Tag Archives: Marvel Legends

#2320: Superior Octopus

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

SUPERIOR OCTOPUS

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Otto Octavius suits up in a high-tech spider suit to protect the city as the Superior Octopus.”

Hey, remember when Doc Ock died and then put his mind into Peter Parker’s body and then took it over and then fought for dominance with Peter’s remaining subconscious and then ultimately relented his hold on the body so that Peter could take back over in order to defeat Green Goblin and save the day once again?  Well, that just turned out to be the set-up for the rest of Doc Ock’s story.  The events of Spider-Verse led a pre-giving-the-body-back-to-Peter Ock to create a back-up of his mind in the Living Brain, which he then used to reconstitute himself in a clone body that merged Octavious’ DNA with Parker’s during the events of “The Clone Conspiracy,” thereby leading to the creation of the Superior Octopus! Wooooooo!  Yay comics!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superior Octopus is figure 3 in the “Demogoblin” Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s sort of a two-fer figure figure, being both a high-profile Spider-Foe, and also kind of being a Spidey variant, which no doubt made him an easy sell for the assortment.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and has 42 points of articulation.  Ock is nominally built on the 2099 body, although it’s a slightly changed, slightly improved version of it, getting a retooled torso section.  It’s not wildly different from the standard pieces in terms of general sculpt and musculature, but in place of the previous ab-crunch joint, this one gets a ball-joint instead.  There’s some give and take on the range of motion on the respective joints, and it’s a little bit of a shame that Hasbro didn’t take advantage of this opportunity to go all out and do the joint combo they’ve been doing on their Lightning Collection figures, but on the whole, I do prefer this joint both in terms of poseability and aesthetics.  In addition to the tweaked base body, Ock also gets a new character specific head, hands, wrist bands, and back-pack with the tentacles that give him his namesake.  The new head and hands match the source material nicely, and also meld well with the pre-existing parts.  It’s again a bit of a shame that he just has the one set of hands, but the combo here works well enough.  The tentacles are handled in pretty much the same way as the last Ock, being solid pre-posed pieces with joints at the base and the claw.  The slightly thinner nature of them does make them a little more workable and less obstructive when posing him, and by and large, I like them a lot more than the standard Ock pieces.  The paint work on Ock matches up well with the comics design, and I certainly like the color scheme here. That bright green just really pops on this figure, especially in contrast to the otherwise monochrome colors.  Ock doesn’t get any of his own extras beyond the tentacles, but he does include both arms for the Demogoblin build-a-figure, who I’ll be taking a look at later in the week.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Superior Ock is one of those designs that was really just begging for toy treatment from the moment it was introduced, so I was neither surprised, nor upset when it was shown off for this line-up.  Honestly, it was probably one of the figures I was most looking forward to from this assortment.  There’s not a ton of new or different going on, but he’s a good example of slight tweaks to an already successful formula working out well for the final product.  Now, I really wouldn’t mind an updated Superior Spidey to match this one in terms of quality.

I purchased Superior Ock from my friends at All Time Toys.  If you’re looking for other cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay Store.

#2319: Spider-Man – Velocity Suit

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

SPIDER-MAN — VELOCITY SUIT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Peter Parker enhances his spider suit with speed-boosting technology to become velocity suit Spider-Man.”

Oh yeah, how about some more Marvel Legends?  I know that’s what everybody is really craving.  Well, I kicked off a whole week of reviews with a Spidey variant.  What better way to follow that up than with another Spidey variant?  You can’t have too many Spideys, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Velocity Suit Spider-Man is the second of the two Spidey variants present in the Demogoblin Series of Marvel Legends, which is the first Spidey-themed Legends assortment of 2020.  Like yesterday’s Mark III Spider-Armor, this figure has been branded as part of the “Gamerverse” sub-line.  Unlike yesterday’s figure, he’s a more natural fit for that branding, since the Velocity Suit was one of the suits created specifically for Spider-Man for the PS4, and aside from game-specific tie-ins, it’s remained exclusive to that source.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  As with the Spider-Armor, the Velocity Suit is another all-new sculpt.  It’s definitely not something Hasbro *had* to do with this guy; I could see them getting away with a base body and some add-ons, but it wouldn’t be quite right, I suppose.  It’s a fairly decent sculpt, but I don’t find it to be quite as technically impressive as the Spider-Armor was.  A lot of the details are a bit more rudimentary here, and he feels more blocky and less sleek than he should for a suit called “velocity.” Also, despite the general nature of the design being less restricting, I found the range of motion on this figure to be a little bit of a let-down when compared to the Armor.  It’s not terrible, but it doesn’t quite feel like it lives up to the current Legends standards.  Despite the reduced range, the joints are actually fairly obvious on the sculpt, with the torso joint in particular sticking out like a sore thumb.  It’s not ideal.  In terms of paintwork, he’s generally okay, aside from one notable thing: the blue.  In the game, his suit’s more of a red/grey combo, but it’s a more standard blue on the figure.  It’s not terribly different, but it’s enough that the design does look a little…off.  It also removes some of the impact of the bright blue on the symbol, which would have stood out a bit better against a more subdued color.  The actual application’s alright, though, and I do like the sort of glossy finish.  The Velocity Suit is packed with another web effect piece, this time one that wraps around the shoulders, as well as the left leg for Demogoblin.  As with the other Spidey, I would have at least liked to see a spare set of hands included here to help the package feel a little less empty.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Of all the game original suits from Spider-Man, this one was probably my least favorite, so the fact that it got a figure wasn’t exactly thrilling to me.  It doesn’t help matters that the other Spidey variant turned out really well, and this one didn’t seem to quite translate to the toy form as nicely.  This isn’t a bad figure, and I certainly can’t fault Hasbro for wanting one of the two “Gamerverse” figures to be something actually original to the game, but he just doesn’t work so much for me.  The web effect is nice, though, and at least I can just stick him at the back of my Spider-Verse shelf.

I picked up the Velocity Suit from my sponsors at All Time Toys, and he’s still available here.  If you’re looking for Marvel Legends, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2318: Spider-Armor MkIII

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

SPIDER-ARMOR MKIII

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Oh man, we went a whole week without any Legends reviews.  That was a rough week, wasn’t it?  Everybody pull through okay?  No one lost during the long drought?  It’s okay, we’ve made it to the promised land which is…more Legends.  Whew.  And hey, it’s a Spider-Man.  That’s a rare sight!  …Listen guys, there are a lot of Marvel Legends, and I’m buying pretty much everything, and I have to review them sometime, so, you know, just go with it, huh?  Let’s just smile through another week of Legends reviews, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Spider-Armor Mk III is one of two Spidey variants in the latest Spidey-centric round of Marvel Legends.  It depicts Peter in his improved anti-Sinister-6 armor from “The Ends of the Earth.”  The suit then re-appeared as an alternate costume in Spider-Man for the PS4, which is how it earned its spot here, officially under the “Gamerverse” sub-line.  It’s a fairly unique design, with a fairly prominent role in a big Spider-event, which matches up with a few other figures we’ve gotten, so I really can’t complain about it showing up here.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  The armor gets an all-new sculpt, as it really has to.  It’s actually a pretty impressive offering, managing to capture the design from the comics, as well as keeping it slightly more real-world as it appeared in the game model.  There’s a lot of really nice layering to the armored parts, as well as some really great texturing in the under suit elements.  It also manages to bulk him up sufficiently from the standard Pizza Spidey body, making it look like he’s actually wearing armor.  Posability on this figure is a little more limited than your average Legends Spidey, but it kind of comes with the more heavily armored territory, and he’s still got a solid range on most joints.  Honestly, I was expecting him to be a lot more restricted than he ended up being. The paintwork on this guy is pretty decent; he’s a little more reserved in color than most Spidey variants, but still keeps enough of that distinctive scheme to make him easily identical.  The armor was also pretty consistently depicted as a little washed out, so it’s accurate to the source material.  The application is all pretty sharp, with no noticeable slop or bleed over.  The Spider-Armor is packed with a web effects piece that can slip over another figure’s face, as well as the right leg of Demogoblin.  It’s annoying that we aren’t getting alternate hands standard with Spider-Man variants; at the very least, I’d like a set thwipping and a set in fists.  As it stands, he does feel a little light.  That said, I do really like the web effect piece, and I appreciate that Hasbro is willing to try some new things here.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I can’t say that this design was at the top of my list of most wanted Spidey variants (honestly, I’d prefer a Mk I armor myself), but do like this design well enough, and I can’t deny that it translated well into toy form.  The all-new sculpt is definitely fun, and I dig the new web effects thing they’re trying out.  If this figure had one or two more extras, he’d be fantastic.  As is, he’s still a very passable figure, and I feel worth a Spider-fan’s time.

