Review of Dark Wolverine, Piledriver, Drax
Marvel Legends Arnim Zola wave action figures

Introduction

I had planned on finishing up my Marvel Legends and DC Universe Classics reviews tonight, but sadly, I'm still missing the Madame.

I suppose it's not surprising, since the female figures are always the first to be snagged by the scalpers, but it's still a tad annoying. Ah well, I'll wrap her (and the BAF, Zola) up soon.

You only need six figures out of the seven to put Zola together - Captain America (covered previously), Fantomex (covered previously), Wrecking Ball (covered tonight), Dark Wolverine (covered tonight), Drax (covered tonight), and Madame Masque (yea, we know how that works).

The seventh figure is Spider-Man, and I covered his alternate version (black and white) last week.  There's also the 'standard' release, called the Big Time Spider-Man. 

Wrecking Ball also has a variant of sorts, since it's really a team, not a single character. I'm looking at Piledriver tonight, but Thunderball is also out there.

If that's not enough, there's two versions of the 'Madame' as well - Hydra (the variant) and Masque.

That's three variants for the wave, something that DCUC has tended away from in more recent series. EDIT - a helpful reader was kind enough to let me know there's actually a fourth variant floating round out there - masked Dark Wolverine!

These are popping up online of course, but you can also find them at stores like Toys R Us and Meijers. Be prepared for some potential sticker shock though - they cost me $20 each at my local TRU.

Packaging - ***1/2
There's two aspects of these packages that set them apart on the mass market pegs. First, they are collector friendly, to some degree. It's possible to slit the  bubble in such a way as to remove the tray and still put it back later. It's not perfect, but it's better than the normal 'just tear it off the card back' choice.

Second, there's a ton of personalization with these, all the way to the die cut card back of that specific character. This sort of specificity costs quite a bit more than the average card back, where simple stickers are all that change, and this gives the MOCers an even better looking display.

Sculpting - ***1/2
All three of these figures are very well sculpted, with lots of nice details. All have proper costume wrinkles and folds, and all have sculpts that work well with the articulation.

Dark Wolverine is a little shorter than the others, as you'd expect. He has only two claws per hand, and these are made from a very soft plastic. They have a cool bone texture as well, with a finely dimpled surface. He has a wise ass expression, befitting the character, and I love how the folded down hood is another piece around his neck.

Piledriver is much bigger, coming in at 7 1/2" (a full inch over the average of about 6 1/2"), and has the volume to back it up. He has that grin on his face that says "I'm a big dude that loves smashing things", and the detail work in the mask and hair is excellent.

Drax is not a fun loving guy, and his expression shows it. He's all deadly business, with a determined look. There's an additional cool - but non removable - blade sculpted on his right arm, with sculpted straps holding it in place.

All three figures stand great on their own, and all have hands properly sculpted to work with their weapons.

Paint - ***1/2
The paint work is solid across all three, although there's a few sloppy lines and errant marks. They are far and few between though, and the overall paint quality is well above most other action figure lines at my local store. I wish that all licensed movies ended up with figures that had this good of paint work. Maybe the license costs end up cutting into the money available for the paint ops...

You may notice some difference in the colors on the arms and torsos, especially with Drax. That's particularly true with greens when photographed under bright light, but in person with the human eye it's not noticeable.

Articulation - ***1/2
I still prefer the DCUC articulation, even though there are fewer joints, but all three of these are very poseable.

The neck joint is the usual pseudo-ball joint that Hasbro has used for years. It's not really a ball, but rather a disc and post, similar to many knees and elbows. That means the head can tilt forward and back, but side to side tilting is much more difficult.

The ball shoulders and hips (pin/disc style) work great, and there are cut biceps and thighs to go along. All three of these have double pin knees, but only Drax and Wolvie have double pin elbows. Wolvie also has pin wrists, but Drax and Piledriver have only cut joints above the wrists. The ankles on Drax are a bit restricted by the pants, but both Wolverine and Piledriver have ankles with full range of movement, including a bit of a swivel action that allows them to be a little flatter on the floor in deeper stances. And don't forget the cut waists and ab-crunches which work well.

For the most part, the articulation is tight and solid. There were a few pins - mostly ankles and knees - that felt a little weak, but it was a minor issue.

I'm still not a huge fan of these ball jointed hips, because it is very difficult to get natural, flowing stances out of them. It's possible, but it takes quite a bit more effort than with the unique hinge hips that we see on the DCUC line.

Accessories - Drax, Piledriver ***;  Wolverine **1/2
In a previous review, I gave figures only ** stars for having only a BAF piece, but in my recent DCUC review I upped that to **1/2, and it seems only fair that I bump it up for Wolverine too. Yes, he only comes with a limb for Zola, making him the least outfitted of the three.

Piledriver comes with his huge wrecking ball (fitting, don't you think?) on a chain. The entire thing is sculpted plastic - no metal here - but it can be held in one or both hands pretty well.

Drax comes with not one but two deadly looking blades. These fit in his hands nicely, or they can slip into the sheaths on the back of his belt. They look great in his hands, where you'll probably keep them most of the time.

Fun Factor - ***1/2
While I don't like these quite as much as DCUC as toys, they are awfully close. It's the funky hips that are a bit too annoying for posing and standing that hold them back from a perfect score for me, but you may not find these as frustrating.

Value - **
These are costing as much as $20 a pop (that's what I paid at Toys R Us), and that's about $4 - $5 each. This is another category where right now the DCUC figures have a slight edge, but it's also going to depend on the retailer.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing.

Overall - ***1/2
When Hasbro announced they were bringing Marvel Legends back after a long hiatus, I feared that they'd find some new and creative ways of cheaping out. Thankfully, that's not the case, and instead, the first two waves are as good or even better in quality as the previous final waves.

None of these characters are high on my list as needs, but that's not necessarily true for you. Nice to know that for fans of these various Marvel oddballs, their respective action figures turned out great.

Now I'm off to find a Madame - either one will do!

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

Where to Buy 
Your first best is the local Toys R Us, Target or Meijers store, where these run $16 - $20, depending on the retailer. I found them at Toys R Us myself, and they were a whopping $20 each. Online options include:

- Entertainment Earth has the set of  for $125.

Related Links -
Other Marvel Legends reviews include:

- just last week, I covered part 1 of this wave.

- I recently covered the Terrax BAF wave, in part 1 and part 2.

- prior to that, the last series I remember reviewing was the Red Hulk set, in part 1 and part 2.

If you want to go back further, I have dozens of Marvel Legends reviews you can find through the Search Reviews page, which you should check in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published as well.

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