Review of Dazzler, Wolverine, Colossus
Marvel Legends X-Men action figures

Introduction

Hasbro has been killing it with their Marvel Legends over the last 18 months, and that trend clearly continues into 2017. I believe there's at least three waves popping up right now at various places, and they all contain some much desired, much wanted characters.

I'm checking out three of the new seven figure X-men wave. It includes Wolverine (Old Man), Colossus, and Dazzler, all reviewed tonight, as well as Cyclops, Shatterstar, Polaris, and Sunfire, who I'll cover in an upcoming review, as well as the Build-A-Figure of Warlock.

These will run you around $18 - $20 each depending on the retailer, and are hitting mass market right now. I found my set at Target, which appear to be the first to get these in.

Packaging - ****
Nothing new here, but I do love the collector friendly nature of the packages. You can easily remove the figure and accessories without any damage, and without any twisty ties, tape, or rubber bands. There's some decent personalization on every package as well, including character descriptions on the back and a picture showing which BAF part comes with which figure. I also didn't have any issues with the trays bending or warping any of the joints, and a big reason for this is the much improved plastic that Hasbro has been using.

Sculpting - Colossus ***1/2; Logan, Dazzler ****
One of the areas where they've upped their game, at least a little, is the overall quality of the sculpts. This is particularly true with a character like Old Man Logan, where the deeply defined wrinkles and creases look fantastic.  While this character isn't supposed to be the movie Logan, it's no coincidence that they are releasing him at the same time. He's short of course, coming in around 6" tall, and the detail work on the outfit (like the jacket zipper and belt buckle) and head sculpt is excellent. Tell me that face just doesn't scream "Get off my lawn!". His claws are a little soft, but remember - this is a toy. The soft plastic in these blades isn't about quality, but safety.

The Colossus is big, as his name implies. He stands just north of 7 1/2" tall, with the bulk to back it up. The character is more popular these days thanks to his inclusion in the Deadpool movie, and the figure is likely to be a hit with kids as well thanks to the bulk and shine. I'm not sure the costume is going to be a fan favorite, since this is a Marvel NOW! inspired design, and I'm betting a Jim Lee costume would have been a bigger hit. Still, getting the regular head and the robotic hair styled second portrait makes for a very interesting look on the shelf.

The big winner out of these three, at least for me, is Dazzler. She's a mutant with a weird ability - she's really a human disco ball, taking sound waves in and turning them into all sorts of light energy. Using that light, she can do a million different things to her opponents, but yea, she's a product of the disco era.  While she's changed with the times, this version hearkens back to her original look, complete with early 80's hair, bell bottom jumpsuit, and roller disco skates.  I love this figure, and she's the one to beat for best Female Action Figure in this scale in the 2017 Poppies. And it's only February!

Paint - ***1/2
The paint work is extremely clean, and this is one of the areas where Hasbro has really raised the bar for mass market toys. The blue around Dazzler's eyes, the red of her lips, even the creepy whites - all are super clean and neat.  The color of the hair works for me, matching the style, and the broad white jump suit is consistent and clean.

Small details are great across the board, especially areas like the eyes on Wolverine or his belt buckle. Colossus has a slip here or there on his goofy suit, but overall this is an extremely clean set of three figures.

Articulation - Colossus, Dazzler ***1/2; Wolverine ****
These are Marvel Legends figures - articulation is a given. The ball jointed neck, with the pin joint that allows additional forward and backward movement, works terrific, even on Dazzler. While her movement is much more restricted than on Wolverine or Colossus, she still has more mobility than I expected with the long hair.

The rotating hinge shoulders, cut biceps, double pin elbows, ab-crunch, rotating hinge wrists, cut waist, rotating hinge hips, cut thighs, double pin knees, and rocker ankles all work fantastic on Wolverine. There's no shortage of fighting stances and cool poses that he can take, even with the jacket over the torso.

Dazzler has similar articulation, although she has rotating hinge elbows instead of double pin, and her ankles are a little more restricted by the bell bottoms. This, along with the more restrictive hair, does drop her score slightly.

Colossus has a slight variation in the elbows too, only having a single pin, and being more restricted by the bulky arm sculpt. He also lacks the cut bicep, and this lower arm articulation is a slight negative.

Accessories - Logan Bupkis; Colossus, Dazzler ***1/2
There's not a ton of extras here, but a couple are critical.

Colossus and Dazzler have their BAF pieces for Warlock. Regular readers know that gets a figure a standard **1/2, and they can go up from there.  Colossus includes the additional bearded head, and I'm a huge fan of extra portraits. This is a particularly cool addition for fans of the character, and gives him a big boost.

Dazzler adds in two extras, her microphone and her energy swirl.  We've seen the latter more than once now, and quite recently - Dr. Strange, and Enchantress had them - but they've used her funky disco colors to personalize it a bit to her character. The microphone fits nicely in her right hand, a perfect addition. If you pop off her head, you can also remove her disco ball necklace, but I'm not including it as an 'accessory'.

Wolverine is the only one of the seven that doesn't come with a BAF piece, or any accessories at all. If you only care about Warlock, you can skip the geezer.

Fun Factor - ****
Right now, Marvel Legends define 'fun' in action figures on the pegs.  Great articulation and great quality make for some outstanding toys for young and old alike.  Collectors can pose these figures in a million ways, and for those that love to photograph their toys in various scenes and dioramas, these are perfect.  Kids will love them even more, and the improvements in quality means these can handle just about any situation they throw at them, short of Dad's lawnmower.

Value - ***1/2
These are still the best figures on the pegs right now, and Hasbro has maintained the price point over the last couple years while improving the figures in a number of ways. I'm sure part of the reason has been the drop in raw materials cost, thanks to lower oil prices, but it's nice to see them redistribute those savings into better figures for us rather than merely higher profits.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing.

Overall - Logan, Colossus ***1/2; Dazzler ****
This entire wave kicks butt, and all three of these are well above average in quality and design.

The big winner for me is Dazzler, a character I'm shocked to see in plastic form in any version, let alone her disco garb. It's going to be tough to top her, at least for me, in this scale during 2017.

I also really like Old Man Wolverine as well. The head sculpt is great with a ton of detail, and it's a lot of fun thanks to the useful, well designed articulation.

The Colossus isn't super high on my list - not a big fan of the game the design is based on, and not really digging the outfit in general. I do love the additional portrait though, and he comes with a critical (the head) piece of Warlock.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ****
Sculpting - Colossus ***1/2; Logan, Dazzler ****
Paint - ***1/2
Articulation - ****
Accessories - Logan Bupkis; Dazzler, Colossus ***1/2
Fun Factor - ****
Value - ***1/2
Overall - Logan, Colossus ***1/2; Dazzler ****

Where to Buy 
Your best bet is to hit the local Target, where these will run you around $20 each, or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
I've covered a lot of Marvel Legends over the years. Most recent was the three BAF's, Space Venom, Dormammu, and Juggernaut. Prior to that, I covered the two halves of the Dormammu wave, including movie Strange, Mordo, Nico, and Iron Fist, and Astral Strange, Brother Voodoo, comic Doctor Strange, and Enchantress. Before that was the back half of the Space Venom wave, including Miles Morales, Silk, and Electro. The first half of that wave included Hobgoblin, Peter Parker Spider-Man, and Spider-Girl. Before that I had the Juggernaut wave with one review of Cable, Havoc, Kitty Pryde and Phoenix here, and the other half with Rogue, Deadpool, Wolverine, and Iceman here. Before that I ad the back half of the Giant Man wave (with Giant Man, Captain America, Iron Man, and Nuke), but in between I've looked at one of the 12" figures under the banner - Spider-Man - as well as the new full scale prop replica Captain America's Shield.

I covered the first half of the Giant Man wave as well, including Red Guardian, Black Panther, and Nick Fury. Just before that I covered Red Skull (BAF), Taskmaster, Sharon Carter, and Demolition Man. The other half of that wave included Captain America, Mockingbird, Whirlwind, and Cottonmouth.

There are a TON of additional Marvel Legends reviews before that, so you should hit the Search Reviews page to find those, and in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

Discussion:
Want to chat about this review?  Try out one of these terrific forums where I'll be discussing it!

Enjoyed this review? Be sure to head back to the main page to find thousands more just like it!