Stryfe (Marvel Legends)

Marvel Legends Stryfe

There are two interesting facts I learned about Stryfe today. One- he carries a weapon called a toothpick... I mean- a sword, and two- he got nipples showing off his armour. While it's probably not a major deal that he comes with a sword (which I doubt he ever used one) that is not in-scale to his size, the inverted nipples (and there are four of them over his chest) are just the oddest and funniest things to see. My guess is that Hasbro wanted it to look like Stryfe's "energy ports" like Iron Man's arc reactor but with poor sculpting, it appeared nipple-like! Nail file to the rescue!














Stryfe is part of the Marvel Legends X-Men Jubilee Build-A-Figure Wave along with Cyclops, Storm, Magneto and the Unmasked Wolverine, and carries Jubilee's head and blast effects. And like Sabretooth and Gladiator, he is a "machismo" with the Luke Cage body mold. Despite being not 100% impressed with this body mold, there are a few characters in the Marvel universe that might fit to this type of physique, and having it on Stryfe is not that bad except that he looked almost like a muscle builder.

But thanks to that body armour he's wearing, those bulky arms and feet are a bit hidden. The addition of spikes on top of his shoulders and thighs, and fins behind his legs made him gorgeously intimidating like a knight from the future. The sculpt on his headdress is done symmetrically and by the looks of it, it seemed that it would hinder his head articulation but it's completely not getting its way. The one thing that bothered me is his cape- it got this wave forming like an "S"... which appear nice from the back but once you view Stryfe at the frontside, that S-cape kind of make him look ridiculously awkward.

The cape with its nice texturing is glued at the back of his chest armour and from what I heard, you can actually take the cape off by also taking off the armour. It's interesting how the parts are being assembled all together. The only parts that are not glued are his armbands and his epic loin cloth which you can spin around and are made of a soft plastic material. Stryfe only has one accessory and that is his sword which to me, looked really cheap and hungry for some paint work.

Speaking of paint work, the combination of gunmetal gray and ash gray made this figure a real stunner! The gunmetal paint over his flesh got that shiny reflective finish while the ash gray paint over his armour has that slight gloss in it but not as shiny as the other one. As for those four (4) nipple-like energy ports, maybe it would have been nicer if Hasbro applied the middle with white paint and dark gray paint at its indented border. The rest of the paint work is, otherwise well done.

Articulation-wise, he is as poseable as the Marvel Legends Luke Cage, but some of the movements are hindered by the bulk of his armour like for example, his shoulders. The figure fails to meet its potential because of this reason. Stryfe has rotation to the biceps, double-joints to the elbows, rotation at the wrists as well as hinges. He got the ab crunch with movements being limited by his stiff cape but has a fully functional waist rotation. He has T-joints, rotation at the upper thighs, double-joints at the knees, ankle rockers with the hinges. Sadly, no mid-calf rotation on this one.

Overall, I'm not too impressed nor too disappointed with this figure. Hasbro could have added maybe 20% more paint work that could enhance the details. He stands at about 7.4 inches tall and I got no problem having the Luke Cage body mold being used here, however, they could at least get the sculpt right and I'm not gonna say this again. Being the first Stryfe figure we have on a 6-inch scale, this Marvel Legends figure may be a good one to have (I guess) for your collection of X-Men villains but like the ML Magneto, he's not perfect and he's something that Hasbro would consider learning from.

Storm - Marvel Now (Marvel Legends)

While I think having that mohawk style of haircut looked pretty badass, this version of Storm is not totally my best favourite. If you want to know which version I like then check out the Marvel Select Storm. But in the meantime, let's take a look at this Toys R Us Exclusive Marvel Legends Storm. Others like the new "Marvel Now-look" while some don't, her new outfit shouldn't affect your judgement on the action figure. The rendition is accurate and she probably is the best figure in this Series. But like the Marvel Legends Marvel Now Cyclops (also from this Series), I'm not really interested about this figure when she first got revealed.

