I win at finding new Guardians toys, as I win at all things!
The a-holes are back, and I could not be more excited for the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie, and also, for the TOYS. Yes, new comic book movies generally mean new toys, so it is like we of the faithful collectors get to double dip in the sure to be awesomeness of GotG Vol: 2! We have to wait until May 5th for the movie, but thanks to our pals at Walgreens, we can start enjoying the plastic a-holes right now.
Now, I am hearing great things about the new Guardians flick, and there is a rumor going about that it scored a perfect 100 with its first test audience, something that is a bit of a unicorn. So, I fully expect that three months from now, we will be living in a reality of the two GotG flicks occupying two of the top three slots in the overall Marvel Cinematic Universe. So, when it comes to movies, the more the merrier because one cinematic adventure does not take the place of another, they simply stand together.
That is not often the case when it comes to toys, so I am going to get this out of the way right now: if you have the old Star-Lord figure from the first movie’s Marvel Legends series, you can go ahead and throw that figure away right now. Go ahead, I will wait. No, NO, I am sorry, I don’t mean that, don’t throw your figure away — take a bite of it if you have never tasted Terran before. Wait, no, don’t do that either — please donate it, or give it to someone who doesn’t know any better, because you will not be needing it anymore. Like the character, this new Peter Quill figure is out of this world, and all of your other Star-Lord movie figures are now invalid.
I have made it clear in the past that when it comes to Marvel Legends, I am not really a movie figure collector. I generally buy my comic book figures based off the the source page, but lately, I have been a bit more fluid with my habits. I really liked the Dr. Strange and Mordo movie figures from that Infinite Series, so since I am such a fan of the GotG movie, I had to be willing to give some of the movie figures in this assortment a chance. Yondu was most certainly my main priority from that group, and I am still very much on the hunt for him, but it is going to be really tough for him to beat Quill here, because Hasbro crushed it with this figure.
Well, Hasbro and Gentle Giant crushed it, if I am going to be fair, and I really dig all of the facets of this release, from the overall design, to the sculpt, and right into the final execution. Hasbro’s Marvel Legends figures generally fair better in final production than their Star Wars Black Series offerings, but Star-Lord feels like a even a step above that. I mean, I am used to normal quality fare from this line, but there are just too many uniquely positive things going on with this figure to consider it a typical Legends offering.
Like I said, I am not completist when it comes to movie Legends figures, and while I will freely admit to not owning all of the MCU figures over the years, I can confidently say that Star-Lord is the best ML movie figure I have personally ever owned. Everything with this figure is clicking on all cylinders, and try as I might, I just cannot find anything to nitpick when comes to sculpt, articulation, or even paint, and that is a VERY rare feat for the latter in Legends. I really, really love this figure and it alone has made a series where I was definitely going to cherry pick (the Titus BAF does absolutely nothing for me), to needing to own all seven of the figures. Frankly, if Yondu and Drax are even remotely close to being as good as Quill, we will be well on pace for the a-holes to get the best MCU treatment in Legends to date.
So then, what is great about this figure? Well, just about everything. Quill does not need a BAF piece to sell him, so he is lacking that compared to the rest of the figures in the wave, but if that is the only straw even close to being able to be grasped, I think that says everything you need to know about the figure. Of course the sculpt is good overall, we have come to expect that from Gentle Giant, but the likeness to Pratt is the best actor facsimile I have seen in a six-inch figure in a long time, and maybe even ever. This head sculpt isn’t just a stand out for Legends, but it challenges anything else going right now, and that includes high end figures like S.H. Figuarts. The profile is almost scary with how much Chris Pratt comes out, so while I dig the masked head as well, I doubt it will ever be displayed because it would be such a disservice to not to display this little Chris Pratt.
That remarkable likeness cannot be achieved by the strength of the sculpt alone, and I think we have all been victims of getting a figure with a strong sculpt completely obscured by a bad paint job. So, because of SWB, and the occasional ML slip, I am always nervous about how the paint on final production figures will turn out with Hasbro lines I collect. Well, much like the form of a typical superhero, Star-Lord broke the mold, and he actually has a really strong paint job. The Pratt face doesn’t have an over-abundance of applications, but what is there is crisp and clean and does not detract from the sculpt. The rest of the figure has just enough paint as well, and the tampo print on the shirt sharp, even though much of it covered by the jacket. If every ML had paint this strong, I don’t think I would ever raise issue with paint in the line again.
The sculpt and paint applications are possible because this figure has great production value, and everything made it through the process well. A great sculpt on a prototype still has to come through tooling successfully, and this looks just as good, if not better than what I saw in person at SDCC. Hand painted show pieces are expected degrade in the final product, but when it is still a strength, that should be considered a win as well. Finally, Legends have a lot of articulation, so a myriad of things can go awry, but not with Quill, he has all of the points you would expect from a Marvel Legend, and all of the joints are strong, and the range of movement is great. I don’t know if Hasbro is using a new factory for these figures or what, but they need to stick with the formula they used for this figure and just keep going with it.
Wow! Color me very impressed with this figure, and Star-Lord has made me a bonafide completist with this, and any future GotG Infinite series. Sure, I love the first movie, and will likely dig the sequel, but that alone is not enough to make me movie figure collector, but a flagship figure like the sure well. I am in full-blown gush mode by this point, but trust me, you are gonna want to get this figure for sure, it is so good. So good, in fact, I am ready for dance off, bro – and now I just need to find the rest of the figures from this assortment. I am quite happy to settle into Guardians hype mode all the way until the movie, and this figure kicks that off nicely.
