Alrighty, folks, it took a whole lot of Marvel Mondays, but I’m finally opening the last figure in this fantabulous X-Men wave. And it’s Deadpool! Who? DEADPOOL!!! One more time? MUTHAF’CKIN DEADPOOL!!!!! And that’s regular red Deadpool, not some bullshit X-Force Deadpool like we got a few years back. I’m just kidding, I love me some X-Force, but seriously, Hasbro, we shouldn’t have had to wait so long for regular flavor ‘Pool. And just so I don’t have to stretch this wave out any longer, I’m going to come back tonight with a look at the Juggernaut Build-A-Figure. But I’m getting ahead of myself, let’s have a look at Wade’s package. I mean his box. I mean the receptacle he came in. Oh, god. I can’t stop.

It saddens me that this is the last time I’ll set eyes on this delightfully snappy packaging. It also saddens me that I didn’t have the room to keep them all. Thankfully, I’ve snapped pictures of all of them, so from time to time I can pour myself a Jameson and admire the pictures of these figures from before I tore them open like a goddamn savage. There are a few nice personal touches, like the X emblem on the top being replaced by Deadpool’s insignia. As you can see, Deadpool’s tray is absolutely packed with stuff. So much stuff, that there wasn’t even room for a BAF piece. That’s right, Hasbro made it so that you don’t have to buy Poolsy in order to build Juggsy. Why? Because they knew he’d sell anyway. Why? Because he’s Deadpool! Who? ENOUGH ALREADY!!!! Let’s tear open this chimichanga-munchin-mo-fo and see how he turned out.

Deadpool comes to us donning his familiar red and black costume with sculpted wrist bracers, shin armor, belted boots, and a whole bunch of added belts and pouches. This figure is a great example of a measured mix of costume-painted-on-buck with just the right amount of new sculpting and extras to make it feel like a fresh and new figure. The coloring is gorgeous, with a mix of matte and gloss black and some vibrant red. Yeah, I would have liked a little more paintwork on the belts. They sprang for silver paint on the boot buckles, which makes it a little jarring that we didn’t get any on the belt straps and pouch buttons. But hey, this ain’t NECA, it’s Hasbro, and in the end the figure still looks damn great.

From behind we can not only check out Deadpool’s fine caboose, but also the functional double-scabbard harness for his katana swords. There’s also a lot going on around Deadpool groin-ular area, so let’s have a gander at what he’s packing around his nether regions!

Oh, baby! As I said before, you get plenty of pouches, along with Deadpool’s signature belt buckle. The rest of the belt (and pouches) is all cast in one piece of brown plastic. You do get some green paint on the two grenades. I think it would have been cool to have these painted up in the Deadpool style, like Sideshow did with their Sixth-Scale figure, but I suppose I should be happy they weren’t left brown.

On the other side, we can see many more pouches, as well as get a good look at the two functional holsters for his automatic pistols. One is slung across the front of his waist, so he can draw across with his left hand. The other is positioned on his right hip so he can draw with the right arm. Y’all know I love me some functional holsters, so these make me a happy camper.

There are two portraits with this figure. The first is his regular masked noggin and I think Hasbro did a solid job on this one. It’s just expressive enough with the one eye popped and the other squinting, going for a very singular Deadpool look, but at the same time, I don’t think it’s so specific that it doesn’t work as a head for every occasion. There’s some nice sculpted stitch lines in the mask and you can see his furled brow sculpted in there as well. The paint here is sharp and clean.

The unmasked portrait is an absolute work of art. It features all the craters, nooks, and crannies in Wade’s troublesome complexion with a wonderful paint job to back it up. Seriously, the shading and variations in paint that make up the skin here feels totally beyond what Hasbro has ever been capable of in this line. Here, Deadpool offers a maniacal toothy grin with pupil-less yellow eyes. I will note that this head was an absolute bitch to get on, and I may have to go in there with a blade and clean out some of the plastic around the socket. You’ll also see that I rarely used this head in any of the pictures for this Feature. That’s in no way a slight against it. I think it’s magnificent, but it also goes for a very specific look. That having been said, I’ve already pre-ordered another Deadpool so I can display him with this head.

Wade Wilson is a nimble guy, so articulation here is important, and I’m happy to say that the figure delivers quite a bit. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, double hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the biceps. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double hinges in the knees, and swivels at the thighs and lower legs. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. There’s a swivel in the waist and an ab crunch hinge in the torso. And lastly the neck features both a ball joint and a hinge. It’s pretty standard stuff for the modern Legends body.

