Thursday 13 March 2014

Baron Zemo (Marvel Legends)

Marvel Legends Baron Zemo
The character of the Modern Baron Zemo always strikes me as someone similar to DC's Deathstroke but more reserved; using most of his cunning intellect. Still, his ability to use both a gun and a sword makes him more dangerous than someone like the Red Skull. I first got introduced to this character way before I knew about the Winter Soldier and thought he is Cap's ultimate adversary. Hopefully, we'll see him soon enough in probably Captain America 3 or 4 or whatever. I am pleased that Hasbro Marvel Legends decided to create a much improved look of Baron Zemo from the recent comics. This figure surpassed the Classic Baron Zemo from the Mojo BAF Series by capturing a more accurate face sculpt and utilizing the Bucky Cap or the Black Panther body mold.












And so... again with this body mold! There is nothing out of normal other than his gloves and boots which are taken from the ML U.S. Agent. Zemo may look a little heftier than the usual because of that belt and holsters but the size of his body is the same as with our Black Panther. The head is sculpted perfectly with the lines actually grooved and painted along his face with the headgear sculpted over it.


Now for the paint work- the three dominant colours are violet, yellow and magenta with the violet having a darker tone (which I like); covering almost 3/4 of his body. The area across his chest where the violet and the magenta meet are perfectly divided without any bleeds while the paint on his headgear look rather gold-like than a yellow. The only issue I have however are his arms near to the cuffs. I feel like Hasbro forgot to cover this area and didn't bother fixing it, but it is not a deal breaker. Overall, the paint work is fantastic.


Before I get into Zemo's weapons, I would like to talk about the accessories he is wearing. Again, we see some great amount of sculpt but less paint detail here- this time it's on the belt, loin cloth, and the straps and holsters (with the "Z") around his shoulders. The guns are actually glued or molded into the holsters, which give us that illusion that he got two extra guns and I think this is just lame! Hasbro could have at least gave us some storage for his gun but what he got is only for his sword.


Now for the weapons, Zemo has his nice looking "knight's sword" (I think that's what it looks like) and this cheetah-inspired pistol which I believe shows his fondness for swordplay and exotic items. They could have used a much simpler or more generic looking pistol but I guess this paint work or design is fine. My only complain though is the location of the sheath for his sword. I wish it's placed on his back- near his shoulder and not at the hip where keeping the sword there could limit the articulation.


Perhaps the only way to maximize the articulation on his abs and hips is to remove the sword. I've been posting a lot of Marvel Legends figures with this type of body mold and so I'd assume the articulation should already be familiar to you. His head can rotate and aim at almost every angle. Zemo got double-jointed elbows that are hindered by these wide cuffs covering the forearm. At the hips and legs, he got the T-joint, rotation to the upper-thighs, double-jointed knees, hinges to the ankles with the ankle pivot.


The Modern Baron Zemo stands about the same height as your Marvel Now Captain America which also came from this series. With a much better look, I highly recommend the Hasbro version over the Toy Biz one. A Classic variant Baron Zemo may be a good thing to have but I'm all fine with just one.


2 comments:

  1. Love Baron Zemo.He has one of the nicer color schemes of all the Marvel villains.He reminds me a lot of Cobra Commander,especially when he's wearing a hood.

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    1. The hooded Baron Zemo does have some likeness to Cobra Commander. In fact, this dude can instantly become part of the G.I.Joe Universe.

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