Jan 18 2016

Marvel Legends (Hulkbuster Wave): Thundra by Hasbro

It’s taken me an unusually long time to get through the Hulkbuster Wave of Marvel Legends. I started this endeavor all the way back in November for crying out loud. Well, it’s finally almost done as today I’ll be opening the final figure in the assortment. It’s Thundra. Let’s do this.

Thundra shares a slot with Valkyrie and as such her name is not printed on the front of the package. All she gets is the moniker “Fearless Defenders,” which isn’t bad since it’s pointing out the fact that Hasbro has been doing a little team building with the ladies. Not that The Fearless Defenders is a tightly knit group. Anyway, this lovely little box also holds the final piece I will need to build the Iron Man Hulkbuster Armor and it’s only through an uncommon burst of willpower that I have resisted putting him together as yet. Ah, but that’s a subject for next Monday. Let’s get a look at Thundra…

And here she is… what the hell is she doing in this wave? Thundra’s history is one of alternate futures and pure comic book craziness. The only reason I know her at all is from my early bond with Fantastic Four, where she happened to debut in the very same year I was born. As a teenager, I used to peddle my bike downtown and hunt badly worn copies of FF (among other comics) at the local used book shop. Fast forward about 30 years and I can’t say as I recall running into her again the (unfortunately) short lived 2013 run of Fearless Defenders and ultimately again in The End of The Fantastic Four. I understand that she’s currently appearing in Squdaron Supreme, but I’ve got a lot of backlog to get through before that ever gets to the pile on my nightstand. Where was I? Oh yeah, I’ve got a figure to look at!

Thundra relies heavily on paint apps for her costume, although the defined muscles in her exposed abs suggest some new sculpting there. From the waist down, she’s got red painted pants with gold lightning stripes running down the sides and gold painted boots. The top is a sort of one sleeved red sports bra affair with a painted gold stitch pattern running diagonally down the top. The outfit is wrapped up with a painted arm bracer on her left wrist and a belt hanging on her hips. All in all, it’s a nice looking costume. The deco is certainly appealing and the figure pops beautifully on the shelf, even when displayed amidst a bevy of brightly colored costumed heroes.

The head sculpt here is as solid as they come. Thundra is quite pretty with a lush mane of red hair and a flashy row of gritting teeth between her neatly painted lips. They also used a particularly striking bit of emerald green paint for her eyes. Last, but not least, you get a silver tiara peeking through her hair above her forehead.

Articulation is good, although she does feature those hip joints that require some extra fiddling to get the legs to do what you want. There are swivels in the thighs, double hinges in the knees, and the ankles feature both hinges and lateral rockers. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists, and you also get swivels in the biceps. There’s a ball joint just under the chest and another in the neck. Granted, the sculpted hair renders the neck articulation all but inert.

In addition to the giant Hulkbuster piece, Thundra comes with a ball and chain and surprisingly it’s not a repack of the one that came with some of The Wreckers. This one has a much more dainty ball on the end. I think she took this off a Doom-Maiden in the comics…

I may have made much ado about Thundra being a bit of a back bencher character, but I actually really like this figure a lot and for me every character contributes to my universe building, so it’s all good. I’m also doubly anxious now to pick up Misty Knight and get bolster my Fearless Defenders roster even more. Besides, there’s always someone out there that is going to be totally excited over a character that seems inconsequential to the majority. Hell, I’m still waiting for a new Legends Moon Knight.

Jan 11 2016

Marvel Legends (Hulkbuster Wave): Valkyrie by Hasbro

I’ve got just two more figures in the Hulkbuster Wave to check out before I can cobble together my Hulkbuster. Believe you me, that it’s taken all my resolve and willpower not to jump the gun and tear these last figures open to get the big guy assembled. Especially since at the rate I’m going, I still two more weeks. Anyway, today’s figure is Valkyrie. Somehow I wound up saving the two ladies in this assortment for last…

And there’s the figure in the package. You’ll note that Valkyrie shares this slot with Thundra and as a result her name isn’t on the front of the box. Instead you get, “Fearless Defenders” It still amazes me that Hasbro is willing to put out the lesser known characters and not even put their names on the front of the packages. Sometimes, you show balls Hasbro. Anyway, Valkyrie is also one of those characters that Hasbro is double-dipping on, as we got her in the 3 3/4-inch Universe line last year.

