Review of Thundra, Doctor Strange, Iron Man
Marvel Legends Hulkbuster Wave action figures

Introduction

It's a huge year for Marvel Legends, and another wave is already hitting retailers.  This is a general Marvel themed set, although the BAF is the Hulkbuster, straight from the Avengers: Age of Ultron flick. They've mixed in a number of characters from different series, including Iron Man from Marvel NOW!, Doctor Strange and Vision from Marvel Heroes, Defenders versions of Thundra and Valkyrie, and modern incarnations of War Machine, and Blizzard. You'll have to buy all 7 this time to have the parts to compete the Build-A-Figure, Hulkbuster.

Tonight I'm going to cover Iron Man, Doctor Strange and Thundra.  Next week I'll wrap up with the remainder of the line, although I might hold Hulkbuster for his own review.

Let's take a brief look at these three characters. Iron Man is, well, Iron Man. This is another suit variation, this time from the comic imprint Marvel NOW!. No real surprises here.  Doctor Strange is sporting his more modern look, which was used in the video game Marvel Heroes.  This isn't our first Doctor Strange in the Marvel Legends format - back when the earth was young and men were men, they gave us a figure in his more traditional garb.

Finally, there's Thundra, who is referred to as "Marvel's Defenders Thundra", although I don't know if she's ever been a part of that group. They also refer to Valkyrie that way, and she has been a member, and Valkyrie and Thundra have teamed up themselves before, so maybe they just wanted some consistency with the labeling of the two ladies. Or maybe I'm just not up on my Defenders history. Either way, this is the first ML based on the huge Amazon-like warrior from the future.

You can pick these up for around $20 each at most retailers, and I've seen them popping up at stores locally.

Packaging - ****
I've talked about how much I like this collector friendly mass market packaging in past reviews, and nothing has changed here. Slit one piece of tape, slide out the tray, and there's no twisties or tape to interfere with removing the figure. You can put it back for re-sale or storage, easy peasy.

Of course, this also means it's easy for sleaze bags to swap in older figures and return them to the store to get their money back. Always pay attention to what's in the pack, including the accessories, before you check out.

Sculpting - Thundra ***; Iron Man, Doctor Strange ***1/2
As I mentioned earlier, this Iron Man is the look he sports in Marvel NOW!. You'll either love it or you won't, and I have to say as a non-reader of the books, it leaves me a bit bored. The sculpt is solid work, with nice sharp cuts that give a realistic look to the armor, but at the end of the day it's Iron Man, and I suspect I'm reaching my saturation point. He stands about 6 1/4" tall, similar to most ML male figures.

Doctor Strange is someone we are NOT saturated on, but we will be getting some collectibles with the new movie's release.  I certainly hope Hot Toys does him up right, although I suspect fans of the old school look are going to be disappointed. While we've seen some nice fan made mash ups of Cumberbatch in various Doc Strange outfits, I'm betting the final design will end up closer to this Marvel Heroes look than to his more colorful outfits. 

I can live with that, including the funky flowing skirt.  Here it's sculpted in a softer rubber, which is less restrictive than I had expected.  The head sculpt is the best quality of this category, including the sculpted eyebrows and mustache. The hands are also done in a 'magical' pose...or he could be throwing the goat at an AC/DC concert. Again, he's about 6 1/4" tall, but just a smidge shorter than Iron Man.

Finally, there's Thundra.  She's a big girl in the comics, standing over 7 feet tall and weighing in at 350 pounds (she's mighty dense). Obviously, Hasbro couldn't go with their usual female stick figure body, and they've beefed her up nicely.  My favorite sculpting on this figure is from the neck down, where the larger arms, torso (look at those abs!) and legs give her an impressive 7" of height.  Proportions are better than is the norm with Marvel Legends females, and the hands are designed to work with her chain accessory.

However, I'm not really digging the head sculpt. The long hair is thickly stranded, and the face is off. I'm betting this is largely due to the weird expression combining squinty eyes and an open mouth (is that her tongue?), but just gluing the clunky head band on the front of the hair is also throwing things off. Add in some mold lines on the arms, chin and torso, and you lose a half star over the good Doctor.

Paint - ***
There's no serious slop here, but I'm not blown away by the overall quality either.

