Hasbro Marvel Legends Infinite Hobgoblin Series review
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Hasbro's Marvel Legends Infinite line gave us three impressive series last year. And they are looking to expand on that
in 2015. I have already reviewed the first series released this year, the
Allfather Series. But they are already back with a second offering of Spider-man themed figures with the HobGoblin Series.
Featuring six figures plus the eponymous Hobgoblin Build A Figure, this series seems to be taking a page from the comics and
focusing on the characters that make up the "Spider-Verse", especially the various Spider-Man themed heroes and heroines.
The series includes a new version of Spider-man himself, Spider-man 2099, Spider-Girl, Spider-Woman (the Ultimate Universe version),
Daredevil and the latest addition to the Symbiote family, Anti-Venom. And of course, the Build a Figure is none other than
the Hobgoblin. I must admit that at first, I was not very excited for this series since I already had figure of all but
Spider-Woman and Anti-Venom. But obviously most fans haven't been collecting this line for over a decade. And the truth is
that with the exception of Spider-Man who was part of the Green Goblin Series last year, Daredevil has the most recent Marvel
Legends figure and that was way back in 2009 in the Nemesis Series. With that in mind, its time to bolster the ranks of my
Spider-Verse.
Packaging - Spider-Woman & Spider-Girl 4/10, Spider-Man 5/10, Others 6/10The packaging design for this series remains unchanged from the previous Marvel Legends Infinte series. The design is attractive, but I still find it to be slightly lacking in color for a comic book based line. The one interesting note is that the Hobgoblin series is multilingual just as the Allfather series earlier this year was. So it appears that this is going to be the new norm for the line. I don't have any serious issue with that. It is just a bit unusual to see in the US market. There is a slight loss of opportunity in that printing everything in four different languages means that there is only room for a very limited amount of text. But since the Marvel Legends Infinite packages didn't have much text on them even before they were mulilingual, that isn't much of a loss. But with the character information limited to just a few short lines on the back of the packages, making efficient use of that text is important. And they did a great job of it with most of the figures. Sadly they sort of waste it on a somewhat lame joke for Spider-man. But that is sort of forgivable since it's Spider-man, what more needs to be said. But when you get to Spider-Girl and Spider-Woman, the lack of additional information is a bigger issue since the characters are not as well known and there have been multiple characters using each of those names over the years.
Sculpting - 7/10There isn't a lot to say about the sculpting for this series since there just isn't a lot of sculpted detail on any of them except Anti-Venom. And even Anti-Venom is a straight resue of the Green Goblin Series Toxin figure, but with a new head and a different insert in the back. But all of the figures turned out well. I even like Anti-Venom more than I thought I would, largely because the head sculpt matches to the rest of the figure better thanks to the small spikes on the top and back of the head. I was a bit surprised when I opened Daredevil to find that they used such a muscular body for him. I have always thought of him as having a fairly slim build like Spider-man. But if you have been looking for a beefed up Man without Fear, this is your figure.
Paint - Anti-Venom 5/10, others 7/10The paint work for these figures is very important since so much of the costumes are just patterns on an otherwise generic body. And for the most part, all of the figures have excellent paint applications. Anti-Venom is the only figure with which I have a significant issue. He comes with a spiky insert on his back which was not painted and it covers the top portion of the spider symbol on his back. Had they painted the symbol to continue onto the insert, it would have looked far more impressive. The paint on the four Spider figures is very well done. There is a tiny bit of the blue plastic color that bleeds through the red paint on Spider-man's stomach and there are some very minor stray marks or spots. But all four look great. Daredevil has the least amount of paint work of the six figures. But again, everything that is there looks great and there really isn't anything missing.
Articulation - Spider-Woman 3/10, others 10/10All of the figures have the usual Marvel Legends articulation with thirty-one points of articulation for the female figures and thirty-four points for the males. And for most of the figures, the articulation is just as is should be, tight enough to hold a pose without being too dificult to adjust. The one exception for my figures is Spider-Woman. Several of her joints were a bit too tight. And her ankle was so tight that the foot broke off before I could work the joint loose. And all the articulation in the world doesn't mean a thing if it can't be used without breaking the figure.
Accessories - Spider-Woman & Spider-Girl 0/10, Anti-Venom & SM 2099 5/10, Daredevil 7/10, Spider-Man 8/10Neither Spider-Girl nor Spider-Woman have any accessories. Anti-Venom and Spider-Man 2099 both have pieces that plug into their backs. For Anti-Venom it is a piece that adds some white symbiote spikes on his back. It's a nice addition, if only it didn't cover the spider symbol. Spider-Man 2099 has his webbing cape. It's not the most accurrate way to recreate the flowing webbing cape that I remember from the cartoon. But it works well enough and looks good. Though if they had lightly painted the raised webbing lines, it could have looked even better. Daredevil comes with his billy club that can be split in half and stored in a holster on his thigh. I would have preferred a stiffer material. But that may have been a safety issue. Finally there is Spider-man himself, the only figure with more than just the basics for accessories. This version of Spidey comes with an alternate head with his mask pulled up over his nose, two extra pairs of hands and a slice of pizza. (I guess swinging around the Big Apple burns a lot of calories.) The extra head is particularly nice for a collector like me that already has plenty of plain Spider-Man figures.
Build A Figure - HobgoblinThe Build a Figure for this series is a new version of the Hobgoblin. From what I can tell, it is based on the version of the Hobgoblin that first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #649. More than any of the other figures, this was the one that I was most looking forward to in this series. And the final product doesn't disappoint. Hobgoblin is a completely new figure and the sculpt is very detailed and well done. There is a lot of paint work as well. I wish they had given the hood a wash to bring out the depth of the folds. But the rest of the figure looks great. He also has the full Marvel Legends level of articulation as well. They didn't even skimp on the accessories. He has his winged back pack with an unignited sword stored in the top that can be removed. He also has an ignited version of his flame sword and a pumpkin bomb. In short, this is a great figure. I only wish that the six other figures you need to buy to complete him were as good as Hobgoblin.
Value - 8/10 (add a point if buying all 6)Marvel Legends Infinite figures retail for $20 to $22 depending upon the store. And if you have enough patience you may even be able to catch them on sale for closer to $15 each. I do not. So when I saw that they appeared in one of my favorite online stores ahead of the local brick and mortar stores, I didn't mind paying a couple of dollars each above the price that I could have eventually paid at a discount store. But out of seven figures, this series is adding three new characters and two well deserved updates for Spider-Girl and Spider-Man 2099. They even managed to find a way to make getting yet another Peter Parker Spider-Man novel.
Happy Hunting:The Hobgoblin series has been slowly making its way into stores over the last couple of weeks. They are also available from some online retailers already as well. I ordered my set from Big Bad Toy Store (BBTS.com). Otherwise I have heard that they are appearing in Target stores if you prefer not to buy online.
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