If you have that Universe figure, you have a good idea what to expect here, as this is every bit the same version of the character. That having been said, it’s also an improvement on almost every level. Take note for your Star Wars Black series, Hasbro, because this is how you upscale a figure and take proper advantage of it. It’s interesting, because technically, there isn’t a whole lot to Valkyrie’s costume. It’s mostly painted black body suit, but few details almost all include new sculpting and that carries the figure a long way. The four armor points on her torso, for example, are all sculpted as well as painted. The belt is new and actually attached to the figure, rather than just dangling on her hips, the downside being that you can’t stick her sword through the belt for her to carry, like you could with the Universe figure. The only details that get by with paint alone are her bicep straps and wrist bracers, and they look just fine.

I really dig the head sculpt here. The portrait has a lot of character and shows that Hasbro has come a long way with female faces since the unfortunate Madam Viper. The paint on the pupils is a little uneven, but you can’t tell unless you get up really close with a camera. The sculpting on the hair is also quite good, although the braids do tend to jut out in front of her a bit too much. I really wish there was some way Hasbro could have done these in plastic that could bend and hold its form. The braids are also the biggest difference between this figure and the 3 3/4″ version, which had much longer hair.

The articulation here is actually pretty close to what we got in the 3 3/4″ figure, with just a little give and take. The arms have rotating hinges at the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. There are also swivels in the biceps. The legs have rotating hinges at the hips, double hinges in the knees, hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles, and swivels at the hips. There’s a ball joint just under the chest and another in the neck. The one point I miss the most is the extra hinge in the neck. Hasbro has been including that point in just about every Legends figure I can think of. I’m not sure why it didn’t make it into this one, but it’s absence is very noticeable to me.

In addition to the enormous Hulkbuster arm, Valkyrie comes with her trusty sword, Dragonfang. The hilt sculpt is a lot more subdued than the smaller Universe version and I like it a lot more. It’s just a classical looking cruciform sword.

Valkyrie turned out to be the unexpected breakout figure of the wave, and that’s saying something because this has been an overall solid assortment. She looks great and she’s loads of fun to play with. It’s always nice to see Hasbro put some extra work into the characters that aren’t exactly top tier and I think that was certainly the case here. And with Valkyrie joining my Legends ranks of Spider-Woman, Hellcat, Black Cat, Black Widow and Captain Marvel my Fearless Defenders are shaping up nicely. Especially with Misty Knight in the next Wave I’m buying. And that will segue me right into Thundra on the next Marvel Monday.

Jan 4 2016

Marvel Legends (Hulkbuster Wave): Vision by Hasbro

As promised, it’s back to business as usual, folks, so welcome to the first Marvel Monday of 2016! I’ve got unfinished business from last year in the form of the Hulkbuster Wave, so let’s get cracking with a look at the next figure in the line… Vision!

Oddly enough, Vision shared a slot in this wave with Dr. Strange, which made no sense to me for just about any reason I can think of. But let’s go with, he’s goddamn Vision and shouldn’t have to share a slot with nobody. Because he shares the slot his name doesn’t appear on the front, only the moniker: “Marvel Heroes.” Yeah, it had to be that generic to put these two together. The only other thing notable about the package is that Vision’s cape comes detached from the figure and upside down on the tray to make room for the bulky Hulkbuster crotch.

I’ll confess I was hoping a bit for a Cinematic Universe Vision, but this is most definitely the comic version. That’s OK. I’ll take it. I need a Vision on my Legends shelf. The figure features one of the slighter male bucks and relies primarily on the paint for his costume, but it’s one of the more dynamic paint schemes we’ve seen in this line. There are three different shades of green making up the bulk of his costume, including a dark green, a metallic green, and a lighter flat used for his lower legs. This combined with the yellow “V” on the shoulders and chest and the red face and hands really make the figure pop nicely. If I had one nitpick about the paint on the body, it would be that the yellow paint makes the seams on the shoulders look rather obvious.

The cape clips around Vision’s neck and also plugs into his back. It is rather narrow in the center, but bellows out at the end and it’s long enough to reach the floor and serve a little support assistance for standing him. That having been said, I really didn’t find it got in the way of the more dynamic poses.

I really dig the head sculpt here. Vision sports a rather determined look and his features are a bit exaggerated to give him a nice, non-human, visage, with high cheek bones and a very pronounced brow. On the downside, Hasbro got a little sloppy with the paint and there are a couple of small drips of yellow on his forehead, which have proven to be rather stubborn to remove.

There’s plenty of articulation to go around on Vision. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders with a satisfying ratchet to them. The elbows are double hinged, there are swivels in the biceps, and the wrists have rotating hinges. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, the knees have double hinges, and there are swivels in the thighs and the lower legs. The ankles feature hinges and lateral rockers. The torso has a swivel at the waist, an ab-crunch hinge, and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed. Vision features a fist on his right hand and an open left hand to offer a little variety in posing.

Vision is a damn solid figure with just a couple of little quibbles that keeps him from being a slam dunk, and honestly, those issues could just be on my figure. It’s one of the ongoing pitfalls of having to buy my figures sight unseen and online. If there’s one thing I can say about 2015, it solidified my habit of buying my figures almost exclusively online because I just don’t have the time to go hunting and even if I did the stores here are so poorly stocked it probably wouldn’t matter.

Dec 14 2015

Marvel Legends (Hulkbuster Wave): Marvel Now Iron Man by Hasbro

I was going to start today by saying something about how many damn Iron Man figures we’ve had in the Legends line, but looking back, I don’t think it’s really been all that bad. Or at least, knowing Hasbro, it could have been a lot worse. On the flipside, this Marvel Now Iron Man is another example of Hasbro taking an older Iron Man mold and trying to make it work for a figure that it isn’t. We last saw this with the Space Armor from the Guardians of the Galaxy wave, which was reworked from the Heroic Age armor. Now we get the Marvel Now armor as a straight repaint of one of the earlier releases from the 6-inch Iron Man 2 line.

We all know what the packaging on these looks like by now. The only thing to take away from this picture is that there is a precious Hulkbuster part in there, and man is it big and heavy.

So, obviously the big departure for Tony Stark’s Marvel Now look is that he abandoned the familiar red and gold deco for a black and gold one. I can’t say as I have a strong opinion on this either way. Sometimes change is good, but things are called iconic for a reason. When it came to Kotobukiya’s ArtFX+ Avengers statues, I went with the iconic, but not accurate, red and gold deco, mainly to balance out the colors of the display more. As a result, I’m kind of glad to be getting this armor in its proper colors now. Unfortunately, it’s not really the proper armor. As mentioned above, this is just a repaint of Hasbro’s 6-inch Mark IV armor from Iron Man 2. It’s got the same basic contours, but it’s clearly not the same design. The original figure even came with a swap out head and hands, and this one doesn’t. Although in fairness, with the Hulkbuster leg in there, I don’t know that there would be room for any extras in the package.

Now, with that all having been said, I think this is a pretty solid figure for what it is. The design looks great in these colors and the gold paint applications are clean and even. There aren’t many paint operations on the back of the figure, but that’s actually accurate to the design. In terms of the movie armors, my favorites tend to be the Mark III and Mark VII (in that order), but I’d say this is up there for a close third.

The articulation is solid on paper, but runs into some limitations issue due to the sculpt. If you own a modern Legends Iron Man figure, than you’ll know what to expect. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and the extra shoulder armor pieces are hinged to help them move out of the way. The elbows are double hinged and have swivels in the biceps. The wrists have rotating hinges, but the plates on the backs of the hands really impede movement there. This is annoying, because it’s hard to get his repulsor blast pose right. The hand just won’t bend far enough back. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double hinged knees, and there are swivels at the tops of the thighs. The ankles appear to be ball jointed, but the sculpt there renders those points almost useless. I do really like the plastic they used on this guy and the joints are all solid.

I should be a lot more cross with Hasbro for what they tried to pull here. You shouldn’t be able to repaint an old figure and call it whatever you want. On the other hand, since I don’t have the previous release of this mold, I’m happy to finally have it in my collection, even if it is in the Marvel Now colors. If I find it bothers me, I can always just call him the Mark IV-B Stealth Armor because that’s a thing that I just made up. In the end, I’d like to think Hasbro had to go the repaint route here to pay for the costs of the Hulkbuster, which is larger and more complex than previous BAFs. And if that’s the case, I’m fine with it.

Dec 7 2015

Marvel Legends (Hulkbuster Wave): Blizzard by Hasbro

It’s Marvel Monday again and time to tear into another figure in the Hulkbuster Wave. It’s exciting stuff, because it brings me one step closer to building this sweet Hulkbuster BAF! What’s not quite so exciting is that today’s figure is Blizzard. Oh…

Packaging! Yes, the figure comes in packaging and it’s right in line with what we’ve been seeing for a while now. Blizzard comes crammed all the way to one side to make enough room for the giant front and back shoulder pieces of the Hulkbuster armor. Hasbro probably could have left the figure out completely, and this package would still have sold. Ah, but let’s give Blizzard his due and check him out.

Yeah… Donnie Gill. I’ve got almost nothing. I think he’s the second person to carry the Blizzard identity. Was he an Iron Man villain? I vaguely remember that. Mostly, I know him as a one time member of The Thunderbolts. As you can tell, he isn’t high on my list of Marvel characters and that’s saying something, because I have an irrational love for a number of pretty obscure Marvel characters. Anyway, this is another one of those figures that just requires a basic buck, some metallic paint, and a new noggin and… voila… you’ve got Tiger Shark… I mean, Blizzard. I can’t place the buck, but there’s a hole on the back accentuating the hollow torso, so I’m assuming this body wore a cape at some point.

Blizzard’s buck is a combination of white plastic painted metallic blue and vice-versa. There was certainly potential here, as if done properly the metallic blue and white could have been rather striking. Alas, there are a lot of eye sores on this guy when it comes to paint quality. The arms are the biggest offenders where the blue plastic bleeds through the white paint on the forearms and shoulders. The seams on the forearms look especially bad. There’s also some chipping or transfer on the legs. It’s a shame.

The articulation here is very solid, even if the paint isn’t. The arms have 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, double hinged at the knees, and swivels in the thighs and lower legs. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. The torso features a swivel at the waist, an ab crunch hinge and both a hinge and ball joint in the neck. The joints feel great and he is tons of fun to pose.

And that’s all I’ve got on this guy. I’ve said it before, my Marvel collection is all about universe building, so it doesn’t bother me when I get a back bencher like Blizzard, so long as the figure is decent. Blizzard, unfortunately, falls just a little below the mark. If there were no BAF parts at stake, I wouldn’t have gone out of my way to buy him, but I sure as hell don’t mind adding him to my shelf as decidedly average as he is. Now if you’ll excuse me… I’ve got a strange urge to run down to Dairy Queen.

Nov 30 2015

Marvel Legends (Hulkbuster Wave): War Machine by Hasbro

With the craziness of one holiday behind us, we can now start the slow march to the next one. Decent Black Friday sales for action figures seemed few and far between in my neck of the woods, but I did manage to pick up a few Marvel Legends for cheap and today’s figure is one of them. Let’s check out Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes in the original version of his Marvel Cinematic Universe War Machine armor. He’s also the second rung on the ladder to me building the magnificent Hulkbuster BAF!

