Tag Archives: Marvel

#1070: Sam Wilson – Captain America, Vision, & Kate Bishop – Hawkeye

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

SAM WILSON – CAPTAIN AMERICA, VISION, & KATE BISHOP – HAWKEYE

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

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Wow, Hasbro sure is swamping us with Marvel Legends, aren’t they?  After a fair delay, the Giant-Man Series finally hit just about everywhere, very closely trailed by the Juggernaut Series.  The Abomination and Dr Strange series are also starting to hit in some areas as well. On top of that, there have been a number of exclusive items, with Walgreens getting two figures right on top of each other, and Walmart getting a pair of exclusives (that I still need to find).  There have also been two boxed sets: the Civil War Spider-Man set (which had a movie Spidey alongside re-decoed versions of Cap and Iron Man), and a set containing Sam Wilson as Cap, Kate Bishop as Hawkeye, and Vision…as Vision!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This trio is exclusive to Toys R Us and is loosely themed around looks from the post-Axis Marvel Now! stuff.  Sam and Kate both follow a firm legacy heroes theme, which kind of makes Vision stick out a bit.  Of course, flip-side, Sam and Vision are both part of the main Avengers line-up, and Kate isn’t.  So, exactly who’s left out is really up to you.

SAM WILSON – CAPTAIN AMERICA

falccapviskateguy5We’ve gotten him in both Minimate and 3 3/4-inch form, so it was about time we got a FalCap Marvel Legend.  Bonus points for being the first Sam Wilson Legend since the Toy Biz run!  The figure is about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Structurally, he shares several pieces with 2014’s Marvel Now! Cap figure.  He has the arms, legs, and pelvis from that figure, along with an all-new head, torso, belt, and shoulders.  The Now! Cap parts aren’t a perfect match for FalCap’s design, but they’re close enough to work without too much trouble.  The new pieces match up well with the older parts, and are pretty decent sculpts on their own terms as well.  I wasn’t 100% sold on the head sculpt at first glance (as with so many of Hasbro’s Cap sculpts, I think it looks a little too mean for the character), but after having it in hand, I actually don’t mind it.  His hair seems a little closer cropped than his usual comics appearance, but it’s not like it’s completely wrong or anything.  All in all, it’s one of those sculpts that has some minor flaws here and there, but looks a lot better as a whole, which is what really matters.  The paintwork on FalCap is pretty solid. The shades on the colors are a bit more subdued than those on Now! Cap, which is fair, since he was probably a little too bright.  These colors look about right for Sam’s comics design, and still have enough vibrance to give him some pop.  The application of said paint is decent enough, though there’s still a bit of slop, especially on the switches from blue to white.  He could be a little better, but he could also could be far worse.  FalCap includes his mighty shield, which is all well and good, but what he doesn’t include are his wings.  Sure, he doesn’t always have them, but he does most of the time, and their omission here is a bit glaring.

VISION

falccapviskateguy3Vision’s a popular guy!  This is his third Legend in the last year, and the second time he’s been in one of these exclusive three-packs.  This time around, he’s based on his Daniel Acura-designed look from the latter half of Remender’s Uncanny Avengers run, which also happens to be the costume he’s wearing currently.  If I’m honest, it feels a little over designed, though, and I miss the yellow.  Also, the red bits make it look like he’s running around half naked.   That said, I like it a bit better then his first Now! look.  The figure is about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  He’s built on the Bucky Cap body, with a new head and an add-on for the cape.  I was a bit disappointed with the last Vision head sculpt, so I’m happy they didn’t re-use it a third time here. This may well be my favorite Legends Vision sculpt.  It just captures the character quite nicely, and is very sharply defined features.  The cape is kind of an awkward design, but it’s been translated into three dimensions well enough.  It’s definitely a better attempt at a cape than the one Hasbro was using before (which, judging by all the currently shown figures, has been justly retired from the line).  Paint is the one real downside to this guy.  Of the three figures included in this set, this guy definitely has the sloppiest paint in the bunch.  It’s just all over the place.  I mean, he looks okay from a normal viewing distance, but up close he’s got a lot of rough edges, and there’s a few spots where the paint doesn’t really follow the sculpt very well.  That being said, the colors are at least nice and vibrant, and he stands out quite nicely on the the shelf.  Vision doesn’t get any accessories, but I can’t really think of what you’d give him, so that’s okay.

