How about that Ghost Rider on Agents of SHIELD, eh? I actually haven’t seen it, I’m just trying to make a review of a figure from a very old assortment sound topical. I love me some Ghost Rider, but I’ve suffered through almost two seasons of AoS. That was more than enough to know it’s not for me and not even Ghost Rider is enough to get me to come back for more. But hey… we got a new Ghost Rider in Marvel Legends, so Yay!

While I believe this is generally considered to be a Spider-Man themed wave, there’s no such branding on this package. Although, I’ll give this one to Hasbro as Spider-Man and Ghost Rider have had their share of Team Ups. This is also one of those figures that shares a slot, in this case with Misty Knight, so neither name appears on the front, just “Heroes for Hire.” That moniker works for Misty, but Ghost Rider? Mmm, not so much. This is actually the second appearance of Ghost Rider in the modern run of Marvel Legends. He was actually one of the first figures released way back in 2012. Of course, that was based off of his contemporary look and this is…

Classic! Yup, we’re getting back to Ghost Rider’s roots here, albeit with a black suit instead of blue, but that’s alright. I’ll gladly take it! While this body has been around the block a few times, this is my first hands on experience with it. I never did find an AIM Soldier and I didn’t pony up for the comic version of Peter Quill in that Guardians boxed set. Whatever the case, it looks absolutely fantastic here. The lanky body fits the character perfectly as does the sculpted button down front flap on the tunic. I think the Marvel Universe figure did the same buck sharing for its versions of the AIM Soldier and Quill. You gotta go with what works, whatever the scale.

From the neck down the coloring here is about as simple as you can get. The buck is predominantly glossy black with some white trim painted on the outline of the tunic’s flap and around the inside of the high collar. Throw in a little tarnished silver paint for the belt and chain and you’ve got the extent of Ghost Rider’s color palate.

But it’s really what Hasbro did with the portrait here that takes this figure up a couple of notches. I mean, damn this is great stuff. The sculpt of the skull mixed with the beautiful orange translucent plastic used for the flames around the neck and crown. This looks absolutely amazing and even the way the skull is painted but the orange bleeds through it is a fantastic effect. And we even got a hinged jaw. So cool! Also, thank god the flame effect on the head is all one piece. The extra piece of flame on my previous Ghost Rider Legends figure constantly pops off and goes missing.

Unfortunately, this figure isn’t an entirely smooth ride, so let’s talk articulation. The points that I’ve come to expect from my modern Legends are all there. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, double hinges in the elbows, and swivels at the biceps. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double hinges in the knees, and swivels in the thighs. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. There’s a swivel in the waist and ab crunch in the hinge, and the neck is ball jointed. So what’s the problem? Well, for starters the hinges in the elbows and knees are super soft and gummy. It’s bad enough that my figure’s right leg was warped in the package and I had to do some heat treatments to straighten it out. The other issue is the top hinges on the elbows are really loose. The right one even has trouble staying up. And there’s no amount of heat that’s going to help that. Bummer.

I’m also a little bummed that there are no accessories included, other than the BAF part of course. Even the 3 3/4-inch Marvel Universe version of Ghost Rider came with a chain. It seems like a reasonable expectation, but nope. Fortunately, I was able to raid my Thundra figure for her ball and chain and it works quite well. So well, she may never get it back and I might just snip the ball off the end.

If it weren’t for some soft plastic and loose joints, Ghost Rider could have been very nearly a perfect ten. I still dig the original release of the character from Wave 1, he looks so bad ass, but this is the Ghost Rider I know and love and Hasbro did a beautiful job on him. One of these days, I may hunt down another and see if I make out any better with the joints the second time around.

No, you haven’t fallen into a time warp, I’m just really behind on my Legends figures and I’m only now in the process of making my way through the rather dated Rhino Wave. Today I’m checking out White Tiger, so let’s kick it off with a quick look at the packaging…

White Tiger shares her package with a giant Rhino torso piece that probably consists of more plastic than she does. She’s also packaged so that she’s un-enthusiastically raising her hand either to strike down one of her foes, or hail a taxi cab. I’m not sure which. I think this is actually the Ava Ayala version of the character, but I could be wrong on that one. I haven’t encountered White Tiger much in my Marvel readings. I’ve got nothing else to say about the package here, so let’s get her out and check out the figure… uh… wait, what?

JOL:”Hey, what are you doing? It’s Halloween and it’s Marvel Monday. You should be doing a Feature on me. I have a Jack O’Lantern for a head. And my name is Jack O’Lantern. I’m basically Halloween personified.”

What the hell, Jack? I did a Feature on you already.

JOL:”Well that showed poor planning. You should have saved me for Halloween. Look at how Halloweeny I am!”

Dude, I reviewed you back in June. I couldn’t wait. It would have held up my look at that whole wave.

WT: “Do you mind? I’m being reviewed here. You already had your turn!”

JOL: “Hush up, woman! The men are talking!”

WT: “Excuuuuuse me? What did you just say?”

JOL: “All I’m saying is that I was a perfect fit for Halloween on a Marvel Monday and you screwed it up. I ooze Halloween. Just look at me. I’m scary.”

SW: “I lost an arm. That’s kind of scary.”

JOL: “GET OUT!!! We’ve all seen your stump, woman! Now take it away!”

WT: “Yeah, seriously Jessica. That review was like a year ago and nobody remembers it. You need to get over that.”

SW: “Aww… It’s not fair. Hasbro used the same female buck for us, and your arms both work.”

JOL: “Jeezus. She’s a real downer”

Look, can I get on with it? I have to do six of these Features a week and I’m already a borderline alcoholic. You’re holding me up.

JOL: “Ooooh, poor you! You drink a lot and have too many toys to review… Fine! Piss all over Halloween with this crappy choice of a figure review. I wash my hands of it!”

WT: “Grrrrr…. THAT’S IT! I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!”

JOL: “Unhand my face, you wretched woman!” 

WT: “You want a review? Here’s one. Let’s talk about articulation. For starters, your head is on a ball joint…”

<POP>

WT: “GOTCHA!” 

JOL: “Is this a good time to point out that this is just the author’s way of diverting us from the fact that he has no real interest in you as a character and nothing really worthwhile to say about you as a figure? Or that he mainly just bought you so he could get a Build-A-Figure part?”

Happy Halloween, Toy Hounds! …And for what it’s worth, I actually kind of dig White Tiger.

GR: “You know, I’m in this wave. You could have reviewed me. I’m a little Halloweeny.”

Shit. He’s right. Whelp, next week on Marvel Monday… GHOST RIDER!

Welcome back to the second half of today’s Marvel Monday! If you joined me this morning than you know I was less than impressed with Hasbro’s treatment of Red Guardian. Hopefully, we can still end this day on a high note as I check out Nuke!

Nuke’s package is pretty much identical to what we’ve been seeing in this wave with some bitchin character art on the side panels. And with two accessories and the Giant Man torso all packed into that tray, this is a rather heavy package. I thought Nuke to be something of an odd choice for the Captain America/Civil War themed wave, although Cap and Nuke have certainly had their dealings. Personally, I love the character, and it was pretty cool to see him getting paid respects in the Netflix Jessica Jones series. Now, which pill gets him out of the package?

Straight out of the box, this is an impressive figure. His torso and arms are a bare buck with a soft plastic vest that fastens on the bottom with a peg. Below the waist, Nuke is packing a set of military issue trousers with pouches strapped to each thigh, worn knee pads, and some serious shit-kickers on his feet.

The attention to detail on the vest is appreciated. Not only is it loaded with texturing and sculpted pouches, but you get some grenades hanging off his chest on the left hand side and a row of shells across the right hand side, both of which are painted. And speaking of paint, the silver buckles and fixtures on all his belts are neatly painted with silver paint and you get a nice wash over the vest and belts to bring out some of the detail in the sculpt. The care put into the paint on this guy is everything we didn’t get on the Red Guardian figure that I looked at this morning.

The back of the vest features more great texturing and a huge sheath for his combat knife. You get more sculpted straps and there’s a brace of pouches running across the back of his belt. This guy is definitely packing some serious gear.

For the portraits, you get two head sculpts. The first is the regular head with the flat top haircut and the American flag tattooed right on his face. Hasbro loves to pack in the personality for its villain and anti-hero head sculpts and Nuke here is no exception. Yeah, he’s a little wall-eyed, but I think that adds to his overall demented look.

The second head features some battle damage, sans hair, and exposes parts of his cybernetic skull. The detail here is phenomenal, and I have to say it’s one of the best portraits I’ve seen come out of Legends in a while. The paint on this noggin is just incredible. It shows what Hasbro is capable of when they’re willing to put in the time and money. I’m guessing a lot of those commodities that would have went into Red Guardian were diverted to complete this little plastic masterpiece.

The articulation holds few surprises for a modern Legends figure. 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, have swivels in the thighs and tops of the boots, and the knees are double hinged. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. The torso swivels at the waist and has an ab crunch. And finally, you get both a ball joint and hinge in the neck. The joints on this guy are all rock solid. No gummy or frozen joints here!

