Black Bolt can destroys worlds with his voice, so all I will say in this lead-in is, “…”
To say that I was excited when I learned that Hasbro would be giving us a shiny new version of Black Bolt at Comic Con this year would be an understatement. After the Fantastic Four, the Inhumans are my favorite Marvel Comics “team.” As fans and collectors, we have known for a long time that Hasbro’s first attempt at Black Bolt was pretty lackluster, and, apparently, the ‘bro thought so too. The only thing keeping me from downright elation was the fact that he is a part of the Thanos Imperative box set, which means that it is an exclusive, and Hasbro’s show exclusives can be a real bear to acquire, even if you are present at the event.
Luckily, with a little help from my friends, I was able to come away with my set, and since Pabs and I are splitting duty on covering all five figures, I had to be a jerk and claim both Inhumans. Now, I don’t have packaged pictures in this feature simply because I got a lot of swag at SDCC, and it is really hard to get all of that stuff crammed into a suitcase to come home. Plus, as fun as Hasbro show packaging can be, it is generally obnoxiously big, as was the case with this set.
Simply put, this Black Bolt figure is superior in just about every single way to the previous incarnation. The sculpt is better, the paint is better, the articulation is MUCH better, and all of those pieces come together to make a great Blackagar Boltagon. Now, his wings are the only thing that might be questionable to some, especially compared to the first release, but we will get to that in moment. If you have been collecting Marvel Legends for a while now, you should be familiar with the base body used for Black Bolt, but let’s take a quick rundown of the articulation.
Blackagar features right around 30 points of articulation:
- Ball head
- Hinge neck
- Ball shoulder (x2)
- Biceps swivel (x2)
- Double elbows (x2)
- Hinge wrists (x2)
- Swivel hands (x2)
- Abdominal crunch
- Twist waist
- Partial ball hips (x2)
- Swivel thighs (x2)
- Double knees (x2)
- Swivel shins (x2)
- Rocker ankles (x2)
The base body is (mostly) the same as the original use for the “Bucky” Captain America figure, and I think it fits this figure just fine. BB should be pretty built and powerful, and compared to the previous release, Black Bolt wears this frame well.
The paint on the figure is pretty much on-par with the recent Marvel Legends releases, so while it is not perfect, it is heaps better than standard Hasbro fare. Take, for example, the Star Wars Black Series line — those figures, especially the faces, are painted like 3¾ figures, and it just does not work. Fortunately, Marvel has done better, and, aside from a bit of overspray around the eyes, the paint is quite nice. I really like the shiny silver used on the tuning fork, wings, and outfit, even though I am certainly a bigger fan of the classic costume.
Now, the wings will be the only real hot topic when it comes to this figure. Instead of following suit with the previous Black Bolt, Hasbro decided to give us sculpted wings in lieu of the cloth. Now, for the look, I think these look much better, but since the wings are completely dependent on the movement of the arms, they do not function as well as the cloth. With his arms outstretched or directly at his sides, they look great; if you pose him in other ways, though, they can look a bit unnatural. So you will have to make the call on this one. For me, I am glad they are sculpted and look good in the only pose I will probably put him in.
Yay for a new Black Bolt! Yay for great Marvel Legends! I am so glad to finally have a great version of one of my favorite Marvel characters, and the best part is he brought his wife with him in the Thanos Imperative box set. She is a subject for another day, though. It sounds as though Marvel is really going to start pushing the Inhumans and they might even get their own movie, so hopefully Gorgon, Crystal, Karnak, and Triton will be possibilities in the future.
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