Beast was a part of Marvel Legends Series 4, and yes, having tackled most of Series 1, Series 2 and Series 3, it is time for Series 4. Beast was the third X-Men character to make his way into Marvel Legends and he’s continued to be an ok edition. The look is based more on the Jim Lee era of X-Men comics in the ’90s but still fits as a placeholder for one’s Avengers ’70s lineup.
I’m all about the ’70s comics, I don’t know why but I can go back and read me some Avengers and X-Men from that era and be perfectly happy. Beast was on a couple teams throughout his career getting his start with the Original X-Men. Back then he wasn’t all blue and fuzzy, he’d take that turn later on. And when he did take that turn he was the coolest. I always liked him as part of my Avengers lineups, but there was that brief period when he was rocking it with the X-Men during he Phoenix saga and was cool. Beast was on my radar again during his X-Factor days and continued to be for a while after that. During the 2000’s he underwent some weird changes (cat beast and monkey beast) but has continued to be a great character.
The figure is a great sculpt but it leaves me wanting more. For starters it’s huge, and if you look at Beast’s head it’s easy to see that he his hugely out of scale, if only he were just a bit smaller. Otherwise the sculpt is spot on good, the sculpted hair, the hands and feet are very well done. The hair really seals the deal on this figure, it’s a great feature that keeps me going back to look at the figure. The head sculpt is the real prize on the figure and holds up today as one of the better head sculpts that Toy Biz produced.
The articulation on the other hand is a mixed bag, and not because it lacks, actually there is a ton of articulation on the figure. But if you are going to go all the way like Toy Biz did, then why skip the ab joint? For a character like Beast it makes no sense to skip this joint, the guy is acrobatic and could use a decent joint here. While Beast is one of the figures that sports the hippy-hinge, it’s a good solid joint that works well with Beast and is hidden with the sculpt. And the best part? Beast has a hinged jaw for doing some serious animalistic yelling. Here’s the breakdown:
Hinged toes
Rocker ankles
Hinged ankles
Swivel calves
Double hinged knees
Swivel thighs
Hinged hips
Swivel crotch
Swivel waist
Ball shoulders
Swivel biceps
Hinged elbows
Swivel forearms
Hinged wrists
Hinged fingers
Swivel neck
Hinged neck
Swivel head
Hinged jaw
I keep wondering if it would be worth it to shrink the head down to make a custom beast, but then I’d have to sculpt all the fur on a new figure. Instead I’ll stick with him as is in the hope that one day someone comes up with a new Beast. You ca still pick this figure up at:
I didn’t “knock those”, I said he got criticized for his hips, and then years later DC took that style and used it for every figure. DC gets praise for it, and Beast gets criticized for it.
I suppose that could come down to Legends and DCU being held to different standards.
All wonderful points. Arbitrary aggrandizing and all. DCUC hips? Don’t knock those. I love those. To each his own.
Well, Mr.Wolf, while I appreciate the analytical objective mind that gives rise to this humble critique,I have to object in a colloquial and emotional style using a colorful vernacular:
“I don’t care what NOBODY say! This IS Beast! Doctor Hank”The Beast”McCoy!
The X-Man, the Avenger, the Defender! Hard-core intellectual ambidextrous ass-kicker extraordinaire! That’s what’s cracking, captain!”
Best.Beast.Eva!
Although that isn’t a difficult task with the crap figures err uh excuse me, sub par Hank McCoy figures they’ve been releasing.
Couldn’t agree more.
ML4 Beast is still a highlight of the entire line. It is so posable and so natural doing it, and it always looks great no matter what you do with it. First time they put textured sculpt on ball shoulders with that fur, and it all works great. Not just great for 10 years ago, great now.
not to mention beast also was in the set with rogue and came with glasses too that are easy to lose plus his legs make him a pain to display
I really enjoy most of The Fwoosh reviews, but since they started to re-review some of old Marvel Legends figures I got seriously disappointed. Most of their criticisms are over 10+ years old figures, that still rocks. Even though, these figures aged and the processes used to create those articulations are 10+ years old. When he says it is an “ok edition”, he is doing a disservice to one of the best figures at that time.
We all know (or should know by now) that Bandai Japan makes far superior articulated figures than any other toy company with those SH Figuarts, MonsterArts, Ultra-Act, etc. Well these Marvel Legends figures preceded any Figuarts or whatever Japanese super articulated lines and any other super articulated figure line. Ok, there was some super articulated figures in the past in 6″, but none with the same quality of Marvel Legends, that is my point…
And now, 10+ years later, we can still look at that figure and says it rocks… How many figures of that age can we say the same?
2 things:
one, I love this figure and think he got criticism he should never have gotten especially after seeing the hip articulation used on DC figures.
second, the head is only out of scale when compared to modern figures, but scale changes over time and the use of current can really throw perspective off and make some characters look either pinheaded or meatheaded.
Still the best beast figure released to date
Even though I felt that the head took some getting used to – at first, I’ve always liked him for his sculpt but much like Bishop or even worse…Toad, I never quite felt that he fit in with my Legends because he was monstrously over sized. The lack of an abdominal POA always bothered me as well; I think someone said he shares his torso with that half-transformed Brock/Venom from the earlier Spidey Classics line, but he’s a beautiful figure as much as he may seem freakishly displaced.