Infinity War
Marvel Legends - Hasbro
It's here! 10 years in the making! The Marvel Cinematic Universe is delivering the Infinity Gauntlet! Except without Silver Surfer,(possibly) Adam Warlock, Dr. Doom...but that leaves more screen time for Bland Panther, Hawkeye, and Black Widow! Hooray? Anyway here's the strange lineup of figures Hasbro delivered as a tie-in. I should have skipped half of this wave and just focused on the comic figures... but I do love me some Thanos, and the lure of that gauntlet was too powerful to resist.
Captain Sadsack (no mask, blacked out star) was the figure I would most liked to have left on the pegs, but they just had to package him with the Mad Titan's head, didn't they? The costume sculpt is great, but the head doesn't look that much like Chris Evans. Looks like he is wearing a fake beard. I really don't remember what happened to his classic shield. Was the last time we saw him Civil War? Did Iron Man crush it or something? See how memorable and timeless these movies are?
Spider-man or Iron Spidey was the other hold out for me, but is a pretty decent figure. The only real problem here is the lack of accessories. No extra hands means he's stuck in constant web-slinging mode. Also, the comic Iron Spidey has pincer things that come out of his back. I think this is shown on other products and promotional images, so what gives here? Lame. No Tom Holland unmasked head? Double lame.
Proxima Midnight I was 50/50 on. On one hand, she's a movie figure. On the other, she's a Thanos henchman and you can never go wrong with army builders. Heroes gots ta have baddies to punch, right? Anyway, whoever this is, she is extremely tall and imposing. This is a strange sculpt as a result, as I don't see Hasbro getting much mileage out of it. A new She-Hulk, perhaps? But that would be a heavy retool.
Now on to the comic figures! King Cobra is leader of the Serpent Society, which Marvel Legends is taking its sweet time in building its line-up. He shares some scale armor from previous Hobgoblin/Green Goblin offerings. I like him allright, but the figure I got had some sloppy paint around the hood and needed to be soaked in hot water to free up stuck shoulder joints.
Classic Taskmaster might be the best of the bunch. Mostly because "classic" interpretations are hard to come by. I skipped the modern take a few waves back, and while I have the older Toy Biz version, his funky attached hood/cloak warranted an upgrade. He doesn't come with as many accessories as the TB version, which is a shame from a weapons master. Even worse, the weapons he does get are borrowed from Baron Zemo. Ah well... he's got a cool skull face and a color scheme that makes movie writers cringe so he still great in my book!
Last, but not least is Songbird. Another reformed villain from the Thunderbolts line-up. Move faster Hasbro! I want Citizen V! Anyway, another great comic figure here. The flying power effect pegs into the back nicely, but does affect balance. Too bad they don't include flight stands for flight-based figures.
Build-a-Figure time! And its the big baddie! The underused but somehow overhyped Thanos! He's big, he's purple, he looks like a California Raisin... but he's got that glove thing! No-armor Thanos was met with scrutiny from fans. The studio/writers tried to bullshit some point about someone with the power of God not needing the flashy clothes. To that I say, comic Thanos had the power, the armor, and a cool helicopter with his name on it! Why does a cosmic-powered being need a helicopter? Because his ego demanded it! Seriously though, I don't mind the costume variance as far as my figures go. I liken this one to the civilian-clothes Thanos at the end of the Infinity War book. Sure I would have preferred the green tunic, but this will do. I only wish the Gauntlet were made to be removable and he had an alternate, regular hand.
The gauntlet can be removed with a lil work (hot water treatment, prying, and dremeling), but do so at your own risk. I broke the hand peg just trying to move it when it was on the figure! Bad quality control on recent Legends waves... too many stuck joints. As I intended to use it on other figures, I probably would have had to glue the fist on the base anyway.
In summary, this wave is a mixed bag. Kind of underwhelming and doesn't live up to the hype surrounding the movie. Will the movie live up the the hype? Only time will tell... but the answer is "no."