KATE BISHOP –  HAWKEYE

falccapviskateguy2At long last, Kate Bishop makes her way into the action figure world!  It took them long enough, since the rest of her Young Avengers teammates were released way back in 2006.  Of course, this costume doesn’t technically match the rest of them, and we still don’t have Cassie Lang, but let’s not kick the gift horse in the mouth here.  Kate here is sporting her more recent, jumpsuit look from the pages of the last two Hawkeye series.  It’s not a bad look (and it makes me feel a little bad that I never got one of the Now! Hawkeye figures), and it’s the one she’s been wearing for the last several years.  The figure is about 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  She’s built on the Phoenix body, which is definitely a good one.  It works pretty well for Kate, especially since this is the slightly more grown-up version of Kate from the last few years.  She gets a new head and lower legs, which blend well with the rest of the body.  The head does a very good job of capturing Kate, and possesses a lot more personality than is usually seen on female figures.  Kate also got a new left hand for gripping her bow, which is cool.  She has to make due with the basic open gesture right hand to be her drawing hand, which isn’t perfect, but isn’t as bad as you might think.  She also gets an add-on piece for her belt and quiver, which sits very nicely, and does a great job of completing her look.  Kate ends up with the best paintwork of the three figures in this set (which is nice, since it’s her debut figure and all).  It’s still not 100% perfect, but it’s pretty close.  Kate is packed with her bow, which is the same one included with the last few Hawkeyes, but with proper paint this time around.  Some arrows might have been nice, but the lack of them isn’t new to this figure, so it’s not hugely surprising.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked these guys up from my local TRU last month.  I was actually searching (unsuccessfully) for the Juggernaut series at the time, so these guys were a little bit of a surprise.  This is a set I’ve been eagerly awaiting, ever since it’s announcement.  Kate is the main draw, of course, since she’s never had a figure before, and I’m a pretty big Young Avengers fan.  She’s the strongest figure in the set, too, making her the   real star here.  That being said, FalCap was somewhat overdue, the new Vision is much appreciated, and both figures are both really solid additions to the line.  Unlike prior sets, all three figures included here are real winners, and I don’t think any of the three feels like a forced heavy hitter.

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#1069: Future Apocalypse

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

FUTURE APOCALYPSE

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

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The X-Men were kinda big in the ‘90s.  Not sure if you guys knew that.  They were big enough to serve as a pretty good kick-off for the still fairly new to the market Toy Biz, who made quite an empire out of those merry mutants.  Early on, the figures were pretty straight-forward translations of the comics designs (with one or two Animated designs, such as Morph, thrown in for good measure), but as the decade progressed, they started running out of characters to scrape from the bottom of the X-Men barrel, and headed towards some slightly more gimmicky concepts, which allowed them to rehash some of the previously released characters in different and exciting ways.  One such gimmick was “Missile Flyers,” a series of four wing-ed variants released in 1997.  Today, I’ll be looking at Apocalypse from that series!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

futureapocalypse2As noted in the intro, Apocalypse (or “Future Apocalypse” as the box refers to him) is one of the four figures in the “Missile Flyers” series of Toy Biz’s X-Men line.  The figure is about 7 inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation.  His design is a bit removed from the usual Apocalypse look.  He’s far more exaggerated and mechanized than usual.  I think it’s still a comic-based design, but I honestly don’t know exactly where it hails from.  It’s certainly an interesting look for him, though it does make him look more like a Spawn villain than an X-Men character.  It’s probably all that crazy exaggeration on the proportions.  The actual quality of the sculpt is pretty top notch.  There’s a lot of great detail work throughout, especially on the mechanics of the neck.  That looks pretty darn cool!  He does have a little trouble standing, mostly due to the sheer size of his upper arms, but you can get him to remain fairly sturdy with some careful posing.  While most of the Missile Flyers figures had separate, removable pieces for their missile-firing wings that earned them their name,  Apocalypse actually had his wings worked into the main figure.  Each of the wings is on a rotating hinge, allowing them to either be deployed over his shoulders or brought down over his front to form a sort of a robe type thing.  The two halves even form a cool A symbol, like Apocalypse is prone to sport, which  is a cool touch.  The paintwork on Apocalypse is decent enough.  It’s a lot of blues, greys, and silvers, which is right for the character.  My figure’s a little worse for wear, but still pretty good.  He’s not the most colorful figure ever, but it works for him (and was a good contrast to the other figures in the set).  Apocalypse was packed with a large missile, which can be fired from the hole in the middle of his torso (that’s gotta hurt!).

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Apocalypse isn’t one of my actual ‘90s purchases.  As a matter of fact, I never got any of the Missile Flyers when they were initially released, despite quite liking them.  I ultimately ended up finding Future Apocalypse at a Goodwill this past Father’s Day (along with the bunch of Masters of the Universe figures I reviewed about a month or two back).  I’ve never been the biggest Apocalypse fan, but I like him well enough that I was urged to pick up this figure, and I have to say, he’s actually pretty cool!

#1064: Punisher

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

PUNISHER

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

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“A ruthless vigilante, Punisher single-handedly takes down crime one bad guy at a time.”

Historically, I’ve never been much of a Punisher fan.  For me, he was one of the prime examples of what went wrong with comics in the late ‘80s on into the ‘90s.  An amoral anti-hero who’s primary gimmick was shooting stuff up, who operated on making other, less extreme heroes look lame and old-fashioned.  When he was announced to be appearing in the second season of Netflix’s Daredevil series, I was a little apprehensive, but Jon Bernthal’s phenomenal turn as the character was one of the best parts of the season, and made me realize that I didn’t hate the character as much as I’d thought, I just hadn’t seen the right interpretation of him.  As it turns out, the timing was just right on me getting into Punisher, since he just got a brand-new Marvel Legend, which I’ll be taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

punisherhas2Punisher is the latest Walgreens-exclusive Marvel Legends Series figure.  Going by the back of the box, he’s supposed to be a part of the Absorbing Man series from earlier this year, though he didn’t arrive even close to that series’ release, nor was he intended to.  He ended up hitting stores about a month ago, not long after the Namor figure (making them the two closest released Walgreens-exclusives since they started carrying the figures).  The figure is based on Punisher’s Jim Lee-designed look from the ‘90s, which is a decent choice, since it’s just a slight variation on his classic design.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Punisher is built on the Reaper body, which was somewhat surprising at first, but, upon having the figure in hand, feels like a pretty good choice. The only downside to this body is that they have yet to release hands with trigger fingers for it, which is a bit of an issue for a gun user like Punisher, but can fairly easily be remedied with a little minor modification.  Punisher gets a new punisherhas3head, as well as two add-on pieces for his shoulder straps and belt.  The new head is quite a nice piece.  The headband is certainly a unique look, and the whole sculpt captures the Lee take on the character quite well, as well as fitting the base body very nicely.  The add-ons are also very well-rendered pieces, which add a nice extra touch of character to the figure.  Punisher’s paintwork is clean and sharp, and makes the figure look very well put together.  The slightly off-black of the uniform looks really nice, and the details such as the logo and the face are superbly rendered.  The accessories are an area where this figure really shines.  He gets an extra head, sans headband, for a more classic look, an m60 machine gun, a Striker shotgun, and a SMAW rocket launcher.  That’s actually a pretty impressive selection, especially compared to the likes of Winter Soldier or Black Widow from earlier in the Infinite Series line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Wanna guess where I got Punisher?  That’s right, Walgreens!  After tracking down <most of> the latest X-Men series, this guy was at the top of my list.  My dad, who was helping me track down the X-Men figures, actually saw this guy and didn’t realize I hadn’t gotten him yet.  So, we made a trip back to that same Walgreens and I picked him up.  Gotta say, I really like this guy a whole lot, and that’s surprising to me, since I didn’t care about the character a year ago.

