ML AoU Ultron: Wasp

One of the five original Avengers comes into Hasbro's Marvel Legends line up! Ms. Janet Van Dyne aka the Wasp! Sporting the outfit that probably stuck more than any of her irrelevant costumes, this Wasp should be recognizable to all comic book fans(Marvel/Avengers fan that is). So, how did Hasbro do this round? A great replacement for the one we got way back in the MODOK series? Let's check her out.

A standard Marvel Legends box. We should all be familiar with this by now with how much we have gotten this year.

As for the figure and her details, well, let's just say there's nothing complicating about Wasp's costume so the figure follows suit. Mostly an all black figure, the gold paint, especially on her front is well done. The minor gold on her feet and hands match the over all scheme. The face is meh, but still way better than Toybiz's female depiction way back when. Now for the wing... well, it's well done! IT's actually her main highlight as a figure. While it's not much on paint detail, the transparent plastic, and the wing details made it worth while. Not to mention, she technically has 4 wing all together! The wings also has decent articulation, which we'll go over here here pretty soon.

Though the wings and Cinematic Ultron's torso is the only accessories that comes with Wasp. I will not be collecting Ultron any time soon for a lot of reasons, but I will say that it's a pretty hollow torso.  Light weight. Again not shocked with the amount of 'accessories' that came with Wasp. It is what it is.

Now the articulation isn't something we should be shocked and awed about since it's the same one we have seen so many times this year with this voluptuous female body mold. My favorite Legends of this Year, Ms. Jessica Drew came with this mold so I won't go in depth with the articulation. However, Janette's wings adds a bit more flare to her that I'll go a little more in depth with that side of this figure. As some of the pictures have depicted, the wings can either be 'made' to look as if she only has a pair, quad... the swivel of the wings really allows for that kind of 'display' option. Wasp also has 'flapping' motion, which again, allows for more flying posture. But once again, the fact that she is in the same mold, we have the same hinderance. While Wasp has never been the agile character, she is a bit limited on how she can pose flight wise, and the lack of choices for her hands doesn't allow for more options. And luckily I have an extra figma stand to really capture some of Wasp's flight poses!

And here's Wasp next to the original Avengers line up. Iron Man, Wasp, and Thor may be a bit out of their original outfits, but hey, close enough!

I just felt like I had to get her to update my Wasp figure in my Avengers shelf. She's an alright figure; definitely a peg warmer for sure in my local store! For a female figure, that's pretty insane. Her and Hellcat, actually. But with the addition of the wings, she's a little step up from the casual molds of the Marvel Women Legends. If you're a big time Wasp fan and like this costume, this is a must. For those who want to build Cinematic Ultron, she's a must. Other than that, another mediocre Legends in my collection!

Marvel Legends BAF: Hobgoblin(Goblin Knight?)

Spider-Girl, Anti-Venom, Spider-Man 2099, Ultimate Spider-Woman, Daredevil, Spider-Man

Another one of those characters that I know nothing about! Well, very little anyways. I won't count what I looked up quite recently as knowledge worth talking about the new Hobgoblin's lore, but I will say that his colors and goblin like face is very familiar to me! Suit might be different, but hey, one of the many goblins that Spidey has battled is back! And this time, he's the BAF of the second wave of the Amazing Spider-Man set! With a newly updated get up that goes along with the ugly mug, this guy is ready to give Spidey a fight of his life. Let's check him out and see if this BAF is up there!

I can't recognize any of his parts; I'm not sure if he is recycled(probably) molds are completely new just for Hobgoblin. I'd say there are plenty things new to him though even if some are reused parts. There are lots of detailing that goes along with him with all his accessories, straps, belts, and his new costume. One of the things I really like about him are his wings. Check out the wingspan:

He also has a nice little detail of an unsheathed sword, which is much smaller than his sheathed flaming sword... kind of funny. The rest of him is well done. The colors definitely says Hobgoblin of the old and the new. Again no paint detail, but he is done rather well. The mixture of the dark blue with the orange definitely translates well in action figure form.

To compare him with my last BAF, Thanos, he isn't any bigger. In fact, as a BAF standing next to the figures that makes him up, he isn't that 'impressive'. Though he definitely is a lot better in size than Jubilee was. At least he comes with accessories, details, and some uniqueness to him.

Hobgoblin comes with a fiery sword which is pretty well done. The translucent yellow with the orange tip really makes it fire-like theme. He holds it adequately, but only with the left hand; shame. The right hand is meant for him to hold his other accessory. It would have been great if he could hold the blade with both hands though, whether to trade grip or dual wield just to add more fun factor.

His pumpkin bomb, or should I say his fiery energy bomb isn't quite as fun as his sword. It has the same color scheme as the blade without the darker orange tips, but it is translucent. It has the traditional 'jack-o-lantern' face on it, which can't be seen quite as easily.

His articulation has a bit of issues. His head can't really turn due to the hood. His legs are also suffering in movement thanks to his costume design. Other than that, while he looks proportionally correct, moving certain part of his limbs make him look awkward; then of course some joints are loose and do not sustain a good posture thanks to the issue. Other than that, he doesn't do that bad. I didn't spend a ton of time trying to pose him, but what I did manage to shoot did well.

As a BAF, he isn't the biggest, but what he brings does make him a better BAF than last year's Amazing Spider-Man line; then again, I was never a big fan of the Ultimate Green Goblin both as a character and the figure. The new Hobgoblin, or Goblin Knight, does carry the mantle of the older Hobgoblin designs rather well but adds a new twist. The demonic Goblin has been done before, but this one is different enough to make him stand out from the older feral Hobgoblins or Demogoblin. As a figure, it forced Hasbro to make some different parts and truly make him stand out (in my opinion) as a different feel and not so recycled. He isn't the best BAF, but he isn't lackluster. The whole wave had its ups and downs and I can't say that this was a great BAF and a set. Though the additions of more Spider-Men/Women for my Spider-Verse is definitely a plus.

It's pretty obvious that I'm running out of room in my game room. An ongoing theme. Let's just see how much more space we have. In the mean time, Hobgoblin takes his place in the back where he still keeps a prominent presence.

ML Hobgoblin BAF: Spider-Man

It's been a long time since we've had a classic Spider-Man take form in a Marvel Legends. Not to say that he's under used since Spider-Man has had a set in honors of the Amazing Spider-man movie(the franchise might be dead despite my dismay). In the past, there were also a myriad of Spider-Men that collectors and casual buyers could choose from when it came to the wall crawler; well that slowed down but I knew the day would happen when Parker would sling back into his classic duds and grace us Marvel Legends style.

Typical box. Not much to show here. Though one can really see just how much accessories he comes with.

While some would say that he is classic, I can agree, but he isn't the 'classic' Spider-Man with the web pits and all. He is more modern Spider-Man as one could say and somehow, with the brighter colors, he reminds me of animated Spider-Man from the 90s. The mold isn't that bad; in fact it's pretty Spidey accurate. Though his torso is a bit too long and at times he makes other Marvel heroes too short. Not scale accurate sometimes makes the character not as fun to pose with other characters.

Accessory wise, he comes with a decent amount. Three set of hands(fists, open crawling/holding pizza hands, and thwip hands), two variant faces, and a ... pizza? I'm not sure where that little idea came from, but it works. Oh and he comes with the BAF piece. This should be a standard accessory idea for all Hasbro Legends(would've worked well with Spider-Girl and U.Spider-Woman).

As far back as I can remember through the years with Toybiz and Hasbro, I don't think I have ever come across a Spider-Man with a variant head that sports the 'half mask' on. I do like it, and I'm more than positive that he will remain with this head for display since I have enough masked Spider-Men in my "Spider-verse" display. Speaking of display...

