Mole Man was released as part of the Hasbro Marvel Legends Ronan the Accuser Series, which was a Fantastic Four-centric series.
This was an interesting wave as it featured a huge amount of figures; it was like it was a statement wave for Hasbro. With Thing, Human Torch, Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, First Appearance Namor, Silver Surfer, Mole Man, Dr. Doom, and Ronan the Accuser, this wave had the potential to be the beginning, end, and middle of all Fantastic Four waves ever. And it fizzled. Hasbro chose to use the ’90s look of a darker blue (not navy) and white costumes, putting Sue Storm in a conservative version of her hated ’90s look. Ronan came in his popular Annihilation Wave look rather than his classic look, and the Sub-Mariner gave us the classic green-scaled speedo on, well, a horrible sculpt. The wave had so much potential but never materialized as any thing great.
That isn’t to say there weren’t some gems. Mole Man and Dr. Doom were excellent figures, not perfect but very good. And as you’ll read below, Mole Man is one of my favorite figures. And he’s a great character. Appearing in the very first Fantastic Four comic, Harvey Rupert Elder, AKA the Mole Man, became a great and ridiculous villain. He’s a mad scientist living in the ground as leader of a cadre of monsters that are ready to do his bidding at any point in time. He’s blind, insane, of genius intellect, and has an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction at his finger tips.
The figure is really well done; the sculpt perfectly captures his small, squat stature. Mole Man’s always been drawn as “dorky-looking,” and the sculpt captures it well. There are some alterations on the classic take, but here Mole Man is sculpted to look like he’s got a serious skin condition. It might turn some folks off, but I like it as it makes Mole Man look like a dude who is somewhat unhealthy living under the ground. Additionally, his clothes are tattered and torn, making him look like a homeless person, which he is to some degree, having shunned the upper world.
The articulation is somewhat limited, but then with this sculpt it would be difficult to do much more. The biggest areas of improvement are the hips and the ankles. The hip movement is hindered by the waist, and I’m not certain there would be a better way to make this work. As it is, the sculpt is maintained and changing the articulation scheme might result in a more doll-like look. There are no ankle joints and this makes posing him difficult, so either ball ankles or rocker ankles could do the job. Otherwise it’s a great figure to play with and pose.
The paint is lacking. It’s the one area of the figure that really kills. There’s a sad attempt at a wash, but it stinks. With all the details that went into the flesh-rot and the torn clothes, this figure really needed a monster paint app, like a RoboKillah one. It really deserves class treatment.
As this is the only Marvel Legends Mole Man, he is a must have. But he’s a must have for your villain shelf as he is one of the oldest villains in the Marvel Universe and deserves to be represented. You can still get him today at:
