.  Kang is sporting an all-new sculpt, and a quite nice one at that.  It’s undeniably a classic Kang design, and there’s a ton of detail work going on, from the way the tunic “hangs” on the body, to all of the piping and folds on his very, very tall boots.  The head manages to capture Kang’s rather goofy headgear in such a way that’s not totally ridiculous, which is certainly a plus, while also capturing Kang’s stern expression.  It definitely works well.  The paint work on Kang is pretty straight forward stuff.  It’s mostly just base application, and that application’s all pretty cleanly handled.  The color palette is appropriately vibrant, and works well for the character.  Lack of vibrance has actually been a recurring issue on prior Kang figured, so I’m glad it worked out here.  In addition to getting a whole brand new sculpt, Kang’s also got quite a nice selection of extras, including five different hands (R and L fists, R and L open gesture, and L grip), a large futuristic blaster rifle, and the left leg to the Joe Fixit Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Kang’s definitely high on my list of favorite Avengers villains, and I’ve been wanting him in Legends form for a long time.  The last version was never easily found, and as such I never got one.  I’ve been waiting for this one for a while, and I was very pleased to see him crop up in this assortment.  On top of that, he’s really just a top-notch figure.  Everything about him just works very well.  Finally, this Avengers foe has really gotten his toy due!

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

#2592: Jocasta

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

JOCASTA

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Jocasta’s superhuman force fields and electromagnetic beams make her a valuable ally of the Avengers.”

After creating his “son”, The Vision, Avengers foe Ultron set his sights on creating himself a bride.  Being the melodramatic and rather twisted so and so he is, he opted to use the mind of his “mother” Janet Van Dyne, aka The Wasp, for his robot mate.  He dubbed his creation “Jocasta” in reference to Oedipus, and the obvious Oedipal complex that Ultron possessed in reference to his creator Hank Pym.  Jan was able to keep her brain in her own body of course, leaving Jocasta a lifeless husk…at first.  Eight issues after her first appearance, however, she reactivated, with her own personality, one which, like Vision before her, led her to rebel against her creator.  She went on to play a supporting role in the Avengers books for the next couple of decades, tending to hover in the background of most stories.  Recently, she’s actually been getting a bit more focus, with a pretty central role in Dan Slott’s run on Iron Man in particular.  She’s been without a single action figure for the first 43 years of her existence, but, lucky her, that’s just changed!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Jocasta is the second figure in the Joe Fixit Series of Marvel Legends.  She’s another comics-based figure, of course, and is, as noted above, the very first Jocasta figure we’ve ever gotten (something Hasbro very proudly announced when they showed her off).  Jocasta’s look has been fairly consistent over the years, but this figure goes for the most classic aspects of the character.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Jocasta is built on the Moonstone body, which is one of the oldest bases still in Hasbro’s parts library (only Bucky Cap and Hyperion are older).  Compared to more recent additions to the line, it’s a bit limited in terms of posability and range of motion, as well as having slightly wonkier proportions compared to newer stuff.  In terms of build, it’s not exactly a pitch perfect match for Jocasta, so why exactly it was chosen for this figure is kind of up in the air.  It’s not bad, but I’d personally have preferred to see the use something more recent.  I guess they don’t want too many figures in a short span of time being built on the Phoenix body, though.  To help liven things up, she gets a new head, torso, pelvis, and an add-on for the thigh “garter.”  The new parts are pretty decently handled, with the head in particular being a solid recreation of her classic comics design.  The torso’s an improvement on the standard Moonstone parts, but is somewhat hampered bu having to deal with the older arms and legs.  In terms of paint, Jocasta’s a lot of silver, which is accurate, of course.  They’ve at least actually given her a two-toned set up, which keeps things somewhat interesting.  The darker color’s molded, while the lighter is painted.  It works pretty well.  Jocasta is packed with two sets of hands, one in fists, and one in open gesture, as well as the torso of the Joe Fixit Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Jocasta and Machine Man are one of my favorite little obscure odd-ball pairings, and have been for some time.  Back in the Toy Biz Legends days, I assembled my own custom Machine Man (which I mentioned when I reviewed Hasbro’s take on him), and I had the parts picked out for a Jocasta, though I never did get around to finishing her.  Ever since getting Aaron in an official capacity, I’ve been hoping for a Jocasta to go along with him, and that’s only increased as her role in the comics has grown.  While the base body choice is still questionable, she’s certainly a serviceable figure, and at this point I’m just happy to have her in any sort of figure form at all!

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

#2591: Falcon

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

FALCON

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Sam Wilson soars through the skies dispensing justice and restoring faith in humanity.”

Introduced in 1969’s Captain America #117, Sam Wilson, aka the Falcon, has the notoriety of being the first African American super hero in mainstream comics.  Since his introduction, he’s been an on and off fixture of the Marvel Universe, and he’s become especially prominent in the last few years, thanks in no small part to Anthony Mackie’s portrayal of the character in the MCU.  It’s been a little bit of time since we got a proper comics Falcon in figure form from Hasbro, but they’re coming back in for the save on the latest round of Marvel Legends, with a figure I’m taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Falcon is the first figure from the Joe Fixit Series of Marvel Legends, which is the second of this year’s Avengers-themed assortments.  He’s one of the four comics-based figures in the assortment, and marks our first comic Falcon since back in the Toy Biz days in 2006.  That release had classic and modern (at the time) variants available, where as this one goes for Sam’s design from around the Brubaker era of the comics.  It’s become a go-to for his costume in various merchandising outlets, and is certainly far less dated than a lot of his costume designs, so it’s certainly a solid choice.  The figure is 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Falcon is built on the 2099 body, a strong starting point for the character given his usual build in the comics, and a good core body in general.  He also re-uses the recent comic-style Vulture wings from earlier this year.  There’s also a new set of arms to allow for proper connection of said wings, as well as a new head and feet.  The Vulture wings are still that wonky “fully detailed on one side, not at all on the other” set-up, but that’s at least less of an issue with Falcon’s adjusted color scheme.  The newly sculpted parts meld really well with the old, and are just generally impressive pieces.  The head feels right for Sam in terms of expression and features, and the new arms and feet certainly go beyond the bare minimum detailing for the design.  They certainly didn’t have to do the fully sculpted ridges on his gauntlets or the tread on the boots, but they did and it adds that extra flair to the design to help differentiate him from other uses of the body.  Additionally, these new arms use the pinless construction, further the figure’s sleekness.  Falcon’s paint work is rather straight forward.  It’s all just basic application, but it’s cleanly done, and the translucent plastic for the wings is certainly pretty cool, and, as noted in the sculpt segment, helps to hide the one-sided-ness of the wing sculpts a bit more.  Falcon is packed with two sets of hands (fists and flat) and the left leg to the build-a-figure Joe Fixit.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Toy Biz Falcon was a figure I really liked back in the day, but he’s also one of their figures that hasn’t aged quite so well, so I’ve been eager for a proper comics update for a little while.  This guy was high on my list for this assortment to be sure.  I’m very happy with the final product, and I’m happy to have a decent Falcon for my comics shelf again.  Of course, I certainly wouldn’t say no to using some of these parts for a classic Falcon down the road, if Hasbro feels so inclined.

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

#2590: Storm & Thunderbird

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

STORM & THUNDERBIRD

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Weather changer Ororo Monroe and noble Apache warrior John Proudstar wield their mutant powers for good.”

Giant-Size X-Men #1 is one of the most distinctive covers in the history of comics, but that hasn’t always made getting all of the characters featured *on* said cover all that easy.  Typically, the X-Men’s second incarnation has had to rely on special releases to truly fill in their ranks.  In the case of Marvel Legends, we’ve been working on the line-up since 2003.  It’s…it’s been a long road.  Hasbro steered more toward completing the ’90s line-up more recently, but with that one more or less complete, they’ve moved back around to the better  earlier incarnation of the team. Right now, we’ve got a new two-pack featuring one of the team’s most prominent fixtures…and Thunderbird.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Storm and Thunderbird are a Target-exclusive Marvel Legends two-pack, which just started hitting back in October.  It was initially pretty scarce (thanks in part to its instantaneous sell-out online), but appears to have picked up in volume in the last few weeks.  Hopefully they remain that way for a bit.

