Toy Biz’s Marvel Legends toys have been setting the industry standards for sculpting and articulation for a number of years now. This ninth wave, however, represents a tremendous leap forward in quality control and introduces an exciting new gimmick: pack-in figure pieces that, when assembled, can create a bonus 16′ figure of Galactus!
Before we get into the individual reviews, this assortment holds a special achievement. Something that’s immediately noticeable on just looking at this entire assortment of figures in the store is the amazing consistency in the quality of the paint applications. All look clean and virtually flawless. No paint washes or airbrushing is over done. With this achievement, Toy Biz has overcome one of their greatest problems.
First Appearance Grey Hulk was my most anticipated figure for this wave. I’m a huge mark for figures patterned after particular artist’s styles, and this figure does a fantastic job bringing the unique look of the King of Comics, Jack Kirby to life. It just looks amazing-from the extra-wide body, to the heavy bow to the huge hands, this figure is a great expression of Kirby’s power and dynamism. That said, he does have a few flaws. The Hulk’s articulation is fairly limited by Marvel Legend’s standards. Many of his 34 joints have a limited range of motion. Notably absent is the standard double-jointed elbows. Still, a tremendous amount of thought went into this figure.
Dr. Strange, Marvel’s sorcerer supreme hasn’t had many action figures, even though he’s been around since the 60’s. With 35 points of articulation, this is certainly the best. Strange includes a highly flexible cloak with a great sculpt, which is why his biggest flaw is such a surprise. The Doc’s tunic is way over-wrinkled.
I’m not sure what they were going for here-but it’s not a very realistic portrayal of cloth. It should also be noted that his “skirt” is not as flexible as his cape, and has no cuts in it, thus limiting his hip articulation. Still, a strong figure overall.
The founder of the X-Men, Professor Charles Xavier, is hardly the most “toyetic” character in Marvel’s stable, so Toy Biz deserves a tremendous amount of credit for producing this guy. Surprisingly, Chuck ends up being a very fun toy for a bald guy in a wheelchair. He’s got 33 points of articulation making for a pretty playable figure. The included wheelchair is a modified version of one from the Movie figure. Still, it works well enough. The wheels roll well and it sits very stably. The Prof’s other accessory is a Cerebro helmet which is sharp looking, but a very tight fit, so be careful you don’t leave any paint rubs while removing it.
Thinking about the X-man Nightcrawler makes me realize he’s had pretty good luck with the transition to toy form. He’s had, what, maybe four figures? (X-Men series 1, Light Up, Water Wars and Famous Covers – holler at me if my mid-twenties memory is fading.) All have been surprisingly good. This Nightcrawler is on the upper end of quality as well. The range of motion on each of his 41 joints is superb. Deserving special mention are his individually articulated fingers, dual-hinged front toes, hinged heel-toes and bendy tail. His ankles have also been given special consideration, allow his stance to be much wider and still amazingly stable. The paint is clean and well-applied, which is surprising when you consider how difficult white paint can be. Anyway, the only thing off about this guy is his lantern jaw. It’s not a bad headsculpt, just not exactly how I pictured the character. Also, every other version of Nightcrawler has come with a swashbucklin’ sword and I kind of miss it here.
Daredevil’s deadly villain, Bullseye is sort of the odd man out in this wave. Toy Biz has made an excellent figure here, no doubt. With 44 points of articulation, including individually articulated fingers, this guy’s a lot of fun. However he seems to have had a problem somewhere along in the manufacturing process. Though his head’s a great sculpt, it’s unmistakably too large. It’s not a deal breaker, and neither is his other problem, his total lack of accessories. For a world class assassin, Bullseye didn’t come very prepared. Perhaps a knife and sheath and maybe a pistol could have been shoved in the tray alongside him.
The Cyborg Deathlok is an intriguing character design, but unfortunately ends up being the weakest link in wave 9. His 39 points of articulation (on my sample at least) are almost entirely loose and floppy – bizzare when the rest of this wave is pretty tight overall. Deathy’s gun is a poor fit for his hand, even with a peg to hold it in place. The head’s a great sculpt, though.
War Machine is yet another reuse of the Iron Man mold from Marvel Legends series one, and it’s showing it’s age. To date, there have been six figures made utilizing this mold as a base and Toy Biz’s designers have made a lot of progress in engineering the joints since then. While a lot of good ideas went into War Machine, the execution just feels a little clumsy. His mask fits on snugly, but the face is sculpted far too wide leaving the mask stretched and incorrectly shaped. The rubberized parts glued over the base mold are crooked on mine, and ill-fitting in places. The included clear “flight” stand can’t actually suspend the figure in mid-air-he’s too heavy. I love the idea of all the snap-on fireblasts, but they don’t stay on spectacularly well.
Everybody’s been really waiting for what I think of the big guy though. Well, I can report that he’s AWESOME! Toy Biz could’ve easily gotten away with a barely articulated statue as a pack-in, yet they went the extra mile and gave this guy around 30 pts. The metallic blue paint is beautiful and crisp. Although he’s not exactly in proper scale at 16′ he’s still a big sucker, and could be buckled in a child seat in the back of you car for amusing looks from passers by. I imagine most Marvel zombies would pay the roughly 60-70 bucks retail cost for Galactus alone, but to get him free with the purchase of seven largely great figures . . . forgettaboudit!
In the past, you could find fault with the paint applications, joint stiffness (or lack thereof), character shortpacks or any number of other things with a lot of Toy Biz’s work. Wave 9 has a marked upgrade in quality, fairly even casepacks (I’ve probably seen at least three full sets on the shelf, and the release isn’t even wide yet) and there’s a fantastic incentive to purchase the whole assortment. Jesse Falcon and the rest of the Toy Biz crew have proven that they really listen to the fans, and are willing to make their product the best it can be. For seven-ten bucks, the value can’t be beat. Mad props to TB.
Toy Biz’s Marvel Legends figures can be found at a Toys R Us, KB Toys or Target near you. Online options include bigbadtoystore.com and cornerstorecomics.com.