The webbing is of course 'custom', and it's as much of a toy artist as I can get when it comes to customization. Simple bendy wires that comes from certain toys and such. Makes an adequate webbing. But honestly, with that said webbing, it makes him a bit more fun and a little more 'Spidey' Dynamic. The only thing Hasbro needs to do with some of these nimble and agile characters are their leg articulations. Again, not to sound perverted(especially when I'm talking about female characters), they need to be able to spread their legs. Seriously! It gives them wider range of dynamic actions! But I won't be redundant on my comments about that. This Spidey was fun to pose.

Classic rivalry! This Green Goblin may be a bit outdated compared to this Spidey, but it still looks aesthetically pleasing next to the new Spider-Man.

Still one heck of a great punching bag for Parker too! I'm just imagining this is after Gwen's death so Parker is fuming with grief and rage(Spider-Gwen figure PLEASE Hasbro!).

As a former Spider-Man enthusiast, I would say that this figure is probably one of the best Spider-Man we got. He has issues like the legs, the height, and I don't know why the elbow pegs are red(as can be seen in this picture) and not blue. But honestly, despite all those flaws, he is great to have in the Spider-Man collection/Spider-Verse. He is also a necessary piece for the Hobgoblin BAF.

One thing about this figure, it does capture the humor that surrounds Spider-Man. 

ML Hobgoblin BAF: Ultimate Spider-Woman

Another piece of the Hobgoblin BAF that I was on the fence about getting; not anymore! I'm planning on finishing this set and well, here comes the Ultimate Spider-Woman crashing into my collection! So as a character, I'm not that big of a fan of her; I know right? She's Jessica Drew of the Ultimate Universe! She's Spider-Woman! Well truthfully, she's a clone of Peter Parker and ... she has no similarities with her Earth 616 version at all, minus the name and the alias. So as a figure, does she abate some of my dislike for the character?

You know, I don't know why they didn't do a promotional art for these characters. Would've been cool to see new art of these characters on the side of their respected box.

The figure itself does mirror Jessica Drew of the Ultimate Marvel Universe. Now right off the get go I wan to say that the costume design is something I don't really abhor. The moment I saw it, I thought it was decent; the lips needed to be exposed though to make the 'spider-girl' face complete... but alas, they chose this design for the mask. The logo is a tribute to the classic Symbiote insignia and the color is close to dark red, which again, isn't black for a good reason. It's actually a tribute to the black Spider-man costume, with the hair sticking out. This figure has a familiar and decent mold and the hair sculpted is great, in certain dynamic pose. I think Hasbro did a fine job detailing her out; not much paint scruffs on her.

I'm going to keep most of my articulation complaints on the next section but when we get a BAF piece and no alternate heads, hands, or anything to a figure that desperately needs it, well, simply put, it freaking sucks. A very important BAF piece, but again Hasbro, why are we feeling here on accessories? Why do I have to resort to making my own webbing? I mean, I know there are customizers out there for figures, and that's great, but, I'm not one of them. Hasbro, wake up on your next Spider-Man line!

Articulation is a standard female mold. Again with their legs hindered from doing the full on 'spread eagle' (and no, I'm not asking for it for perverted set of thinking, it's actually needed for her to do some of her Spider-Woman poses!), not a lot of the 'spider-y' pose can be replicated. The sculpt of the  hair, while gorgeous and it has dynamics, also has adds some hinderance. The one direction flow really defeats other poses because it just clashes with some of the direction she is implied to go to. Oh and my U.Spider-Woman has problems with her left(fist) hand since the quality seemed to fail on me. Long story short, the said wrist can't swivel, can't rotate up and down, and it was almost permanently off. Super glue fixed that.

Here she is next to her superior version, Spider-Woman from the 616 Universe! I'm not sure why they didn't just go with her mouth revealed with the mask.

And here she is next to the other Ultimate figures I won(forgot Beetle, oh well). I am not sure if her and Miles really fought Ultimate Green Goblin though. From my understanding, the Parker in that universe died and Miles came after.

