Captain Marvel

Captain Marvel

Marvel Legends - Hasbro

Don't care for the character.  My feelings about Carol Danvers aligns closely with this article.  Didn't see the movie, and Endgame used her about as well as I thought the would: ham-fisted and unnecessary.  They should have saved her introduction for MCU phase IV.  Anyway, the less energy spent on her the better, because her Marvel Legends themed wave did produce a few decent figures worth discussing.  And before you get too riled up and label me a card-carrying member of the He-man Woman Haters, I DO have a comic-based Carol in my collection...she was hard to pass up on clearance for $9 at Walmart.

Despite the handling of the characters (Skrulls are misunderstood "good guys?"), Talos and Yon-Rogg look great and have army building potential.  More Kree and Skrull, please!  Rogg's helmeted head is pretty generic, so they don't necessarily scream "clones" at first glance if you have a batch of them, and you can mod Talos' soft plastic jacket with some heat and an exacto knife to add some variety to your Skrull multiples.  I'm not sure why Rogg has a gun but no holster (or even needs a gun for that matter, since he has some sort of built-in wrist weapons), and why the Skrulls get bupkis.  Even if you wanted to give them guns, the don't include extra hands to be able to hold anything.  Oh well, at least you should be able to interchange their heads on other figures to simulate their shape-shifting ability.

Crazy hero-turned-villain Genis-Vell looks great with the rest of the Star Force gang in this lineup.  Like Mar-Vell (where the hell is his re-do in this wave?!) in the Toy Biz Modok wave, I missed out on his Legends debut figure.  His head sits a bit high on the peg imo, and his gun is a straight-up repaint from one of Hasbro's earlier attempts at a Kree soldier.

Grey Gargoyle is a puzzling space filler where theme is concerned.  I think he would have been better off in a future Thor or Iron Man wave, but either of those could be a long time coming.  The sculpt is good, but the "concrete" look of the plastic can look a little "cosmic" translucent around the edges and thinner pieces.

I sold the Carol figure just to have the BAF part, but I kept the Young Fury.  I figure I can always use suit bodies for generic goons and other customs.  Plus, his inside jacket holster is neat!  I also kept the Chewie Goose the cat figures from both.  I had to buy two Carol figures to get what I wanted this time around:  I also picked up the Target exclusive Star Force Marvel who had interchangeable parts to make Minerva.  More Kree helped me to bite the bullet.  Miverva is great and has some extra accessories like her scarf, ammo belt, and hardware. 

I'm late in reviewing this MCU 10th Anniversary Ronin the Accuser figure, but since this is a Kree fest...

The BAF (along with Skrull multiples) was the drive to complete this wave for me.  The Kree Sentry is full-on Jack Kirby here!  Dig the lines and angles...hail to the King!  Lots of fans online have been complaining about his blockiness, inconsistent appearance compared to the comics, and range of motion.  Get over it.  He looks great and moves as a big, lumbering robot should.

Since this wave does come up a bit short, I thought I would showcase the ones I did pick up with the parallel universe equivalent of Star Force:  the Green Lantern Corps.  The ReadySetz Space Base playset was born to make cosmic adventures in either word a reality!

DC Multiverse Clayface Wave

DC Multiverse Clayface Wave

Mattel

Yet another set of figures I am way behind on showing off.  This was the first of Mattel's attempts to modernize their DC line, featuring all new male and female bucks.  Critic in the Marvel Legends crowd will still say that they aren't up to snuff, but I never had a problem with the old DC Universe molds.  Except for that short, overused suit body, which is the one ugly blemish in this wave.

I just recently read the books that this purple jacketed Two-Face is based on.  The one-tone, Rebirth look makes total sense now, but it looks so out of place with most of my collection being "classics."  The interchangeable hands with coin in palm are nice, but not nice enough for me to keep this figure from being stowed away in a drawer somewhere.

While it is nice that Martian Manhunter is available again for those that missed him in his classics form, I could not be less excited to see him in his TV's Supergirl form...blech!  However, he does come with a great accessory:  the Black Mercy!  See Superman Annual #11 or the Justice League episode "For the Man Who Has Everything."  Mongul is pleased.

Rebirth Superman really showcases the new articulation.  Everything here is great...except that he isn't "classic" Supes.  Not the right shade of blue and I still miss the red undies on the outside.  Interchangeable "flight hands" are welcome, as is the headsculpt.  I used them on the Superfriends Superman body, which I think will be my go-to Superman figure for a while.

Jessica Cruz is a new Green Lantern.  I don't know anything about her, but I am happy to have her in my ever-growing Lantern Corps.  She sports the new female buck, which is miles better than the DCUC one in certain proportions. (tiny waists, hands)  She is packed with, of course, her power battery and some vine-like, flexible power effects that can coil over her arms and legs.  They are a strange shade of green compared to other Lantern power-ups, but look fine nonetheless.  Apparently, she has been hard to track down for people who didn't order a whole case, fetching quite a pretty penny on the secondary markets.  Hmm...with that popularity, maybe I need to pick up the Green Lantern books again?

Now, I have been up on New 52 and Rebirth Batman and his ensemble cast.  Kathy Kane is Bruce Wayne's cousin and the new Batgirl.  Can't say she's my favorite on the team, but she definitely works well with the team dynamic as a whole.  She also has the new female buck, and comes with an alternate, unmasked head.  "What?  I'm not Batgirl!  She has long, red hair and I have short, red hair, see?  Just like Clark Kent has glasses and Superman does not!"  Well...hooray for alternate heads, in any case!

Even if the single characters in this wave failed to excite, the Collect-n-Connect figure makes up for them in spades.  Finally, an appropriately bulky Clayface!  I have the DC Superheroes Clayface, which looks great, but I always worried that his rubber-bendy arms would deteriorate over time with play and display.  I also have the DC Collectibles Arkham City 14-inch Clayface, who also looks great, but is a giant and has permanent Bat-frost grenade all over his back.  This one splits the difference in size and has more standard action figure articulation.  The head sculpt is appropriately grotesque.  He sports a hinged jaw so you can see his gnarly multiple rows of teeth.

The only negative with this Clayface is that he has zero accessories.  What a huge disappointment for a shape-shifting character!  Initial shots of him showed interchangable weapons (spike ball and blade hands).  A toy show or two later, these accessories were show as pack-ins with Kid Flash and Beast Boy Toys R Us exclusives.  Well, Toys R Us bellied up, and BB and Kid Flash found their place in other waves.  What gives, Mattel?  Ugh...with Mattel losing the DC license soon, Clayface is at your mercy to find a custom solution.  I picked up a Marvel Legends Black Suit Spiderman that came with a spike ball and hammer fist for Sandman.  With a bit of masking tape at the peg, they can fit firmly into the Clayface wrists.  Now all I have to do is match the browns in paint.  Ugh...I hate painting....sigh...