One of the great things about having such a deep backlog of Marvel Legends is when I dig my hand into my pile of shame, there’s no telling what will come out. Case in point, today we’re going back to the Banner Hulk Wave and opening up Beta Ray Bill. I knew Bill was in there somewhere, and I’ve been hoping to get him in a random pick for a while now!

This assortment remains one of only a few few Modern Legends waves that I didn’t hunt down too enthusiastically. I wasn’t all that excited about the Banner Hulk BAF and I wound up giving a lot of the parts to my nephew anyway, but I may borrow it someday to review here. Eh, probably not… I think I’ve got enough on my plate as it is! Anywho, I have to give Hasbro some major props for the branding on this package. The snappy logo used for Bill’s name could have easily convinced me that it’s a movie tie-in. Sadly, no such luck, but the future holds many possibilities. There’s not a lot that could get me to want to go see a Thor movie starring Natalie Portman, but slap Beta Ray Bill in it, and I’ll be there.

Behold! Beta Ray Bill out of the package and looking damn cool! I’ve always found his backstory to be a little wanting, but who needs a great backstory when you’re an epic space man-horse in Asgardian armor? Egads, I love comics! The armor in question is a lot simpler in design than what The God of Thunder is usually wearing, but it’s still easily recognizable as being cut from the same cloth. Or mythril. Or whatever Asgardians make armor out of. From below the chest down it’s just smooth and black and showing the details of Bill’s fine muscles. The chest armor is painted with a gun metal gray finish that has a bit of a hammered texture to it. You also get two sets of the silver discs, similar to the ones that appear on Thor’s armor. A set of burnished bronze shoulder armor and sculpted wrist wraps round out the ensemble nicely. Not to forget the cape, of course! From behind, Bill is basically just a wall of cape! But it’s a very nicely sculpted cape!

With a face any mother could love, the head sculpt was easily going to make or break this figure. Happily, Hasbro did not disappoint. His horse skull visage is so grim it’s adorable and they really nailed the way his pronounced brow frames those pupil-less eyes. His head is topped off with a silver Asgardian winged helmet and the best surprise is that he has a hinged jaw! The sculpted tongue was a nice touch as well. Superb!

Bill conforms to most of the usual points of articulation I’m used to seeing on my beefy horse-men. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, there are double-hinges in the knees, swivels in botht he thighs and the lower legs, and the ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers to keep his feet flat on those wide stances. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, double-hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the biceps. The neck is both hinged and ball jointed, and I’ve already mentioned the hinge in the jaw. The biggest change up here is that he has a ball joint under the chest instead of the usual ab-crunch hinge.

Naturally, Bill comes with his trusty weapon, Stormbreaker, which makes me wonder what weapon he’ll have if he shows up in the MCU. Maybe he’ll just wind up with the Stormbreaker with the Groot handle. Either way, this mighty weapon is cast in gold plastic, has a ribbed grip, and a soft plastic lanyard coming out of the butt cap. Mine also has some ugly paint splotches on it. Boo!

Beta Ray Bill is one of those super fun characters who desperately needed an action figure. He’s also one of the stand-out figures for me from this assortment, and that’s saying something because there are some genuinely solid figures in this wave. So much so, that I may just work on wrapping up the remaining figures before moving on to more randomness.

Here we go, folks, today I’m opening up the final figure in the Gladiator Hulk Wave of Marvel Legends, and it’s Lady Thor! or Jane Foster Thor? or Fake Thor!?! I’m going to confess that I’ve re-written the intro to today’s review a couple of times, while waffling back and forth about how heavy handed I want to get with how the character of Jane Foster as Thor relates to the dumpster fire that is Marvel Comics these days. Ultimately, I decided to let a lot of it go, but I did just want to drop one editorial comment to Marvel here: It’s a wonderful thing to want to create more female characters as comic book A-Listers. It’s another thing to have to replace beloved existing characters with them. In the infinite world of comics, you don’t have to tear one thing down to build another. And if you do, don’t be surprised about the rage that you incur. I’d also suggest that there are a lot of great existing female characters in the Marvel lexicon that deserve engaging and well-written books of their own. And that’s where I’m going to leave it.

OK! Back to toys! And here’s Jane in the box, and once again thanks to some beefy BAF parts, we get a pretty damn heavy package. And thanks to this leg and shoulder armor, I’ll finally be able to complete my Champion of Sakaar and put him together later on tonight. But first things first, let’s get Jane out of the box and check her out. Oh yeah, I should note that like Thor Odinson, a variant of this figure was also included in the SDCC Battle for Asgarde set, which still sits over there unopened in the corner. I’ll get to it eventually.

Whatever issues I have with the character, I cannot deny that Jane is sporting some kick-ass Femme-Thor cosplay. I love this character design, that’s the main reason I’ve actually been excited to get this figure in hand, and I have to say it does not disappoint. The costume features several layers of Norse fashion starting with a painted black body suit, a skirt-like half-cape and belt cast in soft plastic, a silver breast plate layered on top of the buck, and a silver wrist guard on her left arm with individual sculpted straps and a partial black glove painted on the arm. Her lower legs feature sculpted wraps, silver boots, and separate winged pieces, like armored spats. I love the complexity here. The design really shines, and Hasbro did a fabulous job with it. The paint quality here is pretty fab as well. The silver paint they used on her armor looks great over the hammered finish. It’s also used on her boots, the studs on her belt, her arm guard, and even the tiny buckles on the straps.

Jane also sports a billowing cape, which pegs into her back and appears to float over her shoulders just like Classic Thor’s cape. There are two silver discs that position over her shoulders, but it’s a little tough to see them with her hair in the way. The cape does make her a little back heavy, but since it touches the ground in the center it also serves as a support for her.

