Some good things did come out of the Avengers Disassembled mess (no not a fan). One of them was Young Avengers. Billy Kaplan, known at the time as Asgardian, now known as Wiccan, is a core part of the team and has some interesting history in the 616. And the action figure is pretty fantastic as well.
For those of you that don’t know, Young Avengers was a spinoff from Avengers Disassembled, when Bendis decided to kill the Avengers. It was obviously time for a shakeup. Or Bendis was bored or Marvel needed money. Who knows, the result is that there was some interesting stuff spinning off that event. Writer Allan Heinberg and artist Jim Cheung did a great job giving us some new characters a center stage which to shine. And they’ve been doing so ever since.
Billy Kaplan is really one of the Scarlet Witch and Vision’s twins that was reincarnated. If you want to read some really disturbing stuff, read that arc in West Coast Avengers. In time, it is revealed to both Wiccan and the Scarlet Witch who he is and where he came from. And now he goes around galavanting as a super powerful mystic in the 616. In addition, he is one of the few openly homosexual characters in the 616 and is partners with teammate Hulking.
This is still one of my favorite Marvel Legends. It’s an excellent figure, beautifully sculpted and still holds up. I argue that it still looks good even with Hasbro’s Marvel Legends of today. It captures Cheung’s art and face, it’s got this fantastic texturing, and the overall sculpt is incredibly detailed.
Even the articulation holds up. The only gripe collectors might have is that the hips use the 45-degree angle pinning and not the 90-degree. It’s a point of discussion for many, and it comes down to 45 being better for vanilla shelf posing, and 90 being easier to play with and pose. There are merits to both sides. But for me, it works. All the articulation is there and it all functions as designed.
The figure comes with two accessories: a base and a staff. I lost my staff and had to break off a twig from willow tree in the backyard. I asked the tree if it was okay and then gave it a big hug afterwards. As you can see my twig fits after some shaving and the exposed green makes it look all magic like. The base is a simple base with two foot pegs and a sticker of the comic art. Simple. I still think the Generic Marvel “M” would be cooler.
How much do you need this figure? For the most part, you don’t. Despite the cool sculpt and loads of articulation, Wiccan might still be a niche character. Although with Hasbro’s Kate Bishop figure you might want Wiccan to complete that Young Avengers display. You can still get the box set here:
Are those Scarlett Witch feet modded/swapped? Care to share how this was done?
Ugh… just remembered those hip joints. Yikes.
I think he might be a bit old for the teen buck at this point.
I really would like a Wiccan done on the new boy buck. Never got the chance to pick him up but he’s a cool character. Not sure how much he’s featured though to encourage a new release.
The Young Avenger set still stands as one of my very favorite sets, particularly Wiccan and Hulkling which are just great.
I only have two problems with the set (aside from the fact that they never completed the team):
1. All the figures were based on the very first appearances and costumes, most of which didn’t last more than a couple issues. I.e., Patriot and Iron Kid.
2. The horrible hip joints on Iron Kid. Just terrible.
Ohhhh I totally forgot there was a Ben Affleck Daredevil… I only have the Punisher Movie Guy… Never liked that Rogue… Thought it was ugly…. I am glad that Hasbro makes super pretty girl faces now…
Which I don’t get… ToyBiz girls from the X-Men Movie, Fantastic 4, Mary Jane from the 1st Spidey movie were quite pretty… Never knew why Black Widow, Rogue, Black Cat looked so atrocious….
It’s funny that Rogue from that set, and Ben Affleck Daredevil are all that keeps me from having a complete collection… and I’m just not motivated to change that.
HAHAHA… Yeah I forget the prices of these used to be a little over 20 bucks! I totally forgot about the monsters… Cool set, though the characters didn’t interest me…
I just remember Wal Marts having that X-Men set with the ugly Rogue sitting on shelves forever… Same with Toys R Us and the Sinister Set….
The Walmart by me had them for $20, and then they dropped to $10, I picked up stacks of them and the Monsters.
My Only real time doing the ebay thing.
That was supposed to be a staff he came with? I always assumed it was meant to be a limp brown noodle.
When KB was still in business, they had a big store in an outlet mall here in South Florida… They used to get tons of Marvel Legends waves, you could complete them for cheap… I am talking the ToyBiz era Build a Figures…
They even had these box sets for cheap as well… I still kick myself that I didn’t get me this one in particular… Yes the articulation was flimsy at times… But I feel these offering never felt like the same recycled body with a paint job and a new head sculpt…
Look! He even has a base color for skin tone and painted lips!
I still like this figure a lot too. It would be nice to have some of these fiugres revisited. Give me Runaways and Young Avengers.