In conclusion, this figure is cool to have. She is indeed part of the Spider-Verse shelf I am trying to make so I'm not all that bummed out about her mishaps. When it comes to these BAFs, Hasbro needs to realize that it's going to take more than fancy characters and a BAF to really start digging into fandom. Quality will always be an issue and I don't want that to forever be a disdain in collecting when it comes to the 'norm' and affordable figures, but come on. But some of the things that could have alleviated some of that are alternate heads, hands, a bit more accessories... etc. It probably means we pay a bit more(obviously) but for what they are charging, a bit more effort can't hurt. I mean why does some figures get more accessories than others? Ultimate Spider-Woman could have had more flare to her but unfortunately, this figure is almost as a bummer for me as her comic book version.

Marvel Legends BAF: Thanos

Hellcat, Spider-Woman, Batroc, Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man

I'm going to be honest when I say that I was super excited for this wave. Now if you just look at the line up, it's not exactly the best but I do have to say that Spider-Woman in the mix and Thanos as the BAF isn't such a bad idea. I adore Spider-Woman and Thanos is one of my favorite villains from Marvel. I didn't do the hunting since I knew that there would be some complication finishing this set due to Spider-Woman being a female figure and she has a decent fan following. I just ordered the whole wave and lo and behold here it is. I've had this set since March but reviewing has been slow for a lot of reasons. But finally got the actual BAF his own review post so, how does he fare?

Right off the bat it's easy to tell that this is not the classic Thanos that everyone is familiar with. To be honest, there is a handful of people out there who only recognize Thanos with the Infinity Gauntlet and during that time he wore the classic outfit. Suffice to say, this is a revamped and 'modern' look of his (in)famous look way back when he slaughtered the entire Marvel Universe with the Gauntlet. Truth to be told, I like the classic look but I also understand the need for this new one. It has a much more 'now' look and hey, every character has to upgrade their looks(sadly, Spider-Woman didn't have to). Sad to say, I haven't read an issue of him wearing this costume but from the images I have seen, Copiel I believe drew him wearing this so I liked how he was in drawing form. His figure form, great mold, new body mold might I add, nice sculpting, and for the most part, aesthetically, I don't think too corners were cut. Nicely done.

Size wise, he isn't gigantic. He falls on the same height as Odin to be honest and I don't have a problem with that. A lot of peoples' complaints with this Thanos is that he isn't as colossal as the Thanos Select(one that I have that is still in its box) and/or lacking the gauntlet and Death. Again, this costume doesn't have Thanos wearing the gauntlet for a reason.

I can't say the same thing about his range of movement as I have said about his looks. Thanos lacks in articulation BECAUSE of some of his designs. That shoulder pad blocks movements, the waist 'guard' definitely prevents leg movements, and not to mention, there isn't a whole lot of wide range movements for Thanos that is 'iconic'. His standard pose of holding his hand up with the gauntlet is as epic as Thanos can get and lacking the energy flash and all that.

Then of course there's this particular thing he can do just fine with certain figures. Sure does look great when he is holding up one of his prize win, doesn't it? That arrogant grin along with the perfectly aligned fingers, then the well built stability of his weight makes poses like this well worth it. Truth to be told, I'm sure there are other Marvel characters that would be canon to this pose, but hell... why not put my favorite Marvel Super Heroine in distress(or the prelude to her real distress)?

Of course a standard rivalry! Captain Marvel versus Thanos!

As much as I like Iron Man, he doesn't stand a chance against the Mad God Titan!

In conclusion, Thanos is a magnificent figure. I can't really say that he will be the best BAF of 2015 as much as I'd like him to be. He has flaws and I'm not sure his aesthetics are enough to relieve him of those mishaps. One thing I will say is that despite all those, I am still highly enamored with this BAF for his reasons alone AND he came from a set with Spider-Woman as one of his BAF holder! Barton was a great addition to our obscure Marvel characters as well as Hellcat. The AoU figures were good but I could've asked for others. All in all, I'd say I'd give him a B-! Though he is a great addition to my villains galore!