Review of Hellcat, Hulk and Iron Man MK43
Marvel Legends Avengers action figures

Introduction

There's been no shortage of Marvel Legends waves so far in 2015. We've had the Allfather wave, which I've actually completed with reviews here and here; the Hobgoblin wave, which I've started with a review here; and now the Thanos wave, that I'm starting tonight with a look at Hulk, Hellcat and Iron Man.

This wave is another 'Avengers' set, tying it into the movie...sort of. The other figures in the wave include Captain America, Spider-Woman, and Bat-roc. You can see the obvious tie-in with the Avengers, at least in terms of character selection. The Build-A-Figure is Thanos, the over arching villain in the MCU as well. Even this Iron Man is done as the MK XLIII, the suit highlighted in the new film, making this wave the ultimate mash-up of comic and movie universe.

These are all over the place right now, especially at Target and Toys R Us, where they will run you around $20 each. I also have some sponsor suggestions at the end of the review (check the Where to Buy section), where you can potentially save a few bucks.

Packaging - ****
I'm really liking the new Marvel Legends peggable 'boxes'. They are collector friendly, a rarity in the mass market toy business.  You can easily open the side, slide out the tray, remove the figure and accessories (no twisties! yea!), play, pose, re-pose and re-pose some more, then put it all back for display or storage, no muss, no fuss, and no damage.

They also provide some character personalization both front and back, and it's easy to see the 'Thanos' label on the pegs when you're searching through the load of the last three waves, looking for just that one figure you need.

Unfortunately, something as sweet as this collector friendly packaging has its downside as well, and the unscrupulous scumbags who like to buy figures, swap in older crappy figures, and return them to the store can manage it all that much easier. While this is clearly an issue, it's always been an issue, even with hard to open clam shells, and I much prefer getting useful packaging like this for everyone than punishing us all because of a few bad apples. Really bad apples. Wormy, bruised, nasty apples. You know who you are.

Sculpting - ***1/2
While these are timed and themed to coincide with the current Avengers: Age of Ultron movie, they are NOT movie figures. Neither Hulk or the unmasked Iron Man are intended to match with either version on screen. Still, they've done a terrific job of giving the characters a classic look, close enough to the films to satisfy kids, yet comic booky enough for the adult fans.

I particularly like the head sculpt on Hulk, with the detailed hair and skin.  The angry expression works with just about any pose, and this is one of the few characters than can pull off the gritted teeth. There's excellent skin texture, especially considering the scale - remember, this is supposed to be around a 6" scale, and Hulk comes in at a hefty 8 1/4" tall.

There's something slightly off about the fists, but I can't quite put my finger on it. They are a smidge small, but something about the way the fingers fold over and the flesh sticks out...it's just a little weird looking.

Iron Man is wearing the MK43 outfit, and the definition on the edges of the various pieces and parts is decent enough, again considering the scale. Some cuts in the armor could be slightly more defined, but it's a minor nit.

He does have a weird pose sculpted into both hands. The right can be used for blasting poses, although the fingers are in a slight grasp.  The left is in a fist, but bent in at the wrist, making it very specific. I didn't try getting him to cross his arms, but I bet he'd look pretty good with the left fist cupped in the right hand...

He also includes a second head sculpt with the visor open. The underlying portrait is a reasonable amalgamation of various Tony's, but has other issues - more on that in the next category.

Finally, there's the pretty but deadly Hellcat. The overall ML female body sculpt works fine here, but once again there's not a lot of detail to her costume. She has a gripping right hand and a 'cat claw' left, along with the ever popular waist sash.

While she might be pretty basic from the neck down, the hair and face sculpt are very pretty.The cowl looks great, and the hair has a soft feel, slightly more pliable than we've seen with most ML Ladies. Her lips are a little too large, but part of that is due to the paint - again, more on that very soon. She stands fine on her own, at about 6 1/4" tall.

Paint - Hulk ***1/2; Hellcat ***; Iron Man **1/2
The paint work varies quite a bit with these three, especially on the faces.

Hulk is easily the best of the bunch. The hair, eyes and teeth look good, and even the eyebrows match up with the sculpted ridges well. In the photos you'll notice a difference in the color between his chest and arms - that's a weird thing with green under bright lights. Different types of plastic can have different properties when it comes to reflecting light, and that's what you're seeing here.  The harder, denser plastic of the torso reflects the bright light differently than the softer plastic on the arms. This phenomenon seems to effect green the most. In person and under normal lighting, this is much less obvious. You'll still see a difference if you are looking for it, but it's not as noticeable as it is in photos.

