Review of Punisher, Jessica Jones, Blade, Bullseye
Marvel Legends action figures

Introduction

There are just days to go before we the Defenders show drops on Netflix, and we get to see Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist combine forces to save their city and the world. While I know some of you have complaints about the various series past - I love both seasons of Daredevil, the first season of Jones, and most of Luke Cage, with only Iron Fist being a mediocre outing for me - there's no denying the anticipation in nerd circles for this team up.

Hasbro is no dummy, and saw the potential of combining their Marvel Legends line with the hit shows. They've already been quite successful combining movie based figures and comic based figures in past waves, so it was a natural fit to pack up some tv characters with appropriate comic characters for a new wave.

This wave is sometimes called the Man-Thing wave, since he's the Build-A-Figure, but most people are calling it the Netflix wave, since four of the six characters are Punisher, Daredevil, Elektra, and Jessica Jones, all based on their Netflix designs.  The other two comic based designs are Bullseye and Blade.

Tonight I'm looking at Bullseye and Blade, as well as Jessica Jones and the Punisher. I'll wrap things up soon with a look at Elektra and Daredevil, along with the BAF Man-Thing. These figures are currently hitting mass market retailers like Meijer and Target, and will run you around $20 each.

Packaging - ***1/2
Nothing new here if you've been buying Marvel Legends figures for the past couple years. The package is collector friendly, and there's no twisty ties or rubber bands. They use various logos from the show as well, and there's a short blurb on the back about the specific character. There's also a chart that shows which figure has which BAF piece, always a handy reference.

Sculpting - Blade ***; Jones, Bullseye ***1/2; Punisher ****
I think there's a couple terrific sculpts here, hiding under some less than perfect paint work.

My favorite of the bunch is the Punisher, and their work on the Bernthal likeness is excellent for the scale and price. The combination of the proper head shape with eyes, a nose, and lips that match the actor makes for a spot on likeness. There's some paint issues we'll discuss in the next section, but the portrait is terrific.

There's a couple sculpt issues though that aren't portrait related. First, there's some flashing on the jawline, and this is an issue for the Jones head as well. It obviously detracts a bit from the sculpt score on both. Another issue for the Punisher is the obviousness of his neck joint, which is quite visible in most poses. When you're going for a real life character, it's a much bigger problem to see a joint like this.

The work on his costume is great, from the outer coat to the vest, pants and boots. There's lots of nice texture work, creating the illusion of different materials in the costume. He stands about 6 1/2" tall, slightly bigger than the average ML.

Jessica is another terrific portrait, but seeing past the paint (and the aforementioned flashing on the chin) can be a little difficult. They've got the shape of the eyes and the lips pretty much perfect, and even the nose is very accurate.  The long hair has some good stranding considering the scale (she's just over 6" tall), and while the costume is less complicated, there's still plenty of texturing to set the leather jacket apart from the blue jeans.  They also went with a two piece boot design to allow the ankles greater mobility.

Both Bullseye and Blade come with two head sculpts. Bullseye has a masked and unmasked look - I really like the insane expression on the unmasked portrait - and Blade comes with both his modern look and a more classic countenance. It's been a long time since we got any Blade figure in the ML worlds so I'm sure fans will be happy, but I wasn't particularly taken by either portrait. There is some nice work on his costume though, and he comes in around 6 1/4" tall. Likewise, Bullseye is about 6 1/4" tall, and his sculpted belt and holster give his basic ML body some visual flair. The holster is a *smidge* over sized, but it's another very minor nit overall.

Paint - Jones, Punisher, Blade ***; Bullseye ***1/2
The paint work here isn't horrendous, and in fact there's very little slop at all. But there's a couple design choices that don't do everything they could for the excellent sculpts.

Both Jones and Punisher have a glossy, wet skin finish. I'm not sure what the thought was here, and it makes them look cheap and toy-like, hurting the otherwise excellent portraits. There's a smidge of wonkiness to the eyes on both as well, but it's a pretty minor nit - a nice flat finish on the faces and I would have been much, much happier.

This glossiness translates over to Blade as well, and effects both his portraits. The work on his costume and detailing is clean, but the glossy look of the skin detracts from the overall appearance.

Bullseye's unmasked portrait is the only one to have a flatter finish on the face, and it ends up looking much better for it. There's a little slop around the white edges on the costume, but it's fairly minor, and he ends up with the best overall paint job of the bunch.

Articulation - Blade ***; Jones, Punisher, Bullseye ***1/2
These are Marvel Legends figures - they're going to be very articulated. It's pretty much their thing.

There were some weird issues this time though that held them all back, at least slightly. Jessica was the easiest to work with, and has a pretty traditional ML set up. The rotating hinge/ball neck is pretty restricted by the long hair, but the rest of the joins - shoulders, elbows, wrists, chest, waist, hips, thighs, knees, and ankles - all have a very good range of movement, and were tight and solid. The rocker movement in her ankles was particularly good, thanks to the two piece boot design.

