Review of Kitty Pryde, Cable, Havoc, Phoenix
Marvel Legends action figures

Introduction

Last week I covered the first half of the latest (at least in my neck of the woods) Marvel Legends figures, all based on the X-men.  In that review, I looked at Deadpool, Rogue, Iceman, and Wolverine, a terrific set of figures for sure. Tonight I'm finishing up the regular releases with a look at Cable, Kitty Pryde, Havoc, and Phoenix.

Seven of these eight figures - everyone other than Deadpool - comes with a piece of the Build-A-Figure Juggernaut. I'll be covering him in an upcoming review as well, probably as a set with at least one or two more BAF's. At the rate Marvel Legends are scheduled to hit, that should be no problem.

You can snag these guys at most retailers for around $20 each, and they are hitting pegs as we speak.

Packaging - ****
I like the collector friendly packaging, which allows you to easily remove the figure from its shell without damaging the box itself.  You can always pop it back in later for storage or sale, and it makes life so much simpler.  I suspect retailers like this packaging a lot less however, thanks to the numerous asshats who take advantage, stealing figures and BAF pieces.

As I mentioned in the previous review, I really like the addition of the yellow for this wave, fitting with the X-men theme and adding a distinctive look on the pegs.

Sculpting - Phoenix, Havoc ***; Kitty, Cable ***1/2
This half of this series isn't quite as eye catching as some I reviewed last week, but there's still some very nice work.

I'm particularly fond of Cable, and with his inclusion in the upcoming Deadpool sequel, I suspect he'll be a popular guy. There's a ton of detail in the scarred, aged face, and the metal surfaces have the perfect texture and design.  I'm a little less impressed with the greenish armor on the chest and shins, which lacks detail and is more plasticy and cheap in appearance. The gripping hands are sculpted to work with both guns, and he stands great on his own in just about any stance. He's a big figure, standing 7" tall.

Kitty is also a beautiful sculpt, continuing the above average work that we saw with Rogue. The hair is a little less detailed, but the face is quite attractive, with proper proportions and a feminine style. The basic body design works well, and again, she's less spindly and top heavy than most past ML females. She comes in at about 6 1/4".

Phoenix is a little less impressive, with some seriously big hair that seems to throw off the look of the face quite a bit for me. I suspect that the underlying face sculpt is quite attractive, but weaker paint operations are hurting it. The hair is affixed at a bit of an odd angle too, giving her a slightly weird looking hair line. She's not a terrible figure, but compared to the other two ladies in this line up, she falls short.  She stands about 6 3/8" tall.

Finally, there's Havoc, who is a basic male ML figure. Basic body, basic hand sculpts, only the head and added glove cuffs really sets him apart. You're going to have to be a pretty big fan of both the character and this particular look for him to be high on your list, but he's a decent buy for the BAF collectors. He comes in at the standard 6 1/2" tall.

Paint - Havoc **1/2; Phoenix ***; Kitty Pryde, Cable ***1/2
It might just be me, but it seems like Hasbro has been cutting back on the number of paint operations with the Marvel Legends figures, but the ones they've kept have improved in quality.

Cable is a good example. The work on his face is excellent, including the eyes.  The metallic paint has the right amount of wash to bring out the detailed texture, and a few of the other smaller details, like the buckles on the belts, look great.  But there's almost no detail work on other areas, like the chest and shin armor, and all that broadly colored plastic cheapens the overall effect.

Kitty has a beautiful face, highlighted by great paint work.  The eyes are clean and straight, the skin tone is consistent, and even the lips are spot on.  Her suit is reasonable clean as well, although the yellow (always a tough color to work with) has a few blips here and there.

As I mentioned in the earlier category, I think the quality of Phoenix' sculpt is hampered by a slightly worse paint job. The eyes are a little too wide set, a little too doll-like, and even the lips are slightly uneven. The work on her suit is better, with particularly clean lines on the biceps and thighs.

The only real disappointment this time is Havoc. Lots of slop around the face between the silver, black, and skin tone, and even the silver bands on his legs are wavy and uneven. You'll want to pay particular attention to this guy on the peg to try to find the best result.