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#1053: Juggernaut

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

JUGGERNAUT

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES (HASBRO)

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We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming…

I’m sure those of you who were anxiously awaiting the final figure from my recent X-Men Legends reviews were quite put out with yesterday’s Star Trek-themed review.  Or maybe you weren’t.  You probably weren’t.  Regardless, we’re back with the X-Men today, taking a look at the latest X-Men-themed Build-A-Figure, the unstoppable Juggernaut!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

juggernauthas2Juggernaut is, unsurprisingly, the Build-A-Figure for the Juggernaut series of Marvel Legends, which has started hitting stores in the last month or so.  This is Juggernaut’s second Legends figure, and his first since way back in Series 6 of Toy Biz’s run with the line*.  Like that figure, this guy is sporting his classic attire, which makes sense.  None of his other designs have really caught on the same way.  The figure stands about 9 1/2 inches tall and he has 28 points of articulation.  Juggernaut is one of the largest of the more recent, dwarfing everyone but the Hulkbuster B-a-F.  He’s built on a body that hasn’t seen use before, but I feel almost certain will see re-use down the line.  In many ways, the construction of this figure is quite similar to Hasbro’s Marvel Universe Juggernaut from several years ago.  That was a very good figure, and by extension, so is this guy.  The build is definitely absurdly large, but appropriately so for Juggernaut.  While most of the figure is fairly smooth and clean, the armored bits, belt, and boots all feature some pretty awesome texture juggernauthas3work, which makes him look suitably worn-in, which definitely works for the character.  The helmet and head are separate pieces, but they are glued together, and the head is just the face and jaw, so it’s not meant to be removed, which is one of two minor issues I have with the figure.  The other is the facial features on the underlying face.  They’re alright, but the eyes feel just a touch too far apart, especially compared to the size of the mouth.  It’s not immediately apparent, though, and it’s not like he’s never been drawn that way in the comics.  The paintwork on Juggernaut is pretty decent.  It’s mostly pretty basic, but mostly pretty clean.  There’s a bit of extra detailing on the armored parts, which helps to accent the sculpted texturing.  Juggernaut has no accessories, but he’s kind of an accessory himself, and he hardly feels like a rip-off, just given the sheer size of the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

If you follow the site, you should have a good idea of where Juggernaut came from; he was pieced together from the parts included with all those X-Men Legends I worked so hard to find.  Despite how hard I was looking for the figures, I think Juggernaut may be the fastest I’ve completed a B-a-F (barring when I buy a complete set online).  I always wanted the Toy Biz Legends Juggernaut, so I’m quite happy to have gotten this guy.

All in all, this has been a fantastic set of Marvel Legends, probably my favorite since the Infinite Series re-launch.  Juggernaut is an awesome Build-A-Figure, and I can’t say I resent having to pick up any of the figures that made him.  In fact, several of the figures here are some of the best Hasbro’s put out.  I hope they can keep up this quality!

*Fun fact:  With the exception of the somewhat tacked-on Thomas Jane Punisher, all of the Series 6 figures (Wolverine, Phoenix, Deadpool, and Juggernaut) received updates in the Juggernaut series.

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#1051: Marvel’s Rogue

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

MARVEL’S ROGUE

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES (HASBRO)

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“With just one touch, Rogue can absorb anyone’s superpowers – making her capabilities in any matchup nearly limitless.”

Here she is. The one that started it all (No, not the whole X-Men thing; that had been going for a good twenty years before she came along.)  Back at SDCC last year, Hasbro showed off their Red Onslaught prototype. This was immediately followed by questions of whether or not he’d be getting a regular Onslaught head. Hasbro said not in the same series, but that they were working on a solution. A few months later, at New York Comic Con, this figure showed up in the display case, with an Onslaught head beside her. Was she part of the Captain America series? Would she be some sort of exclusive? Or, was it possible that she was just the first piece of an entire series? Well, if you’ve been following the site for the last week, you know which one it was. Now, just under a year later, the Rogue figure is here (so’s the Onslaught piece, but that ended up elsewhere). Let’s see how she turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

