Tag Archives: Marvel Legends

#2296: Thor

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

THOR

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

The Thor abides.  Sorry, was that too goofy?  I couldn’t use my usual “Happy Thor’s Day” gag for this one, so I was trying something else out.  I won’t let it happen again.

In a film with a lot of closely guarded secrets and spoilers, Thor’s transformation during Endgame’s five year time jump is arguably a fairly minor one, but it was nevertheless one of the most closely guarded elements of the film, with nary a hint of its existence present anywhere in the marketing.  We were led to believe that Thor would spend the three hour film continuing his Ragnarok look.  This made the depths of his depression and the toll it took on him all the more surprising when it occurred on-screen, in many ways far more properly capturing the feel of what it’s like in real life when someone you care about similarly deals with a serious case of clinical depression.  But, lest we get too serious here, it also let Chris Hemsworth continue to be a bit of a goofball.  It proved a pretty popular incarnation of the character with audiences, and there’s been some sizable demand for him in toy form.  Perfect time a Marvel Legend.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Thor is the Build-A-Figure for the third Endgame-themed assortment of Marvel Legends from last year.  Officially, he’s just titled “Thor”, rather than the more commonly accepted “Bro Thor,” since it appears the second Pop is the first official use of that name.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  He’s sporting a brand-new sculpt, seeing as we haven’t gotten a chubby guy in sweats out of the line previously.  The figure represents Thor at his most Dude-liest, with pajama pants and bathrobe.  Not exactly what you would think of for adventuring garb, but it’s what Thor wears during the film’s big time heist nevertheless.  The sculpt does a solid job of capturing Thor’s dressed down appearance, with some really nice detailing on the various parts of his attire, such as fully detailed crocs, and some very effective layering on his sweats and robe.  He’s also got what’s probably the best Hemsworth likeness we’ve gotten so far; admittedly, there’s more character details to help sell the appearance this time around, with all the hair and the bushy beard.  It’s even further helped on the second included head, which also adds his sunglasses to the mix.  Whatever the case, it’s still my favorite Hemsworth Thor head we’ve gotten so far.  The paintwork on Thor is decently handled; for the most part, it’s just large swathes of color, but he does get the face printing, as well as the plaid pattern on the pants, which keeps things pretty interesting.  Though an accessory himself, Thor makes out alright on the extras front, with the previously mentioned extra head, a second left hand with the time gizmo Tony invented, and an all-new sculpt for Stormbreaker.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

He’s a Build-A-Figure, and I just spent a week reviewing the figures that built him, so where I got this figure seems pretty self-explantory.  When the first round of Endgame product was so Quantum Suit heavy, I was assuming our first LegendsThor would be an inaccurate team suit figure, like in other toy lines.  The complete lack of Thor in the first two assortments did give me hope that we’d see at least a proper final battle Thor.  Getting full-on Bro Thor was a pleasant surprise, and the final figure is the definite highlight of the assortment that builds him.  I’m now hopeful for that final battle look to round things out.

This assortment of Legends was certainly more singularly focused than some from last year, with all of the figures being movie-inspired, rather than our usual mix of figures.  Thor’s the definite star overall, with Iron Man being the standout of the singles.  Heimdall is certainly a welcome addition to the line, and a solid figure to boot, and even Valkyrie and Iron Patriot are valid re-dos of the characters.  Vision doesn’t offer much to people who already have the two-pack, but then not everyone does, so a re-issue is acceptable, if not incredibly exciting.  Cap is unfortunately a slightly out of date figure, and just not really the version of the character that should have been in this assortment.  As a whole, it’s a focused, if not incredibly exciting assortment.

#2295: Iron Patriot

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

IRON PATRIOT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Proud and powerful, the Iron Patriot is heavily armed, high-tech, and ready for battle.”