I picked up the Spider Armor from my sponsors at All Time Toys, and he’s still available here.  If you’re looking for Marvel Legends, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2310: Super Skrull

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

SUPER SKRULL

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Super Skrull may have been ever so slightly undercut as a FF foe by yesterday’s review of the greatest comic book villain of all time Doctor Doom, but let’s not let him get too down here.  I mean, he’s a pretty solid antithesis of the team, being a guy who can match them all ability for ability. After DC’s Amazo proved the concept of combining all the heroes’ powers into one could work, the FF followed suit with Kl’rt, a Skrull warrior imbued with…the combined powers of the FF.  Look, it’s all pretty straight-forward.  Despite being specifically tailored to the FF, Super Skrull was sort of batted around the general Marvel universe following a few defeats from his initial foes, and has even had a few turns as a reluctant ally to our heroes.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Super Skrull is the titular build-a-figure for the newest FF-themed series of Marvel Legends.  Kl’rt has actually never had a proper Legends release before, but he did get a 6-inch figure out of Toy Biz’s Fantastic Four Classics, which they dropped right before losing the license.  Hasbro subsequently re-issued that figure in a two-pack, but intended as a more generic Skrull army builder, rather than a true figure of the original Super Skrull.  Whatever the case, this figure is certainly a welcome addition to the current line-up.  He stands 7 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Super Skrull, rather interestingly for a Build-A-Figure, is built on the Hyperion body, which is typically a single-carded piece.  He gets his own head (two of them, in fact), upper torso, and arms to help differentiate him.  The two heads give us two different moods for Kl’rt; one somber, and one mad and cackling.  I like the cackling myself, but both are solid pieces, and internally consistent to boot.  The new upper torso not only gives Kl’rt his proper Skrull shoulder pads, but also replaces the usual upper torso, thereby eliminating the weird torso shelf that is the standard Hyperion body’s one major flaw.  The new arms replicate Super Skrull’s typical “using all the powers at once” appearance, although with a slightly different than usual application. Rather than going for the symmetrical stretched out, flaming Thing arms and transparent legs, this figure gives us one flaming Thing arm (courtesy of a clip-on effects piece), and one stretched out invisible arm.  They’re pretty awesome pieces with just one downside.  Though a spare set of standard arms is included, the design of the left powered-up arm doesn’t allow it to be removed from the torso after initial assembly, which is why my Kl’rt keeps the Thing arm no matter what.  I don’t think I would ever display him without the powered-up parts, but it’s annoying not to have the option.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this figure by buying all of the figures needed to complete him.  Hands up, who’s surprised?  Honestly, though, I wasn’t sure about another set of the FF, but upon seeing this guy as the Build-A-Figure, I was pretty well sold on the assortment.  I never got the old Toy Biz figure, but always wanted one, so another chance at the character is much appreciated.  I’m annoyed by the inability to change the arms back and forth as you should be able to, but even without the standard arms, this figure’s pretty darn cool.

This assortment is a pretty balanced one.  While I can easily say that Doom is my favorite (and Reed’s my least favorite), the grouping on the assortment as a whole is pretty tight.  There are definite positives to the whole assortment, and they make for a really solid set of figures.

#2309: Doctor Doom

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

DOCTOR DOOM

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Victor Von Doom uses his incredible intelligence and mystical abilities to oppose the Fantastic Four.”

On this Valentine’s Day, I’m examining the truest love of all: the love of hating one’s enemies and watching them unquestionably defeated by circumstances that you and you alone control.  A love that Victor Von Doom, greatest villain in all of comics, has been striving for since his introduction in 1962.  But that curse-ed Richards just keeps preventing him from attaining it.  How dare he?  Alas, Doom will just have to settle for the love of having the best action figure in the latest assortment of FF-themed Marvel Legends.  It’s the small victories that keep you going.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Doctor Doom is figure 1 in the Super Skrull Series of Marvel Legends, a great example of Hasbro knowing to lead with their best foot forward.  Alongside the Thing, Doom is one of the double-packs for this assortment, again an example of Hasbro knowing what’s up here.  While Victor Von Doom returned to Legends last year as a Walgreens exclusive, it was under his Infamous Iron Man moniker, and as cool as that figure was, he wasn’t classic Doctor Doom.  We haven’t gotten one of those since 2012, and even that one was a re-used mold from ’08.  The need for a proper update, especially in light of the FF getting classic-inspired updates in the Walgreens line-up.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.   Doom gets an all-new sculpt from head to toe, and it’s one of Hasbro’s most impressive sculpts, pretty much in their entire time on the license.  It takes the classic Doom design and effectively just translates it to how it would look if manufactured in real life.  The armor has rivets, seams, and leather straps and clasps, and under the main plates, you can clearly make out a chain mail under suit.  Even under the skirt of the tunic, the armor remains fully detailed, even though there’s absolutely no reason for it to be.  The tunic is appropriately detailed in its own way, with a distinct fabric texturing sculpted in to differentiate it from the armored segments.  At first glance, I felt the skirt of the tunic was too long, but after messing with the figure a bit, I’m actually quite happy with the length, and also pleasantly surprised by how posable the hips remain even with it in place.  On the back of the torso, there are jet thrusters, as have become customary for Doom figures.  He’s also got a very nicely detailed belt, with a fully working holster.  There are two different heads included with the figure.  He comes wearing the more modern design of his mask (seen in the shot with Wilson), but also includes a more Jack Kirby-inspired head.  Both are beautiful pieces in their own right, but the Kirby head is my favorite by far.  Doom’s paintwork is pretty solid.  While a lot of the colors are just molded, there are never the less plenty of spots where paint *could* have been missed but wasn’t, especially with those straps on the sides of the armor plates, which again continue up under the tunic.  Truly impressive.  In addition to the previously mentioned extra head, Doom also includes his signature Luger, plus two sets of hands (fists, and a trigger finger/open gesture combo).  He also includes the leg of Super Skrull.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Doctor Doom is my favorite comics villain ever, and frequently a favorite of mine when it comes to action figures.  Since completing the Walgreens FF, I’ve been patiently waiting for this guy.  As soon as he was shown off, I knew he’d be my favorite in the set, and in hand he absolutely lives up to my expectations, and makes for the perfect counterpart to my FF.  This figure is clearly a labor of love for Hasbro and I’m very glad to have him.

I picked up Doom from my friends All Time Toys.  If you’re looking for other cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay Store.

#2308: Hulk

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

HULK

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Jennifer Walters struggles to control her anger, and keep the powerful Hulk at bay.”

After pretty much only being Bruce Banner’s alter-ego for five decades, in the last couple of years, the name “Hulk” has been shared by a handful of other people.  The first being Thunderbolt Ross (who admittedly did put “Red” in front of it to distinguish himself a bit), then Amadeus Cho (who stuck with “Totally Awesome” as his lead-in), and then eventually Hulk’s original spin-off, Jennifer Walters, previously a Hulk of the “She” variety.  I mean, I think she’s still of the “she” variety, but it got dropped from her name.  Also, she’s angry now, so there’s that.  And now, there’s a figure of this new incarnation!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hulk is figure 6 in the Super Skrull Series of Marvel Legends.  Though not super linked to the FF in her most current incarnation, Jen is nevertheless a good fit for an FF-themed assortment, given her history with the team during John Byrne’s tenure, and how that helped shift her into the spot-light.  Of course, I’d still like a proper Byrne FF She-Hulk one of these days, but that’s an issue for another time.  The figure stands 7 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Unlike the last ML She-Hulk, this figure is an all-new sculpt, and a rather impressive one at that.  Since her transition to just being Hulk also had her picking up some of her cousin’s temper issues, this new sculpt depicts an angrier, more savage Jen.  The face is an intense, teeth-baring snarl, which you don’t often see on female figures, and the hair is wildly blowing, with a stray stand even blowing across her face.  It’s quite a dynamic head, and I really love that about it.  The body goes to the proper Hulk roots of tattered clothing remains.  Like the last two comic He-Hulks we got, this one has a separate rubber tattered shirt piece, although this one isn’t designed to be removed.  She’s also sporting a pair of jeans with enough holes in them to make a clothing designer jealous, and with a ton of really nice texture work to make them feel like a real piece of clothing.  All of its on a body that has a great build to match most depictions of Jen in her Gamma-induced form.  I’m sure some of these parts have already been ear-marked to crop up again.  Jen’s transition to an adjective-less Hulk was accompanied by a change in color from her usual green to a grey more in like with her cousin’s earlier appearances.  This figure replicates that, but does keep enough green in there to make her still look more like a half-way point between Bruce’s two forms.  The paintwork on this figure does some solid work, especially on the hair, which has that nice green highlight to it.  I also really dig the bright green scars.  Hulk is packed with two sets of hands in fists and open gesture, as well as the right arms to Super Skrull.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The A-Force She-Hulk was a better figure than I expected, but was still a rather dated piece even when she was new, which definitely left me wanting a more properly updated version of Jen.  While I’ll admit this one might not have my first choice of design, and I’m certainly still holding out for a Byrne version, I can’t deny that this is a very nice figure, and would it not for the figure I’m about to review tomorrow, she’d probably be my favorite in the set.

Hulk came from my sponsors at All Time Toys.  If you’re looking for Marvel Legends, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2307: Invisible Woman

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

INVISIBLE WOMAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Sue Storm has the ability to bend light, making herself and others invisible.”

Let’s officially bookend these modern FF Legends reviews with the Invisible Woman, the character that started this renewed lease on Legends life for the team back in 2016 when Hasbro first unveiled her at one of the con presentations.  Hasbro launching with Sue was something of a promise to long-time collectors that they were really going to finish the team, by kicking things off with the most frequently neglected member of the core group.  With this latest set, Hasbro seems to be sticking with that promise, releasing the whole team in one go this time, and not making the same mistakes that Toy Biz made over and over again.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Invisible Woman is figure 3 in the Super Skrull Series of Marvel Legends.  Like the rest of her team from this assortment, Sue is sporting her latest costume from the comics, thereby completing this set of the team.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  This Sue shares most of her parts with the last Sue, which seems respectable enough.  The Phoenix body is a good fit for Sue’s usual build, and a solid base body in general, so there are no complaints there.  She also uses the same face as the last figure, but gets a new hair piece, as well as new feet to match the more stylized soles of the rest of the team.  I was a pretty big fan of the prior Sue figure’s head sculpt, and I wasn’t so sure about this one at first, but in person I find myself really liking the new hairstyle, and even preferring its more dynamic nature to the previous sculpt.  It also looks really nice swapped onto that old body, for those interested.  The feet are okay; not as goofy looking as Reed’s, but I’m not the biggest fan of the wedges.  I liked the prior figure’s flat feet.  They don’t look bad, though.  The paintwork on Sue matches well with the rest of the team, but something about it looks better on this particular body than the others.  I don’t know if the design of this body just lends itself better to the costume layout or what, but I just like the costume even more here.  Not having that belt broken by a waist joint probably helps.  The prior figure didn’t get anything in the way of effects pieces to demonstrate her powers, but this one gets an all-new force shield piece, which clips over her right hand.  I quite like it, and it’s also compatible with the Walgreens figure, for those curious.  In addition to the shield,this figure includes the torso of the Super Skrull Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure didn’t do much for me when she was announced.  I really like the Walgreens figure, and didn’t see much room for improvement, and honestly felt the changes made the figure look worse.  In-hand, it’s a totally different story.  That new head sculpt is really great, the effects piece is one of Hasbro’s coolest, and even the costume works better here than on the others, making Sue my favorite of the FF members from this particular set.  I think a lot of people might pass her up for being so similar to her prior figure when compared to her teammates, but she’s surprisingly good.

I picked up Sue from my friends at All Time Toys. If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

 

#2306: Human Torch

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

HUMAN TORCH

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Johnny Storm can transform his body into incredibly hot plasma, control fire, and fly.”

Since there have been figures of the Fantastic Four, there have been some concerns about how best to adapt some of their power sets.  The most common source of difficulty for toy makers is with the team’s resident hot-head Johnny, whose flame-on abilities mean that he has two distinct appearances: flamed on and flamed off.  Unlike other members of the family, his on/off can’t quite as easily be replicated with a selection of extra parts; he kind of warrants two separate figures.  It’s rare that a line gets a chance to do both, so most just stick will fully flamed-on (though we do get the occasional mid-way design).  His last Legends figure was fully powered-on, but Hasbro decided to be kind this time and give us a full powered-down Johnny, something we’ve never actually gotten in Legends form.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Human Torch is figure four in the Super Skrull Series of Marvel Legends.  Like the other members of the core team, he’s sporting his newest costume, something that the flamed-off nature of the figure allows to be fully displayed.  It does mean he’s not going to match the Walgreens set, of course, but that does kind of go without saying doesn’t it?  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  In contrast to the rest of this assortment, Johnny is *not* primarily a parts re-use of his prior figure.  While that figure was build on the Bucky Cap body (something I was never terribly happy with), this guy instead moves over to the 2099 body.  While my preferred choice is still the body they’re using for Reed (since he and Johnny have been typically depicted as about the same build), I do think that this one is a slightly better choice for Johnny, and I can understand Hasbro wanting the two characters two be on different bodies.  Johnny gets a new head and feet to complete his slightly more unique look.  The head I wasn’t so sure about when it was shown off, but I actually like it a lot more than I’d expected to in person.  It still looks a little off from some angles, but posed correctly, it looks pretty solid.  The new feet are similar to Reed’s, but the style works a bit better for this particular base body, making them look a lot less goofy.  The paint work on Johnny is fairly similar to that of Reed, which is sensible, what with the uniformed bit and all.  It’s well-applied and the color work is pretty bold and striking.  Johnny is packed with a spare set of hands, re-used from the previous Human Torch, which along with the effects pieces from the Infinity War Scarlet Witch, makes for a nice smaller demonstration of Johnny’s flame abilities.  He also includes both left arms for Super Skrull.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Human Torch was my least favorite piece of the last FF set, partially because of his fully flamed-on nature, and partially because of his choice of body.  This figure addressing both of those issues was certainly a point in his favor.  That said, the prototype didn’t really wow me, so I wasn’t sure.  In hand, I like him a lot more than I’d expected to, and I think he turned out quite nicely.

Johnny was purchased from my friends at All Time Toys. If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2305: Mr. Fantastic

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

MR. FANTASTIC

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Reed Richards is a brilliant scientist with the ability to stretch his body into any shape.”

The insufferable genius archetype isn’t typically one that ends up on the super-team proper, especially when it comes to ’60s super teams.  Characters like Professor X, Niles Caulder, and Will Magnus typically serving to dispatch their teams from the side-lines.  Reed Richards, on the other hand, was a full-fledged member of his team, in contrast to the norms.  However, when said team got side-lined for a bit, he sort of found himself pushed into those sidelines for a bit.  At least he’s finally getting to return to the action!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mr. Fantastic is figure 2 in the Super Skrull Series of Marvel Legends.  Like Ben (and the rest of the team, for that matter), Reed is seen here in his current get-up from the comics.  Though not quite as evident on Ben, the main hook of these new costume designs is the reversed palette of the usual costume.  It’s a fairly striking look, recalling the Byrne-era costumes, which are a personal favorite of mine.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Just like with Ben, most of this figure’s parts are shared with the Walgreens release.  The core body from that figure is nice and balanced, and it’s honestly a little surprising that this is only our second time seeing it used.  It’s still a really good fit for Reed’s usual build from the comics.  In addition to the old parts, he also gets a new head and feet.  While I really liked the new parts on the Thing, I’m a little less immediately impressed by these.  I don’t hate the bearded look for Reed, and I definitely like that he’s got the same face beneath it as the clean shaven Walgreens figure, but something about the hair just doesn’t look right to me.  It’s accurate to the art, but it just feels like something was lost in translation.  I’m also not really big on the feet; they go for a more sculpted, almost sneaker-like appearance, which is again something that looks okay on the page, but seems off in three dimensions.  The paintwork on this figure is pretty much on par with his previous figure, albeit with the expected changes in the color scheme to match his all-new look.  This Reed doesn’t get the fully stretched arms of the prior figure (though the arms still pop out at the shoulders to facilitate swapping out, if you’re so inclined), but he does get a set of alternate stretched out hands, which are…well, they’re certainly something.  I don’t know, I guess I’d probably like them more if they had all of the glove detailing of the standard hands.  They’re something different, at least.  He also includes one of Super Skrull’s legs.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Mr. Fantastic is one of the more different releases of the main four from this set, and I was expecting to get a little bit more out of him because of that.  I really liked the Walgreens version, so I hoped he’d be up to the same quality.  Ultimately, I don’t like this figure quite as much as I’d expected to, and I think he’s my least favorite of the new four.  Still, he’s not a bad figure, just not quite as good as the previous one.

I got Reed courtesy my friends at All Time Toys. If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2304: The Thing

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

THE THING

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Bombarded by cosmic rays, Ben Grimm develops thick, orange skin and superhuman strength.”

In 2017 and 2018, the Walgreens-exclusive Marvel Legends component gave us our first Fantastic Four Legends in a long time.  It was a slow build, one member at a time way of building the team, but it was nevertheless quite a rewarding experience for the FF fans who were able to play the waiting game.  However, the downside of the whole thing was that by the time they released the final member of the team, it was kinda hard to track down the preceding three, and I know that put some people off of the whole venture.  Still, it was a very well received set of figures, and proved that there was still a market for some FF figure love, so one of our first assortments right out of the gate for 2020 is a proper Legends assortment devoted to the FF.  I’m kicking things off with the last of the four to be added to the Walgreens set, the ever-lovin’, blue-eyed Thing!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Thing is figure 5 in the Super Skrull Series of Marvel Legends, which is our first FF-themed series of Legends since Hasbro’s own Ronan Series back in 2008.  To say they’ve improved their process since then is something of an understatement.  All of the FF members in this assortment are based on their current costume designs from Slott and Pichelli’s recent relaunch of the book.  For Ben, it’s not as drastic a change; mostly he’s just got that more prominent belt.  The figure stands 7 inches tall and has 28 points of articulation.  For the most part, he’s re-using parts from the last Thing, which was a brand-new sculpt at the time.  They *are* the same guy, and it makes sense that Hasbro wants to get another use out of the mold.  I’m certain this won’t be the last time we’ll see it either.  It was a great sculpt the first time around, and it remains a great sculpt now.  He gets an all-new head sculpt, and I actually think I might prefer this one to the two from last time.  It’s got that extra prominent brow that they were both missing.  It also maintains that slightly calmer look for Ben, which is my preferred look for him.  Whatever the case, it’s a very strong sculpt.  He also gets a brand new belt piece.  Though it’s a separate piece, it’s not designed to be removable and won’t be coming off without damaging it.  That said, it would be easy enough to take off permanently, if you really don’t like it.  The paintwork on this figure marks another notable change in the figure, as Hasbro’s way of accenting Ben’s rocky features is a little different.  On the previous figure, they more or less outlined the rocky elements, darkening the recesses, while here they instead highlight the higher points with a lighter shade.  It’s not a bad look (though I wouldn’t mind if the coverage were a *bit* more extensive), but the downside to this change in styling is that you can’t swap the heads between the two releases, meaning you can’t put this head on a more classic Ben.  Alas.  The prior Thing release had his own selection of accessories, with a spare head and an extra set of hands.  This figure gets nothing for himself, but does include the two heads meant for the Super Skrull Build-A-Figure, so it’s not the worst trade-off.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up all of the Walgreens releases, so I didn’t *need* the main four from this assortment.  That said, I’m a big FF fan, and if nothing else, I want to support the prospect of more FF-centric assortments.  If that means getting a few variants of the main team, so be it.  It helps that I really liked Ben the first time around, and that the changes made here are subtle enough that he still works as a standard Ben, while still being prominent to give me something “new.”  It’s also nice that Hasbro’s giving the fans that couldn’t get the Walgreens set another chance at the core team.

I picked up The Thing from my friends at All Time Toys. If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.