Now, before I get into the accessories, I do have a couple of bones to pick with Mr. Pool and I feel bad doing it because this really is an outstanding and fun figure and Hasbro packed a lot of stuff into this package. Firstly, this is a figure that really needed more hands. If you read enough of my Features, you know that I’m not big on swapping out hands, but here’s a figure that could have used it. He can interact well enough with all his accessories. I’m surprised at how well the gun holding right hand can still work with the taco. But that same hand kind of looks like he’s drinking tea with his pinky out. It sort of works for Deadpool, because he’s a goofball, but at the same time, a more conventional right hand would have been nice.
Secondly, I certainly appreciate all the weapons, but at this point in the game, getting 6-inch scale guns without any paint operations feels super cheap. Take the pistols shown above. The lack of paint there is really obvious to me. Sometimes, it isn’t warranted, many guns look fine just left all black, but the decision to cast these in gray-silver plastic as opposed to black might not have been the best one. I could see leaving off the paint on 3 3/4-inch scale weapons, but not here. OK, enough griping, let’s take a look at Wade’s impressive arsenal…

We already saw the pistols. Great sculpts, nicely sized, needed some paint. Moving on…

The grenade launcher is nice. Pretty good sculpt. I would have been happy with this cast in black plastic. As it is… it needs more paint.

Deadpool: “When it comes to guns, it’s not what you do with it, it’s the size that matters!”

And then you’ve got this thing. I have no idea what it is. If it’s intended as a specific design, I don’t recognize it. It looks like a Cosplayer made it out of cardboard and then spray painted it silver. But hey, it’s a big goofy gun, so I’m fine with it. And speaking of goofy…

Deadpool: “Here’s the part where I hit em with the punch line!”

Yes, it’s a bazooka with a giant comical boxing glove at the end. This reminds me a lot of an accessory that came with one of my Movie Masters Joker figures from Mattel. I think it’s great, but if you want something a little more conventional, the glove on the end is removable and you’re left with just a big bazooka, and who doesn’t love that? And that’s all the guns out of the way, but this is Deadpool. He slices, he dices, he likes him some edged weapons…

First, we have this lovely tanto-style combat knife that can be stored in the sheath sculpted into his right leg. And look! They painted the grip black! Marvelous!!!

And, of course, Deadpool comes with his trusty twin katanas, Bea and Arthur. These appear to be repaints of the ones that came with Hasbro’s X-Force Deadpool from a while ago. They’re nice accessories, and here too we get some paint on the grips. The interior is red and the wrappings are black, because Deadpool likes to accessorize, bitches. Weapons are all well and good, but sometimes you gotta take a snack…

And so Wade comes with a glorious plastic taco. Hey, if Hasbro can bundle a slice of pizza with Spider-Man, than getting Deadpool a taco is a no-brainer. Is this the first time an action figure has been bundled with such a scrumptious looking Southwestern snack? I would have to imagine so. There’s just one more thing to point out before I wrap this up…

Yeah. Remember how I chastised Hasbro for not getting us the traditional red Deadpool along with the X-Force one, since a repaint was such a quick, easy, and obvious cashgrab? Well, sometimes it’s better to wait. I really loved that figure when I got it and I can remember reviewing him quite favorably. But just looking at the two together shows that X-Force Deadpool has not aged well. He’s short and scrawny, and he’s got those terrible ball hips. Damn, it’s crazy what a little time and perspective can do to an action figure. Now I just find myself wanting to repaint this one into X-Force Deadpool. I think that’s irony.

“Everybody wants some!”

Deadpool: “Take him out, but don’t mess up the cape. I want the cape.” 

Sinister: “I can hear you. I’m standing right here.”

Deadpool: “Excelsior!!!” 

When I read back through this Feature, I thought it sounded like I came down a little harder on Deadpool than I usually do with Marvel Legends. I think that’s mainly because the figure is so good, and I love the character so much, that it just needed those few little more tweaks to elevate it to truly amazing status. A little paint on the weapons, and a couple of expressive hands, and this would have been all the better. But really, I’m talking out of my ass, because this is a still a great figure as is. He’s so great a figure that even after looking at the seven fantastic figures that preceded him in this wave, I’m still ending on a high note by featuring him last. Indeed, you can tell how much fun I’m having with him just by the number of pictures that I snapped, and trust me there were plenty more. This is a figure that will reside on my desk for a long time, because I want him to always be within arm’s reach. And that finally wraps up my look at the packaged figures in this wave. Come on back later this evening and I’ll have a look at the Juggernaut Build-A-Figure! But not before I do a hack job of emulating one of my favorite Deadpool pages (Deadpool #27, 1997).

Deadpool: “You smug little… Speaking of games, ever play Street Fighter?”

Logan: “Kitty!”

**SNIKT!**

Deadpool: “Yay! Now is fighty time! fighty time!”