roguehas2Rogue (who, like Havok and Phoenix before her, gets the “Marvel’s” possessive added to her name) is figure 5 in the Juggernaut series of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends. This is only Rogue’s second time as a Marvel Legend, following the X-Men Legends boxed set version from more than a decade ago. How we went that long without getting a single Rogue* is beyond me. This Rogue uses the same Jim Lee design as the last Legends Rogue. It’s kind of her signature look, and it was very much in need of an update. The figure stands about 6 ¼ inches tall and she has 26 points of articulation. Rogue is built on the Moonstone body, which, in addition to being a good fit for the character is also just an a pretty decent base body (aside from a few minor issues). The figure gets a new head and upper arms, as well as add-ons for her jacket, belt, and the cuffs to her gloves and boots. Her construction is in many ways quite similar to the Marvel Universe Rogue (which I reviewed waaaaaaaaay back in 2013), but the increased scale makes the add-on pieces mesh a bit better this time around. One of the main roguehas3issues with prior Rogue figures was that her face always seemed to end up looking…less than stellar. Like Scarlet Witch, her Toy Biz figure suffered from rather mannish facial features. This figure doesn’t fall victim to this issue, and ends up being one of the best looking Rogue figures to date. The sculpted jacket is also a marked improvement over the pleather jacket from the Toy Biz version. The only real issue I have with the sculpt isn’t the sculpt proper, but the assembly of my figure: she has two left upper arms. It’s an annoyance, but it could be a lot worse. Overall, Rogue’s paintwork is pretty decent. There are a few minor spots of errant paint, but it’s mostly pretty sharp. It’s also really bold and pleasant to look at. I’m really digging all the warm bright colors in this series. Rogue included an extra, un-gloved right hand (which is a really fun piece to have), and the left leg of Juggernaut.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Rogue was the figure I was most anticipating from the series. Of course, she was the figure a lot of other people were anticipating too, meaning she was the most difficult of the seven figures to obtain. I actually found the packaging for this figure a month or so back, but some dipstick had swapped out the Rogue figure inside for the old X-Men Legends version, which was a serious let down. After searching for a few weeks, I ended up just sort of stumbling upon Rogue last week during a quick stop-in at my nearest TRU. I’m really happy to have found this figure, and she’s definitely one of my favorites from the set. I can’t wait to get some more Jim Lee X-Men to go with her!

*Hasbro had planned to release a more modern Rogue as part of the Puck Series of Marvel Legends that tied into The Wolverine, but when that assortment was moved to specialty, she was bumped from the line-up.

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#1050: Cable

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

CABLE

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES (HASBRO)

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“A lifelong soldier, Cable perfected his fighting prowess when a technological virus suppressed his natural psychic abilities”

Wow, that’s definitely a streamlined version of Cable’s background. I guess “son of Cyclops and the clone of Jean Grey who was kidnapped, sent to the future, contracted a deadly made up disease, was raised by his father and the non-clone Jean Grey’s consciousnesses transported into two unrelated bodies in the future, who came back in time to just after he was originally kidnapped, and who may or may not actually be a clone” was just too much for the non-comics-reading fans. It might scare them away! Despite his complicated backstory, he’s a pretty straightforward ’90s anti-hero. He’s had a number of figures throughout his career (most of them are from the ’90s), but it’s been a few years. Fortunately, Hasbro’s seen fit to give him a brand new figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

CableHas2Cable is figure 7 in the Juggernaut series of Marvel Legends. This is Cable’s fourth time as a Legend (counting the paint variant from Series 6). The last one was way back in 2007, as part of a Walmart exclusive two-pack, so this one’s long overdue. He’s based on his Ed McGuinness-designed look from Avengers: X-Sanction. It’s a bit of an oddball choice, but it is the book that brought Cable back following his death during “Second Coming.” It’s not a bad look (even if it lacks shoulder pads…), and it fits pretty well with the rest of the series of figures. The figure is a little over 7 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation. Of note with the articulation is the inclusion of a ball joint for his mid-torso movement. It’s a lot more poseable than the usual hinge joint, which adds a lot to the playability of the figure. Cable reuses most of Nuke’s legs (he gets a new set of shins), as well as the right arm of the basic Hyperion body. The rest of the figure’s sculpt is new to him. It’s actually very nicely handled. The armor has lots of fun little details (including bullet damage, which is an impressive thing to see on a mass-produced figure), and a ton of great texture work. While this design was exclusively drawn by McGuinness, the sculpt sticks more with the basic style of the line, which makes Cable a bit more versatile than he might be otherwise. The paintwork on Cable isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty solid. Bleed over and slop is minimal, and the colors definitely fit the design. I do wish that the bullet damage were actually painted, but that’s minor. Cable includes two big sci-fi guns. The larger of the two has a removable ammo belt, and is in general my preferred of the pair. Cable also includes the pelvis of Juggernaut.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up Cable at the same time as Wolverine. I wasn’t sure if I was going to pick this guy up initially (Cable’s hardly one of my favorite characters), but I kinda wanted to finish Juggernaut. I’m actually really glad I picked him up, because he’s a surprisingly awesome figure. How’d they manage to make a Rob Liefeld character into such a cool figure?

