Well, it was an eventful weekend here at FFZ Central, with the computer that I use to do all the work for this blog crashing after a forced Windows update. I do backups every week, so it wasn’t a catastrophe, but I had about three reviews worth of photos that are now locked away on the HDD. After a few long and unsuccessful recovery attempts, it looks like I’ll have to wait a few days to borrow a boot USB from a friend and see if I can save them. In the meantime, I got myself set up for work on another computer and I’m ready to go… so let’s get this Marvel Monday rolling with a look at some Summers Brothers!

It seems like you can’t swing a mutant cat around the X-Men Universe without hitting a Summers, in this case Alexander and Gabriel. This is Alexander’s third outing in Hasbro’s current run of Marvel Legends, but it’s the first time we’re seeing Gabriel, so that’s cool! Both of these are pretty simple figures, so even though I’m doubling up, I don’t think today’s review will take all that long… let’s start with Vulcan.

So, when I first saw this wave solicited, I noticed them extra shoulder crunches in Havok and Vulcan and instantly figured these shared the same body. Imagine when I got them in hand and realized how wrong I was. On the contrary, the Vulcan body appears to be entirely new to me, so I’m not sure if this is the debut of a new buck or I just missed it’s premier on another figure somewhere along the way. I’m actually pretty bad about spotting recycled parts on these figures, so either one is certainly possible. With that having been said, I think it’s a great looking figure, even though the costume is achieved almost entirely by paint… yes, you get a sculpted belt, but that’s it. The dark blue and bright red coloring is certainly appealing, and the gold boots and belt add that extra pop. The proportions seem great, I like the sculpted muscle definition, and while the feet are still kind of pancake-y, they’re not nearly as bad as the ones from that recurring Spider-Man buck… oh, you know the one!

I do really like the head sculpt here! Gabriel features that unmistakable strong Summers jawline, a giant slab of chin, a broad mouth, and some excellent lines of definition in the face. I also dig the golden paint used for his rather deep set eyes. The hair is sculpted separately from the head, giving it a sharp hairline and some excellent detail as it juts out over the forehead. This is, without a doubt, one of my favorite Legends portraits in a while, and that’s saying something because they’re generally pretty good.

I don’t have a lot else to say about the articulation, as it doesn’t really offer much new, apart from those shoulder crunches, which we see from time to time. The double hinges in the elbows and knees have some excellent range of motion, it’s nice to see swivels in both the thighs and the tops of the boots, and the rockers in the ankles keep his feet flat in wide stances. All the joints feel nice and solid, and he is loads of fun to pose and play with. You get two pairs of hands here: One set of fists, and one set of sort of grasping hands. Vulcan really could have used some effect parts, but when we turn our attention to Havok, it’s easy to see where all that money went.

As I mentioned, this is the third version of Havok in this line, which seems a tad excessive to me, but I’m sure there are fans happy to see him again, especially with his rather iconic helmet. But, when looking at these two figures together, they both seem like budget figures for the wave. Like his brother, Havok’s suit gets no sculpted details, and in this case very little paint either. Instead, you get a completely black body with his power emblem printed on his chest. It all looks fine, but it’s still a very low effort figure on Hasbro’s part. It’s a different body from the Juggernaut Wave release, this time with the aforementioned shoulder crunches.

I was interested to see how this rather distinctive helmet design would look out of the comic panels and on an actual figure, and I think it turned out pretty good. The rest of the head, however, is kind of messy. I like that the hood is actually part of the face sculpt, including those two strips that run across his cheeks, but the paint lines here are really sloppy, and my figure even has some stray black marks on his chin. I also have to call out the halftone printing for the facial features. This method always looks blurry up close, but it’s so rough here, that it even looks blotchy from afar.

While Vulcan got cheated out of effect parts, Havok here is loaded up. You get two pieces for his wrists, and a big piece for his back. All of these appear to be brand new and look great. The wrists pieces are cast in transparent blue plastic, and are similar in principle to the ones that came with the Juggernaut Wave release, but these are flat, smooth on one side, and have some raised edges to the circles on the front. They’re a lot heavier than the old style, but if you press them up the arm a bit, friction will usually hold them in whatever position you want. The large one plugs into the hole on the back. It’ll be interesting to see if these get recylced as much as the older style. I would love a set colored for Scarlet Witch.

I’m happy to have Vulcan and a Classic Havok for my collection, and this pair does the trick, while not exactly blowing me away either. If the Vulcan body is indeed a first, than I suppose that’s a big deal, as it’s a great looking figure, but as someone who is trying to ween myself off this line, introducing new bodies at this point isn’t a big deal to me. I suppose if this line were sticking to the $20 price range, than simpler figures like this would be fine, but as the price creeps ever upward, I’m looking for a little more for my money. Luckily, I was able to grab this pair off Amazon for $17 each, which also gave me two more pieces for my Bonebreaker BAF, and to be honest, if it weren’t for those, I would have likely passed.