Tag Archives: x-men

Jan 30 2023

Marvel Legends (Bonebreaker Wave): Sabretooth and Bonebreaker Build-A-Figure by Hasbro

This is it, folks. It’s the last Marvel Monday and I’m wrapping up my look at the Bonebreaker Wave. Sabretooth gives me the last pieces I need to cobble together my half-tank, all bad-ass Reaver, Bonebreaker, and I am pretty damn excited about that. As for the end of Marvel Monday? Well, I’ll swing back to say a few things about that at the end.

Here’s Sabretooth in the package, and this is actually the third time I’ve added this character to my collection since Legends returned. The first was as part of the Apocalypse Wave, which I don’t think I ever got around to reviewing here, and the second was as part of the Age of Apocalypse themed Colossus Wave. I don’t really mind, because he’s come in a few different shapes and sizes over the years, but this one sticks fairly closely to the characters’ original roots.

And to be honest, I don’t have a whole lot to say about him, other than there’s some things that makes me like him more than the Apocalypse Wave version and some that fall short. Comparisons are tough because it’s too different takes on the character, and I think my preferences falls somewhere in-between. Taken on his own, I dig the proportions here, especially the huge claw hands, which give him an eerily long reach, and the furry fringe on his collar, forearms and lower legs all look great. The feet have fully realized claws, which is a first for him in this line, and makes him look a lot more intimidating, especially the way his fingers and toes pop out of the gloves and, um… socks? I can’t say I ever remember his fingers and toes being colored like that in the comic panels, but I’m certainly no expert on Sabretooth’s appearances. The rest of the costume is just painted buck, which features a pleasing yellow-orange with some brown undies and a brown stripe running up the middle.

The head sculpt is pretty good, but not as bat-shit savage as the Apocalypse Wave version. Still, he looks plenty angry and scary. The definition in the face sculpt is quite good with plenty of lines and creases as he bares his teeth in rage. Ironically, it’s the teeth that I think lets the sculpt down the most, as they’re rather soft and lack the definition in the rest of the face. It’s even kind of hard to make out his fangs at all, as it kind of just looks like a bunch of white mush. In that sense, I’d say it’s a step down from that earliest release. Still, I overall like the portrait and the hair is especially nice.

The articulation is fine and Sabretooth is fun to play around with. It’s a shame we couldn’t get him with the shoulder crunches that we saw in Havok, Vulcan, and Darwin. Still, I think this guy turned out pretty great and as the last packaged figure for Marvel Monday, I certainly could have done worse.

Since I didn’t review the earliest release, here’s a quick comparison. I like the costume on the earlier figure the best, with the wide brown stripe down the middle and the fur collar that doesn’t connect. On the other hand, I wish he had the foot claws. They’re both decent figures, and intentionally different takes on the character, but I think I’m going to give the nod to the Apocalypse Wave version. OK… let’s move on to Bonebreaker!

Hell yeah! Just look at this magnificent bastard! While each Build-A-Figure has its own charm, there is a certain amount of sameness to them. You get a torso, you get arms, legs, and a head, and sometimes one or two additional pieces. Bonebreaker shatters that with his half-tank, half-humanoid design. The parts consist of the two halves of the tank chassis, the two barrels on the back, the engine, a net-cover for the back, the upper torso with the arms attached, the head, and the sort of pelvic piece that connects the torso to the tank chassis. Pop it all together and you get the most unique BAF that modern Legends has put out!

The detail on the chassis is absolutely fantastic! It’s got textured plates and panels, scrapes and scars and weathering, and while the tank treads don’t actually roll, they’re actually separate soft plastic bands and not sculpted with the wheels as one piece. The detail in the engine alone is superb, and even the barrels on the back have some pits and pockmarking. There are two opened hatch doors where Bonebreaker’s body attaches, and a machine gun poking out the front of the chassis. You also get a pair of foot pegs near the back for other figures to catch a ride! Egads, I love this!

The upper body also sports some great new sculpting in the form of the five-point chest harness, wrist cuffs, and the neck collar.

You’d think being half a tank would be all the personality Bonebreaker needs, but Hasbro also packed plenty into this head sculpt. Bonebreaker has his mouth agape in a ridiculous joyful expression that shows how much he’s loving life and carnage. His flamboyant mohawk flutters a bit in the breeze, and his cool black shades can be flipped up or removed entirely to show off his lovely Reaver eyes. Every damn thing about this portrait is an absolute homerun!

The torso includes all the usual articulation, with a hinged ball joint in the neck, a swivel at the waist, and an ab-crunch hinge under the chest. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps, double-hinged elbows, and hinged pegs for the hands. You get two pairs of hands, which include a set of fists and a set to hold his rifle. The rifle itself is a wonderful sculpt that’s simply packed with detail.

It’s impossible to imagine a better Build-A-Figure to end Marvel Mondays with. Hasbro just poured the love into this figure in terms of sculpt, design, and coloring, it all comes together into one absolutely unique figure, and it’s hard for me to imagine them ever outdoing this one. Now that I have him assembled and in hand, it even forgives what seemed like an over abundance of budget figures in this assortment. Quite frankly, I’m fine with whatever Hasbro had to do to make this work!