The head sculpt is every bit as complex as the rest of the outfit. The helmet covers most of her head, leaving just her mouth and chin exposed. It’s cast in silver plastic, but it matches the paint for the chest plate fairly well. It also features a gold decoration on the front, and two sweeping side pieces that resemble wings. Jane’s eyes are represented as black with two silver pupils, which is more than a bit creepy, and her lips are neatly painted. The sandy blonde hair spills out from the bottom of the helmet and around her shoulders, but hardly hinders the neck articulation at all.

And speaking of articulation, here’s a rundown on what Jane’s got. The legs feature ball joints in the hips, double hinges in the knees, swivels in the thighs, and both hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists, and she has swivels in the biceps. She has a ball joint just under her chest and both a hinge and ball joint in the neck.

Of course, Jane comes with Mjolnir, which she can hold comfortably in her right hand. the left hand is balled into a fist. This is a familiar looking sculpt, and while I don’t have any of the others handy, I’m sure it’s recycled from a past Thor figure. I’ve got no problem with that, because it looks great.

In what has been a very solid assortment of figures, Lady Thor holds her own as a top contender for my favorite in the wave. The excellent character design translates beautifully to figure form and I believe I would have a lot more fondness for this version of Jane Foster if she hadn’t usurped Thor’s name and if Marvel’s current crop of writers were actually turning out compelling and entertaining reads. I didn’t intentionally save this figure for last, but it turns out to be a great way to end this look at such an excellent wave. Join me back here tonight and we’ll check out the Build-A-Figure of the wave… Gladiator Hulk!

Welcome back to my trek through the Gladiator Hulk Wave of Marvel Legends! I’m nearing the home stretch, with just two more comic based figures to look at until I can build the Incredible Champion of Sakaar! Today I’m checking out Thor, or as the package calls him, Marvel’s Odinson. Call him Odinson, call him Unworthy Thor, but he’s still Thor. Because my friends, Thor is still Thor even if unworthy to wield Mjolnir. But that’s a subject on which I will vent a little more next week when I look at Jane Foster Thor. Or maybe I’ll just let it go. We’ll see. I actually loved the idea of an unworthy Thor storyline, but I didn’t feel like Marvel did anything interesting with it. Will new Editor-in-Chief C.B. Cebulski haul Marvel Comics out of the dumpster fire it’s in? I guess we’ll find out. Can it get any worse? I genuinely don’t believe so.

Odinson shares the same slot with Ares as the two “Nine Realms Warriors,” and like Ares, there’s a lot of plastic in this box. Thor himself ain’t no lightweight and when you add in his accessory, Jarnbjorn, and the massive Gladiator Hulk torso, you get a pretty full tray crammed in there. I should note that I might have skipped this figure if it weren’t for the BAF parts, because a variant is included in the SDCC “Battle for Asgarde” set, which I still have sitting unopened in the corner waiting for me to do another Marvel Week. There are, however, some pretty big differences between the two figures, so in this case having to double-dip isn’t too bad.

And the figure isn’t too shabby either! While a good chunk of this costume is just painted buck, Odinson features enough unique sculpting to satisfy me. The black sleeveless shirt is just painted onto his chest with a little cutout up top. See, dudes can wear boob windows too! Eat your heart out, Power Girl! I love how the tops of the trousers are sculpted and tied off with a piece of rope, because down-on-his-luck Thor can’t afford proper pants that fit, nor a belt to hold them up! I jest, but it’s a really nice touch. The boots feature sculpted flares at the knees, and sculpted brown straps tying them in place at the tops and down near the ankles. He also has a pedestrian pair of wrist bracers, which are sculpted as separate pieces.

The cape is really nice! It’s cast in bright red plastic with a silver painted fastener off-set near his left shoulder. The back shows it all tattered with a rough bottom edge and various holes. Still, it’s very thick which eschews realism and gives it a decidedly comic book look. Of course, if you’d rather go without it, you can just pop the head and remove it.

Speaking of heads, this one is a bit of a poser. It genuinely looks fine to me with the figure in hand, but then I take pictures up close and this happens. YIKES! It looks like someone pinched the middle of his face and his eyes are popping out. You ain’t unworthy, you just too ugly! It’s a shame, because the face is very chiseled and angular with some beautiful definition in the sculpt. It looks a little more gaunt than normal Thor, which is a nice touch for hard-luck Thor. The hair is sculpted so that it’s blowing off to the side, which is admittedly a rather singular look, but it works well enough for me. Bottom line is that if you keep a safe distance, it’ll look fine. You’re just going to have to trust me on this one.

The articulation holds no surprises, but we’ll run through it anyway. 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, have swivels in the thighs, double hinges in the knees, and the ankles have both hinges and lateral rockers. The torso features both an ab crunch and a waist swivel, and the neck is both ball jointed and hinged. The hinges are all solid, and he’s an all around fun figure to play with.

Odinson comes with one accessory and that’s his trusty axe, Jarnbjorn. For a substitute weapon, this thing is beautiful! Hasbro decorated out the axe head’s socket with some lovely scrollwork and an ornate, spiked tip. The curved handle has sculpted wood texture running through it, and grip is ribbed with silver rings at each end. This is one of the most beautiful weapons Marvel Legends has given us in quite a while!

Whatever my feeling about the particulars of the comics, and they’re not all bad, Unworthy Thor is a great idea for a storyline and I’m glad they did this figure. There was a little while where I thought it was going to be totally exclusive to the SDCC set, and while I did wind up getting it very easily, that’s not always the case. It’s probably a good thing that the figure made it to regular retail too, making it available to the collectors who were unable to get the exclusive set, or maybe just didn’t want all of those figures. Next week, I’m going to put this wave to a bed with a look at the last boxed figure, Jane Foster Thor, and the Build-A-Figure, Gladiator Hulk!