Tag Archives: Marvel Legends

#2508: Sunspot

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

SUNSPOT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“In his solar form, Sunspot possesses the supreme power and cosmic durability of a supernova.”

Anyone know of a good way to start a Sunspot review?  I don’t.  I mean, apart from this rather meta thing we’ve got going on here.  I guess this works in a pinch.  Gonna be honest, I don’t have much to say about Sunspot as a character.  He’s never done a whole lot for me.  He’s just sort of there.  Now I’ve got him in Marvel Legends form, and he’s just sort of here.  And now, so is this review, I suppose.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Sunspot is figure 5 in the Strong Guy Series of Marvel Legends.  After some tangential ties, Sunspot is the first figure to really embrace the X-Force theme, what with being a proper member of the team and all.  Sunspot’s wearing his Greg Capullo-designed costume, which is probably the best of his ’90s looks, in addition to also being the one used in the old Toy Biz days.  Technically, it doesn’t quite match with the other X-Force members we’ve gotten, what with them being in their Liefeld costumes, but the Toy Biz figures did the same thing, and it’s honestly not terribly far removed.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Sunspot is based on the Bucky Cap body, albeit with a lot more new parts than your might expect.  He’s got a new head, torso, pelvis, and lower legs.  It keeps him at the same basic build as the standard body, but refreshes a few of the parts that were starting to show some degradation on Spymaster, which I’d count as a definite plus.  The new parts are all pretty solidly handled, but I do have one minor complaint: as cool as the energy effect on his back is, it’s a shame it’s not removable.  It ends up being slightly limiting when it comes to posing the figure.  Other than that, he’s a pretty solid translation of the design, and is a good pair off with his old TB figure.  The paintwork on him is generally pretty solid, and he is nothing if not an eye-catching figure.  The bright red and blue really makes him stand out from the pack on the shelf.  Sunspot is packed with two of those orby effects pieces that we all have far too many of, but now in a solid black.  He also includes <most of> the torso for Strong Guy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As the intro may have clued you in, I’m not really that huge into Sunspot.  Couldn’t really tell you why.  I like the other New Mutants well enough, but he’s never stuck out to me.  I did have his 5-inch figure back in the day, and he’s a cool one, but ultimately there’s not much to draw me in on this guy.  That being said, I can appreciate filling in the X-Force team a bit more, and there’s no denying that this guy has a vibrant design.  I also dig the minor updates to the Bucky Cap mold to keep it still going.  Overall, not a bad figure.

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.

#2507: Maverick

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

MAVERICK

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Maverick absorbs the force of enemy attacks, converting it into hyper-concussive blasts of power.”

Hiiiiway through the danger zone!  Oh, sorry, wrong Maverick.  This one’s significantly less Tom Cruise-y.  Though, I bet he still plays a pretty mean game of volley ball.  It’s been quite a while since I reviewed a Maverick figure.  In my defense, that’s because there really aren’t a lot of them out there.  But now there’s one more, so that ups the quantity of Mavericks by about 30% or so.  Aggressive expansion and all that.  He’s very, very ’90s, so that does make him ripe for the picking in regards to the current Legends line-up, and, well, here he is, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Maverick is figure 4 in the Strong Guy Series of Marvel Legends.  While Black Tom eschewed the ’90s trend, Maverick is squarely in the middle of it.  He’s perhaps the central piece of it, really.  He’s Maverick.  Sorry, wrong Maverick again.  This assortment is really a mid-point between Deadpool and X-Force, and Maverick’s connection to both of those things is pretty tangential.  I suppose he and Deadpool are both products of Weapon X, so there’s that.  If it gets me a Maverick, I won’t complain about the circumstances.  The figure is almost 7 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  The nature of Maverick’s design is that it’s somewhat restricting to movement.  Subsequently, that translates to this figure, especially when it comes to the elbows.  That being said, he still manages to be quite posable, and Hasbro’s definitely done their best with most of the articulation implementation.  He can even move his head mostly unimpeded, which is awesome for a Maverick figure; the ’90s figure didn’t even try on that one.  Maverick is sporting an all-new sculpt, which I was actually a little surprised to find out.  I had just assumed he’d be making use of some of the Deathlok tooling, but that’s not the case at all.  That means his sculpt isn’t playing double duty, or aiming for close enough, resulting in a figure that’s a quite solid recreation of Maverick’s original comics design.  For the most part, I’m a really big fan of how the sculpt works.  The details are clean and sharp, and I love how well they’ve captured his mop of ’90s hair under neath of the helmet.  The only part I’m not much of a fan of is the collar piece, which is a free-floating add-on piece for some reason, rather than being properly attached.  It doesn’t stay in place very well at all on my figure, and ultimately, I just kind of prefer him without it.  It would be nice if it could at least tab in or something to keep it in place.  Maverick’s color work is pretty decent overall.  The gold goes more orange-y than what we saw on the ’90s toys, but I actually think it looks pretty good.  It feels more in line with his comics depiction this way.  The actual paint application is decent overall, though there’s some slight bleed over from the mask to the face.  Due to the layout of the mask, though, it’s not terribly noticeable.  Maverick is packed with two different guns.  The smaller (based on the Nerf Vortex Proton; thanks Tim!) can be stowed in his holster, but he’ll just have to always be holding the other one.  He’s also packed with the left arm of Strong Guy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I have a perhaps somewhat irrational love of Maverick.  There’s never been much to the character, but I always thought he was really cool on X-Men: The Animated Series, and I tended to have him on my team whenever playing X-Men: Under Siege board game as a kid.  His ’90s toy eluded me until I was an adult, but I was super excited when he was announced for this line, and he was definitely my number one want from this line-up.  I’m very happy with this figure, and he turned out even better than I was expecting really.  A very solid offering.

