Hasbro Marvel Legends Infinite Juggernaut Series review
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When the Red Skull Series of Marvel Legends hit at the beginning of the year, we were promised an actual Onslaught head in a future which
pretty much made this series a highlight to look forward to even before we knew who would actually be in it. And things only got better from
there as the line up and Build A Figure were announced. The line up which includes Wolverine in his brown costume, Phoenix, Kitty Pryde, Cable,
Havok, Iceman and Rogue only got better when they added a comic version of Deadpool as well. So fans have been looking forward to this series all
year. Unfortunately I failed to preorder a set, so it took quite a while to track down all eight figures in the series. But from the looks of it,
it may be worth the wait.
Packaging - Deadpool 6/10, Others 5/10I've rehashed my thoughts on the Marvel Legends Infinite packaging over and over. So I'll skip repeating myself yet again. But Hasbro threw us a great little curveball on the back of Deadpool's packaging by adding some random scribblings around him at the bottom and a comic image of him next to the large photo of the figure on the top. They are small additions. But they are very much in keeping with Deadpool's crazy antics from both the comics and movies and it shows that someone on the design team not only understands the character but was willing to go the extra mile for him. That deserves at least some recognition.
Sculpting - Iceman & Havok 5/10, Phoenix & Wolverine 6/10, Cable 9/10 Others 8/10The figures in the Juggernaut Series largly depend upon using the basic blank bodies and dressing them up with a few unique sculpted pieces. That can work surprisingly well in some cases. But for Havok and Iceman, both figures are left looking pretty plain. And while I suppose it varies depending upon the artists, Iceman with sculpted toes seems odd to me. Wolverine, Rogue and Phoenix all have decent sculpts. But each has at least one significantly annoying issue. For Wolverine, it's his claws. Each is a separeately molded piece and they are actually stiff enough to hold their shape well. But the attachment point doesn't hold them all in proper alignment. And a Wolverine with claws that point in different directions is not much better than one with warped claws. For Phoenix, the sash around her waist doesn't seem to want to rest properly. The loop around her waist is molded to fit well, but it leaves the tail of the sash hittin her leg. And it tends to want to rest on the front of her leg instead of curling behind it. They also gave her very narrow heels for her boots which is not an issue aesthically. But it does make a big impact on her stability for poses, as in it eliminates it entirely. Rogue has quite a few pieces added to create the details of her costume. But additions around the top of her boots and the cuffs of her gloves are not really held in place. That's necessary for one of the gloves since it needs to be removeable for the ungloved hand. But all the others flop around for no reason. They can be pushed into place and will stay, but will come loose again with normal handling. There's no reason for that when a small dab of glue at the factory could have eliminated the issue. Kitty Pryde is the best looking of the three female figures. Her bangs are molded as a separate piece and then glued on which leaves a small seam around the top. But that same gap works in favor of the figure where the hair meets her face as it adds some depth and body to the hair. I am a bit surprised that they seem to have gone with an older, adult version of Kitty since her greatest popularity, especially in this costume and with Lockheed were when she was still a young adult. Finally there is Deadpool and Cable. I haven't been reading any X-men comics since the time of Messiah Complex, so I'm not that familiar with Cable's new look. But this seems to be a pretty faithful representation of it. He's got the bulk that you would expect for Cable. And there is plenty of detail for his techno-organic portions. My figure's belt tends to want to ride up a bit. But that is a minor annoyance at worst. For many fans, Deadpool is probably the star of this series and his figure doesn't disappoint. They cut a few corners with some of the costume details and painted them but didn't sculpt them. But with the details that are there, the figure has enough detail and depth that you don't really notice. My personal preference would be for a Deadpool with a slimmer build, similar to Spider-Man. But I'm more than satisfied with this version as well.
Paint - Iceman 3/10, Kitty 5/10, Havok 6/10, others 8/10I've been fairly pleased with the amount and quality of the paint work on Hasbro's recent Marvel Legends Infinite figures. And the Juggernaut Series figures don't disappoint. Well, most of them don't disappoint. Ice Man was left largely unpainted saved for the eyes. Paint work on Havok and Kitty Pryde also only have minimal paint for the necessary costume details. They stepped up the paint work on the remaining figures. Both Rogue and Phoenix have paint washes for their hair. Cable actually has a fair amount of paint work on his armor and techno-organic body parts. He could use some detail for his shin pads though. Wolverine has the honor of having the worst quality control issue of any of my figures, a small chip in the paint which is unfortunately right in the middle of his forehead. Deadpool has a nice balance of paint detail on the figure itself. But there are a lot of unpainted details for all of the hardware of his belts and pouches. But for a mass market release figure, it works well enough.