So, here’s the thing about Endgame, and specifically about its armored characters: the armor we see them wearing on the screen isn’t what the actors are actually wearing during the shoot.  Don Cheadle isn’t wearing the latest War Machine armor, he’s running around the set in a pair of sweats with motion capture markers.  When it comes to making toys of these specific designs, Hasbro has to work from the design sheets of what’s supposed to be on screen.  If things change between those sheets and the final film, you get inaccurate products.  Take, for instance, last summer’s Endgame War Machine.  An awesome figure, held back by only one small thing: it was the wrong colors.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Iron Patriot is the final single-carded figure for the Thor Series of Marvel Legends.  The figure is technically covering the same ground as the Endgame War Machine, but as noted above, that figure was working from early designs.  Though never called Iron Patriot in the film, the figure nevertheless uses the name again; one has to wonder if Rhodey was using the monicker during the time jump to try and re-inspire the public again after Steve Rogers stopped being Cap for a bit. The figure stands 7 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  We’ve seen some of this sculpt before when it was War Machine, but not as much of it as you might think.  The two figures share the same head, shoulders, upper arms, hands, waist, and shins; the torso, forearms, and feet are completely new, and the upper legs have been re-worked to accommodate the missile attachments.  The new parts mesh pretty well with the old, and he’s got a pretty similar feel to that figure in terms of build and posability.  I really liked the War Machine figure, so I can’t complain about seeing those parts again.  With the exception of the torso piece and feet, which aim to make the figure a tad more film accurate, the primary purpose of the new pieces are to more fully kit out the armor.  The first War Machine had a few weapons out, but this version’s got pretty much everything deployed.  With the exception of the forearm cannons, everything can be removed, so that he can be a more paired down version of the armor.  The paintwork is more colorful than War Machine, obviously, and requires more apps.  That said, he does end up missing out on a number of spots of colors he should have.  The most evident missing parts are some of the silver elements.  They’re not horribly obvious, and he’s doesn’t look *unfinished*, but I don’t feel he looks quite as clean a figure as the War Machine.  The metallic blue is cool, though.  In addition to all of the weapon attachments, Iron Patriot also includes not one, but two heads for the Build-A-Figure Thor.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was pretty happy with the War Machine figure, inaccurate to the source material though it may be, so I didn’t feel like I needed a fixed version.  That said, I certainly wasn’t going to turn it down, since I liked the previous figure quite a bit, and I also liked the first Iron Patriot a lot.  Ultimately, I do like this figure, though I’m not sure I like him quite as much as I expected to.  He’s cool, but I think I’ll stick with the standard War Machine colors.

As with the vast majority of my Legends these days, I picked up Iron Patriot from my friends over at All Time Toys.  If your looking for other Legends or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

 

#2294: Vision

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

VISION

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeellooooo ladies and gents. Tis me, Ethan’s wonderful, beautiful, talented, and absolutely awesome wifu, Jess. Usually, I write my drunk reviews on repainted transformers. BUT MY TIME HAS COME! I can now review figures like this McDiddyDude, slightly see through Vision. I hereby swear that this isn’t serious and that I can’t promise good content.

PS I’m sorry. x)

THE FIGURE ITSELF

So Ethan isn’t reviewing this guy because he already reviewed the first movie Vision, which he’ll maybe link to this one if you want to read a more serious review of the figure (that would be here). Seriously, McDiddyDude (MDD) is just a see through version of serious Vision, who came in some two pack that Ethan hasn’t told me much about. So if you want to actually know about the figure and all the bits and details just read about the first one, the only dif is that the newer one is kinda see through.

McDiddyDude is from the Endgame line, though the character design is from Civil QAR but shhhhhhehehhhshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshhshshshshshsh!

Anyways, this figure is about the size of my hand, which apparently is about 6 inches and some change. He has ten thousand points of articulation. JK I don’t chucking know how many joints he’s got. Go read Ethan’s review of normal Viz to get all the accurate info on this figure. They look pretty identical. in fact, i have to continually hold the two up to the glow of the computer to identify which one I’m reviewing. BT-dubbs, i’m reviewing the one that the light kinda shine through. which is pretty cool cuz you can see a nice outline of the figure pieces and and the bits and bobs really stick out against the light. if you notice how this post is getting worse as it goes it’s because I’m writing this late in a drinking game with White Russian. There’s so many red lines on the screeen and a face at the bottom of my glass, I think it’s Snoke’s face. crap this is a review about an MCU charcter, not Star Wars though Disney does own the souls of both. I’m spiralling again. i haven’t talked about the figure in several lines.

Apparently, McTiidyDude is green, at least his skin tight suit (wait, does vision have SKIN, like SKIN SKIN?????????) is, though that’s what Ethan and Tim says, but i dob’t believe them. personally, I think he’s a kinda a bluish green with this see though version, but I’m not a artsy fartsy major I got my degree in sea science blaeh. His face, and presumably body, is a pink/magenta color, which is replicated in his gloves and boots, which it’s nice that his accessory matches his skin. His face has silver accents for like a weird head gear thingy, but it’s like the only sliver on the figure which is weird against the gold coloring which is the third prominent color of the figure.  DON’T MIX YOUR METALS, as my freshy roomie used to tell me. I miss you Alex! Anyways, speaking of gold, he has gold detailing on his gloves and boots. This guy even has sliver on his neck! the cape though is like a milky, faded gold that sat too long in the sun with streaks of equally faded pink. THE TEXTURE OF THE FIGURE IS PRETTY NEAT. CRAP i was in caps. the texture of the cape is pretty cool. it looks like a cool metal-digital-halo themed cap. the pattern is up for debate. i personally think it looks like someone jabbed a toothpick into his body frequently and methodically like medieval torture in the inquisition. Ethan argues that it’s hexagonal because that’s what ITS SUPPOSED TO BE. Tim, the only one actually grad of arts and graphic design says it’s more like a brick pattern. who’s right? Anyone’s guess really. anyway, texture is pretty cool. though the coolest is the kinda see thru plastic. i enjoy sticking up to the light and seeing his insides, though not vision’s actual insides like computer/human guts but McTiddyDude’s action figure guts which is joints and thingies. Weird tangent on the boots though. i don’t like his boots. they’re kinda bland and uninspiring. would not rank them high on my list of men’s boots. Oh goat turds, hes got subtle detailing on his face too! that’s pretty dope.

