It’s time for a twofer! This time around we are tackling Havok and Iceman from the Marvel Legends Juggernaut Series! Let the games begin!
Havok and Iceman are two figures that get new life in Marvel Legends after a long hiatus. Havok first appeared in 2006 in the ToyBiz Giant-Man Series, and Iceman made his debut in 2005’s ToyBiz Series 8. It’s been 10-11 years since we’ve seen these guys released and they are way past due! Since ’05-’06 there’s been a lot of new collectors born into the world, and they might want some new figures that they can get their hands on. And there are probably some older collectors that never got the originals, or they just want something new to keep their collecting and collections fresh. Hasbro is happy to oblige.
Havok sports the Bucky Cap/Black Panther/etc. buck that we’ve seen and reviewed a thousand times and there simply isn’t anything new to talk about. Havok does sport a new head cast and comes with Scarlet Witch magic doodads to show his plasma blasts. I’ll be honest: they aren’t great accessories and only slightly resemble his plasma blasts. The figure is sporting his Uncanny Avengers look, which is modern and pretty much like his original costume. It’s a nice, sleek design, but there are a number of collectors that would have preferred one of his open mask looks (as long as it isn’t his over the top ’90s X-Factor look), and I’d be open to that. Collectors beware — my Havok has some serious package paint rub on the chest. It’s a bit disappointing that Hasbro didn’t package these better. As I reviewed the old Havok (here), I don’t have much more to say about this Havok as there isn’t “much” difference.
I’ve never reviewed Iceman, so I’ll have more to say about him. Iceman, Bobby Drake, is one of the first X-Men and made his first appearance way back in 1963. Now, that’s a lot of moons ago and old Iceman’s undergone some serious changes over the years. First things first, he’s not only been a part of the X-Men, but also X-Factor (original X-Men rebranded) and the Champions. For those of you who aren’t aware, the Champions might just be the greatest super team ever formed. Angel, Black Widow, Hercules, Ghost Rider, and Iceman formed a team and had adventures in Los Angeles. It was glorious and featured an early team-up of Chris Claremont and John Byrne. Over the years Iceman’s had a couple of changes: he’s gone from snowball to ice, had problems with his powers, and now he’s homosexual. The last is change that was introduced in recent years (’15-’16) and it was a bit of a departure for a character that hasn’t been homosexual since, well, the ’60s. Whatever your opinion, we can all agree it’s Bendis’s Fault (or not).
Iceman is sporting the “ice” look on the Pizza Spidey buck (review), a little more successfully than Spidey himself. I’m referring to the hips’ ability to go wide or narrow, something Pizza Spidey can’t do. Collectors love this buck. It’s nice and slim, looks good, and has a lot of great movement. But! I do have an issue with Iceman, I don’t know what it is exactly, but he is too tall. I can’t tell if it is the head sitting too high on the neck or the some part of the figure being longer, but he is taller than Havok, who is a standard Bucky Cap. And it throws me a bit. Certainly, he’s made of ice and can change his size, but I never expected him to be this tall, which is too bad since it distracts from a great representation of the character.
The figure has no accessories, but the ice pack on the back can be removed. You can display him with or without it. Iceman is sporting bare feet. At first I wasn’t keen on the feet, but they’ve grown on me. I mean, the guy doesn’t need boots when he is in ice form, unless he de-powers and finds himself on the streets of Atlanta during the middle of he summer when the asphalt is boiling hot. If you want, you can take his feet off and put some clear booties on him.
Havok and Iceman are a joy to play with. They are a bit gummy, rubbery, so this might turn a few collectors off. The joints on Havok are nice and tight, but Iceman is a bit floppy. This might have to do with the nature of the clear plastic. All in all, the figure are pretty top-notch and are a ton of fun to play with.
These figures are still available and should be for some time. Collectors will love these for completing teams, and customizers will love these as they have a ton of customizing potential. You can pick them up today here:
