Review of Misty Knight, Chameleon, Kraven, Ghost Rider
Marvel Legends Rhino Wave action figures

Introduction

Every year, a topic for discussion with the Poppies judges (and 2015 discussions will be starting soon) is always whether or not we have enough entries to have a Best BAF category.  I can honestly say that will not come up this year.  Hasbro has been pumping out the Marvel Legends figures and a corresponding Build-A-Figure with each wave.  The latest is the second Amazing Spider-Man themed release in 2015, and includes Kraven, Misty Knight, Chameleon, Ghost Rider (all reviewed tonight), Scarlet Spider, Superior Venom, and White Tiger. I'll hit up the latter three very soon.

The included BAF is Rhino, making him the fifth BAF this year that I have not yet reviewed.  It's going to be one Hell of a big BAF review by the time I get to it!

You can expect to pay around $18 - $20 each for these depending on the retailer, and they are showing up at both online stores (see my Where to Buy section for some excellent choices) as well as at Toys R Us.

Packaging - ****
We've discussed this package before, but the key point here is its collector friendly nature. You can cut the small piece of tape on either side, open the flap, remove the tray, remove the figure and accessories, all with zero damage.  Reverse the process and the figure can be returned to its plastic coffin for storage or sale.

I'm a huge fan of this concept, particularly with these collector themed lines.  However, it does mean that retailers must be vigilante (not a concept they tend to do well) to avoid people buying one figure and returning another, older toy to get their money back.

Other positives here is the amount of character personalization, as well as the clear description on the back showing which figure has which BAF piece.

Sculpting - Misty, Chameleon ***1/2; Kraven, Ghost Rider ****
We've seen a lot of Marvel Legends this year, but I gotta say - this is my favorite wave so far.  Every character is well executed and looks terrific.

At first glance, Ghost Rider was my favorite sculpt.  The flaming skull looks great, with some very nice detail work on the face and a good fusion of the flames and bone.  I also like the slightly svelte body design, and the boots, jacket and belt details are terrific.

But then I started to pay a little more attention to the other three, and realized how exceptional all four are.  The detailing on Kraven is quite impressive, from the cool fur vest that's a lion's head split down the middle (know we know where Cecil ended up!) to the skull face knee pads. Sure, he's got a bit of a Kenny Powers thing going on, if Kenny Powers were bad ass enough to wear a lion's face as his vest.

Then there's the Chameleon, a character wearing a boring suit, but with three very cool head sculpts.  He has his blank face, plus a Jonah Jameson portrait and a Hammerhead portrait to give him multiple looks.  The Jameson is particularly well done, with a very angry, yelling expression that matches the faked character perfectly. The sculpt on the shoes makes finding a stable pose a bit frustrating, but the clean, sharp work on all three portraits makes up for it plus some.

Finally, there's Misty Knight, my current front runner for Best Female Figure of the year in this scale.  She's beautiful, with a fantastic hair sculpt and gorgeous face.  The expression could be a little livelier - look at the Kraven expression for an example of what I mean - but overall she's a top release.

Unfortunately, she's hampered by the usual wonky ML female body sculpt.  The torso looks good, but the gangly, misshapen legs ends up pulling her down a half star in this category.

These are technically a 6" scale, although all ML's run a bit big.  Chameleon is the only one to actually come in at 6", and Misty's hair takes her up to 6 1/2".  That's where Kraven is too, and Ghost Rider's flames get him to almost reach 7".

Paint - ****
One area that can often be a major issue for small, less expensive figures is paint. Marvel Legends in general have certainly had their own set of issues in this area over the years, but this wave (or at least these first four) look outstanding.

Everything is clean, consistent and sharp.  Cut lines are accurate, there's almost no bleed, and the quality is well above what we usually see at this price point. There's even some great work on the eyes, particularly Kraven's, which are looking off to his right in concert. Teeth, eyebrows, hair lines - it's all great stuff.

And the lack of issues isn't due to a lack of detail. There's plenty of operations on every character, and they all exhibit the same level of quality. The translucent flames are another key spot, catching and reflecting light in a very realistic way. If every $20 figure had paint like this, we'd hear less complaining from collectors.

Articulation - ***1/2
Marvel Legends are widely known as highly articulated, and all four of these figures have all the joints you expect from the series.  Ball jointed necks work particularly well, but a plethora of other joints work together to create great poses.  I particularly like the combination of the ball neck, ab crunch, and rocker ankles, which together allow for superior crouching poses.

Ghost Rider has one extra joint that's outside the norm.  His lower jaw is articulated, so he can go from closed mouth to wide open scream. Again, this is a joint that's nice on its own, but when used in combination with the ball neck and ab-crunch, really shines.