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#1049: Wolverine

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

WOLVERINE

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES (HASBRO)

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“Virtually indestructible and always ready for a fight, Wolverine’s specialty is sending bad guys running.”

Well, I’m out of figures to compare to the new X-Men Legends.  Not because the remaining figures aren’t re-dos (because they are), but because I don’t own the originals (shocking, I know).  Today’s focus, Wolverine, is no stranger to action figures.  He’s not even a stranger to Marvel Legends (though he’s been a little more absent as of late).  So, he’s not really anything new.  Except that this might very well be the most anticipated Marvel Legends Wolverine since the very first one.  Because he’s that cool, that’s why.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

WolvHas2Wolverine is figure 1 in the Juggernaut series of Marvel Legends.  He’s the 24th version of Logan to grace the Marvel Legends line.  Wolverine is wearing his brown and yellow costume from the late ‘80s (making its first Legends appearance since way back in Series 6 of Toy Biz’s Legends).  The figure stands just under 6 inches tall and has 34 points of articulation.  One of the big things about this particular Wolverine is that he’s the first Wolverine since very early in Hasbro’s run to get a new body sculpt.  Yes, after over a decade of use, the old Brown Costume Wolverine mold has finally been retired.  Now it’s been replaced by…the Brown Costume Wolverine body.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.  So, how is the new body?  Well, it’s not perfect (what is?), but it’s pretty good.  It does short and stocky very well. I might like it if the arms were just a little more worked into the rest of the sculpt, but they aren’t awful.  Also, the range of motion on a lot of the joints, especially the shoulders is awesome, which is a definite plus. More than any of Hasbro’s base bodies, this one feels specifically tailored to the character premiering it.  I can’t really think of many characters who are built similarly to Wolverine, so I imagine Hasbro’s more thinking of using this for variations of just him.  The character specific elements (the head, hands, boots, and belt) are very nicely sculpted.  The head sits just a touch high on the neck, but it’s otherwise a pretty great sculpt.  It’s a lot cleaner than earlier Legends Wolverines, which I actually quite like, especially since this is supposed to be Wolverine from before he got quite as grungy.  The belt and boots fit well on the body, and both sport some decent texture work.  The hands are the best hands any Wolverine figure has ever gotten, due mostly to the claws being separate pieces, which prevents them from warping.  They aren’t perfect, but they’re very close.  Paint is probably this figure’s weakest part.  It’s not awful, but it’s a bit sloppier than I’d like.  Still, he’s not as bad as some Hasbro figures.  My biggest issue is the mismatched yellow from the hips to the thighs, which just throws the whole figure off.  Overall, though, he looks really cool.  Wolverine was packed with a spare set of hands with the claws retracted, as well as the head for Juggernaut.  The hands are particularly noteworthy, as it makes him one of only two Legends Wolverines to include such a thing, which is surprising, because they’re such a cool, easy to do feature.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, you know how I said this was the start of the reviews where I didn’t have the older figures to compare to?  Well, I actually did at one point own the Toy Biz Brown Costume Wolverine.  For reasons I can’t begin to explain, I sold him, which I’ve greatly regretted ever since.  Because of that, I’ve been greatly anticipating this guy.  I ended up finding him at Toys R Us, without much fanfare, which I was quite happy about.  He’s not a perfect figure, but he’s a very nice one, and one I’m very happy to have.

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#1048: Kitty Pryde

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

KITTY PRYDE

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES (HASBRO)

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“With her ability to elude attacks by making herself intangible, Katherine “Kitty” Pryde is a master of defense.”

