by Chris Troy
Happy President’s Day FP Faithful! Was that wish an excuse to use an overplayed Marvel-based Abe Lincoln image? Yes, possibly, but hey, it’s the thought that counts right? Hopefully those of you who had the day off did something rad with it, as I slept for about 10 hours and spending most of Saturday drunk. Good times.
Anywho, let’s buckle down and talk toys. Toy Fair was last week and a TON of new offerings for 2012 were shown off. I was happy to see that Square Enix ended up with the Mass Effect license, and will end up making a plethora of rad figures later this year. The new GI Joe stuff looks great, and I’m sure Loran will be happy to talk about that soon. NECA is FINALLY making toys based on Valve products and I for one am excited for them. And Hasbro is going to make a killing off of that Marvel license, between the Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man, and their comics stuff. Which brings us to today’s topic….
After what seems like like an eternity (despite the existences of several retailer exclusives), the fan-favorite 6″ Marvel Legends line has returned. As cool as the Universe line has been over the last couple of years, this is the line collectors has always preferred. Granted the quality and articulation took a bit of a hit when the licenses went from Toy Biz to Mattel, it improved greatly before the line’s “death” a few years back. Luckily fan demand called for its return and it’s back, complete with the build-a-figure pieces that it made famous first.
For the most part, the line is solid in terms of sculpt, paint, and variety. However there are some faults. First being the price. When the line first debuted back in 2002, you could pick up your average figure at about $7.99 at retail. Now? $20 is the CHEAPEST you’ll be finding them. Yes I know the economy and inflation and what not, but damn, that’s pretty expensive, especially when half the figures don’t come with accessories. And while the articulation is there, it’s still not on the level that it was when Toy Biz was calling the shots. But enough with me bitching, let’s take a look at the figures.
Let’s start off with the Avengers trinity. Here we have Steve Rogers, rocking his “Heroic Age” era outfit. It’s not a bad figure, but the head sculpt is a little whack. Iron Man is rocking his Extremis -era outfit, and why I’m not crazy about the wrist joints, it’s a pretty solid figure overall. Both Cap and Iron Man have variants, Cap with his Ionic shield and black paint job, Iron Man with a blue stealth version. Rounding out the trio is Thor, wearing his modern costume, and is easily the best of the bunch, at least in terms of the Avengers. He’s slightly larger than the others, has a great sculpt, and comes with his hammer Mjolnir (or “Mew-Mew” if you will). The only downside is that Thor does not come with a Terrax built a figure piece, whereas Cap comes with his lower torso, and Stark with his right leg.
I have no idea which version of Ghost Rider this figure is based on, as it’s certainly not the modern female, or Nicholas Cage. But it’s slightly smaller than Thor, exists in both a blue flame and orange flame version and comes with both Terrax arms. Why he didn’t he come with a bike instead of the arms is beyond me. Hope, the only mutant and female figure in the line, is my personal favorite. She comes rocking a huge-ass gun, which would make her adopted daddy Cable proud. She also comes packaged with Terrax’s head and axe.
Rounding out the wave are 2 villains, Constrictor and Klaw. Both are accessory-less, like Iron Man, but both are crazy articulated and well sculpted. Also I’m fairly certain that, much like Hope, this is the first time either one of these dudes got the Legends treatment. In terms of build of figure pieces, you’ll get an upper torso from Constrictor and a right leg from Klaw.
The return of the ML line isn’t perfect, but hey, it’s a start right? The first shipment is nearly sold out, so needless to say, there’s a demand. If you want em, be ready to grab ’em upon sight.