Articulation - 8/10Marvel Legends Infinite as a line stradles the line between being a mass market and collector's line and has the articulation to match. With thirty four to thirty six points of articulation for each of the male figures and around thirty points for the females, these are some of the most articulated mass market figures out right now. And Hasbro has done a decent job of locking down the quality control. So there's no longer the question of whether you are going to be able to work joints free of excess paint or being disappointed to find that your new figure seems to have been cross bred with a rag doll. The ratcheting joints that they use for many of the major joints do limit fine adjustment to the posability. But even those have gotten better with more recent figures.
Accessories - Deadpool 9/10, Cable & Kitty Pryde 7/10, Havok, Rogue & Wolverine 4/10, Phoenix & Iceman 0/10The accessories for most of the figures in the series are pretty minimal. Iceman and Phoenix have nothing at all other than their Build A Figure pieces. That's fine for Phoenix. But Iceman is all about using his powers to create ice constructs. It wopuld have been nice for them to include something for him. Rogue comes with an alternate, ungloved right hand. Wolverine has a spare set of fists without the claws. Havok includes a blue set of the energy effects that were included with the Wonderman figure in the Abomination Series. The accessories for all three are a nice added touch, but not very impressive given that they are all recycled from previous figures. Kitty Pryde has her pet dragon Lockheed and the alternative head for the previously released Red Skull Build A Figure to make Onslaught. Lockheed is awesome. Not only is he well sculpted and painted, they designed his tail to wrap around Kitty's neck neatly. So he can sit securely on her shoulder without the need of any ugly peg or other connector to hold him in place. Cable comes with two large guns and a small ammo belt that clips into the back of the longer rifle. Let's face it, Cable without some big guns just doesn't feel like Cable. Finally there is Deadpool. I'll assume it is because he does not come with a piece of the Juggernaut, but Deadpool is packed to the gills with accessories. For weapons he comes with a large rocket launcher, a high tech looking rifle, an assault style, drum fed shotgun, two katanas, two pistols and a small combat knife. And if the weapons are not enough, he also has an unmasked head and a taco. That is quite the full packout. But it is made even more impressive by the fact that the figure can carry most of that with him. He has sheaths/holsters for the knife, swords and pistols and the rocket launcher can plug into the hole in his back for storage as well. With the shotgun and rifle in his hands, he can carry the entire arsenal with him. The one oversight is that he doesn't really have a hand designed to hold the taco.
Build A Figure - JuggernautThe Build A Figure for this series is Juggernaut, the unstoppable step brother of Charles Xavier and long time enemy of the X-men. Juggernaut was one of the early highlights in Toy Biz's run of figures and ranks fairly high on the want lists of any late comers who missed out on that figure and don't want to spend the money to buy one on the secondary market. So hearing that Hasbro was making a Juggernaut BAF was a welcome announcement. And the figure doesn't disappoint. He is suitably huge at eight and three quarters of an inch, that makes him the largest Juggernaut figure in the line. He's got a nice comic style design. The helmet, belt and arm bands are nicely detailed. Actually they are probably a bit too detailed compared to the clean look of the body and arms. And unfortunately, even though the head is sculpted as a separate piece under the helmet, the helmet is not removable. (Of course, considering how much time I have had to spend searching for the helmets of the original and X-Men Legends versions, a helmet that you can't lose isn't the worst idea.) The only other, very minor complaint I have is that all of the limbs are made of solid plastic, but the body is hollow. That gives the figure a rather strange weight distribution. Fortunatley with his bulk and limited range of motion of the articulation, he can't really get into poses that are that extreme anyway.
Value -Iceman 5/10, Others 8/10The Juggernaut series figure sell for the usual $20 to $25 per figure depending upon where you buy them. Unless you have been collecting Marvel Legends figures for a very long time, like since before Toy Biz lost the license, most of these are going to be new characters to you. And even if you already have one of these figures, the Hasbro versions are well deserved updates. And of course there is the added bonus of the great Build A Figure if you buy all of the figures except for Deadpool.
Happy Hunting:The Juggernaut Series figures started shipping late in the summer. While the figures are evenly packed with one of each in every case of eight figures, Deadpool, Rogue and Wolverine were much more highly sought after so it took me a while to track down the full series. As old stock has cleared out of stores, the Juggernaut series is showing up in more and more local stores and becoming easier to find online as well.
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