Review of Thor, Black Widow, Cull Obsidian
Marvel Legends Action Figures

Introduction

It just seems like there aren't any Marvel Legends these days. Yea, right. Hasbro has shown some serious commitment to the line, with wave after wave hitting the pegs this year. You manage to get all six or seven figures in one wave, and another one crashes against the beach that is your wallet, eroding your bank account a little bit more.  In fact, I just noticed the new Venom wave, based loosely around the movie (with the Super Venom BAF), is on an end cap at most Targets.

I'll never catch up, and in fact, I'm being mighty selective in my purchases right now. This much supply allows you that selectivity, unless of course you're a completist with ML's...may God have mercy on your soul. I did pick up all of the Cull Obsidian line, mostly because I really liked the look of the BAF. I've already covered the first four figures in the wave - Ant-Man, Wasp, Malekith, and Black Knight - and tonight I'll finish up with the last two regular figures of Thor and Black Widow, along with the BAF itself.

Thor and Black Widow are based on the recent Avengers film, sporting their hair cuts and uniforms from the movie. Cull Obsidian is actually in the movie as well, but they went with a comic book look for this BAF. Better known to old school comic fans as the Black Dwarf, Obsidian is part of the Black Order, along with Proxima Midnight.

The individual figures will run you around $20 at the local Target, and are on pegs now. You need to buy all six figures in the wave to build Cull Obsidian.

Packaging - ***1/2
The back of the package includes a short bio on the characters, as well as a legend to match which character comes with which BAF piece. The 'box' is attractive, and it's all collector friendly too, a big plus for a mass market toy.

Sculpting - Thor ***, Black Widow ***1/2; Obsidian ****
The movie themed sculpts have generally been quite good with the last few waves of Marvel Legends, but this Thor takes a turn.

The costume sculpt is great, with nice texturing and plenty of detail. He's fairly large, standing about 7" tall, and has impressive bulk for this series. But the short haired portrait is off by quite a bit, and looks very little like the on screen character. It's a surprise considering how good the others in this wave, like Ant-Man and the Wasp, are.

And yes, Black Widow is much better. It's clearly Scarlett, with the eyes, nose, and lips capturing her look. The short hair has more detail than most ML females, and the work on the costume, including the cool vest, sports the high level of detail we've come to expect. She's about 6" tall.

Then there's good old Cull. He's big, coming in almost 9" tall, with a lot of heft. The solid body and limbs are nicely sculpted with lots of disgusting, scaly texture, and are well differentiated from the smooth, armored pieces. I love the craggy, evil face, and the angry expression screams danger. The portrait sold me on this one, but the work on the body and armor is just as good.

Paint - Obsidian ***; Thor, Black Widow ***1/2
The paint work is nice across the board, although the work on Cull Obsidian is a bit lazy.

They went with the 'through some paint at him and see what sticks' method of application, and while it works well enough with a character like this, it still lacks some of the precision which would set him apart. There's also very little in the way of detail on the armor pieces, and some wash would have helped age and weather the look.

Thor looks great, and I like how his skin tone is softer, less shiny than even Black Widow. The smaller details are quite good, especially the beard and hairline, but the printed eyes are just slightly off.

As I mentioned, Black Widow is a bit on the shiny side, but it's not awful. Her eyes suffer from the same slight misalignment as Thor, but you'll only notice it under very, very close examination. Her costume details are extremely good, particularly the zippers and highlights on the vest.

Articulation - Cull Obsidian ***1/2; Thor, Black Widow ****
These are Marvel Legends, and that automatically means articulation.

Thor has all the usual joints - ball jointed neck, rotating hinge shoulders, double pin elbows, rotating hinge wrists, rolling abs, rotating hinge hips, cut thighs, double pin knees, and rocker ankles. The movement is fluid, but I wasn't able to get quite as natural of poses with him as I'd like. Blame it on me.

Black Widow has fewer joints - no cut biceps, just a rotating hinge elbow, and no chest or ab joint - but I was much happier with the posing. The design of the joints worked great with the sculpt, and both figures have really excellent ankles, allowing for much better dynamic posing.

Cull Obsidian has the normal BAF joints, similar to Thor but with single pin elbows. His bulk causes more restriction, particularly in the arms, but you should still be able to get some great battle poses.

Accessories - Obsidian, Thor ***; Black Widow ***1/2
Cull Obsidian is an accessory all by himself, and he gets the figures a **1/2 for having one or more of his pieces. But he has an accessory too - a large, very sturdy hammer. It's made from a hard plastic, so there won't be any wilt over time. You can also remove the shoulder armor if you'd like, making it a potential 'extra'.

Thor has the Stormbreaker hammer/ax, which he can weld in one or two handed poses. There's also a lightning effect that can wrap around the handle.

Black Widow does the best, with her folded weapons that can be inserted into the 'holsters' on either hip, or the extended versions that she can hold in the gripping hand sculpts. The open versions are a little soft - mine came bent out of the package - but are light weight, so wilting shouldn't be a problem.

She also has a second set of hands - fists. These swap easily, with no fear of breakage.

Fun Factor - ****
With a ton of articulation and well thought out accessories, kids will have great fun with these. Being based on the movie, they'll also recognize the characters immediately, and while Cull is the comic version, he's also a huge, ugly, mean looking villain - just about perfect for any battle scenario.

Value - **1/2
The usual $20 is pretty much standard right now.  You are getting what you're paying for, no more no less.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing.

Overall - Thor ***; Cull Obsidian, Black Widow ***1/2
Another terrific wave of Marvel Legends, with continued improvements in sculpting and paint work. I'm not thrilled with the portrait on Thor, but Black Widow looks great, and the Cull Obsidian BAF is a worthy contender for Best BAF of the year.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpting - Thor ***; Black Widow ***1/2; Cull Obsidian ****
Paint - Obsidian ***; Thor, Black Widow ***1/2
Articulation - Obsidian ***1/2; Thor, Black Widow ****
Accessories - Thor, Obsidian ***; Black Widow ***1/2
Fun Factor - ****
Value - **1/2
Overall - Thor ***; Black Widow, Cull Obsidian ***1/2

Where to Buy 
Stores like Target should be getting these on the peg soon if they already haven't in your area. Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth has a case of eight figures for $170 and free shipping.

Related Links -
This finishes up the overall wave, with my previous reviews of Malekith and the Black Knight, and Ant-Man and the Wasp. I've covered a ton of previous Marvel Legends as well, so you should also hit the Search Reviews page to find them or in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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