The big issue here is the soft plastic that Hasbro is using for some of the pins and discs, particularly at the elbows, knees and ankles.  They tend to wilt, causing the figure to topple over time.

Accessories - Ghost Rider **1/2; Kraven, Misty ***; Chameleon ****
Regular readers know that when there's a BAF, a figure gets **1/2 in this category as a base line. No other accessories other than the BAF piece, and **1/2 it is.

That's the case with Ghost Rider, which is a bit disappointing.  Here's a character that screams out for chains, and even has hands sculpted perfectly to hold the links, and yet his only chain is the one around his chest.  While it is possible to remove this chain with a bit of effort, I'm not counting it as an accessory. It looks best around his chest, and the loop really doesn't look right held in his hands.

He does have his BAF piece though, as do the other three.  Misty Knight also has a handgun that fits neatly in the holster on her belt.  The holster doesn't have any sort of closure, but that's a minor nit. The gun also fits great in her left hand, and is properly scaled to the figure.

That one extra is all she has, and one extra is all Kraven has as well.  For him, it's a spear, which he can hold in one or both hands.  Again, decent sculpt and paint work make the accessory one you'll use in your display.

And then there's Chameleon. This guy hit the jackpot.  He has the two extra portraits I mentioned earlier, both of them with fantastic sculpts and paint.  Swapping heads is easy, and fortunately the neck post is not the same soft plastic as the elbow or knee pins. He also has three guns, perfect for three different looks.  There's the futuristic pistol, the classic Tommy gun, and the modern gun with removable canister magazine.  All three look great and fit neatly within his grasp.

Fun Factor - ***1/2
Marvel Legends are terrific toys, although I'm not sure a lot of kids get to play with them. The six inch scale is popular right now across licenses, and while they can be a little frustrating to work with because of the soft plastic, kids will have a great time battling it out in the sandbox.  And collectors and fans of these characters will enjoy posing and re-posing them in the display.

Value - **1/2
Thanks to a greater assortment of extras across most of this wave, you're getting a pretty reasonable value, even at $20 each. Shop around a bit and you can get that down to $17 - $18 each.

Things to Watch Out For -
That soft plastic can mean joint problems, especially with the pins at the knees and elbows.  It's not a breakage problem, but a tearing and wilting problem. Take your time working with them, particularly with that first pose.

Overall - Misty, Chameleon, Ghost Rider ***1/2; Kraven ****
This is the fifth wave of Marvel Legends figures I've picked up this year, and so far, it's my favorite. While there are still some issues with the soft plastic, the overall look and feel is great.

The soft plastic hurts Misty the most, thanks to the super skinny knees and elbows of the female base body. A slightly stiffer plastic, and she'd be a full four stars.

For Chameleon, it was posability issues caused by the shoes that held him just slightly back from perfect.  It seemed like a dude in a suit should be the easiest to pose and keep standing, and yet he was the one that was the hardest to work with.

Ghost Rider needed a chain or two, and he would have gotten four stars overall as well.  I love the sculpt, paint and design, but he needs something to hold in those gripping hands of his.

Kraven is not my personal favorite as a character, but because he avoided any issues and excelled in every category, he is the only one to get the top score.  Still, fans will not be disappointed by any of these, and I have my fingers crossed that the final three follow the same pattern.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ****
Sculpting - Misty, Chameleon ***1/2; Kraven, Ghost Rider ****
Paint - ****
Articulation - ***1/2
Accessories - Ghost Rider **1/2; Kraven, Misty ***; Chameleon ****
Fun Factor - ***1/2
Value - **1/2
Overall - Misty, Chameleon, Ghost Rider ***1/2; Kraven ****

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth has the set of 7 figures for $160.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
I've covered dozens and dozens of Marvel Legends figures over the years, so I'm not going to run through the entire list here. But this year I've already covered the Ant-Man wave in part 1 with Giant Man, Bull Dozer and Grim Reaper, and part 2 with Ant-man, Wasp, and Tiger Shark. and the Avengers (Thanos) wave, in part 1 with Hulk, Hellcat, and Iron Man MK43, and part 2 with Captain America, Batroc and Spider-Woman. Before that is the 'Hobgoblin' series which I've started with part 1 here, and the 'Allfather' wave, including Captain Marvel, Sentry and Thor and Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Machine Man and Iron Fist. I also checked out the Toys R Us exclusive three pack of Coulson, Fury and Maria Hill from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page to catch all the other older ML reviews and for those reviews that get written after this one.

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