Remember yesterday when I said that Kitty Pryde hasn’t had much luck with action figures?  Well, that changes today, with my review of the latest attempt at a Kitty Pryde figure.  Full disclosure: I really like this figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

KittyPrydeHas2Kitty Pryde is figure — in the Juggernaut series of Marvel Legends.  This marks Kitty’s second Legend, following the travesty we looked at yesterday.  This Kitty figure is based on her more recent appearances from after the time Magneto retrieved her from the giant space bullet she had to bond herself with to save the world from ancient alien mutants…it’s a long story.  The look isn’t much different from her Astonishing look, and I quite like it. It’s definitely a strong choice.  The figure is about 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Kitty is built on the same basic body as Phoenix, which I’m definitely okay with.  She gets unique pieces for her head, upper torso, and forearms, as well as an add-on piece for her belt.  She also has flat-soled feet, which I much prefer to the high-heels on Phoenix.  All of the new pieces exhibit very clean sculpting, and fit together seamlessly with the basic pieces.  I particularly like the head.  It’s easily one of Hasbro’s best female sculpts, and it manages to make Kitty look neither too old nor too young, which is a definite improvement over prior attempts.  Now, my figure does have some fairly KittyPrydeHas3present mold lines, especially at the chin, which is a bit annoying.  However, since her head is molded in the correct colored plastic, it’s actually a pretty easy fix, so it doesn’t mar the figure.  The paint on Kitty is pretty decent overall, though there are a few minor issues, with some uncovered spots, and one or two issues of bleed over.  On the plus side, the color scheme on this figure is much better than the Toy Biz figure, which just makes her a more exciting figure all around.  A good yellow can be hard to find, but this one is definitely right.  Kitty includes her pet dragon Lockheed, who can securely sit on her shoulder, as well as the left arm of Juggernaut.  She also includes (or is supposed to, anyway…) the head of Onslaught.  Apparently, the only way that Hasbro was allowed to release a proper Onslaught head for their Red Onslaught B-a-F was to pack it in with an X-Men figure in a completely unrelated set.  Kitty gets the honor of being that figure for…reasons.  I’m not really sure why.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Kitty from a nearby Walgreens (actually the same one where I got Jean, just a week later). Kitty was the fourth of the new figures I found, and she was a somewhat bittersweet moment.  While I was excited to find her, I quickly noticed that some dipstick had swapped out the Onslaught head for an ASM2 Electro head. I bought her anyway, in part because I wanted the figure more than the piece, and in part because I didn’t want anyone else to get stuck with the mucked up figure.  However, just to prove that most people don’t suck, my Dad picked up another Kitty figure later to get me the Onslaught head, and I was also contacted by my friend Cindy Woods, who offered me the piece that came with her figure.  So, now I have a complete Kitty figure!  Yay!  Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect from Kitty when the series first started hitting, but she may well be my favorite figure in the set!

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#1047: Kitty Pryde

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

KITTY PRYDE

MARVEL LEGENDS (TOY BIZ)

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Kitty Pryde is really a marker for change in the X-Men comics. She was the first new mutant to be added to the team following the All-New, All-Different change-up, and represents perhaps the only hopeful note to come out of the Dark Phienix Saga. Almost as soon as she joined, she became a focus point for the series. She’s also noteworthy for being one those rare instances of a comic character who was allowed to grow up, as her quest to become a full-fledged X-Man was one of her major story points. And, above all, she’s pretty consistently a fun character. Unfortunately, she’s had some rotten luck with action figures (if you don’t believe me just look at the last Kitty I reviewed). Toy Biz tried their hand at making her twice, with mixed results. I’ll be looking at that second attempt today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