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.

#2506: Black Tom Cassidy

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

BLACK TOM CASSIDY

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“A nefarious criminal with the power of concussive blasts and plant morphology, Black Tom is a true threat.”

I guess I might as well keep this Marvel Legends thing rolling.  Hey, I can even keep this X-Men thing rolling, too…essentially.  It’s sort of tangental, but yeah, it’s rolling.  Rather than handling a stand-alone this time, I’m just going to jump head-long into a proper full assortment of figures.  When it comes to giving us characters from the X-Men side of things, Hasbro likes to diversify slightly with their assortments, so that things aren’t too centralized on the core team and its characters.  So, we’ll typically get one or two “proper” X-Men assortments for Legends in a given year, and the one or two sort of off-shoot assortments.  Last year, they did more of an X-Force thing for their secondary thing, and the year before it was all about Deadpool.  This year, they’re sort of slapping those two together.  Alright, I can get behind it, I guess.  I’m kicking things off with a pretty classic X-Men character who was co-opted by X-Force back in the ’90s, it’s Banshee’s evil cousin, Black Tom Cassidy!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Black Tom Cassidy is figure 2 in the Strong Guy Series of Marvel Legends, and stands out in the assortment as the only figure to be sporting a pre-1990 design.  As someone with a deep appreciation for the Claremont/Cockrum/Byrne days, I can really dig it.  I can also really dig it as someone who prefers his Black Tom to not be a tree.  Thanks for not having him be a tree, guys.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Black Tom Cassidy is built from the same bank of parts as Shatterstar, making him a Bucky Cap adjacent figure.  He gets a new head, upper torso, pelvis, and belt piece to mix things up a bit.  I quite like the head sculpt in particular; it’s a more modern take on Tom, but it really works for the line’s general aesthetic, and it’s got some nice character behind it.  Technically, the re-used gloves and boots aren’t accurate to Tom’s usual depictions, but I like the flair they have to them, and it ultimately makes for a slightly more interesting design, so I can get behind them.  The paint work on Tom is pretty solid for the most part. The face and hair is clean, but there’s some slightly uneven coverage on the chest insignia.  It’s not terrible, but it certainly could be better.  Black Tom is packed with a wooden staff for channeling his powers, as well as the back to the BaF Strong Guy.  The staff’s a well done piece, and looks good in Tom’s hand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Though not at the top of my list, Black Tom certainly ranks pretty highly in this line-up for me, again thanks to my enjoyment of the Claremont/Cockrum/Byrne days (and, by extension, the ’90s cartoon’s adaptation of the Phoenix Saga, and Black Tom’s appearance there).  This figure is pretty by the numbers, but it really works for him, and he’s definitely a solid figure.  Now, can we please get a Banshee of matching quality 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.