There’s nothing new to say about the packaging. War Machine comes with the Hulkbuster head off to one side and a spare swappable portrait off to the other. It’s probably the lightest and least congested package of this entire wave, but hey… somebody had to come with the head!

Does this guy look familiar? Yeah, it’s basically a repaint of the Iron Patriot that was part of the Iron Monger BAF assortment, a figure that I looked at back in the Summer of 2013. In fact the only difference in the sculpt here is the left hand, which has gone from the open palm repulsor attack to being a simple closed fist. The sculpt was pretty damn solid to begin with as it features plenty of panel lines and just an overall nice 6-inch scale version of the armor seen in the film.

The paint is also beautifully executed. The black and silver deco looks sharp and reserved compared to the red white and silver of the Patriot deco. The black uses a subtle bit of glitter, which I really dig and all the paint lines are clean. This figure also features all the same tiny tampos as the original, which include Rhodes’ name stamped vertically on the left of the chest plate, the “FF 445” on the left shoulder and the Air Force emblem on the left forearm. These are all crisp and stand out nicely against the black paint. Considering the face plate paint on my Patriot was rather miffed, I’m much happier with what I got this time around.

The alternate portrait features the open mask showing Rhodey’s face. Overall the sculpt is pretty good, but the eyes on mine are uneven and do their best to bring the whole thing down. How ironic is it that these factories seem to get people who can’t see properly to paint eyes? At least it’s probably marginally better than the Tony Stark face that I got with my Mark 42 armor. Either way, this extra noggin is about to go into the Tote of Forgotten Accessories with that Stark head.

The articulation here is solid, but has some issues. The arms feature rotating hinges at the shoulders, and thankfully the shoulder armor is hinged so as not to inhibit movement. There are swivels in the biceps and nice double hinges in the elbows. The wrists have rotating hinges, but the sculpt there really limts some of the movement. The legs have ball joints in the hips, and again the armor sculpt interrupts some of the movement here. The knees are double hinged, there are swivels up at the hips, and while there appear to be hinges in the ankles, the sculpt allows no movement at all. There’s a ball joint in the torso and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed. Honestly, the poseability here is probably totally accurate to someone wearing a suit like this in real life, but in the films, the wearers were a lot more limber.

While not really an accessory, War Machine comes with the same shoulder cannon as Iron Patriot. It is removable and can be pegged in two different positions, but it’s clearly intended to be worn to the left. It’s hinged so that it can be positioned in a prone position and then angled up over the shoulder when ready to fire.

Despite some limits to the articulation and some rough paint on the spare head, I dig this figure a lot. The armor sculpt definitely carries it and I find myself liking the more utilitarian deco a lot better than the flashier Patriot paint scheme. Most importantly, I’m just happy to be able to represent Rhodes on my Legends shelf because he is definitely one of my favorite supporting characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I love the fact that he was teased as being one of the core Avengers in a future Phase and I really hope to see Cheadle take the center stage at least once in the MCU.

Nov 23 2015

Marvel Legends (Hulkbuster Wave): Doctor Strange by Hasbro

It’s Marvel Monday again, folks, and it’s also time to start a brand new wave of Marvel Legends! Woo Hoo! I’ll warn you/apologize ahead of time that the Jameson is flowing freely today. This time I’m working my way up to the BAF Hulkbuster, one figure at a time and I’m starting off the wave with Doctor Strange! Can I just take this time to say how much I’m looking forward to the Doctor Strange movie? Yeah, Star Trek: Into Darkness almost killed Cumberbatch for me, but it wasn’t his fault. He just took a cartload of money and they handed him a “script.” See, I used quotes around the word script because it was a piece of shit. Hahaha… Seriously, I HATE THAT MOVIE!!! No, but I’m really hoping that Doctor Strange will redeem him for me. He’s perfect for the role and I’ve all but given up on the theory that Disney can make a bad Marvel flick or at least one that I don’t like.