And there we are, Marvel Monday has had a great run here on FFZ. I started it because Marvel Legends was so damn prolific, that I needed to lock myself into one Legends review a week or else I would get hopelessly behind. And even with that schedule, I still managed to develop quite a backlog. I can’t stress enough that I’m not done reviewing Marvel Legends figures here on FFZ, nor am I completely calling it quits on collecting the line. I have no bad feelings about the line, other than the price hikes, which have been a factor in this decision. Sure, I spend a lot more than $25 on other figures, but at that price it doesn’t seem like the value is consistently here anymore. And with a single Spider-Man Legends figure hitting $36, it seems like it’s time to send a message to Hasbro. But even without the price hikes, Legends has become too much to keep up with, both in terms of purchasing and reviewing, and I want to diversify my content a bit more. You’ll see a return to regular DC Comics figure content, as I start to try out some McFarlane DC figures, but I’ll pledge to do at least one Legends review a month going forward, and I’ll even try to make it land on a Monday for old time’s sake.

Jan 23 2023

Marvel Legends (Bonebreaker Wave) Darwin and Siryn by Hasbro

I gave notice on New Years that Marvel Monday’s days were numbered in 2023, and since then I’ve decided that I’m going to pull the plug after I’m done looking at the Bonebreaker Wave. That means that next week I’ll finish off this wave with Sabretooth and the Bonebreaker BAF and then that will be that. Just to clarify, that doesn’t mean I’m done with checking out Marvel Legends figures here, but rather the line will no longer have a dedicated day, and Marvel Legends reviews will be few and far between. The goal is to be more selective in what I buy from this line, but I’m not quitting entirely. Case in point, I did pre-order the Franklin and Valeria figures, but then I’m always going to go for the Fantastic Four stuff. OK, so let’s get this penultimate review started with a look at Darwin and Siryn…

These figures each come with a half of Bonebreaker’s tank chassis, and it makes sense that these would be bundled with the figures with the slightest build. Seeing these also make me really excited to see how Bonebreaker’s assembly is going to work. For the most part, BAFs are pretty much all the same: plug the limbs and head into the torso and you’re good to go. Bonebreaker is a whole different thing, and that intrigues me. Anyway, let’s start with Darwin, because I’m going to have the least to say about him.

Darwin is yet another figure that primarily makes use of a painted buck, in this case one of the Spider-Man bodies, for the bulk of his costume. Indeed, like Vulcan the only original sculpted piece here is his belt. Does it work for the character? Yeah, it sure does. Darwin is one of those Mutants who’s ability isn’t really visible or tangible and the slight build of the body is certainly appropriate. But, at the same time, this is the third “budget” figure in this wave and this is a big part of what’s making me grow tired of this line. As the price goes up, Hasbro is going to need to cut this shit out and find a way to give collectors something more, or else they’ll continue to lose people like me. I suppose you could argue that the BAF in this wave required a lot more tooling and maybe that’s the case, but still. The paint is appropriate, but nothing special. At least the pattern of the suit makes the colors of all the pins match.

The head sculpt is certainly decent enough, with his bug eyes, sunken cheeks, and atrophied ears. It conveys the creepiness of his appearance pretty well and it’s quite reminiscent of a Roswell alien.

You get two sets of hands: One pair of fists and one pair of grasping hands. Their enlarged size adds to Darwin’s creepy aesthetic. It’s kind of interesting that between Darwin, Vulcan, and Havok we got three different bodies and all three of them have the shoulder crunches. That extra bit of articulation is always nice, but we’ve seen this body countless times, so I won’t run down all the points here. I don’t know, there’s nothing inherently wrong with this figure, but it’s nothing special either and with the $25 MSRP, I could never have justified buying Darwin had I not found him on Amazon for $17. It’s kind of funny that as Hasbro raised their prices, I’ve subsequently lowered what I’m willing to spend on these and $17 or less seems to be my new sweet spot. Let’s move on to Siryn.

After the drab colors and tired sameness of Darwin, Siryn offers something a little more interesting. I could go into how outrageous it is that we get Siryn before Banshee, but Sean quickly followed in a 60th Anniversary set with Gambit and Psylocke in the blue and yellow uniforms. It’s a great looking set, but I’m trying to get out of this line so I’m going to give it a pass unless it goes on discount somewhere. But, back to Siryn… She’s certainly a nice looking figure with some beautiful colors. The hunter green and the bright canary yellow look so great together, and the yellow paint looks pretty fresh and doesn’t suffer from much in the way of bleed through. Sure, the body doesn’t utilize much in the way of fresh sculpting, apart from the tops of her gloves and boots, but the addition of the cape goes a long way to make her distinctive.

I like the head sculpt a lot, but I’d like it a lot more if it weren’t the only one we got. Yup, no shouty head and it’s like Shriek all over again. And honestly, if we’re only going to get one head, I would rather it be the one that shows off her super power. It’s an especially egregious omission when the shouting portrait is featured on the freaking box art. With that being said, what we got is still a fine effort. The hair sculpt is rather dynamic, giving the sculptors a chance to strut their stuff. It looks great, but I would rather it was blowing back, like she’s flying. I don’t want to be too hard on it, because I do think it’s overall some very nice work.

The body is one of the newer female bucks, which means we actually get the double-hinged elbows. Maybe there’s some irony in the fact that Hasbro is finally addressing one of my big gripes after I’ve decided to scale way back on buying these figures. You get a pair of fists and a pair of open hands as display options. That’s nice, but I’d rather they just included the open hands and poured the fist plastic into a second head mold. The joints all feel great, and she’s lots of fun to play around with, but the cape can be problematic.