#2505: Beast

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

BEAST

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“While the Beast is incredibly strong and astonishingly agile, he is also one of the world’s leading experts in biochemistry. When he is not fighting evil alongside the X-Men, he devotes his time to expanding the frontiers of human knowledge.”

It’s been an actual month since I reviewed any Marvel Legends, which does feel like a bit, doesn’t it?  In my defense, there was a touch of a gap between new releases there.  But, we’re jumping into another onslaught of releases here, so in an effort to keep up with them, I suppose I might as well just do a bunch of Marvel Legends reviews.  I’m kicking things off with one of this year’s standalone releases, the Retro Carded Beast figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Beast is, as noted above, a standalone Marvel Legends release, fitting in with the Retro Carded line they’ve been running since 2018, and following the “standalone repaint” pattern established by last year’s Storm re-deco (which I never actually reviewed…that’s on me).  He also follows what’s become an overwhelming trend of Retro Card figures that aren’t actually based on any proper vintage release, since there existed no Grey Beast figure in the Toy Biz days.  However, this way allows Hasbro to duplicate their formula from the 3 3/4 inch lines of Blue Beast being the ’90s version, and Grey Beast covering the ’70s-’80s look, while also giving people another chance at the mold.  The figure stands 7 1/2 inches tall and he has 36 points of articulation.  From the neck down, this guy’s the same figure as last year’s Beast from the Caliban Series.  This was pretty much expected as soon as we knew this figure was coming, since it’s a pretty natural re-use.  The body’s still a strong offering; it’s technically a bit on the tall side for Hank, but the detailing is sharp, and the posability is really great.  He gets an all-new head sculpt, based more on the Perez-style Beast of the ’70s and ’80s, with a far more controlled hair style, and a far more jovial expression than the prior piece.  I’m quite a fan of it, and it gives me something slightly more in line with how I prefer the character, as well as offering a bit more versatility than the Caliban Series head.  There’s a fair bit of change-up in the paint department, as you might expect, since he goes from being blue to being grey.  It works pretty well, and he still keeps most of the accent work from the prior figure.  There are a few spots of bleed over on my figure, but for the most part, he looks pretty solid.  While the prior Beast release just got an extra set of hands, this one steps things up a bit, giving him not only the extra hands, but also the Caliban Series head (this time in grey), a book, and a pair of glasses.  It adds a lot of posing options to the plate, and again brings him a bit more in line with how I think of the character, so I’m all about it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I enjoy the Caliban Series Beast for what he is, but I wanted a little more out of him, if I’m honest.  A follow-up felt inevitable.  If I’m entirely honest, I’m a touch disappointed that he ended up being Grey Beast.  Don’t get me wrong, he’s a cool figure, and this does make him slightly more distinctive, but I was really hoping to finally get a proper Perez-style Blue Beast, especially after having to make due with the Grey version in the smaller scale already.  I’d like to hope this guy might get re-popped in blue at some point, but that feels slightly like overkill right now, so I don’t imagine it would be soon.  Still, he’s certainly not a bad figure, and I’m glad they put the mold back out there.

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.