The work on Iron Man's armor is decent, and would net him another half star if not for the extra head sculpt.  The golds and reds look good, and the colors are generally even and consistent. There's a little slop here and there, particularly at some of the more difficult edges, but the work on the suit is a solid B.

The eyes, eyebrows and facial hair on the open visor head are pretty atrocious. Clearly, the painter was drinking a little too much coffee that morning...this pulls his score down below the other two.

Hellcat is largely clean, but let's be honest. There's not a lot of paint detail on the costume to screw up. Most of the paint work is on the head, and it's solid work. As I mentioned earlier, the lipstick over emphasizes her lips and makes them look too large in macro photos, but in person they are a bit more reasonable. The work on the cowl, including the arched brows, is good, with clean lines and good separation.

Articulation - Hulk, Iron Man ***1/2; Hellcat ***
Marvel Legends figures are known for their articulation, but whether all those joints work well or not depends on how they are adapted to each character design.

With Hulk, it's largely a win.The ball neck is a bit too restricted, and a longer post would help, The ball shoulders, pin wrists, double pin elbows and knees, ball hips, and rocker chest joint all work extremely well. In fact, they work a little too well - you can get the rest of the figure into deep stances and fighting poses that the ankles simply can't allow. While there's some decent rocker movement in the feet, there's very little forward and backward mobility, making deeper knee and hip bends difficult. Still, with all those excellent joints above the ankles, you should be able to get plenty of great poses.

Likewise with Iron Man, who has slightly better ankles, but has some weirdness with the wrists. Because of the odd hand sculpts, the wrists (especially the left) are more restricted than usual.  However, the rest of the figure is highly mobile, and can take some very impressive poses.

Finally, there's Hellcat. As you'd expect, the long hair is restrictive, and the female base body isn't quite as poseable at the hips or elbows. The proportions are always a bit wonky too, but she'll fit in with the rest of the series nicely, and she can stand great on her own in most basic stances.

Accessories - Iron Man ***1/2; Hellcat ***; Hulk **1/2
Figures that only come with a BAF piece always get **1/2 - that's the case here with Hulk. He comes with an arm for Thanos, not exactly an exciting extra, but pretty critical if you plan on putting together the big bad.

Hellcat and Iron Man each include one more extra. Hellcat has her baton, which can be used as a single piece, or detached at the middle and used as two smaller sticks.  The latter is a bit tough to pull off though, since her left hand sculpt isn't designed to hold a weapon.

Iron Man has the second head with the visor open. I'm a big fan of additional head sculpts, so there's no surprise that this boosts his score in this category. The heads swap easily, and add quite a bit to the display potential.

A special note on the BAF pieces: while there are six unique characters in this wave, only 5 are necessary to build Thanos. Both Spider-woman and Hellcat come with the exact same arm and head piece for him, which is a bit of a disappointment. With the Allfather, we got different versions of the same parts to give him a different look - something like that would have been nice here as well.

Fun Factor - ****
With terrific articulation, great sculpts and reasonable paint work, these figures put most other Marvel 'action figures' to shame. They are sturdy enough to survive the sandbox, yet good looking enough to hang out on the collector shelf. These are exactly the sort of figures that you're kids will remember fondly when they're long past playing with their toys.

Value - **1/2
The going rate for 'collector' action figures, both at mass market and with online specialty shops, is right around $20. That's what you'll spend on these, although if you watch for sales and bargains, you can save a few bucks. I noticed that Target had them marked down a couple bucks just this week, and if you pick up all six, that can make a healthy difference.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not much. Obviously, if you're picking them out on the shelf you'll want to go for the best looking paint, especially with Tony's extra head, and if any of the joints are stuck, be sure to take some time freeing them up. Otherwise, you should be good to go!

Overall - Hulk ***1/2; Iron Man, Hellcat ***
Most of my interest in this wave was with the Hulk (I always love a good Hulk figure), Bat-roc (how often are we going to get a figure of him?), and the BAF, Thanos. But the work on Hellcat and Iron Man made them worth the pick-up, as well as Spider-woman and Captain America. You can never have too many Avengers, comic book or movie.

And have no fear, I'll be finishing up both the Thanos and Hobgoblin waves shortly, and then I'll be doing a single review covering the three BAF's themselves.

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

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth has the set for $160, and the singles for $18.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Other recent Marvel Legends waves include 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.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, because I've reviewed dozens of past Marvel Legends figures and BAF's over the years, and you can find them all by either doing a key word search or checking through the Superhero Reviews page.

Discussion:
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