The Alpha Flight box set is not noteworthy for any grand engineering miracles, nor does it break any new ground from a sculpting viewpoint. No, this set is noteworthy just due to the fact that it exists at all.
Alpha Flight have never been a top-tier team. They’re not Avengers, they’re not X-men. They don’t have a movie. At best they have some animated appearances. There are no A-listers in this set. There’s no “anchor,” something conventional wisdom and past experience tells us has to exist. Wolverine is only tangentially connected to the team, and he makes absolutely no appearances in this set. And that hairy little runt pops up everywhere
So this set is an anomaly. It should not be. I’m still uncertain it does exist. Maybe this is all a prolonged fever dream. I’ll trust one of you to tell me if these pictures are all of just a blank piece of paper and I imagined all the figures.
The most likely reason this set exists is because it is an Amazon exclusive and because the members here are mainly blank bodies with few additional parts needed or, in Puck’s case,a previously released figure. Sasquatch is the only character that would have required a new sculpt, and he was taken care of in a previous BAF wave. Other prominent members, Like Box or Marrina, woujld have required much more sculpting. For a basic set, this one covers the core. It’s not like Alpha Flight has been stable anyway. It’s been a very inconsistent team over the years, with a diverse rotating cast.
It’s also a well balanced set: three men and three women. If you’re a fan of symmetry, then this one must really check your boxes.
Overall the set does what it sets out to do. I only have a small amount of complaints. I’ve read people having some quality control issues, but thankfully my set seems problem free, with neither stuck joints nor paint mishaps.
Let’s run down every figure starting with Vindicator.
Vindicator is on the smaller-thighed female body. I haven’t kept up with which body originated where and with whom, but there is a slight difference between this body and the one that Aurora/Snowbird is on, mainly in the thighs and forearms. Like most of the female bodies it feels slightly on the tallish side but otherwise it works well for what it needs to do. She has single jointed elbows that get about 90s degrees. I don’t mind the single jointed aspect but I do wish they could be engineered for a little more range. Otherwise everything else works the way it should, with good hips and double jointed knees. She has a brand new head with a poseable ponytail. The heads seems like it sits a little high on the balljoint, but that’s a minor complaint.
Shaman is on the much-used Bucky cap body, so if you’re tired of those smallish boot-feet you’re going to run across them again here. Still, it’s a dependable body even if it might be showing it’s age (6 years now?) compared to some of the newer bodies coming out. He comes with a peepee flap with his pouch, which I turned around so it’s on the right side of his body. Everything is articulate very well on this body, so Shaman is no exception. He gets a brand new head that evokes his ethnicity well with strong cheekbones and a determined, stoic expression.
Snowbird is on the larger-thighed female body and features all the same articulation as Vindicator with the exception of a deeper range in the single-jointed elbows, which gets a bit further past that 90 degree mark. I’m fine with the range here. She gets a brand new head with an excellent, flowing hair sculpt and those haunting black and white eyes. She also gets a cape that manages to be as unobtrusive as possible due to its small footprint. It still won’t replace cloth capes for me, but it doesn’t make me want to punt the figure in disgust, and she can do what she needs to while wearing it.
Northstar is on the Sunfire body that has the butterfly joints for even more expressive posing. He’s a simple figure and paint scheme, just a basic body and a black and white design. His head is very well done, featuring a smug indifference that suits his personality well. It’s an expression that says “I’m an officious prick” and that’s what Northstar was all about. He gets a pair of fists for punching at super-speeds. Having two fists is fine—I would never complain about fists—but the lack of options hurts when paired with Aurora which I’ll get to in a second. This might be my current favorite body that Hasbro is usinng right now, because nothing about it is overdone, and yet what is there works very well. It’s simple yet poses fantastically.
Aurora is another basic female body with the slightly deeper elbow range. Again, it does everything it needs to simply but efficiently. The head is new and shares a similarity with many of the other females in the line with the slightly wider-set eyes that make her look a bit like Anya taylor-Joy to me. She has one open hand and one fist. The fact that Northstar doesn’t have a corresponding open hand for them to activate their light-show powers is not totally unexpected but slightly odd, as she basically has to grab his fist in order for their powers to do their thing. Again, not a deal-breaker, but an unforunate side effect of an accessory-free set.
Outside of Sasquatch, Puck is my favorite Alpha Flight member. I am super-happy to be getting another crack at him, as I never managed to get him when he was the build-a-figure of a difficult to acquire X-men wave years ago. For the most part this Puck is exactly the same as that other figure, so from what I understand he carries all the limitations of that older effort, meaning the lack of torso articulation. You’d think it wouldn’t be a big deal, but in a figure this small and for a character that is supposed to be quite mobile, I found myself missing the extra mobility an ab-crunch would have given me. Otherwise, he does a decent job in being Puck. This release has a more appropriately scaled head and a bit of shading to suggest his hairier nature. It’s not drastic, but any little bit helps; Puck is almost as hairy as Wolverine.
I’d also liked to have some wrist articulation for Puck, but beggars can’t be choosers. There’s been an unfortunate Puck-shaped hole in my collection for far too long, so at least that need has been alleviated.
So there you have it. It’s not an overly flashy set with a lot of serious sculpting going on, but it’s a frickin’ Alpha Flight box set and does a pretty good job at bringing a team as close to feeling complete if not being complete as one could ask. If other members pop up down the road I’ll be happy, but as is this works very well for me.