STORM

First Appearance Storm is surprisingly illusive as a Legends figure.  She was never done during the Toy Biz days, and was eventually shown off during Hasbro’s Fan Choice Poll in 2007, where she lost (rather criminally, if I do say so myself) to the AoA version of Sunfire (who managed to also get an update before poor Storm even got one single release, furthering the criminality).  She’s been the most notably absent figure from the classic X-Men line-up, and there was definitely a lot of built up demand….and then they went and made her an exclusive.  Goody.  She was shown off at Toy Fair this year by herself, before being confirmed for this here multipack.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Her articulation is quite well implemented, with most of the joints (the elbows in particular) having a better range of motion than typically expected from such pieces.  The knees use the new pin-less design for their construction, which helps to give the whole thing a sleeker feel.  Storm’s sculpt is all-new, and it’s quite a nice piece.  She’s not quite a pitch-perfect Cockrum recreation, but she certainly captures the classic Storm feel.  The costume details, many of which could have just been painted on, are all actually sculpted elements, and the proportions are certainly well balanced.  The head and cape pieces are both sculpted with a dynamic flow to them, with a teeth-gritting expression, and a sweeping nature to both her hair and her cape, indicating that she’s right in the midst of using her powers.  It works really well.  The paint work works out okay for the most part, but there’s a lot of ups and downs.  The core figure’s paint is really strong, and I really dig the glossy finish on the black parts of the costume.  The cape is where the issues arise, mostly having to do with that yellow border.  It’s just really sloppily applied, on both of the capes.  Did I say “both”?  That’s right.  In addition to the more dynamic head and cape, Storm also gets extras of both for a more calm, just lounging around the X-Mansion look, as well as three sets of hands (in fists, open, and lightning effects).  Quite a nice selection of extras there.

THUNDERBIRD

The cover of GSXM #1 has five of the most prominent X-Men in the franchise…and Thunderbird.  Thunderbird’s primary contribution to the team is really just that he died, and he actually managed to stay that way, which I guess is pretty notable.  He tends to get one figure in every major scale eventually, and now he can add Legends to his list.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Thunderbird is largely built from parts re-use, making use of the Reaper body as his starting point.  It’s a decent enough match for Thunderbird build wise, as he’s always been depicted as a little bulkier than most of his team mates, but not quite the same size as his brother James.  It also matches his usually more balanced proportions pretty well.  He gets a new head, as well as add-ons for his sleeves, wrist guards, belt, and boot tops. The add-ons sit alright on the body, but the fringe pieces for the boots and shoulders do require a little bit of proper positioning to get them to stay in place.  The head is a nice piece on its own, but it sits a bit too high on the body, which looks really wonky.  Thunderbird’s paint work is pretty decent.  It’s brighter than the colors on Warpath, which seems more appropriate.  Thunderbird is packed with no accessories, which is a pretty stark contrast compared to his pack-mate Storm.  Not even some extra hands, guys?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was one of the fans who voted for Storm in the poll back in the day, so I was definitely waiting on this figure.  It’s been a long wait.  I was super thrilled when she was unveiled this year, but immediately less so when she was announced as a Target exclusive.  When she sold out in pre-order, I was definitely bummed, but I kept routinely checking the page, and happened to catch them in stock not too long after release.  All-in-all, pretty painless, I suppose.  Storm’s awesome, and by far my favorite release of the character.  I’m particularly thrilled to have y “Pryde of the X-Men” line-up complete.  Thunderbird is fine.  That’s the best I can muster, really.  He feels far more phoned in than Storm, and certainly feels like a late addition to the set-up.  He could be worse.  Now, can we get a proper update for Banshee so that we can complete the GSXM team?