Nuke comes with two accessories, both of them weapons. First off we have his chunky combat knife that he can stow in the sheath on his back. Yes, it’s cartoonishly big, but I still love it. It has a sort of GI JOE Sigma Six feel to it, and don’t even get started about how much I adored that line. What’s more… paint apps! A little while ago I was bitching about how it feels cheap to be doing weapons in this scale without any paint apps on them. Here we get a black finish on the blade with a silver painted edge and a green grip. It really makes the details stand out and I also dig the knuckle guard a lot.

Next up, we get this crazy looking rifle. And again… paint apps! It’s got a patriotic motif to it with red and blue and silver standing in for the white. It even has a star painted on the stock. Yeah, there’s some paint dribble on mine too, but this thing still looks great and I really appreciate the effort that went into painting it. Hell, a lot more effort went into painting this gun and the knife than the entire Red Guardian figure. Well, except for his shield. I still really dig his shield. Hey, Nuke… want a shield? It’s genuine Soviet surplus!

Last week, I was quick to proclaim comic Nick Fury to be the likely candidate for my favorite figure in this wave, but now I’m not so sure. Yes, Fury is certainly more iconic a character for me, and they did a beautiful job on him. But in terms of sheer craftsmanship and attention to detail, Nuke is a tough figure to beat. Hell, I’d recommend this one as a stand alone figure even to people who don’t normally collect Legends. The figure has tons of personality and he is so much fun to play with. It’s also great to see Hasbro invest so much time and effort in someone who isn’t exactly a top tier character. So, favorite figure in the wave? Well, let’s hold off on declaring a winner until next week when I look at the last packaged figure, Black Panther!

Greetings and a very Good Marvel Monday Morning to you all. I’m doubling down on posts today with a look at two more figures from the Giant Man Wave of Marvel Legends so I can get through the tremendous backlog of these figures. I’ve got a quickie this morning with Red Guardian, and then I’ll be back tonight with a look at Nuke.

Here’s Red Guardian in the package, and yet another example of how Hasbro is willing to play deep when it comes to Legends. He may not be the most recognizable character on the pegs these days, but the Red Guardian moniker is one that reaches far back into Marvel history and is most certainly not a bad choice for a figure. Unfortunately, in this case, it’s just a bad figure.

I get Hasbro’s need to release at least one budget-conscious figure in the wave. Red Guardian is certainly that, as we’re dealing with a quick-and-dirty buck and shield repaint with a new head. Normally, I’m perfectly fine with that, but if you’re going to do it, Hasbro, you should at least put some effort into that new coat of paint and that certainly isn’t the case here. In Soviet Russia, quality controls you!

Yes, the paint here is pretty piss-poor. There’s a red smudge on the star on his chest and scratches all over the star on his back. The white on the buccaneer boots actually looks pretty bright and fresh, but those gauntlets are full of bleed through and just look dirty. The paint on the belt is also pretty rough. It’s a shame because the red used for the rest of the costume is quite nice and even includes some decent shading.

The head sculpt would be OK, if it wasn’t rife with mold flashing. This is the worst flashing I think I’ve ever seen on a production figure. The facial features are a bit soft, but no worse than some of the Captain Americas we’ve seen in the last few years. The paint around the mask is fairly well done, but the white crest is suffers from the same bleeding and dirty look as the gauntlets.

At least the articulation is good, eh? Well, on paper it is. Red Guardian features all the points I’m used to seeing in a Legends buck. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, swivels in the biceps, and double hinges in the elbows. The legs are ball jointed and feature swivels in the thighs and boots, double hinges in the knees, and hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles. There’s a waist swivel, an ab crunch hinge, and the neck is both ball jointed and hinged. What’s the problem? First of all the elbow hinges are as gummy and soft as all hell. Secondly, the left knee on my figure was fused. I had to boil him to get it to work, and even then I thought it was going to snap off.

Is there anything I like about this figure? Yeah, the shield is pretty cool. Sure, it’s just the standard Cap style shield with the clip and peg on the back, but I really like the paint they did on it. The crimson is a nice deep shade and in the right light, the star actually looks like brushed steel. If they could invest this kind of quality paint in the accessory, why not the rest of the figure?

Red Guardian is a mess of a figure and almost everything about him shows that Hasbro just didn’t care about this release. I’m all for quick repaints when it suits a character, and this one would have been fine if they had put a little effort into it. I was actually looking forward to getting him in my collection, I’m glad he’s represented, but I just wish he looked better. How about a Legends scale Crimson Dynamo next, Hasbro? And don’t mess him up! Check back later this evening, and we’ll check out Nuke!