The cape is what it is. It’s made of a thin, almost papery fabric and attaches to the figure at the shoulders and wrists with holes for those joints to pass through. The shoulder attachments seem fine, but I’d be worried about the wrist holes tearing if I were changing the hands out a lot. As it is, I’ll likely just keep the open hands as opposed to the fists. The cape is difficult to work with when it comes to posing her. Sometimes it looks great and sometimes it just looks awkward. I’m not going to make a big deal out of it, because it’s hard for me to come up with a better way to do it. It’s just a fact that some things that look great on a comic panel aren’t always going to translate well to a figure.

If Siryn came with a second head, I would have loved this figure, but as it is I just like her. I’m at the point with Marvel Legends where I see all the new releases through the filter of the new price tag, and it isn’t usually kind. And I gotta tell you, Hasbro, if you’re asking $25 for this figure, you really needed to toss in that second head.

I don’t want to sound like a broken record, and it’s fear of doing just that which is a big reason as to why I’m scaling way back on my Marvel Legends buying and reviews. And that’s no way to start every week. I can still get enjoyment out of these figures, but more often than not it just feels like reviewing them is becoming a chore. That wasn’t so much the case with Siryn, but it sure as hell was with Darwin. It’s just the same old body over and over again with a bit of paint and new head and new hands slapped onto it. I want to be excited about what I write about here, and maybe by cutting way back on the frequency of these reviews I’ll be able to be excited about writing about Marvel Legends now and again. Next week, we’ll wrap this whole thing up with Sabretooth and Bonebreaker!

Jan 16 2023

Marvel Legends (Bonebreaker Wave): Havok and Vulcan by Hasbro

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.

Jan 9 2023

Marvel Legends (Bonebreaker Wave): Maggott by Hasbro

It’s time for me to open and start looking at a new wave of Marvel Legends, and as I laid out in my New Years Post, it may be the last complete wave of Marvel Legends I look at here. And then again, it may not. I completed this wave sometime at the end of November when it started going on sale, but even if it hadn’t I really wanted the Bonebreaker BAF, admittedly more than some of the figures I had to buy to get it. But then that’s just one of the reasons I’m scaling back on collecting this line. Now, with that having been said, I’m starting this assortment on the highest of notes with Maggott, a character that I thought would never, ever be made into a figure, and one that will likely be the high point of this wave for me.

Maggott represents both the pinnacle of Mutant weirdness and the epitome of underused characters. I remember re-reading some of his earlier appearances maybe ten years ago and then hunting to see if I had missed any story arcs with him, and sadly the answer was no. And the odd cameo here and there just served to whet my appetite and get my digestive juices flowing for more Japheth. His bizarre symbiotic relationship with his slugs Eenie and Meenie are exactly the kind of repulsive body horror that I love to encounter in my funnybooks.

And even if all that weren’t true, I’d still absolutely love this figure because of the great colors and the unique sculpting. Maggott is built on one of the beefier Legends frames, showing that his slugs have been keeping him well fed. The torso is just a generic buck with a white painted shirt, but just about everything else on this figure features some great sculpted detail. His outfit is characterized by a a pair of dominating shoulder pads with a forge hammered finish and some nicks and scrapes, along with giant yellow studs, and a long textured trench coat, with some really nice detail work in the stitching and pockets. He’s got rolled up yellow sleeves and red, fingerless gloves, which match his textured trousers. His chunky boots are blue to match his coat and he has a pair of studded gray knee guards. Wow, this figure is a looker!

The head sculpt is also excellent and packed with personality. He sports a broad nose and an even broader, toothy grin. He has a prominent brow, jutting chin, red eyes, and a shock of white hair protruding from above his forehead.

Articulation holds no surprises. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps, double hinges in the elbows, and hinged pegs in the wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged in the knees, and have swivels in the thighs and at the tops of the boots. The ankles have both hinges and lateral rockers. You get a swivel at the waist, an ab crunch hinge, and the neck is hinged and ball jointed. All of the joints feel solid, and the trench coat doesn’t interfere with the range of movement too badly.

And for accessories, you get the slugs, Eenie and Meenie, and these are wonderfully creepy. One is sculpted in a coil so you can wrap it around one of Maggot’s arms, while the other is arched, so you can hang it on his shoulder. Both have a whole bunch of little stubby legs, and three red eyes.

I was originally going to save Maggott for the last review of this assortment, because I was pretty sure no other figure in this wave was going to live up to him, but to be honest, I was just too excited to get him out of the box and check him out. He’s a fantastic figure, and clearly Hasbro through some money at him, because I’m willing to bet he was the most costly boxed figure in this entire assortment, not counting the BAF. I’m certainly not complaining, but it’s hard to wrap my head around what Hasbro is thinking sometimes. I can rattle off at least ten X-Men that are far more prominent then Maggot here that got far less attention when it came to their figure. Maybe it’s a case of Hasbro knowing that people are going to buy a more well known character so why bother? I honestly don’t know, but I’m glad they put the effort in here.

Nov 21 2022

Marvel Legends (X-Men): Mojo by Hasbro

Welcome to another Marvel Monday! I’m still meandering about and having a look at some one-offs and multipacks before starting in on a new wave of Marvel Legends. This week, I thought I’d keep the X-Men love rolling along with a look at the Deluxe Mojo release. So grab your favorite carbonated beverage, have a seat, and whatever you do, don’t touch that dial! We don’t want to tank the ratings!

