Vision has never been more popular than he is right now. Avengers: Age of Ultron made him a cinematic star and gave him more exposure than ever before. He’s made two appearances in Marvel Legends so far, and I can only hope that another one is on the way.
This all white, spectral version of the Vision is one that I’ve always had hopes for but never thought would happen. And I doubt it would have happened without the higher profile his Avengers appearance afforded him. I can only hope that, despite already getting two figures, we can expect a brand new version of his traditional appearance at some point in the near future. With the Vision looking to be a mainstay in the MCU, I think the odds are pretty good.
The Vision has had an odd time in the comics. He’s a synthezoid with the brain patterns of Wonder Man, created by Ultron to fight the Avengers, only to join them, fall in lov,e and somehow impregnate his wife with fictional kids who stopped existing. Then he was destroyed, reborn without any trace of his former humanity, destroyed, reborn, destroyed reborn, uploaded, reborn … okay, at this point I’m just making stuff up because you get the point. For an artificial being, the Vision has endured some seriously screwed up days.
This Vision version represents him at his coldest. His body reflects that absence of humanity. More machine than man-like, he was no longer capable of love or any of the emotions he enjoyed in his previous existence. His marriage to the Scarlet Witch was done. He was a member of the West Coast Avengers at this time, so we now definitely need more members from that era.
This is the second Vision to be released on the Black Panther body. It’s a good body, but I think a lot of us expected any Visions that were released to be on a slightly larger body like the Grim Reaper body as he’s always been depicted as a larger guy. In the end it probably doesn’t matter as the Panther body gives him a decent enough stature as well. I think it’s another case of Hasbro hurrying to release a character before the perfect body is available. Maybe with all the bodies in place this will start happening less and less. We’ll see.
The Vision is on a clear body with some icy-white paint details that give him an ethereal look, like he’s already half-phased. The amount of frosting seems to be random — some have a lot, some seem to have a little. It’s a pretty cool effect, and many have made a sideways turn with him into an Iceman.
The cape is the same newer cape they’ve been using so far on a couple of guys. Some people have an issue with it. I like it well enough; it stays out of the way in the back so you can manipulate the figure with your hands. Caped figures have often caused difficulty when fiddling with them because the cape wants to get in the way. This seems to solve that problem, whether intentionally or unintentionally. When it comes to aesthetics versus playability, I will always choose playability.
I said he was mostly a Black Panther body (with fists instead of the claw hands), but he does feature a pair of brand new parts that were essential to this version of the Vision: a pair of bare feet. This is a new addition that could be reused for several characters down the line, including (but not limited to) a classic Sub-Mariner, Ka-zar, or a classic Brother Voodoo. Yeah, I know, I don’t really have any hope for another Brother Voodoo after the SDCC one, but let a man dream.
The vision is currently available in an exclusive three-pack at Target with Hulk and Ultron.
