Review of Rogue, Deadpool, Wolverine, Iceman
Marvel Legends Action Figures

Introduction

When people discuss long running classic action figure series', they always mention G.I. Joe, TMNT, Star Wars...but Marvel Legends has reached that point where it certainly deserves a spot with the old guys. It's been almost 15 years and two companies since the Legends first hit the pegs, and they show no sign of slowing down.  Another wave has just arrived based on the X-Men, with Juggernaut as the Build-A-Figure.  This wave includes eight figures (and the BAF) - Wolverine, Rogue, Iceman, Deadpool, Cable, Phoenix, Kitty Pryde, and Havok. I'm covering the first four tonight, with the latter four and Juggie coming soon.

It's worth noting that you only need 7 of these to complete Juggernaut. Deadpool does not include a BAF piece, although it will say "Build-A-Figure Juggernaut" on the front of his package. These are popping up at Target and Toys R Us stores right now, and will run you around $20 each.

Packaging - ****
Same collector friendly stuff, with no need to damage the 'box' or insert trays to remove the figure. There aren't even any twisty ties!  Of course, this means the low life losers out there will occasionally steal the BAF pieces or swap in older figures and return them, but those sleazy assholes find ways to infect the world with their worthless lives no matter what. Yea, they piss me off.

The back of the package does a good job of showing which figure has which piece of the BAF, as well as who is in the entire wave, and there's some decent personalization both in text and graphics on each pack. I particularly like the yellow and black X-men colors here, which gives them a visual pop on the shelf and makes it easy to spot them among the older figures.

Sculpting - Wolverine, Iceman ***1/2; Rogue, Deadpool ****
This is a terrific looking wave, top to bottom, and these four are stand outs. None of these are completely new characters to the Legends format, but it's been awhile since we've seen them, and these versions are quality upgrades.

Iceman is actually my least favorite, but it's hard to do much with a clear figure. His head sits higher on the neck post than most, giving him a giraffe-like appearance from certain angles, and it's tough to see the detail of his sculpt with the translucent plastic. But the style and design are different enough to make him worth the purchase, and I think they've done a reasonable job capturing the look. I also like the sculpt on the gesturing left hand, which adds something to most poses. He's the tallest of these four, coming in at just over 6 1/2" with his spiky hair.

My favorite of the group is easy - Deadpool.  He has not one but TWO head sculpts, masked and unmasked. Of course the second portrait will add quite a bit to his Accessories score, but the scarred face is also an excellent sculpt. This is one of those amalgam style designs - you'll see some influences on this Deadpool from several sources, and a few re-used parts as well. The final look is amazing, and is no doubt going to be the most wanted figure in this series.  There's a ton of detail in the belts and various bags, grenades, and holsters that are attached. BTW, his little pinky is sculpted sticking out on the right hand. He's just shy of 6 1/2" tall.

Rogue is also an amazing sculpt, based on the Jim Lee design.  Unlike most female ML's, she's sporting a beautiful face and hair sculpt, and the lanky body looks much improved here. No spindly legs, and the coat gives the arms a bit more bulk as well. She comes in at about 6 3/8" as well.

Finally, there's the brown suit Wolverine. He's the tiny guy of course, standing just under 6" tall, but he has the stocky body we've come to expect with comic Wolverine. His expression is a little dull and wistful for me, and I like my Wolverines with a bit more teeth and scream in their look, but it adds something a little different to the display.

Paint - Iceman ***; Wolverine, Deadpool, Rogue ***1/2
The overall quality of the paint work on the last couple waves has been well above average, particularly for a $20 mass market toy.

Deadpool, Wolverine, and Rogue are quite clean, with very, very little slop or error.  Again, Rogue's face is particularly well done, and the hair highlights work well. Deadpool has a few spots between the red and black of the costume where there's a minor slip, but these are pretty tiny and hard to notice in hand. Wolverine has some of the same issues with the brown and yellow edges, but these are all tiny nits compared to the overall quality.

I do wish Deadpool had a few more operations...the belts and extras tend to lack any highlights or details, making the sculpts less impressive. Customizers are going to really make this figure shine.

Iceman doesn't suffer from poor quality, just a lack of operations. He does have white painted eyes, and the translucent plastic looks good.  Remember, it wouldn't actually be perfectly consistent in reality, as the thickness of the ice would alter how blue and dark it was, and this effect is pretty well mimicked here.

Articulation - Iceman, Rogue ***1/2; Deadpool, Wolverine ****
Marvel Legends and articulation are pretty much synonymous. These have all the joints you expect from head to toe, and most work extremely well.

There's the usual ball neck with hinge joint at the torso, rotating hinge shoulders, double pin elbows and knees, rotating hinge wrists, ab-crunch, cut waist, rotating hinge hips, cut thigh, and rotating hinge ankles with rocker movement.  Iceman and Wolverine also have the better shoulders, with the additional hinge in the torso that allows them to move tighter in and further out than a regular ball or hinge.