#2580: Stan Lee

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

STAN LEE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

The world of toys is full of figures of the fantastical creations that we all love, but it is a much rarer occasion that we actually see the focus shift to the creators of said creations.  Not entirely out of the question, of course.  Quentin Tarrantino’s gotten a few figures from his movies (even the ones where he doesn’t explicitly appear on screen), and James Cameron joined his Colonial Marines from Aliens in NECA’s line from the movie.  Even George Lucas has gotten a few toys.  Today, our sites are set firmly on the world of comics, with the most publicly known comic creator of all time, Stanley “Stan Lee” Leiber, father of the modern Marvel empire!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Stan Lee is his own stand alone Marvel Legends release, packaged in a similar fashion to last year’s “80 Years of Marvel” sub-line.  He’s not Stan’s first time as a toy, with a prior SDCC-exclusive Legend and a somewhat baffling Masters of the Universe Classics figure preceding him. This figure was originally designed to be a Build-A-Figure across a handful of MCU-based two-packs (which included Ross/Killmonger and Bucky/Falcon; we even saw some early production samples of the Ross/Killmonger set that still included the legs), but that was ultimately scrapped for this single release.  Honestly, that was probably the better call.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Stan is built on the suit body, specifically the Bruce Banner version of it, with the unbuttoned shirt.  He gets a new set of arms and jacket, as well as a new head, of course.  Most of the body wound up getting re-used for the Peter Parker figure, which actually beat this guy to market in a lot of places.  It’s a decent parts share idea, since not only was Stan pretty open about Peter being his author avatar, but also the last Legends Stan doubled as a Peter figure, so there’s precedent.  Stan’s new head sculpt is pretty much the spitting image of the real thing…albeit perhaps a little younger than the intended source material.  Technically according to the box, he’s supposed to based on Stan’s cameo appearance in The Avengers, but he ultimately looks like he’s a little more based on Stan circa the ’90s/early ’00s.  Ultimately, it’s still during a very visible period of time for Stan, and it even works a little more for me, since it means he ends up looking more like his appearances in the lead-ins for The Marvel Action Hour.  The point is, it’s a good sculpt, and does a great job of capturing Stan’s signature smile.  The official decision to base him on The Avengers seemed a touch limiting anyway.  Stan’s paint work is overall pretty monochromatic, and appropriately real world.  He uses the face printing, which works well here, and adds some nice weight and depth to the face sculpt.  The hair gets some accenting as well, which makes it again more in line with a slightly younger Stan, given how dark it is.  Stan’s accessory selection is…well, it’s something.  It’s definitely the least straight forward bit of everything about the figure.  He’s got a Captain America shield with his signature on it, which is cool, I guess, but kind of a weird piece.  Like, why has he signed it?  Also, there’s the added oddity of only including a single Marvel-related prop and having it be something from a character Stan *didn’t* create.  Were there at least a few other pieces (say a Mjolnir, or an Iron Man gauntlet), it’d be less weird.  As is, it’s…strange.  Also included is a small brown rectangle, which is supposed to be the box of chess pieces from The Avengers.  It’s really scene specific, and honestly doesn’t have much behind it.  it’s just another reminder of the supposed source for the figure, and not a great one at that.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When this figure was originally rumored as a BaF, I was not super thrilled, not because I didn’t want him, but because completing him felt like it would be a daunting task.  When he was cancelled, I was sad we weren’t getting him, but relieved I wouldn’t have to worry about completing him.  I was further relieved when he was confirmed for this single release.  It’s been a bit of a wait to get him, and the accessories are a little weird, but the core figure’s pretty great, and he looks awesome on the shelf with all of his creations.  Now, can we please mend some bridges to get a Jack Kirby figure to go with him?

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

#2579: War Machine

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

WAR MACHINE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Colonel James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes unleashes a torrent of explosive devastation from the air as War Machine.”

In the last few years of Marvel Legends, War Machine’s gotten a fairly decent amount of coverage, but it’s been almost entirely MCU-based coverage, due to the character’s numerous armor upgrades throughout those films.  Our only comics-based War Machine wasn’t actually Rhodey, and was instead a Punisher variant (and a not particularly comics accurate one, at that).  We haven’t actually gotten a proper 616 Rhodey since all the way back in the Toy Biz days, which is quite a gap of time.  Fortunately, Hasbro’s getting into the classic War Machine game with some style with a deluxe release of the character.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