I love Mojo! Or to be more accurate, I love all the backstory that surrounds him and the Mojoverse. It’s just the kind of batshit crazy sci-fi and on-the-nose satire that I love to find in my funnybooks! So naturally I was excited to the Grand Poobah of The Spineless Ones drop into the new Marvel Legends! This is the regular retail release of Mojo, but it was preceded by a multipack, which I believe Hasbro was calling an SDCC Exclusive. That set came with Longshot, Dazzler, and a Baby Wolverine. I was close to pulling the trigger on that release, but the Dazzler looked a lot like the retro-packaged release I already have, the Wolvie wasn’t really impressive, and I decided to just gamble on Longshot getting a release later on down the road, because… C’MON, HASBRO, YOU HAVE TO!!! Honestly, if it had included Spiral, I probably would have jumped at it, but now we know we’re getting her as a retro-carded release. Anyway… Mojo comes in a fully enclosed box with all his pieces wrapped in tissue paper. Yes, there is assembly required on this one, making me wonder if he wasn’t originally designed to be a BAF, like the old Toybiz version. The upper body and belly come in two pieces, the chair is three pieces, and you get two heads, two cables, and two sets of hands. Actually, a couple of the pieces are pretty large, so I doubt it really would have worked as a Build-A-Figure. Well, let’s slap this slug together and see what he’s all about!

First impressions? Mojo is a big, satisfying figure, but the sculpt is a mixed bag and Mojo himself looks really bland and in desperate need of more paint apps. Where’s the sickly slime? Where are the bumps and pustules? It’s just a lot of smooth skin. Couldn’t even paint them nipples, Hasbro? All in all, the deco is so simple, he looks more like an animated version. Actually scratch that, because I re-watched Mojoverse from the X-Men animated series while I was opening him, and the cartoon version really had more detail than this figure. The deco comes up especially short when compared to the delightfully gross look of the old Toybiz Legends release. You get a little bit of reddish shading around the bottom edge where his body meets the chair, and a little more around the shoulders and elbows, but that’s really it. What a shame!

The chair, on the other hand features some pretty nice detail, even if it is mostly just left as bare gray plastic. A little wash would have been nice, but all we get is some blue and red paint hits for some of the simulated lights I really dig the exposed nest of wires at the back of the chair, and the rather gross machine elements that intrude their way into Mojo’s flesh on the sides. It’s also cool how his skin is pressed in where the clamps secure him to the chair. The chair rests on four clear plastic bumps to give it the illusion that the spider legs are holding it up. Each of the legs are articulated with rotating hinges where they meet the body and at two other points, but they clearly aren’t up to the task of supporting the weight of Mojo and the chair. And that’s fine, the effect still looks good. You also get two grabber arms coming out of the front with the same rotating hinges to pose them. One has a partially closed claw, which is good for grabbing onto X-Men arms and legs, while the other is open. The hoses that connect to the back of the chair and into Mojo’s shoulders hold fairly well, but they did pop out a few times when I was posing him. The scorpion-like tail that arches up over the chair with its brace of weapons is rigid and not poseable.

The two portraits are pretty good. I especially like the detail in the cybernetic hair and all the little probes and wires coming down to hold his eyes open. This first head is my favorite of the two, as it has his mouth open and his tongue licking out between his agape jaws. It’s an excellent sculpt, and while the paint here is a little better than the rest of the body, I still feel like it needed more. There’s a splash of gloss around the mouth to give it a bit of slimy look, but the figure needed a lot more of that to keep it from looking so flat. The tongue and teeth really could have used a gloss coat too. The few scattered pimples on his neck, just serve to remind me how little else there is in the way of body detail.

The second head just features a big toothy, dementated grin. It’s still an excellent sculpt, but let down a little by the sloppy paint lines between gums and teeth. Everything else here is just as good as the first head, but I doubt I’ll display this one much at all. The other one is just so much more dynamic and expressive. I should note that I found it exceedingly difficult to get this head onto the ball joint. I had to use a lot of force to get it on, which is all the more reason for me not to swap them out very often.

Mojo’s articulation includes rotating hinges in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps. double hinges in the elbows, and pegged hinges in the wrists. You get two sets of hands, one are sort of open-grabby hands, the other set includes a right pointing hand, and a somewhat closed grasp that can be used to hold a figure. The upper body is on a ball jointed stalk, and the neck is set on a kind of dog bone ball joint. He attaches to the chair via three pegs, a strong central one and two smaller ones, so he is incapable of turning his body in the chair. Overall, I have no gripes with the articulation. He can do pretty much everything I want him to.

In the end, I like this figure a lot, but I don’t love it. At $55, there’s a lot of plastic here, two excellent portraits, and a lot of good articulation. But the paint apps are severely lacking. I’m totally fine with the chair, but Mojo himself needed some more detail in the body. Ideally, I would have liked to see more sculpted detail, but I really think that a decent paint job alone could have remedied the blandness that I’m seeing. It’s worth noting that the SDCC Exclusive got a bit more paint on the body, and that would really piss me off if it wasn’t executed in such a half-assed manner. The SDCC deco basically just amounts to some gray spots, and I’m it’s kind of a toss up to me, whether it actually looks better or worse than this retail release. In terms of larger Deluxe figures, this one is passable, but not nearly as impressive as the MODOK release.

Nov 14 2022

Marvel Legends (X-Men): Excalibur Set by Hasbro

I’m between waves of Marvel Legends, and I’ve given more than enough time to HasLab Galactus, so I thought I’d knock out a look at some of the multi-packs and one-off Legends releases populating my backlog. I do have a couple of new waves to get to soon, as I did finally decide to complete The Controller Wave and The Bonebreaker Wave, so I’ll likely be jumping into one of those in December. Today, let’s have a look at this wonderful Excalibur three-pack, featuring Meggan, Shadowcat and Captain Britain… oh, and Lockheed too!

I was pretty damn excited when this set got revealed, but it finally shipped and arrived right before I was preparing to move, so it got lost in the shuffle, and I found it in a box after I was moved and unpacking. So, don’t misconstrue the fact that I’m only getting around to opening it now as any kind of disinterest. Indeed, I remember talking in the Comments Section of the last Legends Captain Britain review about how cool it would be to finally get Meggan in this line. And holy shit, that was almost six years ago! The window box is colorful and shows off the figure well, even if some of the character art doesn’t reflect the actual versions of the costumes in the box. Either way, the presentation looks so good, I will be returning to the package for display after I’m done! Let’s start with Captain Britain!

Rule Britannia! As mentioned, we last saw Captain Britain in Legends as part of the Abomination Wave back in 2017. It was a different costume, and I’m still a bit torn on which one I dig more. These are both excellent figures, but I’m leaning toward the earlier release just a bit. This costume is a bit cleaner and simpler, with the red, white, and blue pattern confined to his upper body and terminating to all white at the gauntlets and down to the knees. The bold red X on the chest looks nice and sharp, and his blue boots have some cool sculpted flares where they meet the knees. The paint quality here is excellent, but you do get the mismatched red pins showing on the inside of his elbow joints, which is a big bummer to a lot of collectors, but I can’t get too worked up about it.

There are two heads to choose from, with the main difference being the beard. The mask here is more of a hood and cowl, rather than the helmet that we got on the last Brian Braddock figure, and while I find the previous style more familiar, I actually like the look of this hood quite a bit, especially the rather prominent chin guard, and the way his facial features can be seen through the top of the mask. It definitely gave the sculptor a little more to work with. All in all, this is a great portrait!

The bearded head has some issues with the beard itself, where the paint looks like it was rubbed off on the mustache. It also looks like he has crumbs in the beard. It’s definitely a QC fail, but luckily I don’t have any attachment to the bearded Braddock. I’m guessing this is a modern thing, maybe from X-Men Gold? This head will not be getting a lot of display time.

As with his last release, Brian is built on one of the larger Legends bucks, making him an absolute bruiser. You get all the usual points of articulation, and the joints are all solid and strong, making him loads of fun to pose and play with. He also comes with two sets of hands, which include fists and his sword holding hands. And that leads us to…

Excalibur! This is a really nicely sculpted sword with some inlay patterns in the blade, a ribbed black grip, and a disk pommel. I would have really liked to see the blade painted silver to give it a little extra pop, but the bare gray plastic works well enough. The grip is extended to allow for two-handed use, but I think it looks just fine in one hand. OK, let’s move on to Meggan!

Even six years ago, Legends was turning out a lot of varied characters, but I don’t think I ever really expected Meggan to get the figure treatment, but all bets have been off long since then, and now I don’t think character is truly off the table! I dig the more mystical flavor of her powers and I’m always going to love a fellow Doctor Who fan! Meggan uses a pretty standard female buck and gets by with paint for her costume details. The hunter green bodysuit with black deco looks great, and the paint lines are even used to complete the bare shoulder look. Likewise, we get paintwork extending the her anklecuffs down the tops of her feet and between her toes. I think the bare feet are new sculpts, as I can only remember seeing some male figures sans shoes.

The portrait just oozes character… and hair! I think this is the first Marvel Legends figure to actually have dimples, which is a worthwhile achievement for Meggan. Overall, I like her smile and the way it even translates to her eyes, but I suppose a case could be made that the expression straddles that line between delighted and crazy. The flowing copious coif of hair isn’t quite enough to make Medusa jealous, but there is a lot of it. Luckily it hovers up off the shoulders a bit so as not to impede the neck articulation too badly at all. The hair is also positioned so as to showcase her cute pointed ears.

Meggan has the standard female Legends articulation, which means we trade bicep swivels and double hinged elbows for rotating hinges in the elbows. It’s never a good trade, but it is what it is. She does not have any accessories, but she does come with two sets of hands, which includes fists and the mystical spell-slinging splayed-finger hands that we have seen many times over, and they work well with her character. All in all, the joints here feel good, and while her hair is composed of a great deal of plastic, I was surprised at how little difficulty was involved in getting her to stand up… at least in neutral postures. Moving on to our last stop… it’s Shadowcat!

We last saw Kitty Pryde in Legends way back in 2016 as part of the absolutely smashing Juggernaut Wave and wearing her traditional black and yellow X-Men suit. Here we get her as Shadowcat in her Excalibur garb, or at least a fairly close approximation of it. The costume is mostly vibrant blue, with a slightly lighter shade of blue used for her tights and sash. We get some new sculpting here in the poofy-sleeved top, complete with stylish popped collar. We’ve certainly seen the belt sash more than a few times, but it works pretty well for the costume. One thing i am glad to see here is that Shadowcat is a little more reasonably sized than her Kitty Pryde release, which was rather tall.

I am very pleased with the portrait here! She’s pretty and is offering a beaming smile, as if she’s about to tell the readers that some of the content of this issue may be offensive to natives of Alpha Centauri. The mask is part of the face sculpt, which is always nice as it adds a little depth. The hair could have been a bit more curly, but I’m really nitpicking now. The hair rides a little bit over her shoulders, but it still gets in the way of neck articulation a little bit.

Shadowcat’s articulation is right in line with Meggan’s, and yup that means that we get the rotating hinges in the elbows instead of the better articulation that the dudes get. Hasbro appears to be chainging this up a bit with some recent releases, and I’m hoping that they will eventually phase out their terrible practice of articulation discrimination. You get the same two styles of hands here as we saw with Meggan, so fists and splayed finger hands.

Shadowcat comes with Lockheed, and he’s a cool little sculpt cast in soft plastic. The tail is coiled a bit, and I assume that’s intended to wrap around her neck so he can sit on her shoulder, just like the Kitty Pryde figure. Unfortunately, Shadowcat has more hair and less shoulder, so it doesn’t work quite as well. Still, there are some fun ways to display the two.

Wow, is this a wonderful little set! I remember pre-ordering this one the moment it went live, and it’s one of those instances where it paid off. The set sold quite well, and while you can still get a number of the other X-Men multipacks at or below retail, this one seems to be only available now at higher prices on the second-hand market, or sellers are piecing out the individual figures. Yes, there are some costume inconsistencies, but I’m still thrilled to have this trio on my shelf! I am a bit surprised and disappointed that we haven’t had Rachel Summers turn up in a wave since this release, but here’s hoping that happens sooner rather than later.

May 4 2022

Marvel Legends (Colossus Wave): Shadowcat and Colossus by Hasbro

Well, it took me a little longer than I hoped to swing back and finish up this second Age of Apocalypse themed wave, but there’s an old saying when it comes to timeline-altering narratives: Better late than never! So, let’s wrap things up with a look at the last packaged figure, Shadowcat, and the Colossus Build-A-Figure!

It feels odd to be looking at the Earth-295 Shadowcat before our own version, but that’s more my fault than it is Hasbro’s. They have already released the Earth-616 Shadowcat in a three-figure boxed set with Meggan and Captain Britain, I just haven’t gotten around to opening that set yet. Maybe I’ll push that to the head of the line, and look at some multi-figure packs before diving into the next wave of figures. Either way, Kitty has some cool character art on her box, and they managed to squeeze Colossus’ torso in there with her. Let’s rip this package open and let the cat out of the bag!

Oh my, Yes! I do have a thing for many of the redesigns that the ladies got for Age of Apocalypse, and that goes doubly so for Shadowcat! She comes sporting a metallic blue bodysuit, segmented with cut lines to make it look like some kind of flexible armor, and ending at her chest. The sleeves are separate, with more segmented cuts, and terminate at her biceps, giving her a dystopian-chic bare shoulder look. Her hands are sculpted with fingerless gloves, and she has a pair of silver wrist bracers, which are meant to contain her retracted kitty claws. Her ensemble is finished off with a silver utility belt, complete with pouches and branded X-Men logo on the belt buckle! The belt and bracers are all separate pieces.

I think the portrait turned out great. Kitty looks a bit displeased, and while I’ll admit the expression falls short as you punch in close with the camera, it looks fine with the naked eye. The face printing is crisp and clear, They did an especially nice job painting the glimpse of teeth through her lips. The hair sculpt is also fantastic. It’s sculpted separately from the head to give it a clean hairline, and I love the way it hangs down over her right eye and sweeps back behind her left ear. She has a sculpted choker with a single red oval stone. The choker is painted to match her bodysuit, although this is one area where the paint could have been sharper.

Shadowcat’s articulation is standard stuff for the Legends ladies. The legs feature ball joints in the hips, swivels in the thighs and lower legs, double-hinged knees, and hinges with lateral rockers in the ankles. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and elbows, with hinged pegs in the wrists. There’s no waist swivel, instead you get a ball joint under the chest, and a hinged ball joint in the neck. Kitty comes with two pairs of hands: One pair of fists, one right hand with splayed fingers, and one left accessory holding hand.

She also comes with a second set of wrist bracers that have her kitty claws extended. These are a bit thick, and look more like tendrils than claws, but overall, they’re a decent accessory and make for some nice poses. Let’s move on to the Build-A-Figure, Colossus!

Colossus is comprised of the standard six pieces: Four limbs, torso, and head. I suppose you can say it’s seven pieces if you count the ties for his mask, which connect to the head with a ball joint for some added articulation. Colossus’ AoA redesign represents some of the best and worst aspects of the character redesigns. Colossus has exchanged his one-piece for a pair of shorts and yellow suspenders, which means he’s showing a lot more of his metallic body. And boy the sculpting for all those metal sinews that make up his torso is absolutely fantastic! He’s also sporting a bunch of additional armored pieces, including guards for his knees and lower legs, elbows and forearms, and a giant piece of armor over his left shoulder. Why does Colossus need added armor? Because… Shut up it looks cool!

The colors on this figure are stellar. The mix of bright red armor, bright yellow suspenders, and the gorgeous silver finish of his skin all blend together as a feast for the eyes. You even get some pale red metallic paint hits on the studs of his shoulder armor. I think a lot about this design is just plain dumb, but I can’t hate on it, because it just looks so damn good!

The portrait is probably my favorite thing about the redesign. Piotr looks absolutely savage and just a little bit terrifying here. He’s got a pirate-style mask covering the upper half of his head. As mentioned

Colossus is sporting some excellent articulation for such a big, bulky guy! His arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders, hinged elbows, swivels in the biceps, and hinged pegs in the wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double-hinged in the knees, have hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles, and swivels in the thighs and lower legs. There’s a swivel in the waist, an ab-crunch hinge in the torso, and a ball joint in the neck. You get two sets of hands here: One pair of fists and one pair of grapple hands.

I think Hasbro did a superb job bringing these two from comic page to plastic, and boy do they look great together. The detail on Colossus’ body is some of Hasbro’s best work, and Kitty is just all around gorgeous. But the colors are what really make these figures stand out to me. Even on a shelf full of colorful superheroes and mutants, this pair still manages to grab my eyes! Simply beautiful!

