They might be called the “Masters of Mind” on the box, but everyone knows that Vance Astro and Darkhawk are now officially Marvel Legends!
Sure, Darkhawk has been a regular on Marvel Legends Top Ten vote lists since the ToyBiz days, so while his inclusion now might come as more of a relief than anything, including Vance Astro (or Major Victory, if you will) is one of those nice surprises the line has been delivering as of late.
VANCE ASTRO
I mean, Vance Astro should not be THAT big of a surprise seeing as how this is a Guardians of the Galaxy Infinite wave, and he is only just a founding member of that team, but still, Hasbro could have gone in a lot of directions with this figure. This assortment is loaded with a lot of new movie figures, all of which take up a lot of new tooling, so really, Vance was a perfect inclusion seeing as how he is a blank slate with only a new head in terms of original parts. Who would have thought that, just a few years ago, Guardians of the Galaxy would be a mega-blockbuster film and we would be going deep into the roster in Legends, but here we are. Is there anywhere else you want to be?
DARKHAWK
As I said, collectors have been demanding this character for Marvel Legends for YEARS now, so even though I am not overly infatuated with the character, I am certainly glad he is a part of this assortment. This costume is more a bit more modern than my preferred early ’90s version, but it is sharp and looks great for an action figure. Sure, I would have liked the original look (listen to me demand a 1990s comic book look), but I have no complaints with the choice here. I generally associate Darkhawk with Spider-Man and the Avengers, but Guardians of the Galaxy works, too. The wings are actually very well done, and while you cannot remove them (it seems like it was announced originally that they would come off, but I might be making that up), they don’t really restrict movement or posing options.
I have a feeling these two figures will be the ones flying a bit under the radar in this assortment (hence, why they are shared as the “Masters of Mind”), but as a primary comic-based Legends collector, I am quite pleased to have them. I don’t expect them to be as popular as Star-Lord or Yondu, but these are viable characters with a long history in the Marvel Universe, so add them to the collection; they will make it all the more interesting.
I’m a big fan of DnA, so I’m okay with the modern version. I would love a whole annihilation set.
But Darkhawk was one of those characters I got issue number 1 of, and always loved.
Either version is good to me.
Okay, thanks.
The brow is what changed my mind. This one is smooth while radiation mans is furrowed.
Personally I think these are two of the best inclusions in the wave. Major Victory works great certainly if Hasbro ever releases the rest of the original Guardians, but still works great if we think about building the entire DnA team. With Warlock on the way, that leaves Phyla-Vell, Moondragon, Bug, Jack Flag and a cosmo pack-in to go until that team is finally complete.
Darkhawk is perfect, for the Guardians wave anyway. While I get that this isn’t his 90s look, and maybe not preferable to some, this is the look he’s sported since he became a cosmic character during the DnA Nova and Guardians runs, definitely fits in best with cosmic characters, or even modern updates.
Nope, it’s definitely not the same head. Pretty much every detail is different. Radioactive Man is scowling pretty hard, while Vance is pretty stoically neutral brow-wise. Also, Radioactive Man has a far more pronounced butt-chin, and a slightly stronger frown. Plus, Radioactive Man’s head is just bigger, not only in total size, but also, the cranium is larger in proportion to the face for him than it is for Vance.
Thank you for breaking that down. I sadly figured some artists just got lazy. I’m still surprised we actually got a Darkhawk figure. But I can definitely relate as I still don’t feel like my collection has a real Banshee figure.
The original costume had fewer rounded contours and more straight edges. It looked ‘boxy,’ like an F-117 stealth airplane. And it was almost entirely midnight blue-black, with less silver trim. The chest amulet was black, not red. The ‘wings’ were more like Spider-man’s bronze-age armpit webbing — a half-circle ‘gliding surface’ with a serrated edge that was invisible when he wasn’t using it and never stuck out past or above his arms. It could have been done with a single removable piece of plastic and would have looked good for posing. The helmet had a monochrome visor, and nothing stuck out on top. It was simpler, and Darker, and I just liked it a lot. 🙂
I liked Darkhawk when he was with the New Warriors, but I don’t remember his look enough to catch the difference with this and the figure. 🙁 Google wasn’t being especially helpful either. What’s changed?
Do you have a crafts store in your area? Get an Exact-o knife and cut the wings off, if you don’t like them. And then paint them red, and glue them on Falcon-Cap. 😉
Strongly dislike what they did with Darkhawk. I side with VeeBee: they should have stuck to the original character design. The clincher for me is being unable to remove those silly feather things.
I’m not sure. It seems smaller that Radioactive Man’s, and the sculpt isn’t scowling the same way.
It very well could be. I have a tough time keeping all of ML straight from a parts perspective since there is just so much and the line is so modular.
At which point he learned that Man had discovered FTL travel and his entire sacrifice was in vain.
Bring on the badoon.
isn’t that Vance head Radiation Man?
Yep. His younger self before being launched into space (to Alpha Centauri) and frozen in suspended animation until discovered by (the orginal version) Yondu, in the 30th (or 31st) century.
I have a major confusion about Major Victory, ¿is he related or is he an older version of Vance Astrovik A.K.A Justice? I always have seen him that way…