The only thing that got me interested about is that cloth! It's hard to come by such material on an action figure like Marvel Legends. Storm's signature fashion has always been the cape with two pointy tips attached to her arms so resorting to cloth (instead of a pliable plastic) is a good choice to support poseability. However, there's a drawback to it- cloths get wrinkled and turn ugly overtime... not unless you have a miniature flat iron to keep it neat. And even if we have one, it's not gonna be easy to fix her cape the fact that it is fastened between her diaphragm with the two branching ends attached to those bangles around her arms. It's irremovable.

Also, giving her the Medusa body mold is another good choice. The hands appears to be the same with the Marvel Legends Medusa! Furthermore, that mohawk is a head-turner because of the way it's sculpted. With all that nice detail on her hair- looking realistic, it's hard to believe this is a Marvel Legends figure. And like Medusa and Emma Frost, she wears high heels which results to being unstable at standing.

Paint-wise, again- it's her mohawk that is showing a lot of details. Marvel Legends being not that really good at paint jobs, this figure made me liked to beg Hasbro to keep doing it. The dry brushing of gray colours on her hair is well executed. Looking at the rest of the paint job, I see no issues. No sort of seepages between the colours. Overall, it's clean and well painted.

When you have a figure that can't stand, it is hard to pull some dynamic poses even with hinges and rockers in her ankles. Like the Medusa action figure, her head is on a ball-peg that moves and rotates and angle but slightly hindered by her hair. No bicep rotation but Storm has rotation at the elbows and wrists, plus hinges on the shoulders, elbows and wrists. She got diaphragm swivel which I believe is ball-pegged because how it allows her to lean side to side. She got this T-jointed hips, rotation at the upper thigh and double-jointed knees which I truly love.

What really matters when you purchase this version of a Marvel Legends Storm is your fondness to the Marvel Now characters and/or the modern looks. She may not appease your taste for those classy generic superhero features but the quality of the action figure may satisfy you. That being said, she is a must-have figure. And of course if you want to complete your Jubilee Build-A-Figure, you need to grab Storm because she holds Jubilee's torso and feet.

Cyclops - Marvel Now (Marvel Legends)

Marvel Legends NOW Cyclops

Cyclops is one of my favourite X-men superheroes and I might just consider myself a fan. When you're a fan, you'll definitely see all the changes they made on the character especially the suits! And I hate to say that this is the worst change they made on a Cyclops... or maybe I'm still not used to of looking at his new Marvel Now outfit. What's interesting for me is that big red "X" thing covering the center of his face... where are his eyes now?! With this, I think it would make a lot of sense that he wears his classic battle visor.















The Marvel Now Cyclops is part of the Jubilee Build-A-Figure Wave and he holds Jubilee's right arm. Being a Toys R Us exclusive, you can't find him at any retailers but in those stores. But since I'm not much of a fan with this Marvel Now version, so I wasn't really that crazy looking for this dude.

Like the Marvel Legends Astonishing Cyclops, the amount of articulation is entirely the same. The head is on a ball-peg which allows some good range of motion. His arms has ball-hinged shoulders, rotation at the biceps and wrists (with the hinges) and double-jointed elbows. He has an ab crunch plus a waist swivel at the torso. He got T-jointed hips, double-jointed knees, mid-calf rotation, hinged ankles with the ankle rockers.

Paint job is really plain and simple- you got this entire figure covered in black with some strips of red colours painted over it. The likeness to the character is accurate however, there is just lack of paint shading over that utility belt. The flesh colours on his face seem to seep in to his "visor"... or whatever you call it now. It is not done perfectly.

This body mold shouldn't be a stranger to you now. I'm not saying that the Bucky Cap or the Black Panther body mold is a poor choice, it is the only choice for a Marvel Legends Cyclops. The only differences you'll see when you compare him with the Astonishing version is (first) the added utility belt, (second) the face sculpt, obviously and (third) are the hands. Notice that the hands are both on closed fists instead of having the one hand doing the "Jean Grey pleasure pose"; that's one of the reasons why I like the Astonishing Cyclops better.

This action figure is greatly recommendable to a Cyclops collector or to someone who's planning to build a team of Marvel Now X-men figures. I believe this is the 4th time Hasbro gave us a 6-inch scale Cyclops, and if you're not a fan of this outfit or if you're someone like me who is yearning for a new Rogue, a new Gambit or a White Phoenix figure from Hasbro Marvel Legends then you definitely won't be happy and excited to see this.

Magneto (Marvel Legends)

Marvel Legends Magneto

As the Halloween vibe slowly fades and closets begin to hide costumes that may not be recycled for next year's trick or treat, Magi is still in the mood to give us one more fright! A fright that would drive us insane... this time in the form of poor sculpting and articulation. Announced 4 months ago, Magneto is part of the X-men Infinite Series Jubilee Build-A-Figure Wave along with other X-men characters in this Toys R Us Exclusive. I was quite excited- Marvel Legends having a second shot at this Magneto with Hasbro, and was hoping it would rectify the mistakes done by Toy Biz. But to my dismay, it didn't and I just can't control my head from shaking every time I see this... total murder and debauchery of an iconic X-men character.













Let me get us straight to the point- the face sculpt is horrendous! He got this huge gap between his eyes, too big of a nose and swollen chin to the point where he looked as though someone drove a battering ram to his face. The face sculpt captured no resemblance at all to the character. Magneto's cape is too long that it's almost hitting the ground, and... oh that feet looks abnormally huge! And having the Ultimate Captain America body mold (which is not my favourite by the way) is just adding insult to the injury. As you can see, this body mold has a depressed stomach that looks unnatural and strange. Everything just looked terribly strange with this Magneto! The only good thing about him is the sculpt on his pliable cape that's done nicely.

Paint-wise, I honestly don't have complains about it. The choice and application of colours is accurate. No paint defects or anything that would look like it's being painted by the same person who did the sculpt.

Magneto's cape of great lengths is detachable/re-attachable and what's also nice about it is that it's being supported by a peg; making it more stable and it doesn't move whenever you try to lean him in an angle while doing a flying pose.

The main reason why this body mold is not my favourite it's because of the articulation it cradles. Just like Ultimate Captain America, Magneto doesn't have hinges to bend the wrists. His hips are on hinged ball-joints which is not as good as the T-joints. He has waist rotation but, of course its movement is limited due to his wide belt. He got an ab crunch and ball-hinged shoulders that are limited due to that cape. Elbows and knees are double-jointed and that gigantamonious feet have hinges plus ankle rockers.

It's sad to know that Hasbro didn't quite learn the mistakes with the first Magneto we had from Toy Biz. In fact, this new Marvel Legends Magneto is really not an improvement from the previous. Hasbro's version of the Classic Magneto also has it's own version hideousity. This figure is an absolute letdown in which a recommendation is not needed. You may buy and get him just to fill that roster of X-men action figures but keeping would be a big no!

Zombie Magneto (Marvel Select)

Marvel Select Zombie Magneto

Witness Magneto in his finest role in comic book history. A role that took him guts! -a zombie! Well... swallowing a pumpkin bomb and blowing it up inside his own gut may also look like one gutsy move but nothing like being a flesh-eating zombie could have prepared Magneto and his beloved fans from this. An alternate universe that got comic book readers shocked, the Marvel Zombies series is a story about all our favourite superheroes turning into undead locos. Being in a world filled with super-powered zombies is one scary shit, and being human-kabobed with a steel pipe by this "monster of magnetism" is a lot scarier.














And our poor Green Goblin gets a taste of what it's like to be chewed like a candy on Halloween. He seemed to be hanging onto his toy for that one last bite but our ghoulish friend here learned that spicy pumpkin bomb- no good for stomach. Zombie Magneto comes with this base stand strewn with a lot of dark paint shading and wash that looked so much like downtown on a rainy day. Unlike most Marvel Select base stands, this one doesn't have pegs to support with "standing", but I guess it's alright as long as his feet are steady. What's interesting though is that his soles got peg holes and it's useless when you got no pegs to attach it to.

Upon removing his infamous helmet, Zombie Magneto's face/head strongly reminds me of Evil Ash at the final fight scene (where his face turned into a complete skeleton). There is not a speck of feature that would tell you that it's him... or a reminiscent of him! Only by putting that helmet on would you be able to get a positive ID.

But Diamond Select did a great job with his head sculpt; with the one eyeball missing and the jaw hanging. And like that decomposed face of his, there's also a complete absence of skin and muscles found to his left knee. I like how the joint on that knee blended and become part of the bone. And everything just looked bad and beat up; being ugly never looked this good! The way those wounds, bite marks, and that blown up belly and torn cape are sculpted made him remarkably badass!

The choice of colours are perfect. The application of dirty white mixing with brown shading to his skull and knee... and those vertebrae inside his gut mimics the true feature of a bone. As far as those wounds and skin tears goes, it looked as if they are the same colour as his suit but they are actually a more darker type of red with an added shading to it. And of course, we have the classic red and purple colour scheme of the great Magneto.

The articulation on this figure is as zombified as the way he looked. There is no rotation at the waist nor at biceps nor at the thighs! This may disappoint people who are particular with articulation and poseability, but, I mean, what kind of dynamic pose would you want from a zombie? ...the splits? Surprisingly, we got ankle rockers from Zombie Magneto that we normally don't get from Select figures. The head can only rotate and lean forward and to the sides. He got ball-hinged shoulders, single-joints at the elbows and rotation at the wrists. He got a Y-jointed hip, double-jointed knees, and ankles that can move up and down.

The Marvel Select Zombie Magneto is typically your "staction figure" (statue+action figure) that prides itself on details with less articulation. It is an action figure that could satisfy the eyes of both fans of superheroes and zombies, and especially those who have read and loved the Marvel Zombies books. For collectors, this is an awesome figure that is highly recommended.

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.

Gladiator (Marvel Legends: SDCC Exclusive)

Finally, a superhero made for this body mold! After months of contemplating about this latest male sculpt and design for Marvel Legends figures, I finally get to appreciate it through the SDCC Exclusive Gladiator. Knowing Gladiator's physique, the definition and mass of its muscles are just right for this warrior from space. He is part of the Thanos Imperative boxset along with Star-Lord, Black Bolt, Medusa and Blastaar (which I'm going to review next), and out of these five figures, Gladiator is my most favourite and that's definitely something to do with the way he is rendered.

Marvel Legends Gladiator (SDCC Exclusive)

His one and only accessory is his removable cape which is made with this soft plastic material. I absolutely liked how it is sculpted; it has these folds going from top to bottom looking more realistic as it rests secure on his shoulders... thanks to that peg underneath his cape which plugs right unto Gladiator's back. Moreover, the cape doesn't impede with any movement on the neck or the shoulders- so a round of applause for that well executed design!

Clearly, you'd notice that this is the ML Luke Cage body mold (another SDCC Exclusive) or some call it the Hyperion body mold that Hasbro is using. This is the type of body mold where medium built yet muscle-bound characters are meant for. It got upsized pecs and thigh muscles but not rivalling that of Hulk's. Gladiator has a perfectly well-done head sculpt; it's the exact face you'd see in the comics with his signature mohawk hairstyle and his pointy elf-like ears!

The paint application is pretty decent. Some have complained about how the colour shadings are sloppily done, but it is not that noticeable. Again accurately basing it from the comics, he got that red, blue and bronze-like colour scheme, and an emblem that is perfectly marked and positioned despite all that rippling on his chest. I also noticed that the blue colours are smooth and glossy unlike the rest which are just matte-finished. They did a good job of adding some blue/purple shading at the top of his mohawk to prevent it from looking like a solid slab glued on his head.

With that broad chest, Hasbro could have added an armpit/shoulder blade joint but hopefully we'll see that in the future. Basically, it's the same type and amount of joints we've seen from Cage. Gladiator's head is on a ball-peg that allows it to aim at almost any angle. He has hinged-shoulders, rotation at the biceps, double-jointed elbows, and the wrists have hinges as well as they rotate. He has an ab crunch useful for that "flying pose" and waist swivel. He has T-jointed that allows him to kick and do the splits. His legs has rotation at the upper thighs and ankles, double-joints at the knees and ankle rockers for that awesome superheroic pose!

Adding up that hair, Gladiator stands at about 7.3 inches tall- definitely a much taller figure compared to Luke Cage or any of the Legends figures with this type of body mold. Every time I see this body mold, it just make wish Hasbro could remake Drax the Destroyer by using it but that's just a suggestion I would like to see happen. This SDCC Exclusive action figure deserves recommendations not only because of the amount of articulation he has but also his overall feature. This is one of the "feel-so-right" figures in my collection.