The Hellfire Club

The Hellfire Club

Marvel Legends - Hasbro

One positive of the Coronavirus has been the postponement (And hopefully death of) San Diego Comic-con and their awesome-yet-nerve-wracking exclusives.  Hasbro had their own virtual convention and sold their planned exclusives via Hasbro Pulse.  Shockingly, I had no trouble getting their product...like this fantastic Hellfire Club boxed set.

Arguments for wether or not a period-costumed dude would sell in the standard way aside, I would have fought the usual hordes to get my hands on important X-Men villain, Sebastian Shaw.  He was featured in both the animated series AND played by Kevin Bacon in a movie...I think Hasbro underestimated this character with the 30+ crowd.  However, he does have a unique sculpt that they might not get much mileage out of outside of more Inner Circle figures.

They appropriately double-dip with a new head and paint job for Donald Pierce.

And while I’m glad to have a standard “bad guy’ Emma Frost in my line-up, Hasbro got to double dip on sculpts to make Jean Grey/Selene.  Don’t get me wrong, they all look great, but is this set worth $80?  

“The White Queen welcomes you to DIE!!!”

Character wise, yes.  Presentation wise, yes.  This is another box I am keeping, because it practically folds out into a parlor room diorama.  The gate-fold box is shiny and beautiful, and the invitation to the Inner Circle sealed on the back of the group portrait was a nice surprise.

The negatives to this set boils down to ankles and accessories.  Donald’s ankles in particular can barely support his weight rocking back and forth.  Both girls have high heels that may require special stands for proper posing.

While you do get one alternate head for Jean/Selene, the rest of the accessories are prepackaged/repaints.  It’s disappointing that there are no accessories to demonstrate the characters’ powers.  Not even a single reuse of previous mutant power effects. So, I’ll have to dive into the toy bin to find something to simulate Shaw’s energy absorbtion/rechanneling and Selene’s energy vampirism.  At least Donald has some cyborg hands...ugh...courtesy of Dr. Doom?!

I guess the real accessories to this set are higher priced add-ons...revealed at Pulsecon and for sale shortly after:  Hellfire Guard army builders!  Follow-up coming soon!