#2473: Sugar Man

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

SUGAR MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Mixed in with a lot of re-imaginings of prior characters, Age of Apocalypse did also have a few honest to gosh new characters, wholly original to this reimagined universe.  Included in that grouping is today’s focus, Sugar Man, a character that even 25 years later still has no main universe counterpart.  In fact, he’s more or less his own main universe counterpart, since he was one of the four character’s to travel into the 616 following AoA’s wrap-up, and spent a good 20 years cropping up in the background of various X-Men stories.  He’s also really gross.  Yuck.  Well, let’s review him, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Sugar Man is the Build-A-Figure for the predictably titled “Sugar Man Series” of Marvel Legends.  Given his monstrous size and odd proportions, he’s a rather natural choice.  While this is his first Legend, it’s not actually his first figure, if you can believe it.  He managed to get a figure from Toy Biz’s 5-inch line back in the day.  The figure’s 6 1/2 inches tall, and just about as wide, and he’s got 38 points of articulation.  Though he’s got plenty of joints, he’s not exactly the most exceedingly mobile figure in the Legends line-up.  In the figure’s defense, however, a lot of the limits are imposed by the character’s design, and he’s certainly a dramatic improvement over the old ’90s figure.  Sugar Man’s sporting an all-new sculpt, which isn’t really that surprising, because really, who would he share parts with? It’s definitely an impressive sculpt, and a really hefty one, too.  The detailing is all nice and crisp, and there’s a great dynamic flair to him with the facial expression and his flailing tongue.  He is truly hideous, and I can’t really say I’d want him any other way.  Hideous is kind of Sugar Man’s game.  There’s also just a lot going on with this sculpt, from the unique gesturing on each of the hands, to the novelty buttons lining his suspenders.  Someone certainly had fun with this one.  In terms of paint, Sugar Man does a pretty solid job of translating the quite frankly rather messy color jobs the character was usually sporting in the comics into something that looks alright on a mass produced figure.  There’s a fair bit going on here, just like with the sculpt, with a fair amount of accenting, especially on the head/torso.  Sugar Man is packed with his hammer, complete with “SUGAR” inscribed on one side.  He can either hold it or keep it stored on his belt, though it’s a little tricky to get it in there, given his general shaping.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As with a lot of AoA stuff, I can’t really say that Sugar Man was a character I was dying to have in figure form.  Heck, I don’t even have the old one.  However, he did certainly look pretty impressive, and I was already planning to grab the whole assortment, so here we are.  He’s certainly one of the most unique BaFs we’ve gotten, I’ll give him that, and he fills out the rest of the assortment well.

This is definitely one of the most focused assortments of this line we’ve gotten, what with the very defined theme and all.  My favorite is definitely Morph, who’s quite basic, but just such a clean translation of his comics design.  X-Man’s another high ranking one for me, with Jean not too far behind.  Sunfire was certainly better than I’d expected, and I guess Dark Beast isn’t too bad either.  I can kind of take or leave Weapon X and Wild Child, but I definitely knew that much going in.

#2472: Dark Beast

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

DARK BEAST

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Dr. Henry McCoy constantly experiments on himself to enhance his superhuman powers.”

Within the AoA universe, there were a handful of characters who swapped over to the other team in terms of morality and good vs evil alignments.  Many former villains found themselves as reluctant heroes, but on the flipside, a few previously heroic characters became very much not so.  One of the most notable was Hank McCoy, known as Dark Beast in this new continuity.  Where the other was a kind-hearted, good-natured man who contrasted with his supranym, the AoA version was just downright evil.  He also wound up as one of the four characters to be “saved” from the AoA universe when it reverted back to the standard 616, taking him from a crossover villain to a full X-Men villain proper.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Dark Beast is the final single-packed figure in the Sugar Man Series of Marvel Legends, and our first proper antagonist in the line-up.  It’s the first Legends Dark Beast, but not the first ever figure, as he was released as a Minimate and as an under-articulated 6-inch figure by Toy Biz back in the day.  The figure stands 7 1/2 inches tall and he has 36 points of articulation.  The torso, arms, and feet are all shared with the Caliban Series Beast from last year, which was pretty much expected from the word go, what with them technically being the same character and all.  I do have to say, it actually works a little more to this particular figure’s advantage, since Dark Beast is typically depicted as being a far more towering figure, making the extra height less of an issue here than it was with the standard release.  To fully set him apart, Dark Beast gets a new head, pelvis, and legs.  The new head replicates the further mutated appearance of McCoy from the story, with his much wilder hair, and an evil grin cracking across his face.  For the hair, there was a lot of variance in the comics as to its actual shape.  This one opts for something closer to the wacky Wolverine hair side of things, which I think ultimately helps him read a little quicker as Beast, so it works for me.  I do quite like the facial expression, and it furthers my hope to see a calmer head for the standard Beast at some point.  The new legs give Hank his funky banded metal capris he was sporting throughout the event.  They’re very ’90s.  They’re very goofy.  But, they’re also very accurate, so, hey, good job Hasbro.  Another thing that had some room for interpretation in the books was Dark Beast’s coloring.  When he initially appeared, he was very clearly grey, presumably to show he had stayed his initial furry color in this universe, but as he appeared more often, he shifted more to a darker blue shade.  This figure kind of splits the difference on that front, going for a rather dark grey with a hint of blue to it.  It’s really the best possible choice, and looks good on the figure.  His actual paint application is all pretty clean and solid, and there’s more going on with it than you might realize at first glance.  Dark Beast is packed with the same two sets of hands as his normal universe counterpart, as well as Sugar Man’s Hammer, which is meant to go with the Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Dark Beast is an interesting concept to be sure, as well as a good excuse for Hasbro to get another use out of that mold they debuted last year, so he was definitely not a surprise addition to this line-up, nor is it a huge shock that he’s the hottest figure in the set in terms of demand.  With all that said, while I can certainly appreciate this is a well-made figure, I don’t personally find him to be quite as fun as some of the others in the set.  He’s fine, but that’s about where I leave it.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure 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.