Iceman does have slightly looser joints than the rest, at least for me, which caused him to lose a smidge here.  He was more difficult to pose and keep standing because of it.  The other three were all quite tight, and posing was a breeze.

Accessories - Iceman, Wolverine, Rogue ***; Deadpool ****
My 'regs' know that if a figure only has the BAF piece, they get a **1/2 here, or average score. I'm happy to report this is not the case for any of these reviewed tonight.  And before you say "but what about Iceman?", I'll point out that the hunk of ice up around his neck and shoulders is actually removable, and isn't a necessary addition, making it his one extra other than the BAF piece.

Rogue also has just one, and extra bare right hand, posed in a specific gesture.  The hands swap easily, with little chance for breakage.

Wolverine has two extra hands - a left and right fist.  Again, swapping was easy peasy. These fists lack the extended claws, giving you a nice change of pace on the shelf.

And then there's Deadpool. As I said, he lacks any BAF piece, but boy he sure does make up for it.  As I mentioned in the earlier sections, he has a second unmasked portrait, with the heavily damaged skin and psycho smile.  The sculpt and paint are great, swapping is reasonably easy, and it's a fantastic addition for the figure.

He needs weapons of course, and he has a plethora, most of which he can wear someplace on his body.  There are two swords, which slip neatly into the scabbards on his back. The detail work on the hilts, both in terms of paint and sculpt, is really impressive as well.  He also has two handguns which fit in holsters on his right side, and a long knife that slips in a sheath on his right ankle.

If that's not enough to end his opponent, he has a large 'boxing glove' bazooka, a smaller gun (shotgun perhaps?) with a canister magazine, and another rifle that looks like some sort of rail gun. My only complaint with all the firing weapons is the same one I had with the belts and attachments - there's not enough paint operations.  These are all cast in broad colors, like silver or brown, with none of the details highlighted.

Even Deadpool needs his nutrition, and he comes with his very own...taco.  You knew that's what it would be though, didn't you? He can easily hold all the accessories, including the taco, in a wide variety of poses, making him the most adaptable and flexible on the shelf.

Fun Factor - ****
No doubt about it - most fun action figures on the pegs at your local store right now.  The combination of high quality sculpts and paint with great articulation and accessories make these perfect for any kid and any adult fan. This particular wave is going to be hot because it's been quite awhile since we've seen most of these variations on the shelves.

Value - ***
Keeping these at $20 - and sub-20 at some stores - is a big plus in their favor.  Of course, with the price of oil drastically lower and that being the number one reason cited by companies for the price increases over the last few years, I'd love to see the price on these start to drop back down to $15, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not much. Of course, you'll always want to watch for the best paint you can find, but the quality seems to be consistently good this time around.

Overall - Iceman ***; Wolverine, Rogue ***1/2; Deadpool ****
The last few waves of Marvel Legends have had seen improvements in a number of areas. I haven't opened up the other four in this wave yet, but I suspect I'm going to be just as happy with them as I am with this subset. Okay, so Iceman isn't going to wow you, but he is well done. Sure, you have a LOT of Wolverine figures, but this one is a nice combo of articulation, sculpt, and that brown suit.  And Rogue and Deadpool? These two are must haves. And if you want Juggernaut, you'll need them all anyway.

I have seen people comparing these to figures from Figurarts or Bandai that cost 3 times as much, or even more. That's an unfair comparison, and at $20 each these are terrific toys.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ****
Sculpting - Wolverine, Iceman ***1/2; Rogue, Deadpool ****
Paint - Iceman ***; Wolverine, Deadpool, Rogue ***1/2
Articulation - Iceman, Rogue ***1/2; Deadpool, Wolverine ****
Accessories - Iceman **1/2; Wolverine, Rogue ***; Deadpool ****
Fun Factor - ****
Value - ***
Overall - Iceman ***; Wolverine, Rogue ***1/2; Deadpool ****

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- you can still order the full set from Entertainment Earth, and it's just $160 for all eight.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
My most recent 6" scale Marvel Legends review was the back half of the Giant Man wave, with Giant Man, Captain America, Iron Man, and Nuke, but since then 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.

I also have my look at the most recent ML Spider-Man wave, including Absorbing Man, Ben Reilly, Spider-Gwen, and Venom in one half, and Speed Demon, Beetle, Jack O'Lantern, and Morbius in the other. Prior reviews include the terrific Hulbuster  BAF, the Blizzard, Vision, Valkyrie, War Machine, Thundra, Doctor Strange, and Iron Man.

I let the BAF's build up for awhile last year, and covered a whole bunch at once in this review. Prior to that, I covered the Rhino wave, including Kraven, Chameleon, Misty Knight and Ghost Rider and Scarlet Spider, Superior Venom and White Tiger,  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.

There's a lot more Marvel Legends reviews than that, and you should also hit the Search Reviews page, to find them. Also, there's likely to be more applicable reviews 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!