And that’s a wrap for the second Age of Apocalypse Wave. I’ve made it no secret that my enthusiasm for Marvel Legends has been wavering lately. I think most of Marvel’s current books are garbage, and I think I’ll be tapping out of the MCU movies after the next Doctor Strange. That leaves just cherry-picking the line for whatever classic characters they haven’t done yet. But when you add the price increase into the fold, well that’s just another nail in the coffin. With all that having been said, this Colossus Wave had me super excited, so there’s still hope. Not to mention, I have a huge backlog of figures still waiting to be opened and given the spotlight here!

Apr 6 2022

Marvel Legends (Colossus Wave): Iceman and Legion by Hasbro

I’m continuing to cut a swath through the endless backlog of Marvel Legends figures that are piled up around here, and I’m more than halfway through the Age of Apocalypse-inspired Colossus Wave. I’m tackling this wave in pairs, so I can get through it a bit faster, and that brings us to Iceman and Legion!

I didn’t really pair these together for any reason, other than I had four figures left, and it seemed like I should do Shadowcat and Colossus together. Or, you could say that I was going for a blue theme today. The fact is, I came into these two figures with very different expectations. One I was pretty excited for, and the other… well let’s check that one out first.

Yup, Iceman was the figure that I was least excited about in this assortment. No offense to Bobby Drake, but I just didn’t think that it could possibly be all that drastically different than the last one we got from the Juggernaut Wave. But when I got this guy in hand, I quickly changed my tune. Maybe I was just expecting a quick rehash of the previous release, but this is anything but that. Yes, a lot of the sculpt appears to be recycled, but Hasbro cast off the smooshy and chalky white plastic for this vibrant translucent blue that is absolutely gorgeous and does a great job replicating an ice effect, especially with the white dusting around the chest and shoulders.

The portrait is all new, including a new collar of jagged ice. The facial features are a bit amorphous, but he has clearly defined white eyes, and more jagged ice-spikes in place of his coif of hair. I dig the look here a lot, as it leans into a harder Bobby from his severe environment.

There are no surprises in the articulation, although he does lack the swivels in the lower legs that we often see in the modern Legends line. I would have liked to see the shoulder crunches here, but that might have been a bit too ambitious for the translucent plastic. Whatever the case, he’s fun to pose, especially without the soft hinges I had in my previous Bobby Drake figure.

Iceman doesn’t come with much in the way of accessories, although you do get a pair of enlarged ice claws, which are pretty cool additions to a beautiful figure. Let’s move on to Legion…

I was profoundly disappointed that Legion wasn’t included in the first Age of Apocalypse Wave, considering he is the reason for the season so to speak. But patience prevailed and all was forgiven when he turned up in this second assortment. X-Men certainly has its share of memorable and sympathetic characters, but I developed a particular connection with Legion over the years. I was particularly struck by the way Bill Sienkiewicz portrayed him in the panels, and later having a friend develop Schizophrenia helped to hammer home the heartbreak I would eventually associate with David. Hasbro did some inspired parts recycling here by borrowing the legs and bare feet from Shang-Chi. I wouldn’t have guessed that would work as well as it did. I really dig the blue they used for his outfit, and the extra shading really makes the figure pop.

I do like this head sculpt a lot. Yes, it’s pretty tame in some respects, but there was no way Hasbro could have recreated some of the more memorable and trippy depictions we’ve seen in the comic panels. The unmistakable stack of hair looks great, and I dig that they added that one little cowlick jutting out of the front. The smirk and the squint work for me, although the eyes could have been painted a bit sharper.

The articulation here is identical to what we just saw with Iceman, and that includes the omission of swivels in the lower legs. Legion also comes with two pairs of hands: One pair relaxed and one pair balled up into fists. I wouldn’t have considered that necessary, but it’s always nice to have options!

What a great pair of figures! Iceman just all out surprised me! It’s not that the regular Iceman release was a bad figure, but I just appreciate how Hasbro went all out to make this one so distinctive. As for Legion, I’ve been looking forward to getting him on the shelf for a while now and he definitely lived up to my expectations. On the whole, this has been a really solid assortment of well-executed characters, and I’m looking forward to checking out the last two next week with Shadowcat and the Colossus Build-A-Figure!

Mar 23 2022

Marvel Legends (Colossus Wave): Cyclops and Rogue by Hasbro

I’m in the process of making my way through the second Age of Apocalypse themed wave of Marvel Legends. So far I’ve checked out Magneto and Sabretooth, and today I’m doubling up with a look at Earth-295’s Cyclops and Rogue!

The figures feature some great character art on the side panels and the X-Men logo on the fronts. I think it would have been cool if they did a little more branding for Age of Apocalypse, but I throw these packages out anyway, so it’s no big deal. Each figure comes with one of Colossus’ limbs, and Rogue comes with an extra Colossus hand. Let’s start with Cyclops!

I think Cyclops’ AoA makeover is pretty fun. He’s no longer the clean-cut, straight-arrow, as his dystopian reality (and the glory of mid-90’s comic design) has taken its toll on him. The base figure here is quite simple, with generic blue buck, representing his sleeveless bodysuit. His arms are left bare, but he has some painted gloves to match his suit. The bulk of the new sculpting comes in his gold belt with shoulder armor strap, as well as the reinforced armor on his right glove, and a full armored sleeve on his left. The electric blue used for his suit is absolutely gorgeous and makes for a nice contrast with the gold used for his extra bits. I’m not usually a big fan of the type of gold plastic Hasbro used here, but they did add some scrapes and scuffs to the armor pieces, and I think it actually looks quite good.

The head sculpt is of course new, and like Magneto, Cyclops has trouble finding a barber in Earth-295. I’m actually getting a little bit of a Tommy Wiseau vibe off of this portrait, which is kind of awesome. The copious coif of brown hair is parted to the left to expose the additional gear attached to his visor, and the lone crimson lens covering his remaining eye, while it hangs over his missing peeper. A grim expression is chiseled into the exposed lower half of his face.

Cyclops features pretty standard articulation for this line. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps, double-hinges in the elbows, and hinged pegs in the wrists. The legs are ball jointed in the hips, have swivels in the thighs and lower legs, double-hinges in the knees, and hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles. You get a waist swivel and ab-crunch hinge in the torso, and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed. Cyclops comes equipped with a pair of fists, but sadly no other hands. Let’s move on to Rogue!

Wow, these colors! Despite her grim surroundings, Rogue went for some eye-assaulting colors on this outfit. You still get the usual yellow, but here it’s mixed with some dark green for her upper sleeves, reinforced panels on her hips and thighs, and electric green for the rest. She has a pair of yellow wrist bangles, and one wide yellow thigh strap on her right leg. We got a fair amount of new sculpting for this figure, mostly evident on her baggie upper sleeves, and her chunky yellow boots, complete with red oval fixtures on the fronts. Lastly, she has a loose green collar resting on her shoulders, with silver studs.

And then there’s the head sculpt. You know how some people say there are comics that are un-filmable? Well, this may be a case of a comic hairdo that’s un-sculptable. I’m sure Hasbro did their best, but this thing is just a mess. And it doesn’t help that they also had to give her a giraffe neck to make it work. The face itself is OK. She looks kind of gaunt next to the Earth-616 Rogue, but maybe it’s because she isn’t on a steady diet of Gambit’s gumbo.

Articulation here is in line with most of the Marvel ladies, which means you get rotating hinges in the elbows, instead of double-hinges and bicep swivels. You get a ball joint under the chest, instead of a waist swivel and ab-crunch hinge. And Rogue has swivels in the thighs, but not in the lower legs.

Unlike Cyclops, Rogue actually does come with a second set of hands, so you get fists, and the same style of splayed finger hands that we got with the previous Rogue.

Coming into this duo, I expected to like Rogue a lot, and not care for Scott Summers at all, but the truth turned out to be the opposite. I think Cyclops is a great looking figure with a style that really tickles my nostalgia for 90’s comic tropes. Rogue is by no means a terrible figure, but it’s just hard for me to get past that hair sculpt.

Mar 9 2022

Marvel Legends (Colossus Wave): Sabretooth by Hasbro

I had originally planned on tackling this second Age of Apocalypse-themed wave by doubling up each review, and that’s still the plan going forward. But I was at a loss for time last week, so I gave Magneto his own review, and now I’m doing the same for Sabretooth!

Magneto did not come with a BAF part, but Sabretooth comes with Colossus’ head and a second piece for the tie on his mask. I was surprised to see that this is the first time Sabretooth is getting the spotlight here on FFZ, as I never did get around to reviewing his release in the Apocalypse Wave, but I will bring in that figure for a comparison picture at the end.

Besides the new look, this Sabretooth is a helluva lot bulkier than the previous release. He’s a big boy with a decent mix of generic figure buck and some fresh sculpting for his costume. The torso, goin, and legs are all just standard muscle, cast in a light tan, which borderlines on orange. The boots and left gauntlet are dark brown, and all have some nice texturing to look like rough leather, and he has a simple belt to match. The right gauntlet has a matched hand, but the gauntlet sleeve is reinforced to look like metal, with heavy bolts and an extension to fortify the back of Sabretooth’s hand. The final piece of the costume includes a dark brown collar that extends out to his shoulders, and has silver bolts. Meanwhile, the arms are cast in flesh-tone plastic and have sculpted and painted hair, similar to what we’ve seen in some past Wolverine figures!

You get two head sculpts, and I really dig both of them a lot! It’s packed with personality. with a wonderful smirk, exposing just a hint of tooth. The eyes are deep set with big bushy eyebrows, and the well-detailed face is punctuated with a glorious butt-chin. The hair sculpt is also worthy of praise. It’s a separate sculpt, which gives it a clean hairline, parts around the ears, and there’s a plug in ponytail that can swivel.

The second portrait is all business, with his pupils gone, and his mouth drawn up into a big, toothy snarl. You also get a second ponytail to plug into the back of this head as well. That may seem like a no-brainer, but you never know with Hasbro these days. They could have opted to save a few pennies and only include one.

Articulation here is textbook for this bulkier Legends buck. That includes rotating hinges in the shoulders and hips, swivels in the biceps and thighs, hinged pegs for the wrists, hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles, double hinges in the knees, and elbows, a waist swivel, an ab crunch hinge, and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed. Sabretooth also includes two pairs of hands: One pair of fists, and one pair relaxed. There aren’t any other accessories here, but I can’t say he’s really missing any.

I love this look for Sabretooth. It’s clean and tight and just the right mix of generic buck and new sculpt. I also think he looks great on the bigger, bulkier body. And while he still looks pretty damn tough, he appropriately lacks the savage and terrifying expression of the Earth-616 Sabretooth. So far, this Wave is hitting it’s mark two-for-two. Next week, I’ll double up with a look at a couple more!