War Machine is a standalone Deluxe-sized Marvel Legends offering.  Much like Black Widow and Archangel before him, he’s a standard sized figure with some extra bells and whistles added to justify a slightly higher price point.  This War Machine is based on the second rendition of the armor, which is the first version worn by Rhodey, and certainly one of the looks most associated with the character.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 36 points of articulation.  Much like the old Toy Biz Legends War Machine, this version of Colonel Rhodes shares a few parts with the most recent Classic Iron Man in the line; he’s still mostly new, but the upper arms and legs are the same.  It’s hard to say they should look different, really, and they’re really well rendered parts anyway.  Plus, this helps to keep the sizing consistent between Iron Man armors.  The new parts, which include the head, torso, pelvis, forearms, hands, lower legs, and feet, are all clean renditions of the War Machine armor as seen in the comics.  There’s a nice geometric layout to them, and their boxy nature accents the sleek classic Iron Man design pretty well.  War Machine’s shoulder-mounted guns are the things that give most highly articulated versions of the character some trouble.  Hasbro’s prior attempts have all cheated the issue, and not really allowed for proper storage, and even Toy Biz’s old Legends release just had a plug and play set-up.  This one actually manages to pretty much replicate them as seen in the comics, right down to their ability to slide onto his back for storage.  In a perfect world, I’d like them to go back just a touch further than they do, but it’s certainly closer than any prior attempt (at this scale, at least), and I can definitely appreciate that.  War Machine’s paint scheme goes for a pretty stark black (or very dark gun metal grey, I guess) and light silver.  It’s a good look, and certainly helps some of the sculpted elements on the figure really pop out.  As far as actual paint application, there’s not really a ton, but the more basic, clean look works well with this design.  War Machine’s accessory selection is where a lot of the “deluxe” price point comes into play.  He gets an extra unmasked head, the four piece blast-off effect that we saw previously with Iron Man 2020, a missile firing effects piece for the missile launcher, a blast effect for the minigun, and three different effects configurations for the wrist gun: an in-motion shooting set-up, two individual blasts, and two smoking pieces for the barrels.  It’s quite a lot, and when he’s all kitted up, he makes for quite an impressive display.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I like War Machine, or at the very least I like Rhodey as a character.  War Machine’s figures tend to be a little bit hit or miss, and honestly the one I’ve liked the most previously was his old 5″ figure.  Legends are always fun, but something tends to keep them from being properly definitive for the character.  So, I was interested in this guy, but he was definitely a slow burn for me.  In-hand, I’m really impressed with him, and he gives me some serious cartoon vibes.  Now I *really* need a Modular Iron Man update to go with him.

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.

#2578: Red Hulk

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

RED HULK

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“General Thunderbolt Ross transforms into the Hulk, a creature he swore to destroy.”

From the second appearance of the character, the Hulk’s been no stranger to changes in color.  Originally shifting from grey to green, and then back to grey, and then green again, there’s certainly been some back and forth.  In 2008, Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness through another color into the mix, shifting the Green Goliath into the Crimson Goliath.  Of course, this new Red Hulk wasn’t just a recolor of Bruce Banner, but was instead someone else, whose identity remained a mystery for over a year…and then it turned out to be Thunderbolt Ross, in one of the most convoluted, fake-out-filled reveals in comics history.  Nowadays, of course, the reveal’s common knowledge, and gets used for toy packaging bios like that one above.  But hey, toy bios mean there’s a toy to go with them, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Red Hulk is a Target-exclusive deluxe Marvel Legends offering.  This marks Red Hulk’s second time in Legends form.  The first time was as a Build-A-Figure way back in 2008, and he was actually a Target-exclusive that time as well.  They sure do like those red exclusives, don’t they?  The figure stands 8 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Red Hulk is our fourth use of the 80 Years of Marvel Hulk body, which is, again, not much of a surprise.  It’s a good sculpt, and it’s no surprise that Hasbro wants to get more uses out of it.  As with Grey Hulk, this guy changes the body up a bit by adding a new head sculpt into the mix.  This one’s got Red Hulk’s spikier hair style (which, by the way, never really made much sense, since it’s not like this is anything like Ross’s usual hair style…and where the hell does his mustache go?), and also changes up the expression.  He’s still angry and screaming, but it’s a slightly different looking angry and screaming.  It’s more like someone barking orders, which feels appropriate for the character.  He ditches the torn shirt piece that the last two Hulks had, which is sensible, since I don’t believe Red Hulk’s ever really done the torn shirt thing.  The paint work on this guy is pretty basic, and that’s honestly a little bit of a let down when compared to the other two Hulks I’ve reviewed on this body.  He lacks any real accent work, apart from a little bit on the face.  That much is at least pretty cool, but his body ends up feeling, I don’t know, unfinished, I guess.  In terms of accessories, he gets two sets of hands, one in fists, and one in open gesture.  They make for some nice variety for posing.  In a perfect world, I’d have liked to see maybe another head sculpt as well, maybe with the grin the character frequently sported, but I suppose that, given his size, just the extra hands are acceptable.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Red Hulk hasn’t exactly been the most readily available figure, at least in my neck of the woods.  I’ve not seen him at retail myself, and Target’s site’s really not been much help.  I spent a good chunk of time looking for him, but with no luck.  Fortunately for me, my former co-worker Jon Nieto, who knows how much I like Legends, happened to catch them while they were in stock on the website, and was kind enough to snag a second one for me.  That sure made my life easier!  Thanks Jon!  There’s not a ton new going on with this figure, but the updated Hulk body is still always cool to see again, and he sure does contrast nicely with the 80th Hulk.