KittyTB2Kitty Pryde was released in the Walmart-Exclusive Giant-Man series of Toy Biz’s run with Marvel Legends. She was based on Kitty’s then current Astonishing X-Men design. The figure stands a little over 6 inches tall and has 38 points of articulation. For the most part she’s the same figure as the Jessica Alba Invisible Woman that I reviewed a few months ago. That’s not great, because that body had some major issues, including, but not limited to: incredibly obvious joints, an impossibly small waist, and super fragile arms and legs. It’s not a particularly strong body. What’s worse, the details on the body don’t quite line-up with Kitty’s Astonishing design. It’s a weird body choice all around. I’m not really sure why they went with it, but I’m not Toy Biz. I’m also not out of business, so I think that I won this one! Kitty got a new head sculpt, which is okay, but hardly one of Toy Biz’s best.  Like Hasbro’s smaller attempt, she feels a bit old for Kitty, and the total lack of ears weirds me out a bit. Also, her hair is pretty much completely wrong for this interpretation of Kitty, being all around too long and just too bushy. Were it not supposed to be this specific Kitty, that would be fine, but it stands out here. The paint work on Kitty is probably some of the weakest on any of the Toy Biz Legends.  The face is alright, but the eyebrows are slightly off from the sculpt, which throws her whole look off. Also, the color scheme of the costume is totally off. In the comics, her costume was black and a warm shade of yellow. Here, it’s a dark grey/pale yellow combo that looks incredibly boring and drab. It’s not a fun look, and means she’ll tend to get lost in a group. Kitty included her pet dragon Lockheed, as well as the upper torso and head of Giant-Man.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t find this figure at retail, due to the all-around difficultness of finding this series at Walmart. My dad bought her for me from a reasonably priced eBay auction. At the time, I was really excited to get this figure. I mean, she was my first Kitty Pryde figure, and I’ve always loved the character. That being said, I very quickly found the flaws in this figure, and she’s never been one of my favorites. She’s probably one of the older Legends most in need of an update.

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#1046: Iceman

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

ICEMAN

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES (HASBRO)

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“Iceman keeps his cool in battle with his ability to turn water to ice and freeze his own body to temperatures below zero.”

Iceman is probably the founding X-Man with the most untapped potential. He’s been with the team longer than anyone barring Cyclops and he’s one of 10 confirmed Omega level mutants (making him one of the more powerful characters in the Marvel universe).  Nevertheless, he’s frequently little more than a prankster, just there to goof off. Which is really a shame, because he’s really a (pardon the pun) cool character. Anyway, he’s at least gotten his fair share of action figures over the years, with his latest being an all-new Marvel Legend, which I’ll be taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

IcemanHas2Iceman is figure 3 in the Juggernaut series of Marvel Legends, which was just released a few weeks ago. This marks Iceman’s third time as a Marvel Legend, following the boxed-set version from two years ago and the single release from Toy Biz back in 2005 (reviewed here). He’s specifically based on Iceman’s Wolverine and the X-Men appearance (the comic, not the show), though he effectively works for any version of Iceman post-early 90s. The figure stands just shy of 6 ½ inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. Iceman is built on the Pizza Spidey base, which is reasonable, since Iceman’s shared a body with Spider-Man more than once. I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about the body being used for non-Spider-Man characters (the exaggerated proportions work for Spidey, but are off on others), but this body works better for him than any of the other bases currently in Hasbro’s inventory. He gets a new head, forearms, hands, shins, and feet, as well as a clip-on piece for his shoulders. The overall appearance is pretty cool. He certainly captures the look from the comics IcemanHas4well. If I were to get really nitpicky, I might say I’d like for the head and hands to be a touch smaller in scale, but it’s a pretty minor issue. Probably the most pressing issue facing this figure is the soft plastic used for his arms and legs. It makes him a little difficult to keep standing, and can also cause his arms to fall off from time to time. It’s a definite bummer (though, I’ll take rubbery limbs over flat out broken limbs like the Toy Biz version). Paint on this guy is the definition of minimal. There’s some white for his eyes. That’s it. The rest of him is just molded in a semi-transparent plastic with a slight blue tint. I feel like it might actually be a bit too transparent, causing the inner workings of the joints to be a little bit distracting. Iceman has no character specific accessories, just the left arm of the B-A-F Juggernaut. I wouldn’t have minded some sort of ice blast attachment or something, but the actual figure has enough new pieces that he doesn’t feel too light.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Iceman was the first figure in this set that I personally found in the store (at a Walmart, to be specific), which was quite exciting, I guess. Of all the figures in the set, my anticipation for this guy was somewhere in the middle. Ultimately, I think he’s the weakest of the set that I’ve picked up so far. To be fair, I do think he’s the best Marvel Legends Iceman available, just due to the last two attempts being even weaker. He’s certainly not a bad figure, and I’m happy to have gotten an update, as the Toy Biz version was looking quite raggedy as of late.

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