#2471: Morph

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

MORPH

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“A natural mimic, Kevin Sydney transforms himself into any shape at will.”

Okay, it’s fine guys.  We got through Weapon X and Wild Child.  Now, we get to the good stuff.  Yeah, now we get to the best part of Age of Apocalypse: Morph!  After obscure ’60s X-foe Changeling was re-imagined as Morph in order to have a sacrificial lamb in X-Men: The Animated Series‘s pilot episode, he was then further re-imagined in 1995’s line-wide reboot with Age of Apocalypse.  Admittedly, he was so far re-imagined that he was practically a new character, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t an *awesome* practically new character.  In fact, he was so awesome that Marvel even wound up creating an almost identical version of the character to star in Exiles, meaning today’s figure is kind of a two-fer.  Yay!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Morph is figure 6 in the Sugar Man Series of Marvel Legends, and is notable for being the only of the single releases to actually be a new character for Legends.  While we’ve gotten two prior AoA Morphs, they were a Minimate and a 5-inch Toy Biz figure.  So, this is kind of notable, in that regard.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Morph’s built on the 2099 base body.  In the series, his shape-shifting meant that his physique was somewhat variable, but this base is a pretty solid middle ground for his usual default.  He gets a new head, forearms, and boots, as well as a new add-on for his cape (which I wouldn’t be too shocked to see show up on the inevitable AoA Magneto).  The new parts are all pretty clean and cartoony, which is certainly appropriate for the character.  I especially like the head, because, as simple as it is, it really just hits all the proper notes.  I love the wide eyes and the slight smirk.  It’s definitely a “less is more” situation.  The new gloves and boots are surprisingly detailed for what they are, but unlike the equivalent pieces for the Bucky Cap body, they aren’t riddled with too much over texturing so as to clash with the rest of the pieces.  The cape’s an okay sculpt, but is just a touch floaty for my taste.  It’s not quite as bad as some of the earlier Hasbro capes, but it does hinder his playability just a touch.  His paint work is, like his sculpt, rather on the clean and basic side.  For the most part, I’m a fan, even of the outlining of the mouth and brow.  The only thing I’m not quite as big on is how dark the primary blue on the body suit is.  If it were just a touch brighter, I think the figure would really pop.  Morph doesn’t get any accessories of his own, which I suppose isn’t as much of a surprise given how light the rest of the set has been.  That said, it might have been nice to get a few different shape-shifting attachments.  He does get another leg for Sugar Man, though, so at least it’s not a total loss.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, as you may have gathered from the intro, I rather like AoA Morph.  I mean, I rather like Morph in general, in all of his many forms, but this is AoA Morph we’re talking about here, so I should maintain the focus.  I had the Toy Biz AoA Morph as a kid, and I’ve been waiting for an update since we got Blink.  This guy was at the top of my list for this set as soon as it was shown off, and he’s, unsurprisingly, my favorite figure from the set.  Sure there are a few things that might make the figure perfect, but he’s still a really, really solid figure.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure 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.

#2470: Weapon X

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

WEAPON X

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Armed with adamantium claws and superhuman healing abilities, Weapon X joins the battle against Apocalypse.”

