Once upon a time, ToyFare magazine ran a Fan’s Choice poll to decide on the next Hasbro Marvel Legend.
Being 2007 and pre-MCU, the choices were heavily X-centric: Gambit, Magneto, Silver Samurai, Storm, Princess-Majestrix Lilandra, Alpha Flight’s Aurora and Northstar, along with Age of Apocalypse Sunfire. And while Marvel Legends fans were desperate for previously unreleased characters like Silver Samurai and the Alphas, or badly needed redos of Magneto and Storm, somehow Sunfire ended up winning the coveted spot. Collectors called foul and Hasbro promised to release the other poll characters later in some form, but it was not to be. Out of the eight characters offered, only the mutant from an alternate timeline ended up escaping into our dimension. Shades of Grant Morrison!
Sunfire was allegedly “only available through hasbrotoyshop.com,” but he showed up by the truckload at discounters like TJ Maxx and Marshalls. I found my Sunfire at a local con, where a dealer was sitting on cases of the figure. While I had no attachment to the character, I know a cool figure when I see it: the weird black abstract tattoo designs over the translucent yellow plastic, coupled with the nicely sculpted flame detail, really made the figure pop. For ten bucks I was more than happy to add this oddball to the ranks, even if he didn’t really fit anywhere.
A member of The Sisterhood of the Travelling Steel Tooling, Sunfire shares the Hasbro incarnation of the Bullseye body. While it is an entirely predictable choice for a slender character, its sins are diminished thanks to the figure being cast in yellow plastic — the softened details aren’t as noticeable, and the new parts add a lot of flair. The flames are sculpted very nicely to my eye: how is it that Sunfire looks better than any version of the Human Torch ever released? If Hasbro had made the same effort for Mr. Johnny Storm, we might have the definitive version of the character instead of the innumerable placeholders we’ve received.
Sunfire features 30-odd points of articulation. He has a ball-jointed head, ball-jointed shoulders with an inner hinge, swivels in the upper biceps, double-hinged elbows, swivels in the forearms, along with hinges in the wrists. The hinged wrists feel a bit limiting when posing, but the head has a nice range of motion for flight poses. From the neck down, Sunfire has a hinged torso, a swivel waist, ball hips, swivel thighs, double-jointed knees, swivels in the shins, rocker-type ankles and hinged toes. The rocker ankles work great on Sunfire and would have allowed him to get into some nice deep stances, if the hips allowed it. Just like many of today’s Legends, Sunfire features very limited backwards motion at the hip.
Sunfire features some spiffy paintwork, at least at a glance. More discriminating eyes will catch the fuzzy lines, spotty coverage, and random blemishes, but it’s certainly no worse than Hasbro’s work on the line today. The matte white on the face is prone to scratching, so be careful storing this figure. The colored plastic does most of the heavy lifting and that works quite nicely; the shade of yellow is a nice choice and is complemented by the orange “flames.” The makes him likely to be one of the more eye-catching X-villains you may have on display, and the addition of a well-aimed spotlight can really bring the figure to life.
With the Marvel Universe currently in a state of flux, there’s a good chance this version of Sunfire will remain a footnote. Fans have been pretty vocal about getting the character in his classic costume, and it’s easy to understand why — as funky-fresh as AoA Sunfire is, he’s about as far from the classic version as it gets.
Considering what else Hasbro was pumping out in 2007, this is a pretty impressive figure. Despite reuse, Sunfire looks good, moves well, and represents an era that we’re unlikely to see catch the spotlight again. I’m glad I snagged my figure when I did — that ten dollar figure frequently sells for five times as much on the secondary market now. Sometimes it’s worth betting on the dark horse.
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