I think that’s everything. Height. Articulation. Paint (ish?). Detailing. nuggets, can’t really think of anything else. not really. i like the see through, but I’m easily amused/entertained/whatever. Vision as a character runs hot and cold with me. don’t really think he got enough in the films, can”t wait for the show though. hwhqehiqrhuifqbfqbjkfqbfrbjfw i don’t really know what else to say. TY[ING TYPIMG TYPIMG. okay your hell is over for the day.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I have no real attachment to this figure. Ethan thought it would be entertaining if i reviewed this figure since he reviewed the original movie vision figure like 8 forevers agos. BUT HE’S MISSING OUT BECAUSE THIS IS OBVIOUSLY THE SUPERIOR FIGURE BECAUSE OF IT’S SEE THROUGH CAPACITY. Vision is a cool character, but I got like nothing to say abut him. Cool figure though, at least in my drunken state. anyways, end transmission. your day’s torment is over. hope you enjoyed my interlude, dumpster fire talking of a figure. My face feels funny. CHOOO CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Peace out, I’m done, end transmission.

#2292: Valkyrie

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

VALKYRIE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“An honored warrior, Valkyrie uses her strength and skill to defend Asgard.”

I started my first Valkyrie review on this site with a comment that I “sure hoped Valkyrie would get her due” and get to be in the focus…given that her action figure numbers have doubled and she’s been in two major motion pictures, I guess she finally did.  Can I get a resounding “yay”?  In 2017, when she made her first cinematic appearance in Ragnarok, she was fortunate enough to get a Legends release of one of her two looks from the film.  It was a pretty decent figure, but the scaling was a little wonky, and it was only one of the two looks.  When the other look appeared in Endgame, that gave Hasbro some leeway to get around to that other look, and give us a second version of the MCU’s Valkyrie.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Valkyrie is another figure from the “Thor” Series (commonly referred to as the “Bro Thor” Series) of Marvel Legends, which was the third Endgame-themed assortment of 2019.  She’s wearing her proper Valkyrie armor, and that means the figure is pulling double duty, giving us Valkyrie not only as she appears in Endgame‘s final battle, but also Ragnarok‘s.  The figure is about 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  This Valkyrie is a completely new sculpt from the last one, which is sensible.  The two costumes don’t really have much common ground, and that one was a little bit up-scaled (like a few of the Thor figures have been).  Also, while the Tessa Thompson likeness on the first figure was solid, this one is even better.  It’s amazing how much better Hasbro has gotten at capturing a likeness in just two years.  The hair is a separate piece (as has become the new normal), and hangs fairly naturally; the situating of the braids over her shoulder also helps to preserve her neck articulation, which is always a plus.  The rest of the body sculpt is a pretty decent offering; they’ve managed to capture the details of the armor quite nicely, and I certainly appreciate how well they’ve integrated the various overlays in order to keep the depth of the real design.  Her cape has a nice sort of dynamic flair to it, which I prefer to the totally flat cape of the prior release.  My only real complaint is that my figure has a hard time staying standing; I don’t know if that’s going to be an across the board thing or not.  Valkyrie’s paint work is all pretty solid.  The face print is definitely one of the better ones, and the rest of the color scheme has some nice pop to it.  I think she’s technically supposed to have some war paint on her face, but it’s a fairly small detail.  Valkyrie is packed with the same sword and sheath combo as before, though it feels like it scales a bit better this time.  She also includes the leg of the Thor BaF.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I can’t say I had an undying need for this figure.  I was happy with the previous one, at least at the time it was released.  Of course, I wasn’t going to turn this figure down either.  After getting her in hand, now I feel even better about having her, because she’s ultimately a lot nicer than the prior offering, and makes for a strong addition to the growing Endgame ranks.

I picked up Valkyrie from my friends All Time Toys, and she’s still in stock here.  If you’re looking for other cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay Store.

#2291: Iron Man

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

IRON MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Tony Stark gears up in his highly advanced Mark LXXXV armor.”

When Iron Man first appeared on the big screen in 2008, he did so in a suit of armor that was a respectable recreation of his then current armor in the comics.  It was sensible from a marketing standpoint of course; having your character in the same basic costume across different forms of media is typically a good idea; but it was also sensible from the angle of making him work in a real world setting.  As cool as Tony’s classic armor may be, it’s hard to sell an audience on the classic skin-tight-looking design existing in the real world….or is it?  After 10 years with various modern reinterpretations, Endgame‘s Mark 85 armor, much like Cap’s new and improved uniform, finally got us something much closer to that classic Iron Man design.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Iron Man is part of the “Thor” Series of Marvel Legends, the third Endgame-based assortment of 2019.  As noted in the intro, he’s sporting the Mark 85 armor, which made its debut in Endgame and is heavily inspired by Tony’s 60s/70s armor from the comics.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  The Mark 85 is an all-new sculpt, unsurprising given that this particular armor design is the most divergent standard armor from a design standpoint.  That said, its heavily rumored we’ll be seeing a lot of the sculpt turn up again for some sort of final battle release in some sort of exclusive or boxed set form.  Joint layout and integration on this figure is pretty similar to the Mark 50, but the actual construction of the figure feels a lot more solid, and the joints get a bit more range.  The all-new sculpt does a pretty respectable job of capturing the design of the armor from the movie in plastic form.  The decision to push him back to the third assortment was a solid one, since it allows for the figure to be more accurate to the final film design than other film Iron Men.  It’s still not perfect; like the Mark 50, it’s still not quite as sleek as the final film design, but it does still manage to land a bit closer.  The detail work is all pretty sharp, though, and the figure is as a whole a very cohesive sculpt.  He’s one of the most solidly assembled MCU Iron Men, really rivaled only by the Mark VII figure from 2018.  The paint work on Iron Man isn’t too complicated, but it gets all of the important details and, unlike the 50, it manages to actually stick to the movie’s color scheme.  I appreciate sticking with the painted gold as well; it ends up making for a nicer looking final product.  One of the biggest flaws with the Mark 50 was his lack of extras, and in that regard, the 85 definitely does a little better.  He gets a spare set of repuslor hands (which finally have actual universal joints on the wrists again, after far too many figures with simple cut joints on the extra hands), plus four repulsor effects, meaning you no longer have to choose between using them for the hands or feet.  That’s just what he gets for himself; he’s also got some extras for other figures.  The first is the other arm of the Thor figure (complete with a spare hand with the time travel device), and the second is an alternate nano-tech gauntlet for last series’ Hulk BaF.  It’s a little weird that he gets the gauntlet for another figure and not for himself, but that sort of adds fuel to those rumors of a second version of this armor.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wanted two things when I walked out of the theater after seeing Endgame the first time.  The first was Cap’s new costume.  The second was this guy.  As much as I like Iron Man, and as much as I can appreciate the various MCU armors purely aesthetically, by around Iron Man 3, I was really longing for a proper classic Iron Man, which resulted in each successive MCU figure not quite hitting the way I wanted.  Once this design was unveiled, I knew I wanted it, and I was definitely happy when he was shown off with this assortment.  He’s a really nice figure, and a great basic, clean Iron Man figure, easily rivaling the Mark VII in terms of being the best MCU Iron Man figure.  Definitely this assortment’s star piece.

Iron Man was purchased from my friends at All Time Toys, and he’s currently in-stock at their store, here. And, if you’re looking for other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2290: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“The all-American hero Captain America charges into battle for justice.”

Back in 2012, Marvel Legends was kind of in hibernation, meaning the main line of Avengers figures were in the smaller 3 3/4-inch scale.  Walmart, however, carried an exclusive line of Legends-styled figures for the movie, to at least give us (most) of the main cast.  These figures were still a little rarer than the usual release, however, and over the course of the last eight years, Hasbro have done what they can to get some of those figures (or at least those looks) back to market.  A lengthy flashback sequence (plus an involved fight scene) in Endgame proved a fairly good excuse to put back out the first movie’s take on Cap.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America (affectionately referred to as “America’s Ass” Cap by the fanbase, due to the movie’s commentary on the costume’s…benefits to Cap’s physique) is part of the third Endgame-themed series of Marvel Legends.  While the assortment was officially a fall 2019 release, there was a definite split in distribution, which caused a lot of the figures to be pretty scarce until around the first week of 2020.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  As far as the sculpt is concerned, this figure’s completely re-use, though not all from the same source.  The majority of the figure is the old Walmart release, with the head of the Quantum Suit Cap (which I had pegged for re-use when it debuted).  The head was the most inaccurate part of the original figure, so the replacement is certainly an improvement.  Unfortunately, while the head may work in modern times, the body, though good in 2012, is really out of date eight years later.  The articulation on the hips his definitely the weakest bit, but the lack of proper wrists also holds him back, as does his limited range of the shoulders.  The head also sits a little high on the neck, and takes some pretty careful posing to not look super goony.  Also, despite the whole “America’s Ass” commentary from the movie, the old sculpt definitely doesn’t do that aspect of the costume any favors.  Obviously, Hasbro was looking for a figure to save some tooling costs on, but ultimately, this is a figure that should have warranted an all-new body sculpt; the old one just doesn’t quite pass muster anymore.  The paintwork on this figure changes things up a bit from the original release; the brighter colors of the Walmart figure have been toned down a fair bit, resulting in a more film-accurate color scheme.  Additionally, he’s got the face printing on the head, making the figure look a little more lifelike.  Cap gets the upgraded shield from the 10th Anniversary line in place of the old one, as well as one of the arms for the Thor Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This Cap figure fills me with mixed emotions…which seems to have been a running theme for Cap Legends in 2019, honestly.  I never hated the 2012 costume the way others did, so I’m not put off by the prospect of an update, especially given it’s prominence in Endgame.  The 2012 figure certainly wasn’t bad for his time, and I reviewed him quite favorably when I looked at him back in 2018. Unfortunately, the rehash feels kind of hollow, especially when compared to some of the other work Hasbro put out last year, and it’s also hard not to view this figure as taking the regular retail slot from the standard Endgame Cap, who would have made far more sense in one of the standard assortments, and who still proves particularly hard to acquire for a lot of fans.  Obviously, there are things behind the scenes at Hasbro that I’m not privy to, so I can’t know exactly why they chose to do things this way, but it doesn’t stop this Cap figure from feeling somewhat lackluster, and not quite what I wanted.

Cap was purchased from my friends at All Time Toys, and he’s currently in-stock at their store, here. And, if you’re looking for other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2279: Alpha Flight

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

VINDICATOR, PUCK, NORTHSTAR, AURORA, SHAMAN, & SNOWBIRD

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Remember when I reviewed Guardian back in September, and I mentioned that Hasbro had thrown out the concept of trying to release all of the Alpha Flight team-members one at a time in favor of dropping them all at once in one fell swoop as an Amazon-exclusive set?  Well, here we are.  Just about a whole team in one go.  It’s just how they do.  Introduced in the pages of Uncanny X-Men #120 as part of Wolverine’s backstory, they eventually got a book of their own, which ran for over a decade.  Since that original run, though, they’ve had a little trouble keeping in the public eye, which has made their toy prospects a little tricky, especially since they’ve got a rather sizable line-up.  One big drop is pretty much the only way any company has ever been able to get them out to market, and that’s exactly what Hasbro did here.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This six figure set is an Amazon-exclusive Marvel Legends offering, which was first listed for pre-order last fall, and started shipping about a month or two ago.   It’s designed to augment the Guardian and Sasquatch figures recently released in the main line, as well as giving fans a second chance at the incredibly hard to complete Puck build-a-figure from the last series of Return of Marvel Legends.

VINDICATOR

“Heather McNeill Hudson, Calgary, Alberta”

In an effort to keep up with my claims of having reviewed 100% of the Heather Hudson figures in existence (it’s easy when there’s only three of them), here’s the latest one of those.  Whoooo.   Like the other two, this one is Heather in her version of the Vidicator costume, which she started wearing after her husband Mac’s (first) death.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and she has 28 points of articulation.  She’s built on the Phoenix body, which works reasonably well for Heather (and confirms that Wolverine’s got something of a type…that type being red heads of a certain build who are married).  She fortunately swaps out the high heels for a pair of flat soles, and ditches one of the open hands for a first.  She also gets an all-new head sculpt, which is quite a nice piece.  It’s fairly basic, but it’s clean and it sits well on the body.  It’s also got a posable ponytail, which is handy for different flight based poses. Heather’s paint work is okay, but not without a few issues.  The biggest is the change in red from James‘ suit to this one.  The figures were close enough in production time, that the two of them really should have been sporting the same colors.  As it is, they are’t terribly far off, but it’s enough of a difference to be grating when they’re displayed together.  Additionally, the maple leaf emblem has really lost the maple-leaf-ness this time around, looking far more like a bunch of random jagged lines.  My last complaint is more of personal preference, but the opaque coloring on the visor is a little bit of a bummer, especially since both of her prior figures have managed to do translucent.

PUCK

“Eugene Judd, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan”

Puck is the one figure who’s had a Legends release before, as the Build-A-Figure in the self-entitled “Puck Series,” an assortment put together to tie-in with The Wolverine‘s release that ended up dumped on Diamond Distrubutors and then wound up being incredibly hard to find.  That all resulted in Puck having a rather inflated after market price and being something of a barrier to entry for any prospective Alpha Flight fans.  Hasbro is throwing fans a bone here with an almost straight re-release of that figure.  He stands 3 1/2 inches tall and he has 24 points of articulation.  Apart from a missing waist joint, he’s otherwise very nicely articulated for a figure of his size and stature.  His sculpt is the same as his Build-A-Figure counterpart, aside from his head, which is an all-new, better scaled to the body, and just generally superior head sculpt.  Though I never owned the BaF, I did have the Marvel Universe Puck, which is actually quite similar stylistically to this one, apart from being about 2/3rds the size.  I liked that sculpt a lot, and I like this sculpt a lot.  Puck’s paintwork is alright; it’s a bit sloppy on his logo, but otherwise things look pretty decent.

NORTHSTAR

“Jean-Paul Beaubier, Montreal, Quebec”

Northstar’s never had a Legends figure before, but he *was* part of Hasbro’s 2007 poll run by ToyFare, alongside his sister Aurora.  Why they decided to run tow halves of a pair in a fan poll that was only going to produce a single figure is anyone’s guess, but hey, at least he finally made it.  First Appearance Storm has as of yet not been quite so lucky.  Though the character has had a few looks over the years, this figure goes for the same one as all of his other figures, which is his first appearance suit.  To be fair, it’s his best look by far, so I’m not complaining at all.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Northstar is built on the ANAD 2099 body, which is a decent enough choice for the character given how he’s usually drawn in the comics.  His head’s better scaled to the body than Quicksilver, the last character to use the body, so he’s off to a decent start.  Said head is the figure’s one new piece, and it’s a respectable offering, doing a solid job of marrying Byrne’s depictions of the character with the general Legends aesthetic.  He’s certainly looks suitably pompous and stuck on himself, which is really what you need for the character.  Unfortunately, he misses out on the one other thing the character could really benefit from: an open hand.  Both of his are fists, meaning he can’t hold hands with his sister, which is a major bummer, what with that being a whole part of their power set and all.  His paintwork is also a little iffy, due to the transitions between black and white being rather fuzzy, and their also being a few errant marks of the opposing color on both sections.  The pearlescent white is pretty nice, though.

AURORA

“Jeanne-Marie Beaubier, Montreal, Quebec”

As noted above, Aurora appeared alongside her brother in the 2007 fan poll, but was likewise not the winning figure, thus giving her the lengthy 12 year wait for a proper figure, which this set finally brought to an end.  Like her brother, Aurora is sporting her original design, which is again the cleanest and most dynamic of her various designs.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Aurora is built on the Psylocke body, which is a solid choice for the character, though suffers from some issues with the plastic that the original release didn’t.  The primary issue is with the elbows, which have had reports of major issues with breakage.  While I’ve not experienced this with either of my figure’s arms, I will say that the joints are a little tighter than I’d like, which has made me very cautious when posing her.  Beyond the re-used body, she also gets one of the may open gesture hands in place of Psylocke’s grip (making Northstar’s fists even more egregious), as well as a brand new headsculpt.  Like her brother’s, the sculpt does a respectable job of marrying Byrne’s style with the general Legends aesthetic.  Her paintwork is very similar to Northstar’s, meaning it’s a little iffy on the costume, but overall an okay offering.  It’s a little bit cleaner on her than on her brother.

SHAMAN

“Dr. Michael Twoyoungmen, Calgary, Alberta”

Perhaps the most straight-forwardly-named member of the team, Shaman is also the least fortunate member when it comes to toys, having only a Minimate release to date, in contrast to the rest of the team having at least a couple releases under their belts.  Why he gets left out is anyone’s guess, but at least he wasn’t left out this time.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Shaman is built on the Bucky Cap body, a mold which seems be starting to wear out, because Shaman doesn’t feel anywhere near as solid as earlier figures on the body.  I don’t dislike it’s continued use, but it’s a bit of an issue when it’s quality starts to fall as it has here.  I suppose to make up for it slightly, Shaman gets the most new pieces of all the figures in the set, with a new head, plus add-ons for his belt/loincloth and wrist bracers.  The parts are all nice enough; the head’s a little devoid of personality, but then that’s kind of Shaman, isn’t it?  The paint on Shaman is unfortunately the worst in the set.  Typically, he’s depicted in green and orange, but this figure has yellow instead, which just doesn’t look quite as good.  Additionally, the application is really sloppy, especially on the torso, which makes the whole thing look kind of messy.

SNOWBIRD

“Narya, Resolute Bay, Northwest Territories”

Snowbird as a character was one of Byrne’s earliest creations, actually pre-dating his comics work, and being refitted into Alpha Flight in their first appearance.  It’s kind of a shame he never took the time to, you know, actually make her a full character.  Sorry, is my dislike of Snowbird showing?  I’ll do my best to keep that under wraps.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and has 27 points of articulation.  I’m gonna be real here guys, I don’t actually recognize the parts Snowbird is built from.  They have to be re-use, because every thing else in this set is, but I’m at a loss myself.  The head and cape are both new to be sure, though.  They do their job of recreating her design alright.  The cape’s maybe a little smaller than usually shown in the comics, but that comes with trying to make it more manageable and not have the figure falling over all of the time.  Snowbird’s paintwork is decent enough.  There’s a slight mismatch between the shades of white on various parts of her costume, but it’s not too noticeable in person, and the metallic blue is certainly very nice looking.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

With Sasquatch and Guardian already in my collection, I was certainly intrigued by the prospect of slowly building an Alpha Flight line-up.  I didn’t really expect to do it all at once, but that’s how it happened.  I ended up getting this set from my parents for Christmas.  The set’s really more spectacle than anything, sold on the novelty of completing the team in one go.  Removed from that novelty, most of the figure’s are kind of middle of the road, which I guess is only fair, since so are most of the characters.  Puck marks an improvement on the impossible to find Build-A-Figure, so he’s the star of the set for me.  The rest are okay, but virtually all of them are held back by some small production issue, which makes the set feel…underwhelming?  At least when looking at the figures individually.  As a unit, paired with the other figures?  They are pretty cool.

#2256: Deadpool

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

DEADPOOL

MARVEL LEGENDS VINTAGE (HASBRO)

Boy howdy am I running out of compelling ways to start Deadpool-themed reviews.  To say he’s overdone may be something of an understatement.  There’s *only* been three figures of him this year for Marvel Legends though, so I guess that represents Hasbro backing things off a little bit.  Lucky us.  I’ve managed to pick up all of them so far, so why stop now, I guess.  So, here’s one more Deadpool.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Deadpool is a standalone Marvel Legends release, done up in the retro style cardback packaging.  Like the Grey Hulk I reviewed earlier this month, he was originally slated to be a con-exclusive release, before being moved to the fan channel.  This Deadpool is designed to be an earlier in his career Deadpool, specifically patterned after the ’90s Toy Biz figure whose packaging this one mimics.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation. Sculpturally, he’s essentially identical to the classic Deadpool figure released in the Sasquatch Series last year.  The only difference between the two is that this one adds a second strap of pouches to the left leg so as to better mimic the old figure.  He’s using the 2099 body, which is a solid starting point, especially for a character like Deadpool.  He then has add-ons for his webgear/belt, the pouches on his legs, and his neck, wrist, and ankle straps.  He’s also got the classic Deadpool head, which fits the body a lot better than the Juggernaut Series one did for the X-uniform Deadpool.  Ultimately, it results in a pretty solid figure, especially if you missed the Classic Deadpool like me.  The figure’s paint mixes things up a little bit as well.  This is in part to more closely match the old toy, so things like the belt and torso gear have been left red like on that figure.  However, they’ve also changed the black parts of the costume to a dark metallic blue, which is honestly a pretty cool look, and really feels like it hearkens back to those early ’90s appearances of the character.  The application is all very clean, and the colors really pop off of each other.  Deadpool is actually pretty decently accessorized for a vintage-packed release, with two swords, two small machine guns, a pistol, and a larger assault rifle.  Given that the Classic Deadpool only included the swords, that’s actually kind of surprising, and I’m definitely glad they went the extra mile.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Much like Hulk, when this was still planned for a con release, I paid very little attention to it.  I passed on the Sasquatch Series release numerous times, and this one, while certainly a neat look, didn’t feel any more essential than that one.  The shift to Fan Channel meant that he more or less arrived in my lap, and going in with no expectations, he’s another figure I ended up liking quite a bit.  Honestly, that’s kind of been the case with all of this year’s Deadpool figures, so maybe I should just stop complaining about them.

#2244: Grey Hulk

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

GREY HULK

MARVEL LEGENDS: VINTAGE (HASBRO)

“Accidentally exposed to gamma radiation, scientist Bruce Banner gains super strength, stamina, and invulnerability…at the cost of his genius!  Dubbed “Hulk,” Banner first transforms only at night before realizing that it’s actually his anger that gives him his super abilities.”