And we’re jumping back into the Age of Apocalypse fray.  We last left off with a figure that didn’t fill me with much enthusiasm, and we’re picking up with…another one of those.  Yeah, it’s a Wolverine episode, guys.  Oh, wait, I’m sorry…Age of Apocalypse…it’s a Weapon X episode, guys.  While others around him got new backgrounds and personalities, Logan more or less remained the same in AoA, apart from not being “Wolverine” and being down a hand.  Not that either of those ended up making much of a difference.  I guess it helps justify the toy, though.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Weapon X is figure 5 in the Sugar Man Series, which seems surprisingly late in the number scheme for a Wolverine, but, well, I guess he’s not a Wolverine, is he?  By the way, if you guys think that joke’s going away, you’re sadly mistaken.  That joke’s here to stay, unlike the Wolverine name…or Logan’s hand…or self-respect.  This marks the third time as Legends figure for AoA Logan, but given that the last one was during the Toy Biz days, an update feels like a good call.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Like most Logans these days, he’s built on the body from the Juggernaut Series Wolverine, with the cleaned up shins from Weapon X and a new head and forearms.  Essentially, it’s just a pretty straight update on the old figure in terms of part re-use, since that one was also built on its era’s brown costume body.  The new head’s definitely the star attraction here.  Logan’s hair got crazier and crazier as we got further into the ’90s, and in AoA it was at almost peak craziness.  That’s translated here, as this guy’s got one hell of a mane on him.  It puts all other Wolverine hair to shame, really.  How much hair gel do you think he has to use to get that all to stay in place?  I bet it’s a lot.  Like, obscene amounts.  And in a post-apocalyptic setting no less.  The intensity of the hair is matched only by the intensity of his facial expression.  This guy’s definitely feeling a need to show all of those teeth he’s got, in just the most intense way possible.  On the new forearms front, the right one’s not too different from previous releases, but the left of course gives us Logan’s stump, albeit with his claws extended from it.  The paint work on this guy is generally pretty decent.  The basics are all pretty sharp and clean, and they’ve done a respectable job handling the stubble and his arm hair.  He’s also got his signature forehead tattoos, which beg the question of how exactly does Logan manage to get tattoos?  Seems like too much thought for a ’90s comic, I suppose.  Weapon X is packed with a spare stump without the claws extended, thereby allowing for his appearance from earlier in the story, as well as one of Sugar Man’s legs.  It’s too bad we couldn’t also get an alternate burned head to fully replicate all of the looks from the two Toy Biz offerings.  That would have helped to up this figure’s appeal a little bit.

THE ME HALF OF EQUATION

I owned the Toy Biz Weapon X.  I sold the Toy Biz Weapon X (well, okay, not the burned head variant).  I didn’t really miss the Toy Biz Weapon X.  I can’t say I really felt the need for a new and improved version either.  But, I was getting the rest of the set, and I’m kind of doing this completist thing with the line, so I guess I wasn’t missing him, was I?  He’s fine.  Better than I expected, honestly.  It’s just that the AoA version of Logan isn’t really as exciting as other characters.  But, it’s not like we were going to ever get this assortment without him, so I guess it could be worse.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure 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.

#2467: Wild Child

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

WILD CHILD

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Enhanced regeneration and superhuman senses make Wild Child an excellent tracker.”