Most of the work on Thundra is solid, but the teeth and mouth are a little weird. It looks like I can see her tongue in there...but it's white, just like the teeth. The red, yellow and gold of the costume have clean lines, and the eyes are straight and even.  There's some gloppy-ness to the head band, and the overall look rates a B for me.

Same thing for Doctor Strange, who has some unevenness in the mustache and eyebrows, and has skin colored hair at his widow's peak. Iron Man is probably the best of the three, and fans of the black and gold look should be pleased, but there is some inconsistency in the coverage with the gold paint.

Articulation - Iron Man, Thundra ***; Doctor Strange ***1/2
Iron Man lacks some of the poseability we expect with a Marvel Legends figure, due to the restrictive nature of the suit.  Of course, other companies have found ways to design around it and still get excellent articulation, but those companies tend to charge a lot more than $20 for their figures.

The neck was really the most annoying restriction, since you need to tile the head back a bit even for standing poses.  The arms work quite well, and the shoulder armor is articulated to get it out of the way and allow the arms to raise higher. The legs are where most of the restriction occurs, making deeper and more dynamic stances tough.

Doctor Strange has no such restrictions, even with the skirt.  He has all the normal ML articulation, and it has plenty of potential movement. I did find that the neck joint was a little loose, allowing the head to flop around, but it was a minor nit.

I also really like the posability of the wrists and arms with this guy, since his hands are in such a unique pose. His rocker ankles work well, and make him the winner here.

Thundra was close, but her ankles have less rocker movement, her neck is solidified by the long hair, and it was tricky getting good standing poses that she could maintain. I also wish they'd added a cut waist, since only turning the upper torso can make things look odd with the exposed abs.

Accessories - Iron Man **1/2; Thundra, Doc Strange ***
Iron Man gets **1/2 because he comes with only the BAF piece.  This is a big BAF, not quite at the size of the old school BAF's, but bigger than most recent releases. That means all the individual BAF pieces are hefty, making them feel like a better value.

Thundra and Doctor Strange add a basic extra or two. For Thundra, it's her ball and chain which she uses with great enthusiasm. It can be held in either hand, and is sculpted in a dynamic pose.

Doctor Strange includes two magical 'discs' that can be attached to his wrists. These are actually a re-use, and a fairly recent one, last showing up with the Scarlet Witch earlier this year. The purpose is the same, but the color has changed, and they pop on and off his wrists pretty easily.

Fun Factor - ***1/2
These are great action figures, easily the best on the pegs right now.  I'm hoping that more kids get to play with them and remember what it was like to actually get articulation with their toys, before Hasbro kills it all with their 5 POA Star Wars figures.

Value - **1/2
Twenty bucks is the standard rate for any 'collector themed' line right now. You'll pay the same for the Star Wars 6" Black series, or the various Funko Legacy figures.  Here you're also getting a BAF for your trouble, although that's only helpful when you want all seven characters.

Things to Watch Out For -
Always pick out the best paint on the pegs that you can find - otherwise, you should be good to go.

Overall - Iron Man, Thundra ***; Doctor Strange ***1/2
For fans of these three characters, this is a solid release.  Iron Man leaves me pretty cold - he's not a figure I'd pick up if not for the BAF piece, but getting a Thundra is great, and the more modern Doctor Strange costume is cool as well.

Who knows if we'll ever get another Thundra. With Strange we're guaranteed more plastic goodness in multiple scales, but with the lovely lass this might be our only shot.  Perhaps Netflix will delve deep into the Defenders line up past Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones and Iron Fist, and include her...but since I don't remember Thundra ever being part of the group no matter what the ML packaging says, that seems highly unlikely.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ****
Sculpting - Thundra ***; Iron Man, Doctor Strange ***1/2
Paint - ***
Articulation - Iron Man, Thundra ***; Doctor Strange ***1/2
Accessories - Iron Man **1/2; Thundra, Doc Strange ***
Fun Factor - ***1/2
Value - **1/2
Overall - Thundra, Iron Man ***; Doctor Strange ***1/2

Where to Buy 
I've seen these popping up at Walmart and Walgreens already, with Target and Toys R Us sure to follow very soon. Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth has the wave of all 7 figures for $160.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
I let the BAF's build up for awhile this 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 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.

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