You've seen the base body being used by Bullseye a million times now, and there's very little here to restrict the excellent movement. He has the special shoulders that allow for greater movement of the arms across the chest as well, and he was by far the easiest of the four to work with.

Blade has a pretty traditional joint design, but I found him the hardest to pose. Several of the joints were ratchet style - 'clicky' - but the places where they click in are not the best for natural poses. This was particularly true with the chest, where he was either bent over too far or leaning back too much. And while he does have rocker movement in the ankles, it was the most restricted of the four.

The Punisher is better, although the jacket can get in the way of the chest and waist a bit. He can do two handed gun poses just fine, and there's a fluidity to the joints that allows for natural looks. His biggest problem is how exposed the neck joint is, which I mentioned earlier in the Sculpt section.

Accessories - Jones **1/2; Punisher ***; Blade ***1/2; Bullseye ****
Regular readers know that if a figure comes with a BaF piece, they get an automatic **1/2 in this category. Everything else is gravy and increases the score from there.

Poor Jessica only has her BAF piece, but of course, if you're a big Man-Thing fan (and who isn't?) then that's probably enough.

The Punisher does better, coming with a handgun and a rifle. The sculpt and paint work are very, very basic, but they fit neatly in his hands and look good in most poses.

Blade has only one weapon - a sword that fits perfectly in the scabbard on his back. The sculpt and paint work is a bit more complex here, and the hilt slips in either (or both) hand. He does come with that second portrait though, which is always a huge plus in my book. The heads swapped easily.

Bullseye does the best, getting plenty of extras across the board. Along with the BAF piece, he has a handgun and knife, both of which he can carry on his belt. He comes wearing this funky left hand that is designed to appear as though he is flinging three knives at you. Knowing that you wouldn't necessarily want to use this pretty unique hand in most poses, they included a gripping left hand for the gun, as well as a 'gun shooting sign' left. You can easily swap out either of these for the left he comes wearing, and it provides a ton of pose potential.

Oh, and yes, he has that second portrait, better than the first, and the heads swap cleanly.  This is a perfect example of a four star accessory set, when you consider the $20 price point.

Fun Factor - ****
Here's another category that's a no-brainer for any Marvel Legends. These are terrific action figures, with high quality sculpts, excellent articulation, and useful accessories. Kids and collectors alike will enjoy them, and by mixing movie (or tv) characters in with comic book characters, it provides a chance for parents to introduce their kids to the comic world.

Value - **1/2
These remain around the $20 average the market has been at for several years now. Of course, the high cost of oil original drove that price upward, and as any good cynic would have told you, once the price of oil dropped the price of the figures did not. However, they have improved the quality in several areas, putting some of that extra cash to good use.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing. The joints are solid and tight, and I wasn't afraid of breakage or damage at any time.

Overall - Blade ***; Jones, Bullseye, Punisher ***1/2
When I grabbed this set off the pegs, I thought for sure the Punisher would be a four star figure, maybe Jessica as well. I was a bit disappointed when I opened them however, and the glossy skin became more obvious and apparent.

Still, they both have terrific sculpts, and the overall quality is quite high. Out of these four, the Punisher is easily my favorite, but Bullseye was a very happy surprise. He was much nicer than I expected, and I really like the unmasked head sculpt.

Blade was the only one that left me cold, and there's just something about this more modern look that isn't doing it for me. It's not an issue of quality, but more of an issue of aesthetics. I will say that the problems I had getting good poses out of him didn't help any, but his lower score is due mostly to my personal taste. One thing his inclusion here did - it reminded me how much I'd love to see Netflix do a series based on the character.

I have Daredevil and Elektra sitting right here, so I'll be reviewing the final three figures in this wave very soon.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - Blade ***; Jones, Bullseye ***1/2; Punisher ****
Paint - Jones, Punisher, Blade ***; Bullseye ***1/2
Articulation - Blade ***; Jones, Punisher, Bullseye ***1/2
Accessories - Jones **1/2; Punisher ***; Blade ***1/2; Bullseye ****
Fun Factor - ****
Value - **1/2
Overall - Blade ***; Jones, Bullseye, Punisher ***1/2

Where to Buy 
These are popping up at retailers like Target and Meijers right now, where you'll pay about $20 each, depending on sales and coupons of course. Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth has a case (these six figures plus an extra Daredevil and extra Punisher) for $160 and free shipping.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
I've covered a ton of Marvel Legends figures over the years. Most recent was the Symbiote Spider-Man, Green Goblin, Shocker, and Sandman. Prior to that we had the Jackal, Ms Marvel, Spider-UK, and Spider-Man 2099, the Titus wave, with Vance Astro, Darkhawk, Kid Nova, Angela, and Titus, and Star-Lord, Drax, and Yondu. I also started the Warlock wave with a look at Sunfire, Shatterstar, and Polaris and Dazzler, Wolverine, and Colossus. Prior to that was the three BAF's, Space Venom, Dormammu, and Juggernaut.

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.

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