Monday 27 October 2014

Blastaar (Marvel Legends: SDCC Exclusive)

Marvel Legends Blastaar (SDCC Exclusive)
If you're not yet familiar with the Thanos Imperative Series boxset, the Marvel Legends Blastaar might get you to believe he's a Build-A-Figure. The reason why I said that it's because he's big and stands at about 8.5 inches tall, and possesses the body mold of the Ultimate Green Goblin BAF, but no! This action figure came as it is like what you're looking at right now. Moreover, he is the main attraction and the only supervillain in this boxset; hidden inside the mouth of the Galactus Engine in which you can view Blastaar by sliding it up and open. It's a pretty fancy packaging that deserves a place at SDCC but the action figure... umm, may not be the kind you expect from such a huge event.













Honestly, my impression of this figure is a bit of a mixed bag; leaning more towards the negative. I see no issue with Hasbro reusing the Ultimate Green Goblin or the Avengers Movie Hulk body mold, I mean... it still applies to Blastaar without making him look odd. My concern is that they could have at least tweaked his pants to make it look more like a "space suit-pants" than a pair of jeans. What's funny though not obvious, is that you can still see the back pockets... with the needle works! Looks like this alien race finally got a hold of our precious Levi's!


This SDCC Exclusive does not come with any accessories but towers over the rest of the figures that comes in this boxset. Now if I have to rate and rank all five of these figures, Gladiator takes the top spot then Star-Lord at 2nd place. Medusa sits at 3rd followed by Blastaar and last and my least favourite, Black Bolt. I just feel like there has to be something more they could do on the Marvel Legends Blastaar to make him look more impressive.


If we look at the overall paint job, there are a few areas that needed to be fixed. I like how Blastaar's bracers, belt, kneepads and shoes appeared to be worn out, and I like how they applied a generous amount of black wash over that furry-looking hair. However, there are no shading or any paint variation in any other parts. Blastaar doesn't seem to have fingernails! And I believe that those hair-like features over his chest would also look nice around his back- he needs to look like a man-beast or a big alien ape-dude, you know!


Speaking of which, the head and face sculpt is spot on! Blastaar has this beautiful angry look over his face and his hair is nicely and realistically combed- this is probably the selling point for this figure! The definition of his muscles is outstanding and if you like the sculpting on the Avengers Movie Hulk then you'll definitely like this one. The sculpt on this figure is not bad at all, even the look on his bracers, belt, kneepads and shoes don't seem ugly. One thing I don't like is his hollow feet and I don't understand why Hasbro can't just give him some nice looking treads at the sole of his feet!


The articulation on this figure looked a lot the same with our Ultimate Green Goblin. There's no rotation at the waistline; just the diaphragm swivel making up for it. With his thick furry-looking hair, it doesn't take a genius to figure out if that head is poseable. Blastaar's arms got hinged shoulders, bicep swivels, double-jointed elbows that bends at a certain limit because of those bracers, and hinged wrists that can rotate. He got ball-hinged hips, rotation at the upper thighs and double-jointed knees. The ankles can bend forward and back plus pivot towards the sides.


With some good features and some bad one, I guess the main reason why you should get the Marvel Legends Blastaar is his size and well-rendered facial features. He doesn't look bad once he's on a display platform while you're just looking at him from a meter far. But if you're into figures with nice paint work and sculpt, then you're looking at the wrong figure and, in general, the wrong toyline. Hasbro Marvel Legends doesn't really excel in that department. In conclusion, I think this Blastaar figure is the best Blastaar figure out there for now.


2 comments:

  1. Yes, the only reasons I like about him will be his head sculpt and size. The rest are just grabbed parts from other figures to make up his body especially the pair of jeans he is wearing. Maybe he drop to earth wearing nothing and grab a pair of jeans from a hulky passer-by. Like what terminator did!

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    1. Haha, that's actually a good way of explaining why he's wearing those jeans.

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