Well, it’s been about three weeks and now it’s time to bring Marvel Monday back to being a seemingly unending parade of Legends figures. Hasbro is showing no mercy with wave after wave of these things crashing onto the pegs like a mighty ocean of plastic. I’ve got two full waves waiting to go, one wave still to get, and now Hasbro has just unleashed images of the three new ones coming soon, including an X-Men wave that looks almost too good to be true. I’ve got it pre-ordered, so no take-backsies, Hasbro! Yes, this is a wonderful time to be alive if you love 6-inch Marvel figures and hate having money. Today I’m embarking on the Absorbing Man Wave and we’ll kick things off with one of my most anticipated figures in the assortment… Morbius!

Yup, it’s another Spider-Man branded wave and there’s still another one coming right around the corner! Got a problem with that? I don’t! Morbius comes packaged as one of the “Villains of the Night,” sharing his slot with Jack O’Lantern. I don’t know that blanket labeling him as a villain is a fair assessment of the character, but I guess he’s certainly had his moments. Either way, I’m a big fan and was happy to see an update to the old Spider-Man Classics figure. That was a figure I let go from my collection some time ago and regretted not having Dr. Morbius on my shelf anymore. Needless to say, I’m happy that isn’t a problem any more.

And what an update he is! Granted, your mileage may vary based on personal taste. This is a much more humanized look for the character. The previous release featured monstrously disproportionate arms and the much wilder and creepier head sculpt. It had it’s charms, but I don’t think the sculpt has held up very well, whereas this one is some damn fine work. Yes, even if the majority of the body is just a black painted buck.

Dammit, Hasbro… why do you have to make those numbers on the leg so apparent? Anyway… the figure’s original sculpting comes in the hands, which are your standard malevolent looking “Imma gonna getchya” monster hands. They work really well on the figure and the skin is comprised of a creepy chalky-ash paint. You also get the plunging V-neck high collar that all the fashionable “vampires” are wearing these days, even ones cooked up in a lab. The inside of the collar is painted red and the bare chest shares that same great dead flesh paint as the hands and forearms.

The portrait here is just outstanding. I’ll admit that there was something generally creepy and off-putting about the old Toy Biz version, but this one just looks wonderfully polished. This is undoubtedly Dr. Morbius in a full out vamp-rampage (a vampage!) The mouth is open showing all his teeth, the wrinkles and lines in the face are perfect and he sports his long hair with pointed ears jutting out, beady red eyes, and beard. If I kept a list of favorite Marvel Legends head sculpts each year, this one would pretty close to the top. It’s just dripping with personality… and possibly blood.

Morbius comes with two different capes, which peg right into his back. You have a small one that just hangs down behind him and another that is fanned out in the shape of a bat, which is perfectly suited for displaying him with his arms up. Both capes are painted red on the interior and black on the outsides.

The articulation here is superb. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, swivels in the biceps, and double hinges in the elbows. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, and have swivels at the thighs and lower legs. The ankles have both hinges and lateral rockers. There’s a swivel in the waist, an ab crunch hinge in the chest, and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed. All the joints on this guy feel tight and solid!

This wave is off to a fantastic start! Morbius is everything I had hoped for, and that’s saying a lot considering how much I was looking forward to getting him. He’s a relatively simple figure, but Hasbro put all the effort into all the right places and the two capes are a nice treat. I’ve got to say he’s going to be a tough one to beat as my favorite in this assortment. Next Monday I’ll open up the other half of the “Villains of the Night” and check out Jack O’Lantern!