I’m still a sucker for Marvel Legends. It’s a human fault or error, birth defect something, but I love them. I have to admit that over the past few years my interest in Legends and DCUC for that matter has waned. The draw to 4inch figures and picking up and customizing MOTU 200x figures seems to have captured my attention span more.
Not too long ago I got fwoosh and froosh member long_road to hook me up with a complete set of the Hasbro Marvel Legends Nemesis wave. I love ’em. But it’s a different love than I used to have with Marvel Legends when the license was under the guidance of Marvel and ToyBiz. I have to admit there is a “je ne sais pas” about Marvel’s time with Legends. I recently picked up the rest of Legendary Comic Book Heroes (review or something down the line) and they really pop. Hasbro’s Marvel Legends don’t pop like Toy Biz’s, but they are still decent solid toys and there is a fun factor in them. After I got to turn these over in my hands a bit and play with them I figured it was time for a quick review with photos.
One basic flaw one will find in Hasbro Marvel Legends is the lack or simplicity of the paint apps. It’s been mentioned before and until we die, but Hasbro is not spending the effort that Toy Biz spent on paint applications. So just take this as a criticism for each figure in the wave.
Nemesis
As a BAF this is an almost exceptional figure. Once built the overall figure is a joy. You’ll find it peppered with the has-knees and has-bros, but they work exceptionally well. I was quite impressed with the addition of bicep swivel, I like a bicep swivel. The abs are fantastic, one gets excellent movement from the joint almost forgiving the move from the ab-crunch to the ball and socket ab.
I love the sculpt of the figure, not certain which artist it invokes more for me, Joe Madureira or Steve Skroce but whichever it’s good.
The head sculpt is fantastic, it’s a red molten looking skull. And it has a hinged neck joint. And looks evil. E-V-I-L.
The head however is encased in a brittle clear plastic covering that is well, brittle. It takes the fun factor out of the figure as I’m constantly afraid the helmet hinges are going to break.
Daredevil (Red + Yellow)
Outside of a slightly undersized head, this Daredevil is the best DD to date. I’m in love with it. Love. Articulation wise DD is almost a complete throwback to the Toy Biz days, except there is no side to side ankle joint, and the hands have no articulation. Minor quibbles when the rest of the articulation is there in full force, double elbows and double knees.
From a sculpt standpoint I love the figure, it’s a very basic humanoid, not too big not too small and the joints and sculpt are well organized so as to avoid shoulders that are too wide and need to have the Grownnerd shoulder surgery.
I have to mention the feet, DD has good feet, perfectly sized, not too big, well shaped, and easy to pose with.
Tigra
I have a love hate for Tigra. Part of it is character, I was never into the character and the other is the execution of the figure.
As a figure she has a fantastic sculpt, Hasbro has done a pretty decent job with the female figures up until now. This figure may have one of the best female midriffs ever, beautiful abs. The arms are on the long side, I guess maybe it gives her that feline look.
But she suffers from poorly executed articulation. She has the has-bros and has-knees and they really don’t work all that well. At most she gets a 90 bend leaving it impossible to get her into good action poses. I’m also not a big fan of the lack of the ball jointed hip with the thigh swivel at the joint. While Tigra has the ball hip there is no swivel which means that the musculature turns in unnatural ways when you pose her. The neck joint is also weak, her head just doesn’t have the posability needed for a cat chick.
Beast
Probably the weakest figure in the bunch.
1. I’m not a fan of cat beast and I am not a fan of the costume. It’s really… strange.
2. The articulation sucks.
From a sculpt standpoint this figure has some potential and of all the figures in the bunch Beast would really benefit from some serious paint to make the sculpt pop. Therefore this figure easily is thrown into the bin list.
The articulation on this figure is a problem. While it employs the has-bros and it does not employ the has-knees, making any decent action posing impossible. See Beast comes with the afore mentioned (Tigra) incorporated thigh/ball hip unit, BUT has double jointed knees. I’m not certain what the story was behind this but like Doc Sampson the only decent posing one can achieve is vanilla “I’m a billy bad ass on your shelf” poses. Anything like sitting or squattin results in… strangeness.
Black Bolt
BB was to be everyone’s favorite figure. Finally Blackbolt. INHUMANS!
But it’s not to be. The sculpt is vanilla but not terrible. It’s 2 clicks shy of being a decent buck figure, much in the way that the DD figure is a decent buck for Hasbro. But it suffers from the has-thigh that I loathe (mentioned in Beast and Tigra) and has… short arms. I don’t know what is up with the arms, it might start at the shoulder but there is an execution that doesn’t work here. The shoulders don’t have that wide “I’m a superhero” look and the arms just seem short. The hands are short and while the feet look good they are tad on the small side for a Billy Bad Ass character of the Marvel Universe.
Black Bolt is not a terrible figure, but it is lacking pop.
Nova
Nova is a solid rehashing of the Quicksilver (used to be Bullseye) bas figure. I don’t have much to say since this figure is more about getting Nova into the ML portfolio than anything else.
I do think that it is time to retire the buck, I don’t like it and I think that Hasbro has a better buck in DD. For whatever reason the Quicksilver buck is not as tight as Bullseye and I can’t stand the feet and hands that they employ in the sculpt. The feet are huge and the hands are small.
But we have Nova in ML!
Punisher (Bradstreet + Camo)
Finally Punisher. I LOVE THIS FIGURE! Yeah yeah he’s too tall, he’s all modern, blah blah blah. I love it, I love the sculpt, love articulation, love the fact that he fits with my MGS 1&2 figures and my Plan-B Special Forces figures. I am in love with this figure.
The only complaint that I have is that I wish he had double jointed elbows and swivel biceps, and hinged wrists for that extra umph in the poses. Minor faults specially when I can achieve most of the poses I want.
In summary I find the Nemesis wave a good buy. There are some faults with the articulation choices but otherwise this is a fun wave and the first Hasbro wave I’ve spent money on in a while. And it’s money well spent. Not to start getting caught up on past waves.
Make sure and watch the Unofficial Guide to the Marvel Action Figure Universe for updates!
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