First appearing in Alpha Flight #11, Kyle Gibney, aka Wild Child, was a fairly minor character in terms of the larger Marvel Universe when he was re-envisioned for the Age of Apocalypse crossover.  In the crossover, Kyle was made into a feral creature, kept in check by the universe’s more heroic Victor Creed.  His non-verbal set-up meant he didn’t really get much added depth from the story, but at least it granted him a fair bit more visibility, by virtue of spending most of the story line chained to one of the story’s most memorable characters.  Of course, now we’ve got Wild Child and no Sabertooth to go with him…Ah well, might as well review him.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wild Child is figure 4 in the Sugar Man Series of Marvel Legends, and marks the first time that Wild Child has gotten a proper figure.  Previously, he was included as an un-articulated figurine with Toy Biz’s 5-inch AoA Sabertooth, but that’s it.  So, good for Kyle, I suppose.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  He’s built on the Pizza Spidey body, which is certainly scrawny enough for Wild Child, but seems like it’s a bit too tall for Kyle, who I feel should be a fair bit smaller, at least going by the AoA illustrations I recall.  Additionally, the joints are a little bit limiting for getting Wild Child into his proper crouched over poses.  I know that this body was designed for Spider-Man, and he’s prime for getting into all sorts of crazy poses, but it for some reason feels stiffer for Wild Child than it was for Spidey.  He gets a new head and shoulder overlay, as well as making use of the Superior Venom hands and feet.  The new parts are decent enough.  The head is certainly dynamic, and does its best to capture how Wild Child was depicted in the comics.  It’s not a terribly attractive head, but I guess that’s pretty much on par for the character.  The color work on Wild Child is okay, but not quite perfect, largely due to the mismatch between the plastic on his torso and his limbs.  It should all be one jumpsuit, but he kind of ends up looking like he’s wearing two separate bits.  Beyond that, the paint application’s all pretty clean, for what there is of it.  He’s ultimately pretty sparse on details, which is in keeping with the character’s design.  In a first for this assortment, Wild Child actually does get an accessory!  It’s the chain that keeps him on a leash.  It connects to the back of his collar, and pretty clearly is meant to go around *someone’s* arm at the other end.  Gee, I wonder who that could be.  Wild Child also gets another piece to Sugar Man, this time being his…back?  Yeah, let’s got with that.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Despite the very first Wild Child (and the AoA Sabertooth that was really more the star attraction) from Toy Biz being my very first introduction to anything AoA, I can’t say that I’ve ever had much of an attachment to the character in the slightest.  AoA Sabrertooth I’ve grown to like, but Wild Child?  Meh.  So, getting him but no corresponding Sabertooth doesn’t exactly thrill me.  I mean, I have no doubt in my mind that Sabertooth is coming, but until then, Wild Child feels a bit…incomplete?  He’s not a bad figure, but he’s not a particularly great figure either.  He’s just sort of here.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure 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.

#2466: Sunfire

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

SUNFIRE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Scorching ionized plasma allows Sunfire to fly, protect himself, and blast his enemies.”

The Pete Best of the All-New, All-Different X-Men, Sunfire struggles to really find his footing in the X-Men ‘verse, but wound up getting some pretty decent coverage, courtesy of Age of Apocalypse, wherein he turned from “stereotyped Japanese guy with fire powers” to “Human Torch if the powers didn’t turn off” or even “Chamber, but with his whole body, rather than just his upper torso.”  Or, I guess, if you want to jump companies, possibly Wildfire without the suit.  Okay, so maybe AoA didn’t make Sunfire super unique in terms of power or story, but he’s definitely a strong contender for getting the best redesign out of it.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Sunfire is figure 3 in the Sugar Man Series of Marvel Legends.  Believe it or not, this isn’t AoA Sunfire’s first time getting the Legends treatment.  He was actually the winner of the 2007 Fan Poll, netting him the third AoA-based Legend ever.  The line’s made some strides since then, however, so a new release probably wasn’t the worst idea.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Sunfire is built on the 2099 body, a sensible choice for two reasons.  One, it’t the same body that the classic Sunfire used, and two it’s the same body that Bullseye used, and given that the first AoA Sunfire was on the Bullseye body, I’d say that means they’re right on the mark size-wise.  He swaps out the forearms and hands for Human Torch’s flame-covered ones, and gets a new head and overlay piece for his shoulders.  I like how the flame effects were done here just a touch better than how they were for Human Torch; there’s something that really works about that very artistic curling to the flames.  It’s very dynamic.  Sunfire’s color work is pretty key to getting his look down, and fortunately the figure does pretty well on that front.  The translucent effect on the plastic is really cool, and I dig the slow shift from yellow to orange.  The paint application’s a bit better on this figure than the last two I looked at from this set, so things are sharper and cleaner.  That’s good, because it really helps with conveying this particular design.  Sunfire, like the last two figures I’ve looked at from this set, doesn’t have any extras of his own, but he does get the second set of arms for the Sugar Man Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t really sold on Sunfire being part of this assortment, largely due to the prior Legends release.  Of course, I never actually got that release, so I’m not sure why I was so opposed.  Maybe I just don’t like Sunfire?  Could be, I guess.  The figure’s pretty solid, though, and I can definitely get behind his inclusion after getting him in hand.  He’s a solid update, and a solid design.  Not bad at all.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure 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.