Of course, this is the comic version of the character, so please excuse my little detour about the movie. The package is unchanged from the last Wave I looked at. It’s still a fairly compact window box, which is relatively collector friendly. In this case, the package weighs a ton because of the gigantic Hulkbuster leg, which I swear uses more plastic than the figure itself. You’ll also note that Strange’s name doesn’t appear on the front of the package, instead it’s just the generic moniker, “Marvel Hereoes.” Wow, that could apply to almost anyone. Yes, this is another case of a variant swap-out within the slot and in this case the other figure is The Vision. I don’t get why Hasbro does this anymore seeing as: a) Both figures are included in the case, and b) Each figure comes with a unique BAF part. Craziness! Anyway, let’s go ahead and commune with The Eye of Agamotto and free Strange from his prison.

Yes, this is the modern version of the character’s look and one that I’m not entirely familiar with. The last time I encountered Doctor Strange in my comic reading was back in issue #21 of Deadpool and he was still grasping at some of the vestiges of his more classic look. Here he’s given up the high collar and cape and is sporting something of a more streamlined “super hero” style costume. It’s convenient for Hasbro as they were able to get away with a repainted buck and adding just a sculpted “skirt” piece and new forearms. The new black and maroon deco gives him a far more sinister look. I won’t say I don’t like it, but I definitely prefer his older costume. This figure is also a tad more buff than I’m used to seeing him. The head sculpt is fantastic. He looks great and the paint is all nice and clean, even around the mustache.

The articulation is solid and about what I’ve come to expect from this line. The arms have rotating hinges at the shoulders and wrists. The elbows are double jointed and there are swivels in the biceps. The legs are ball jointed at the hips with swivels in the thighs and tops of the boots. The knees are double hinged and the ankles are hinged with lateral rockers. The waist swivels, there’s an ab crunch hinge in the torso and the neck has both a hinge and a ball joint.

In addition to the mammoth BAF part, Strange comes with two magic effects parts. These are the same pieces that came with Scarlet Witch a little while back only now cast in a neon green plastic. I liked these pieces a lot back then and still dig them a lot now. Unfortunately, Strange’s hands look more like Spider-Man thwipping hands than spell-casting hands to me. But I suppose they get the job done.

Yes, if I were given my druthers I would have had classic Strange in this assortment, but Marvel is obviously more interested in promoting their current books and current looks. I’m OK with that. This more sinister version of Strange works for me too and Hasbro did a fine job with the figure. The new sculpted bits look good and the paint is sharp and clean. The articulation is solid and it’s nice to see a return of the magic effects parts. And since my old Legends Doctor Strange disappeared long ago, I’m very happy to have the character represented on my Legends shelf again. Besides, for Classic Strange I can always look to my Marvel Universe figure.

Nov 2 2015

Marvel Legends (Hobgoblin Wave): Hobgoblin Build-A-Figure by Hasbro

“Getting tattoos of Norman Osborne doesn’t make you tough, just stupid!”

~ Phil Urich, aka. Hobgoblin

Wow, I started looking at this Wave way back in August and thanks to some detours, I’m only now wrapping it up with a look at the Build-A-Figure. Obviously, there’s no packaging to show you, as this guy is pieced together from parts collected through this wave of figures, so let me take a moment to say that I was really excited that we were getting this guy. I don’t tend to mingle in a lot of comic-book reading circles, so I was rather surprised to find that the Phil Urich version of Hobgoblin is so polarizing, because I enjoyed him and the associated run of Spider-Man. Some may accuse me of believing that Dan Slott can do no wrong at the Amazing Spider-Man helm, and I’ll concede that there might just be something of truth in that. Either way, Slott’s run got me reading Spider-Man again on a regular basis so it’s obvious where my feelings lie.

And there he is in all his glory. I seriously love this design as I get a strong Renaissance vibe off of it, between the period style of the outfit and the fact that the wings look like something cobbled together by Da vinci. As far as BAFs go, he’s not exactly a big character, but with those big wings, it’s easy to see where all the extra plastic went. I’ll toss this out there to anyone building him. I put the arms on before the backpack and realized my mistake too late. I was still able to get the wings on, but it would have been a lot easier if I had placed the backpack first before pegging in those arms.

The coloring is pretty accurate to the character art and the mix of orange and blue with a little silver thrown in makes for a pretty attractive figure and one that certainly feels suitable for the Fall months we’re in. If I hadn’t had NECA’s Leatherface to look at, I probably would have used this guy as a Halloween Feature. I also really dig the way you get an extra sword hilt that plugs into the top of his wing assembly. That’s a really cool touch that you don’t often see in the Legends line.

The headsculpt is quite good and I like that it’s independent of the hood as it adds a lot of depth and credibility to the sculpt. The paint on the teeth, on the other hand, is a little rough. I’m not entirely sure that it isn’t on purpose though as Hobgoblin looks pretty haphazard and manic in the art and the paint kind of reflects that. Of course, I may be giving Hasbro a little too much credit on that one.

The articulation here is great. The arms have 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 and his skirt is split in two places front and back so as to not inhibit the range of movement there. The legs are double hinged in the knees, with swivels in the thighs. The ankles are hinged and have generous lateral rockers. He can swivel at the waist and the torso has an ab crunch hinge. The neck is both ball jointed and hinged, but because of the hood, there’s some restriction there. The only downside? The wings aren’t articulated, but that’s understandable to me.

In addition to the sword hilt, Hobgoblin comes with an ignited sword and a flaming bomb. The flame sword is quite a work of art and is cast in a beautiful blend of translucent red and orange plastic. I can’t say as I’ve seen anything like it since Mattel’s Draego-Man from the Masters Classics line. He can hold it comfortably in his left hand and he looks great wielding it. Alas, I can’t show you the flaming bomb, because it fell on the floor and the cat dragged it under the sofa into his Lair with all his other plastic pretties.

Hobgoblin is a fantastic BAF and a great way to cap off what was a very solid wave of Legends figures. I can’t say as there was a bad figure in the bunch, My only real gripe at all was my Spider-Woman losing her arm and to be honest, I’ve since decided to go ahead and replace her. I’ve also decided that I really need to go back and finish off that last wave of Spider-Man Legends. The Ultimate Green Goblin isn’t really a “must have” BAF for me to complete, but at the same time I can’t stand seeing him lying in the corner missing some limbs.

Oct 26 2015

Marvel Legends (Hobgoblin Wave): Spider-Man by Hasbro

Egads, it’s been a long trek through this wave of Marvel Legends, but here we are at the final boxed figure, and it is none other than old Web Head himself, Spider-Man. I was very happy Hasbro included him in this wave, because before now I didn’t have a plain old vanilla Spider-Man for my 6-inch shelf. I’ve got Raimi Spider-Man (a figure which has not aged well), Shitty Reboot Spider-Man (shitty reboot, but not a shitty figure), Superior Spider-Man, 2099 Spider-Man, but regular old comic book Spidey? Nope! So, here he is…

It’s the same packaging we’ve been seeing here on Monday for weeks now and I’ve got nothing new to add, other than it contains some fun little extras, as well as the last piece I need to build my Hobbie figure.

We’ve got the same basic buck, with a few modifications, that we saw for Spidey 2099 and Superior Spider-Man with a brand new paint job. I don’t think there’s another Marvel costume that I like more than regular old Spider-Man, and it’s all in the colors. There’s just something about that red and blue mixed with the web pattern and the big white eyes that I find so aesthetically pleasing, and this figure drives it home.The shades of blue and red on this guy are just plain gorgeous. Sure, there are a few blemishes, like the unpainted pins in the inside of the arms, or the miffed web pattern on the lateral shoulder hinges, but overall, this is a great looking figure.

A familiar buck means familiar articulation! Spidey features rotating hinges in the shoulders on top of shoulder hinges. The rest of the arms feature double hinged elbows, rotating hinges in the wrists, and swivels in the biceps. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, and have swivels in the thighs. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. The torso swivels at the waist, has an ab crunch hinges, and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed. Not bad!

Accessories! It doesn’t always happen, but every once and a while Hasbro blows a kiss to one of these Legends releases and bestows upon it a passel of extras and that’s what works here to take a very good figure and make it just that much better. Spidey comes with a total of three pairs of hands: Fists, web thwip hands, and open hands. By now, you all know I’m not all that big on changing out hands, but Spidey is one of those few characters where I think it really is a must.

You also get the goods that makes figure affectionately referred to as “Pizza Spidey.” That would be a slice of delicious pizza and a head with the mouth exposes so he can enjoy that delicious pizza. What’s cool here is the pizza is actually flavored plastic, so if you lick it it tastes like pepperoni. Go on try it! Haha, I got you to lick plastic for no reason. Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that. I hope I haven’t completely lost your trust.

Considering how many versions of Spider-Man have been released in the Legends line since it’s return, it’s nice to finally get a standard version of the webslinger for my shelf. A few minor paint issues aside, this is a great figure and my 6-inch Spidey-Verse is just about at that critical mass where it’s going to need its own shelf. And that’s impressive, considering I still haven’t finished off the Amazing Spider-Man 2 Green Goblin BAF Wave. And speaking of BAFs, next Monday I’ll finally put this wave to bed with a look at the Build-A-Figure Hobgoblin!

Oct 19 2015

Marvel Legends (Hobgoblin Wave): Spider-Girl by Hasbro

It feels like it’s taking me forever to get through this wave of Marvel Legends, but I’m finally nearing the home stretch. Today I’m checking out Spider-Girl who shares a slot with the Ultimates Spider-Woman. In the past when Hasbro has done this, the two variants in a slot shared the same BAF part, but in this case, you actually need to pick up both spider ladies in order to build your Hobbie. Now that the variants are shipping in the same case, I’m a big fan of doing things this way, so I don’t have extra BAF parts kicking around.

Package shot! Is there anything new to say? Not really. Because this is one of those slot-sharing figures, neither May Parker’s real name or alias actually appear on the front of the package, only the back. Instead the front features the “Warriors of the Web” moniker. It’s also worth noting that with both Hobgoblin’s head and wings included, there’s probably just as much plastic devoted to the BAF parts here as the actual figure.

May uses the same buck as the Spider-Woman variant in this slot. That was easy to deduce because the right arm on my figure is fused at the elbow. Considering the other figure’s elbow broke with almost no force applied, I dropped her right into a pot of boiling water and everything worked out fine. With that having been said, I think this is a great looking figure. The costume is a wonderful design that both pays homage to classic Spidey, but with the larger spider emblem, darker blues and her more prominant mechanical web shooters. The coloring on this figure is fantastic, with just a few hiccups where the shoulder hinges interrupt the web pattern and the unpainted blue knee pins.

She’s also inherited that fine, fine Aunt May Ass. Maybe MJ had something to do with it too.

Articulation consists of rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, with those odd elbow hinges. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, and have swivels in the thighs and lower legs. The ankles are hinged and feature lateral rockers. You get a ball joint in the torso and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed.

I like this figure a lot, despite the fact that I’m not a big fan of the What If books and I’ve never read Amazing Spider-Girl or Spectacular Spider-Girl either. I’m far enough behind on my regular comics, without dipping into the shenannigans of Earth-982. She looks great, the colors are pretty, and she has an interesting backstory and I’m always happy to pad out my Spidey shelves. Next Monday I’ll take a look at the final boxed figure in the wave, Spider-Man himself!

FigureFan Zero

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