Review of Marvel Legends Captain Marvel, Sentry, Thor action figures

Introduction

The first wave for 2015 of Hasbro's popular Marvel Legends is hitting pegs, and includes 7 figures: Thor, Sentry, Captain Marvel (all three reviewed tonight), Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, Iron Fist and Machine Man. The BAF is Odin (or the Allfather), but more on him in just a minute. I'll be covering the other four figures, as well as the BAF, in the next week or so.

They've done something a bit unique with the BAF this time around. The character is Odin/The Allfather, and there are enough parts across these seven figures to do two versions.

You'll need Thor and Iron Fist to get the two legs, as well as Hawkeye to get the torso. Then you have some choices: one set of arms comes with Sentry, while the other set comes with Machine Man; one head, cape and weapon comes with Scarlet Witch, while another comes with Captain Marvel.

I don't know about you, but I think that's very cool. So cool, that I'm trying to convince myself NOT to go out and buy a second Thor, Power Fist and Hawkeye just to have both versions built and on the shelf at the same time. And that's exactly the desire Hasbro was hoping to fuel - I can be such a sucker.

As I said, these are already shipping, and should be at your local Toys R Us, Target or Meijers for around $20 each.

Packaging - ****
Surprisingly, these mass market packs are completely collector friendly. That's pretty rare for a figure that hangs on the peg at the local Toys R Us. Just slit the tape on the tab on one side, slide out the two trays, remove the figure and accessories from the plastic tray, no muss, no fuss, no damage. You can pop it all back in for storage if you'd like, with no effort or issue.

It's also attractive, with some nice personalization, good colors, and useful text on the back. And no twisty ties!

Sculpting - Captain Marvel ***1/2; Thor ***; Sentry **1/2
Let's be honest - the figure in this wave that everyone will be interested in is Captain Marvel. And yes, it's a woman. This isn't the DC Universe, this is the Marvel Universe, where there's been almost as many female Captains as male.

The most recent is Carol Danvers, who has been Ms. Marvel for many years. In 2012, she took up the title of Captain Marvel, and there will be a movie in 2018 based on the character. Current rumors have Katee Sackhoff and Katheryn Winnick vying for the lead. Personally, I'm pulling for Emily Blunt.

In any event, this figure represents this modern look for Captain Marvel, and the suit (and hair) are very likely going to be close to what we end up with on screen, at least to start.

The sculpting on the face is excellent, and the hair has a reasonable amount of detail considering the scale. Remember, she only stands about 6 1/2" tall. They body has the usual Marvel Legends proportions, but the sash helps hide the hip joints a bit.

There's two heads included, and while the unmasked version is clearly the prettier, it's the masked version that I think I prefer. It gives her some badassery, and I really like the mohawk.

The other two figures I'm looking at tonight don't do a whole lot for me. Both Thor and Sentry are big dudes, with Thor around 7 1/2" tall, and Sentry just a little shorter than that. They both take up a lot of volume too, with heavily sculpted muscular bodies and flowing capes.

Sentry is one of those characters, like Captain Marvel, that's had a lot of different incarnations and alter egos. This version is based on a character named Robert Reynolds, who was part of the Avengers at one point. They've done a nice job with the translation of the body and cape to 3-D, but I'm not digging the puny head and thick, helmet-like hair. He also has a sculpted gripping hand on the right, which looks odd, and doesn't add any value, since there's nothing for him to hold.

His cape attaches to his back with a post that inserts into a small hole. There's a second, even smaller hole above this one - I'm assuming this is left over from a previous use of this torso.

Thor is a modern design as well, and doesn't suffer quite as much as Sentry from pinhead disease. But the heavy, chunky body isn't my favorite design, and while it's really more of an aesthetic issue, this version won't be one I move to the front of the shelf.

It's worth mentioning that the plastic here is much harder and stiffer than on some past releases. There was a period where they had gone soft on us, and joints weren't as solid, grips weren't as tight. That trend seems to have been reversed, and I'm all for it.

Paint - ***1/2
Overall, the paint work on all three figures is very well done, with almost no slop. There's a smidge here, a blip there, but nothing consistent or obvious.

I like the colors with all three of these as well, and there's some tough tones to pull off. Silver and yellow are always difficult to manage, and yet the colors are even and the coverage is complete.

The skin tones are a little shiny, and the heads and hands are most likely cast in the color, creating this issue. Still, overall the work is well above average for this scale and price point.

Articulation - Captain Marvel, Sentry ***1/2; Thor **1/2
Marvel Legends figures are known for their great articulation, and all three of these follow the usual pattern.

The ball jointed neck on Captain Marvel works great, but on Sentry it's just a cut joint, and on Thor it's not even that. This restriction with both male figures is due to the long hair.

Most of the other many joints work as you'd expect. Ball shoulders, double pin elbows, pin wrists, cut waists, ab-crunchs, ball hips, double pin knees, pin ankles, cut biceps, cut thighs - they all work pretty much as you'd expect based on past history.

One exception was the ankles on Captain Marvel. They don't move as far forward (and back, although forward was more of an issue) as they need to for all stances and poses, and I found it a little frustrating. Had that joint had a greater range of movement, she would have snagged four stars here.

Accessories - Captain Marvel ****; Thor ***1/2; Sentry **1/2
All three figures have key pieces to the BAF. With Captain Marvel, it's one of the head/cape/staff combos, while Thor has a leg, and Sentry has  a pair of arms.

That's it for Sentry though, and I usually only go with an average score here when the BAF pieces are the only extra. 

Thor does better, including not only his hammer but a huge, well sculpted sword. Both sculpts are great, and he can wield both weapons at once thanks to the sculpted hand poses. He includes one additional BAF piece as well, a leg.

Captain Marvel does the best, but not because she has more - like Thor, she has the BAF pieces (3!) and two extras: an energy ball that fits over either fisted hand, and a second, masked head sculpt.

I love getting additional portraits, and this one is terrific. Swapping heads is easy too, with no fear of damage.

Fun Factor - ****
Even with an issue here or a blip there, these are terrific toys. They maintain the excellent articulation, and they provide some great characters for kids and adults alike.

Value - Thor, Captain Marvel **1/2; Sentry **
The additional accessories that we get with Thor and Captain Marvel makes them an average value at around $20. Most 'collector' figures are in that range now, and few have as many extras.

However, Sentry only has the BAF pieces, and it hurts him slightly here.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing.

Overall - Captain Marvel ***1/2; Thor ***; Sentry **1/2
With this wave, I was most looking forward to Captain Marvel and the BAF. Thankfully, she (and Odin, but more on that soon) didn't disappoint. She's a terrific addition to the overall Marvel Legends line up, and with her soon to be appearance (rumor is she'll show up prior to her actual movie, as Captain America rebuilds the Avengers after the events in the upcoming film), she's going to be a much sought after figure. And even though it's only March, I have no doubt that this figure will end up on the 2015 Poppies ballot.

The other two are decent enough, and you'll need to pick them up to complete your BAF. But I didn't find anything about them to set them apart from the crowd, and Sentry was a figure I could have done without, had I not wanted those arms. Damn you Hasbro!

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ****
Sculpting - Captain Marvel ***1/2; Thor ***; Sentry **1/2
Paint - ***1/2
Articulation - Captain Marvel, Sentry ***1/2; Thor **1/2
Accessories - Captain Marvel ****; Thor ***1/2; Sentry **1/2
Fun Factor - ****
Value - Captain Marvel, Thor **1/2; Sentry **1/2
Overall - Captain Marvel ***1/2; Thor ***; Sentry **1/2

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth has the set of 7 for $160.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
I've covered a million Marvel Legends figures, with the most recent being the Guardians of the Galaxy wave. It's actually in two parts - here and here. I also hit up all three BAF's from last year at once.

Other previous ML's include part of the Iron Man series, the Arnim Zola series in three parts: here, along with Part 2 and Part 1. Before that, I covered the Terrax BAF wave, in part 1 and part 2; the Red Hulk set, in part 1 and part 2; the last wave of 'icons', the larger scale Legends; the Foom/Hulk wave, broken into one review here and another here; I also covered the early Hasbro ML's, includng wave 2 (with a second part here) and wave 1, first at MROTW and then at QSE.

- Earlier Hasbro Marvel Legends Icons included Punisher and Doom, and my favorite, Thor.

And if you still pine for the days Toybiz -

- in the 12? Icons line, there’s Spider-man and Beast, Wolverine and Venom.

- there’s the guest review of the Fearsome Foes of Spider-man boxed set, Urban Legends box set, X-men Legends boxed set, and the Fantastic Four boxed set, along with my review of the Monsters boxed set.

- The previous Sentinel BAF was guest reviewed.

- prior to that there was Wal-mart series, series 12, series 9 (including Galactus), series 8 Captain Marvel and Doc Ock, series 7 Vision, series 6 Juggernaut, Wolverine and Deadpool, series 5 Blade, Nick Fury, Sabertooth and Colossus, along with series 5 Red Skull, Silver Surfer and Mr. Fantastic, series 4 Goliath, Punisher, Beast, Gambit, and Elektra, series 3 Daredevil and then the rest of the series, series 2 Thing and Namor, and finally, from three and a half years ago, the series 1 review.

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