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Introduction
It's still a couple of months til opening weekend of the highly anticipated Thor: Ragnarok, but tickets are on sale...and the Marvel Legends action figures are on the pegs.
This wave follows the pattern of a few movie characters (Thor, Loki, and Hela, plus the BAF of the Hulk) along with several comic based characters (Lady Thor, Ares, and Odinson). I'm covering Thor, Lady Thor and Ares tonight, with the other four coming very soon.
These are popping up at Targets and other mass market retailers right now, where they'll run you around $20 each. You have to pick up all six
regular figures to get all the pieces for the BaF, the new movie Hulk.
Click on the image below for a Life Size version
Packaging - ***1/2
Nothing too surprising here. It's all collector friendly, and it shows off the figure nicely. The back has a short bio, along with a photo montage
of the rest of the line, and a diagram showing which figure comes with which BAF piece.
Sculpting - ***1/2
Marvel Legends are considered a 1/12 scale series, with the figures coming in around 6 - 7" tall, depending on the character. At that size, the
likenesses here are quite good.
Of course, only one of these three is a movie figure. Thor looks like his screen counterpart, with some decent detail in the beard and mustache. The work on the costume is extremely good, with lots of small detail work. My one big nit falls with the way the shoulder belt and cape attach to the figure. There's two posts on the cape - one at the hip, one at the shoulder. The one at the hip works pretty well, but the one at the shoulder pushes through the belt and into a hole in the upper chest. It works, but not well, and tends to pop out at every touch.
Lady Thor is the current comic version, and she's quite attractive and well designed. There's lots of detail work on the costume, and the hair is sculpted up off the shoulders to avoid restricting the neck. The cape attaches with a single peg in the back, and it works better than the arrangement on Thor.
While I really like both of these, it's the Ares that stands out for me in this trio. It's a fairly basic tough guy comic sculpt on the big, bulky ML body. The costume work isn't as detailed as the other two, but the overall design of the various pieces come together to create a great looking figure.
Paint - ***
All three have reasonable paint jobs, with some minor slop here and there.
Hasbro is using a new technique for the eyes, and you'll see this with the Star Wars Black series as well. It's sort of a dot matrix printing, for lack of a better description. This can create some excellent, even eyes that are a huge improvement over the previous methods of application. However, when it goes wrong, it goes terribly wrong. I've seen figures with eyeballs practically on the cheek, clearly misaligned during the process. I had no issues with these three, but you'll want to pay particular attention at the store.
This is true with Thor, but Ares and Lady Thor appear to use the older style of hand painted eyes. They aren't quite as clean as Thor's, but the work is reasonable considering the tiny size.
Articulation - ***1/2
All the usual Marvel Legends articulation is here, and even Lady Thor has the more articulated female body.
They all have ball jointed necks, with the forward/backward movement as well. There are rotating hinge shoulders, cut biceps, rotating hinge elbows (double pin on Thor), rotating hinge wrists, ab crunch, cut waist, rotating hinge hips, cut thighs, double pin knees, and pin ankles with some rocker movement. The joints are generally tight, and hold poses long term.
Ares has a few of the clicky style ratchet joints, which is better for a heavier figure, but does reduce some of the poses he can take. The costumes on both Thor and Lady Thor restrict a few poses as well, but you can skip the capes on both to get more dynamic stances.
Accessories - Thor, Lady Thor ***1/2; Ares ****
Everyone has at least one - sometimes more than one - BAF piece. That earns them a **1/2 right out of the gate.
Thor has his cape and shoulder belt, which can be removed. Of course, you have that hole in his shoulder, which might be tough to overlook. He also has two swords, ready for battling the Hulk.
Lady Thor also has her removable cape. To go with it, she has Mjolnir, and the strap is sculpted to wrap around her wrist while she holds the handle. Scale is great, and the detailing is good for the size.
Ares kicks everyone's butt in this category. He has two huge weapons, a massive sword and a massive ax. Unmentioned in the marketing info is the smaller removable knife you see in the sheath on his hip, and his removable helmet! Everything looks terrific, with excellent sculpts and paint work.
Fun Factor - ****
These are Marvel Legends, the best action figures on the pegs right now. Sorry Star Wars Black, but your colleagues down the hall are owing the toy
aisles. Great articulation and great accessories make for great toys.
Value - ***
These remain $20 at most retailers, and with sales and coupons you can often get them cheaper. That's a good value on the current market, and the
improved sculpts and paint get them a slightly better than average score.
Things to Watch Out For -
One big thing - those eyes. Like I said earlier, this paint print application technique looks great when it's done right, and it's done right more
often than not. But when it goes wrong, it goes very, very wrong. Look carefully at your Thor (and Hela and Loki) on the pegs before buying!
Overall - ***1/2
Hasbro has been hitting on all cylinders with their Marvel Legends in 2017. Wave after wave of quality figures have been released, with a ton of
great BAF's. Using a combo of movie and comic figures in every wave has been a winning concept.
While I'm quite happy with the quality of both Thor and Lady Thor, the surprise winner was Ares. A big, bulky dude with some excellent accessories and a cool helmet, he's a perfect figure for any kid. They don't need to know who he is to love him, and a quality figure like this can get them interested in the comic version, something Marvel needs very badly these days.
Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - ***
Articulation - ****
Accessories - Thor, Lady Thor ***1/2; Ares ****
Fun Factor - ****
Value - ***
Overall - ***1/2
Where to Buy
Online options include these site sponsors:
- Entertainment Earth has them on pre-order for $21 each.
- or you can search
ebay
for a deal.
Related Links -
I've covered dozens and dozens of Marvel Legends figures. The most recent was the back half of the Netflix wave, including Man-Thing,
Elektra, and Daredevil, and the first half with Punisher, Jessica Jones,
Bullseye, and Blade.
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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This product was purchased for the review by the reviewer. Photos and text by Michael Crawford.
