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Captain Toy/Michael's Review of the Week

Review of Captain Marvel, Talos, Grey Gargoyle, Starforce Commander
Marvel Legends action figures

Hasbro
Date Published: 2019-02-04
Written By: Michael Crawford
Overall Average Rating: 3.5 out of 4

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Marvel Legends Captain Marvel Grey Gargoyle action figure by Hasbro

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Introduction

I'm really looking forward to Captain Marvel. I already have my seats in my perfect spot for my usual time at the neighborhood theater - how about you?

One of the best things about a origin story flick like this is we get some brand new characters in the action figure world. Rather than another Iron Man, Thor, or Captain America, we get some new heroes...and villains.

The Marvel Legends wave tied in with the movie has just started to hit some retailers. This wave consists of two versions of the lady herself, but only one of those is necessary to complete the BAF. The other five figures that come with BAF parts are Nick Fury, Genis-Vell, Grey Gargoyle, Starforce Commander, and Talos.

Tonight I'm checking out one of the Captain Marvel figures (wearing her jacket), the Grey Gargoyle, the Starforce Commander, and Talos. I'll check out the other three, plus the BAF of a Kree Sentry, in the next week or so. When we get to it, we'll also discuss Genis-Vell in more detail, and what the action figure might mean about his appearance in the movie.

Like I said, these have just started to arrive on pegs, and will run you the usual $20 each, depending on the retailer and any sales they might be having.

Marvel Legends Captain Marvel Talos action figure by Hasbro

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Packaging - ***1/2
They altered the packaging!  I haven't picked up a wave of Marvel Legends in awhile though, so this change may have occurred in the back half of 2018 and I didn't notice. They look the same, but they aren't - the plastic window is no longer really a window!

Previously, the clear plastic window was part of the overall exterior package. If you opened it from the side, you could simply slide out the cardboard tray with the plastic tray inside, holding the figure and accessories. Now that outer plastic cover is actually a cover on the plastic tray, not attached to the cardboard package, and it all slides out together. I'm betting the change has something to do with making it easier to pack the figures at the plant because I can't see any advantage to the retailer or the consumer, but a change is always worth noting.  Of course it's still all collector friendly, and there were no twisty ties or tape holding anything in place. The back of the pack still has a nice character description and a key showing which figure has which BAF piece.

Marvel Legends Captain Marvel action figure by Hasbro

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Sculpting - Captain Marvel ***; Gargoyle, Talos, Starforce ***1/2
Hasbro has come a long way with the Marvel Legends series. These sculpts are all well done, and it's only because of one nit that poor Marvel falls slightly behind the others.

The Starforce Commander is really detailed, with a ton of small textures, lines, and edges sculpted on the costume. The face looks great, very realistic, and the body is all new stuff. While his anonymity with kids might make him a peg warmer, it's not the fault of the design. He comes in at about 6 1/2" tall.

The Grey Gargoyle is a comic book design of course, and the work on his face is particularly impressive.  He has the sculpted mustache, he has the sculpted mask, and even the hair is nicely detailed. I don't love the stumpy legs, and there's lots of re-use from the neck down, but they've still created a very comic accurate look with the parts available. He's just over 6 1/2" tall.

Marvel Legends Captain Marvel Grey Gargoyle action figure by Hasbro

Talos is a movie character, one of the Kree. This guy is *almost* a four star sculpt, with a intricately sculpted head and nicely detailed costume. My only complaint is how the costume wraps around the front of the figure and attaches with a post. The seam tends to gap and throw off the appearance, although I bet you could get the outer robe off if you were determined. He comes in at 6 1/2" as well.

Finally, there's the lovely and bad ass Captain Marvel. They did a fantastic job on the face itself in terms of realism and expression. It's not quite Brie Larson, but it's damn close for the scale. The outfit looks good too, although I'll have to see why she wears the jacket over her very obvious costume in the movie. It wouldn't be much of a 'disguise'.

My big nit is with the hair. It's a somewhat dynamic sculpt, with it flowing off to one side and sticking out a bit, and showing off a lot of forehead. It's also pretty thick, with less detail in the strands, further covered up by a rather thick paint job. Better hair, and she would have scored higher in this category.  She stands slightly over 6" tall.

Marvel Legends Captain Marvel action figure by Hasbro

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Paint - Captain Marvel, Grey Gargoyle ***1/2; Talos, Starforce ****
There's very little to complain about when it comes to paint work on these, especially at this price point.

