In light of the recent SDCC 2014 Hasbro announcement regarding the release of Black Bolt in the upcoming box set exclusive to the show, I figured it was time to dig out another figure from the past and give him a good old fashioned Fwoosh review. You might remember Black Bolt’s first appearance in the long forgotten Nemesis series (reviewed here). At the time, everyone was happy and ecstatic that we were getting a Black Bolt and a new buck, a new base figure. For many, this still holds as one of the best figures ever made, others may find it acceptable, and still others view it as a horrible buck.
After reviewing this figure in 2009 and then turning him over in my hand for this review, I still find this figure as a bunch of missed potential. The overall form, shape, and sculpt of the figure is decent, but it lacks a lot of the muscle definition that some of the modern Legends have. Sure, there is some in the legs, but it’s not much. The figure looks like more like a guy wearing a nylon suit rather than a painted-on suit exposing every ripped muscle. And it looks good in that regard. The build and lack of muscle definition make this an OK buck to work from.
The head is on the small side, but Hasbro was carrying on the tradition of making small heads that ToyBiz got in to. Lately, Hasbro’s been doing well with the head sizes, at least on the Legends that I’ve gotten of late.
The articulation is where this figure falls apart. Black Bolt seems to have all the right joints, maybe lacking one or two, and they seem to work OK. But really they don’t. Starting with the thighs, they have no swivel that allows you to maintain the anatomy in the right places. Instead, you get spinning meat as the thigh rotates to the left and right. Mainly due to the 45 degree pinning of the hip joints into the crotch. It just doesn’t work in the pose positions for me. The other big area of contention that I have with the articulation is the ab joint; it doesn’t do much more than swivel. I don’t get it. why put the engineering into the joint if it doesn’t provide value. Here’s the overall breakdown:
hinged ankles
swivel ankles
hinged knees
swivel knees
ball hips
ball ab
ball shoulders
swivel elbows
hinged elbows
swivel wrists
hinged wrists
hinged neck
swivel neck
The paint of the figure isn’t perfect either; it’s needing some more pop. And the flesh is so pasty white that you might think Black Bolt was Irishman in the sun. The pant design on the figure is very well done; there’s no mistaking that this is Black Bolt’s costume. And the cloth wings under the arms are a very nice touch.
You can still pick up this figure at:
