Marvel Legends

[Captain Russ]

This retrospective (especially the fact that the Surfer chills with Howard the Duck) is awesome. Keep them shits comin'!

[Ari]

I've got the whole line on the platter, shit just takes awhile to do.

[patronsaintofcheeseburgers]

I want surfer, Deadpool and all the Punishers...so awesome.

[Ari]

More boxed sets!







The Fantastic Four boxed set made up for my lack of a Dr Doom figure, as the set came with the same figure with a new face sculpt under the mask. The set also had Mr Fantastic with a new head sculpt and a nice white lab coat, a Human Torch figure with a non-flamed upper half, a darker Thing with a new face sculpt, and was the only place to acquire the Invisible Woman, Franklin, and most importantly, H.E.R.B.I.E! The Invisible Woman was pretty much pure suck, but H.E.R.B.I.E. totally made up for it.

The Sinister 6 set was a mixed bag of toys. Spidey was a pretty good figure, while Black Cat was a jacked mess. Kraven was cool, a re-release with a new face sculpt. Venom was a repainted Sabertooth with a new head, but it worked pretty decently. Doc Ock was a squatty little loaf, but he'd be replaced soon enough. Green Goblin was a repainted Hobgoblin from the Spider-Man line with a new head based on Alex Ross' art. Finally, Electro was the only real all new figure, and he was pretty much the best in the set. All figures also came with cheesy little bases (most, if not all, boxed sets came with them). As I had none of these figures, I loved this set, but it paled compaired to the next Spidey set.

The Fearsome Foes of Spider-Man set was just awesome. Sure, we got another Spider-Man figure, more muscular than the others, but the inclusion of The Vulture made it totally worth it, as he was a brand new sculpt. Rhino was an awesome toy, and I believe he was a new sculpt as well. Carnage was a re-issue with a new, Alex Ross looking head sculpt. And Lizard was also a re-issue from the Spider-Man line with a new head. The Spider-Man line from Toy Biz usually entailed a few Spidey variants and one villian per series, and finding that one villian was usually hard as shit. These two boxed sets really helped fill a few holes in my collection.

[Abraham Smashington]

And so far, you own all of these correct?

[Ari]

Series 7 was pretty much chocked full of great figures, but poor case ratios led to serious frustration, which led to me purchasing a figure off e-bay for my first time ever.

Weapon X Wolverine clogged the shelves, but he was a damn nice figure, with an interchangeable head and a cool little base he could be connected with to look like he was getting all adamantiumized. But Toy Biz insisted of filling their cases with a ton of big named figures, so lesser known characters, like Apocalypse and Vision were nowhere to be found.

Silver Iron Man was a great addition to the Iron Man line-up, with a removable mask and neat jet pack. He was also a peg warming S.O.B.

Ghost Rider was a vast improvement over the last one, with translucent flames, a much better sculpt, and an awesome bike that actually had spinning tires. He had a variant with a blue costume and a half human, half skull head.

Hawkeye was another great figure to add to the Avengers line, and he had his bow and arrow (one arrow had a little Ant Man attached to it). His base was this odd hover vehicle thing, which he didn't really fit on too well.

Vision was one more awesome Avenger, and he came with a clear stand that could be plugged into a hole on his back to make it look like he was flying. The clear stands would become almost a regular pack-in with the Legends line, and more and more figures would get little holes on their backs to fit onto the stands. I liked them, as they could be hung from a wall or placed on a table, but they did break pretty easily. Vision also had a translucent "Phasing" variant.

Finally, we have Apocalypse. Really nice figure, if not a little stubby looking. Since Toy Biz only packed him one per case, and never re-released him like they did Deadpool, Vision, and Hawkeye, I had to go the e-bay route to get him. I spent between $25-$30 for him, which wasn't too bad, but it still pissed me off that I had to go that route. Luckly, case assortments improved after that.

[Ari]

And so far, you own all of these correct?

All except Toad and any boxed set re-paints. But Toad is the only original sculpted figure I don't own.

[Ari]

Series 8 was another really good set of figures that I scored all in one day at K-Mart (RIP). Toy Biz added a seventh basic figure to this set, and my wallet started feeling it.

Doc Ock blew the old figure from the boxed set outta the water. Much more articulation and a better sculpt made this the best Otto Octavus ever. His base was a bizarre silver web thing.

Ice Man was long overdue. He was kinda skinny, but didn't look out of place with the rest of the X-Men. His base was a huge icy snow thing over a sentinel hand. Damn cool.

Modern Iron Man was one of the best Iron Man figures produced. I'm not as fond of this armor as some of the others, but he looked good, with a removable face plate. His base was similar to the Hulk and Juggernaut bases, with busted Ultrons sculpted on it.

Man Thing was the behemoth in this set, and was one of the best detailed figures in all of the Marvel Legends line-up. His base was a little pond with a jumping frog. But seriously, this figure is awesome and could beat down Swamp Thing any day.

Storm was another long overdue figure, and turned out to be the best female figure Toy Biz ever produced. She had a lame cloud base, but the figure itself was so nice it didn't matter.

Ultimate Captain America made the ol' Cap look like a little wanker. Better sculpt, better paint (although he does look like he's got some lipstick on), and MORE POUCHES, made him the best Cap figure so far. He had a variant which was him looking more in-line with his regular Marvel Univerise duds, and a messed up variant that was a mixture of both. He came with the same clear stand as Vision, but it connected into a unique base.

Finally, we have Black Widow, the first time Toy Biz gave us two girls in one set. Unfortunately, her face sculpt was real bad, with horrible mold lines making her look like she was wearing a mask, TCM style. She had a variant with short, blond hair, that looked a little better. She also had the clear stand that inserted into a unique base.

Series 9 would make a much welcomed drastic change to not only Marvel Legends, but the whole collectible toy industry.

[Abraham Smashington]

Kudos!

[patronsaintofcheeseburgers]

So I had an old comic book with these advertised on the back. My kid kept asking for Marvel toys for Christmas...he kept saying he wanted the black Spiderman and Ghost Rider...I didn't realize he was asking for the Marvel Legends until Christmas when he opened the Spiderman toys we got him and said that those weren't the ones he wanted. He said he wanted the Legends, then ran to his room and showed me the book...Needless to say it broke his little heart when I told him that they don't make those anymore...

[Ari]

Actually, the new black Spider-Man from the Target exclusive Red Hulk wave is still in stores and should be easy to find.

Ghost Rider on the other hand...

[patronsaintofcheeseburgers]

I got him a black Spiderman from the new Spiderman Animated series...whatever he's still playing with it.

[Ari]

That's actually not a bad figure.

[patronsaintofcheeseburgers]

Most figures now are pretty impressive to me...not that I'm an expert but the articulation is ridiculous on most of the shit my kids have...what's whack is the fucking 10-12 dollar price tag for a fucking toy...

[Ari]

That price is normal now. The upcoming trend is charging $10 for a 3 3/4 inch figure. Now that's fucking ass-rape, and I refuse to spend a penny on any 3 3/4 inch figures. The toy industry is slowly headed backwards, with 6 inch figures becoming more rare than ever. Next year, Star Wars, GI Joe, Marvel, and DC will all have their own lines of 3 3/4 inch figures, while only DC will still have a regular 6 inch line-up.