Captain Marvel's hair holds her back slightly again. The heavy handed paint job tends to blur out what little sculpt detail there is. However, the work on her face, including the eyes, brows, lips, and skin, is excellent, and the costume details look great.

Then you have the Starforce Commander, with the various shades on his costume. The eyes are quite clean, and the lower face shows almost no over spray or fuzzy edges. The gauntlets could use a little more detail work, but it's a minor nit.

Talos is super impressive as well, especially the face. There's an alien pattern on the skin, super tiny yet super clean and neat. His costume lacks some of the detail of the others, but what's here is extremely well done.

Finally, there's the Grey Gargoyle. It's tough to do a stone-like skin in plastic, but the color, speckling, and translucence of the plastic helps. It can also hide some of the great sculpt detail though, particularly on the head and face. I'm also not loving the feet - are they boots? Then why are their detailed toe sculpts? It just looks odd to me.

Marvel Legends Captain Marvel Starforce Commander action figure by Hasbro

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Articulation - Talos ***; Captain Marvel, Starforce, Gargoyle ***1/2
We've spent a week around here in the deep freeze, so much so that I think it affected the joints while I was shooting these guys. Now that's cold!

Things were tighter than usual, but they still took plenty of natural poses. Some of the designs create an encumbrance, but nothing too far out of the ordinary.

Talos has the biggest problem with his outer robe. It restricts almost all of the torso movement, and even some of the hip mobility. The arms still work well, and you can get short to medium stances, but he's not quite as posable as the usual ML.

The other three all have the usual ML articulation, starting with a ball jointed neck. The men have rotating hinge shoulders, cut biceps, double pin elbows, rotating hinge wrists, ab-crunch, rotating hinge hips, cut thighs, double pin knees, and rocker ankles. Captain Marvel has one change - she drops the cut bicep, and has a rotating hinge elbow instead.

Marvel Legends Captain Marvel Starforce Commander action figure by Hasbro

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Accessories - Talos, Grey Gargoyle **1/2; Captain Marvel, Starforce ***
Regular readers know that with a BAF wave, if a figure only comes with a piece of the additional figure they get a **1/2 in this category from me. If you want the BAF, that's great - if you don't, it's not much of a deal.

Talos and the Grey Gargoyle only have a BAF piece. Bummer.

But Captain Marvel has Goose, nicely sculpted in a playful pose, while the Starforce Commander comes with a simple blaster that can fit neatly in his sculpted right hand.

Marvel Legends Captain Marvel Talos action figure by Hasbro

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Marvel Legends Captain Marvel action figure by Hasbro

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Fun Factor - ***1/2
Kids can have plenty of fun with these thanks to the terrific designs and articulation, but there really needs to be a few more accessories to maximize the play potential.

Marvel Legends Captain Marvel Grey Gargoyle action figure by Hasbro

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Value - **1/2
You're not getting a tremendous value with any of these four due to the lack of accessories, but the overall quality of the figures still makes them an even value.

Marvel Legends Captain Marvel Talos action figure by Hasbro

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Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing. I didn't have any issues with any of these four, and there was nothing that was fragile or worrisome.

Marvel Legends Captain Marvel Starforce Commander action figures by Hasbro

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Overall - ***1/2
While each of these four varied in their strengths and weaknesses, in the end they all averaged out at about the same place. The Marvel Legends line continues to produce some of the very best mass market action figures on the pegs right now, and tying them in to the massively popular MCU helps to expose youngsters to the comics world from whence their favorite movie heroes came.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpting - Captain Marvel ***; Gargoyle, Talos, Starforce ***1/2
Paint - Captain Marvel, Grey Gargoyle ***1/2; Talos, Starforce ****
Articulation - Talos ***; Captain Marvel, Starforce, Gargoyle ***1/2
Accessories - Talos, Grey Gargoyle **1/2; Captain Marvel, Starforce ***
Fun Factor - ***1/2
Value - **1/2
Overall - ***1/2

Marvel Legends Captain Marvel action figure by Hasbro

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Where to Buy 
These are popping up at Target and Meijer stores right now, where they run around $20 each. Online options include these site sponsors:

- has the set for $155.

- Entertainment Earth has them for $165, but with free shipping.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
I've covered quite a few Marvel Legends over the years, including figures from Infinity War; Black Knight and Malekith; Thor, Cull Obsidian, and Black Widow; and Ant-man and the Wasp. Use the Search Reviews page to find even more.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

Discussion:
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Marvel Legends Captain Marvel action figures by Hasbro

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This product was purchased for the review by the reviewer. Photos and text by Michael Crawford.

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