Articulation - ***1/2
There's nothing surprising in this category - these are Marvel Legends after all, and articulation is their bread and butter.

The ball necks also have the hinge joint at the torso, but some of them are pretty restricted by the long hair. Guess you can figure out which ones.  Phoenix is much worse than Kitty, since her huge hair covers the back of the neck and Kitty has her locks in a smart looking pony tail, but if you put the dragon in place on her shoulder, you'll end up with much the same effect.

The women don't have the cut waist joints like the men, but their rolling ab joint gives a reasonable amount of twist to go with the lean and tilt action.  Phoenix has some slightly wobbly ankles, especially affecting her rocker movement, but it's not a huge problem. Overall, joints are solid and sturdy, making these great toys as well as collectibles, and they can sustain normal play without fear of damage.

Accessories - Phoenix **1/2; Havoc, Kitty Pryde, Cable ***1/2
Each of these four has one piece of the Juggernaut BAF included, which automatically gets them **1/2 in this category. Of course, if you have no interest in Juggernaut, these pieces are worthless to you, and if you only care about Juggernaut, the pieces are critical.  I'm cutting it down the middle with my score, since it will go from 0 - **** depending on your situation.

The BAF piece is all Phoenix has, but the others come pretty well outfitted.  Havoc has two swirling energy blasts that can attach to his hands, while Kitty comes with her purple dragon, Lockheed. Lockheed has his tail sculpted perfectly to wrap around her neck, positioning him on her shoulder.

Kitty also has a Magneto head, which might confuse you at first.  This head is intended to swap onto the earlier BAF of Onslaught (Red Skull) from earlier this year. When I review the Juggernaut BAF, I'll probably include a shot to show how it looks, but suffice to say that throwing it in here was a really cool touch. In fact, I'd hazard a guess that this extra head is going to be a big selling point, sweetening an already very sweet release.

Cable comes with three extras - two large guns and a small cartridge belt. The guns lack paint ops (as I mentioned earlier, things seem to be getting plainer), but the sculpts are good and he can hold them in a variety of ways in one or two hands.  The plastic is a little soft on both, so they might bent and wilt over time in more extreme poses.

Fun Factor - ****
The entire wave is well made, allowing kids to play with these freely without fear of breakage or damage.  They're also excellent characters that fans have been hoping to see again for quite some time, with nice sculpts, great articulation, and solid accessories, making collectors happy as well.  Posing and re-posing them will allow the adult fan to have plenty of fun working with these in their display, getting the perfect set up!

Value - **1/2
$20 ain't bad for a collector figure in the 6 - 7" scale right now, although I certainly hope prices start to fall at some point.  You can snag these for closer to $18 at times, depending on sales and online bundling deals.

Things to Watch Out For -
No surprise here, but you'll want to watch for the best paint application.  While there's been some real improvements in quality, there still might be consistency issues across the production run.

Overall - Havoc, Phoenix ***; Kitty, Cable ***1/2
Another excellent wave, although I have to say I liked the first four I reviewed just a smidge better than these. Both Deadpool and Rogue were stand outs there, while it's really Cable that's my favorite this time around, with Kitty Pryde coming in a close second.  Havoc and Phoenix? Yea, they can hang out with Iceman.

I'll be checking out Juggernaut soon as well, but another wave of figures should be here any day, and grouping the BAF's together has worked well in the past.  While other lines - like Star Wars Black - seem to clog my local shelves and never move, Marvel Legends keep on steadily selling through, wave after wave. That's a sign of solid health, and I hope we see it continue through the rest of the year.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - Phoenix, Havoc ***; Kitty, Cable ***1/2
Paint - Havoc **1/2; Phoenix ***; Kitty, Cable ***1/2
Articulation - ***1/2
Accessories - Phoenix **1/2; Havoc, Kitty, Cable ***1/2
Fun Factor - ****
Value - **1/2
Overall - Havoc, Phoenix ***; Kitty, Cable ***1/2

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 first half of this wave (with Rogue, Deadpool, Wolverine, and Iceman) and 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.

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.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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