Hasbro Marvel Legends Infinite Man-Thing Series review
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Hasbro has really been ratcheting up the production of Marvel Legends figures in the last few years as they attempt to keep up with all of the
Marvel movies as well as keeping fans of the comics happy. But there has been a third branch of the Marvel multimedia empire that hasn't been
getting much attention from Hasbro, the Marvel television and Netflix shows. But that changes now. The latest series of Marvel Legends Infinite
figures features four characters from the Netflix Marvel shows: Daredevil, Punisher, Jessica Jones and Elektra. And then to round out the series
they tossed in new versions of Bullseye and Blade. And of course there is a Build A Figure for the series, the Man-Thing. In addition to being
the first series of Marvel Legends figures to focus on the Marvel television universe, this is also the first series to use a new meathod of creating
near photo realistic likenesses. But now it is time to see if the final product can live up to the hype.
Packaging - 8/10Another Marvel Legends series and another return of the same packaging design. That's not a bad thing. I like the look of the packaging. And it is collector friendly in that the figures can be removed and returned to the packaging in the future if you so wish. The back of each box has a nice photo of the figure on the back. The figure descriptions are fairly short and not all that informative. But with all of the characters in this series having featured if not starred in either one of the Netflix series or a feature film, it doesn't seem as necesary to give extensive character information on the packages. Man-Thing is the one exception to this. But as a Build A Figure, I'm not sure where you would provide that character info to start with. Even so, I still consider the lack of any sort of cross branding with Marvel Comics a huge missed opportunity every time a new series of Marvel Legends figures is released.
Sculpting - Bullseye 7/10, Blade & Punisher 9/10, Elektra, J. Jones & Daredevil 10/10As someone who grew up with figure lines like Masters of the Universe that constantly reused a very limited number of body parts over and over, I'm still amazed by the quality of the sculpting that some companies put into their figures. And this series of figures is an excellent example. Bullseye is the least impressive figure of the series. And that isn't because there is anything particularly wrong with the figure. There just isn't much sculpted detail to him. A new head sculpt and a new belt/holster is about all you get. But the character doesn't really require more. Both Punisher and Blade step up the detail a lot. But each has a couple of minor details that annoy me. For Blade, it's the sculpting of the pelvis area which really eliminates any backwards range of motion for his hips. For the Punisher, the portion of his boots sculpted to the lower legs seem to be at an odd angle. And I wish that the collar of his jacket was flat against the jacket instead of sticking up slightly. Still, those are pretty minor issues. And when you come to the final three figures, I can't really complain about anything. Some may complain about Jessica Jones and Elektra sharing the same sculpt for their lower torsos, pelvis and legs. But the other parts added to Jessica Jones dress up her figure enough that I likely would not have even noticed that if I hadn't specifically been looking for faults. And when it comes to Daredevil, I'm just blown away. The details look spot on from what I can tell. And the texturing and amount of depth that they gave to his costume is terrific. His head might be slightly too wide, but once again it is something that I only notice if I'm looking for faults.
Paint - Punisher & Bullseye 8/10, Blade 9/10, others 10/10From what I have heard from Hasbro's panel at the San Diego Comic Con this year, this series represents the introduction of a new process for painting the faces of the figures. If they are going to be producing results like this, I'm all on board. The faces for Elektra, Jessica Jones and Punisher are all amazing. And the rest of Elektra and Jessica Jones' figures turned out well to boot. They made one minor, but really annoying error on Punisher. The finish for his coat sleeve is glossier than the rest of his coat. It's a minor error, but it makes it immediately obvious that the sleeves are not part of the same coat. Daredevil has a significant amount of of paint work, not only for the different colors of the suit's material, but also for the various latches and buckles. Bullseye's outfit is the one area where this series slips back to the usual level of quality for a Marvel Legends figure. It's not bad. But the edges for the white stripes are not quite perfect. The saving grace for him is that his unmasked head has some amazing paint work. Whenever I see a figure with an open mouth, I automatically expect some portions to be unpainted or improperly painted. But they fully painted the tongue, interior and the teeth! I have never seen that before in a mass market action figure. If this is what we have to look forward to in the future, I may have problems figuring out what to write in this section for future reviews.
Articulation - 9/10There have been hundreds of figures in the Marvel Legends line. And over all those years and figures, Hasbro has done a great job of dialing in both the amount of articulation and the quality control issues that once plagued Marvel Legends figures. There's no real surprises anymore. Each figure has roughly the same thirty plus points of articulation and all of the joints work well. The only minor issue I have is one I already mentioned with Blade's sculpt limiting the movement of his legs backwards and the limited range in Punisher's elbows.
Accessories - Daredevil 7/10, Punisher 4/10, Jessica Jones 0/10, Others 8/10This series of figures isn't packed with accessories. But what is here is generally quite impressive. Jessica Jones is the only figure not to have any accessories. But as a character, she doesn't really need any. Punisher comes with a hand gun and a rifle. That's a pretty small arsenal for the Punisher. And they could use some paint. Daredevil comes with an extra pair of fists and a new billy club. The weapon is a brand new sculpt and fully painted. Blade comes with an alternative head and a sword, both of which look great. Bullseye comes with two extra hands, a spare unmasked head, a pistol and a knife. One of his hands has three japanese style throwing knives flying from his fingers. It's an interesting idea. But it's not an accessory I would want to have the figure posed with long term. Finally there is Elektra who has a second, unmasked head and a pair of sais. The head sculpt is as good as the regular one. But what really impresses me is that one of her hands is sculpted to allow for some more creative poses with the sais.
Build A Figure - Man-ThingThe Build A Figure for this series is Man-Thing. This is not the first version of Man-Thing in the Marvel Legends line. But the last one was many years ago when Toy Biz still held the license. And that figure was largely a repaint of their Sasquatch figure. This figure has a much bulkier body and more sculpted detail that you would expect on a walking mound of swamp plants. The sculpt could use some more depth, more empty space within all of the plant mass. But what is here is still quite impressive. And the paint work does an admirable job of highlighting the details of the sculpt. And at thirty points of articulation, Man-Thing is no slouch in terms of articulation either. If the figure has any drawback, it's simply that it is the Build A Figure in a series to which the character has no real connection.
Value - Bullseye 7/10, others 8/10The Manthing series of figures carry the usual $20 price tag, give or take a dollar or two depending upon the store. I'm slightly less thrilled with Bullseye, but only because as a long time Marvel Legends collector I already have a Bullseye figure that is quite similar to this one. That's a very minor issue, especially considering how many years it has been since the last Bullseye figure was produced. But with all five of the other figures being either unique characters or at least very distict, new versions of a character, I can't help getting a bit greedy and wanting all six figures to be new. It would also be nice if the Build A Figure for the series had more of a connection to the Netflix Marvel shows which seem to be the primary theme of the series. But neither of these things should distract from the fact that this is a series of really strong entries to the Marvel Legends toy line.
Happy Hunting:The Manthing series figures have just been released in the last few weeks as of the posting of this review in August of 2017. So they are only starting to pop up at retail. I ordered my set from Big Bad Toy Store (www.bbts.com) simply because they seemed to be the first site to have them available. But they should be arriving at a wide range of retailers in the weeks to come. So if you have more patience than disposable funds, you may want to wait for them to pop up locally.
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