Did you know that the Hulk is only green-skinned because of poor quality print techniques?  If you’re at all familiar with common place comics trivia, then you probably did.  Congratulations, you don’t need me anymore.  But I’m not writing reviews for you, so ah-ha, I’m gonna keep writing anyway.  You can’t stop me!  …Where was I?  Grey Hulk.  Right.  So, Hulk was originally grey, but the comics printing techniques of the ’60s being what they were, getting a consistent grey was very hard to attain, and the end result was a main character that shifted colors multiple times throughout his first appearance.  To avoid further issue, he was made green.  Well, at least until printing techniques improved enough to bring Grey Hulk back  in the ’80s.  Yay, second life for Grey Hulk!  And now he’s an easy action figure variant, hence the coverage here today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Grey Hulk is a standalone “80 Years of Marvel” Marvel Legends release, originally intended to be con exclusive (the counterpart to the Retro carded Green Hulk from SDCC), but ultimately re-purposed as another Fan Channel exclusive.  This marks our third Legends Grey Hulk, and the first one since the Fin Fang Foom Series in ’08.  The figure stands 8 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation.  He uses the same body as the other 80 Years of Marvel Hulk, which isn’t really much of a surprise, since Hasbro generally likes to get some mileage out of a new sculpt.  It helps that it’s a really strong body, and I liked it a lot the first time I looked at it.  This one gets an all-new head, though, since Grey Hulk never sported the lengthy ’70s locks of the prior release, and also tended to have a far more pronounced brow than later incarnations.  It doesn’t make for a very pretty looking figure, but I guess that’s appropriate for someone belted by gamma rays.  Ain’t he unglamorous?  Glamorous or not, it’s certainly a sharp sculpt, and well-suited to the body.  He includes the same torn shirt piece as the prior figure, which is the same set-up as before; it’s not super securely held in place or anything, but looks decent, and can be easily taken off if it’s not your speed.  In my review of the last Hulk, I remarked that his paintwork was surprisingly nuanced.  This figure is a step up even from that.  The skin tone still has some subtle variation to it, but he also gets some very impressive work on his pants, which have that proper broken-in denim appearance to them.  Hulk is armed with a crushed pipe, a fact that package proudly proclaims.  It’s admittedly a pretty fun piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When he was still rumored for a con-exclusive release, I didn’t pay this guy much mind, and I certainly wasn’t planning to jump through any hoops to get him.  When he made the shift to Fan Channel, and therefore became far easier to acquire, I was a much easier mark.  I went in with no real expectations, since he was never going to be my primary Hulk, but he’s honestly a pretty fun figure, and does some cool stuff that the prior release didn’t.

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

#2234: Bullseye

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

BULLSEYE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“A former soldier with perfect aim, Bullseye never misses his mark. From the early days of his career as a costumed criminal, the ruthless assassin has set his sights most often on a single target – Daredevil, the Man Without Fear. Any object – be it pencil, playing card or paper clip – becomes a deadly weapon in the skilled hands of the man who could be the world’s greatest assassin!”

Daredevil has a wonky history with villains.  His most prominent foe, the Kingpin, wasn’t even his villain to start with.  On the flipside, a lot of foes originally introduced in his book would end up getting grabbed by other heroes in the Marvel universe.  He just doesn’t get true claim to anything!  Well, he actually does get full claim to today’s entry, Bullseye, who first appeared in Daredevil’s book in ’76, and has remained attached to the character ever since.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Bullseye was released in the 9th Series of Marvel Legends from Toy Biz, a series notable for being the first ever Build-A-Figure centered series of Legends.  Bullseye was one of the two figures in the line-up to get a variant release as well.  The standard release was sporting a pouty closed mouth look, while his variant had a mad grin.  It was…an odd choice, especially given the more drastically different variant from the same series.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and he has 48 points of articulation.  That’s a very high count of articulation, and includes individually articulated fingers.  Toy Biz was definitely articulation mad at this point.  Bullseye was the first figure to use his mold, but he would be far from the last; Toy Biz quickly retooled it into a base body, and it was still in use by Hasbro as late as 2015’s Allfather Series Iron Fist. A decade of use isn’t a bad run.  While it wound up looking rather dated by the end of its run, it was one of Toy Biz’s stronger sculpts…at least the base body, anyway.  The Bullseye-specific parts were a little more of a mixed bag.  The boots and gloves are pretty solid sculpts, but the head on both versions of the figure ended up being too large to properly scale with the rest of the body.  The prototype shots looked fine, so it was clearly some sort of error that cropped up during production.  It’s a shame, because he ends up looking a little goofier than intended because of it.  The two versions of Bullseye had divergent paint schemes, which both had their pluses and minuses.  The standard is a more strict white and black scheme, with just a little bit of accenting to make some parts pop.  However, they slightly messed up the gloves, Leaving the top stripe black instead of white, despite how it’s sculpted.  The variant fixed this issue, but swap out the white and black for a light grey and a gunmetal grey, which, while not a *terrible* look, isn’t nearly as striking as the standard scheme.  Unfortunately, due to the size of the included BaF parts for this line-up, the individual figures went without any figure-specific extras.  He included the left leg of Galactus, as well as a reprinted copy of Daredevil #132, Bullseye’s first appearance.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Both versions of Bullseye were a little tricky to get at first.  I got the standard first, courtesy of finding an untouched case of figures at the local KB Toys.  I was all content to just have that version, but in a bit of luck a few months later happened to find a whole pile of both Series 9 variants hidden at my nearby Walmart.  I like both figures for different reasons, but