{"id":1303,"date":"2009-08-26T08:08:41","date_gmt":"2009-08-26T13:08:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=1303"},"modified":"2014-07-10T21:19:06","modified_gmt":"2014-07-11T02:19:06","slug":"itsalltruereview-marvel-legends-nemesis-wave-walmart-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=1303","title":{"rendered":"Marvel Legends Nemesis
Wave (WalMart Exclusive)"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I first heard about the wave, it seems like forever ago now, I was excited. I couldn’t wait to finally add a Nova, a Tigra, an Astonishing Cat-Beast, and a Nemesis\/Holocaust to my condensed Marvel Legends collection. I admit, I had some reservations. I’ve never been completely happy with Hasbro’s offerings for Marvel Legends. There were some gems: She-Hulk, Hercules, Shanna, Xorn. But for the most part, I’ve passed on a lot of HMLs. I had yet to complete any of the eight previous Hasbro BAFs for one reason or another. Figures I had really wanted weren’t always up to par. These were all warning signs I guess, but like any good collector – I had hope. <\/p>\n

Then, a few weeks back, I found the Nemesis wave. I was excited as I approached. But when I saw them, and really looked at them, I had to leave them. All of them. The only one that looked like it was worth having was Nemesis, but there were six figures between me and him. I just couldn’t pull the trigger.<\/p>\n

Flash-forward to two days ago. I was on an extended toy hunt for DCUC9 and ran across a Wal-Mart that not only still had some Nemesis series in stock, but had clearanced them to $5 a pop, or essentially $30 for Nemesis and six extra figures. Striking out on DCUC9 and drunk on finding anything combined with the high of clearanced toys – I drove home ready to assemble Nemesis…<\/p>\n


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Having had these figures for a couple days, I still don’t know how I feel about them. After posing them, comparing them, playing around with them, I’m just not sure what to think. Some things are good, other things are bad. I think the main thing may be that none of the individual figures are spectacular. No one stands out as particularly neat or cool. Still some of the figures are not without their merits.<\/P><\/p>\n

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Tigra<\/strong><\/h4>\n


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Out of the six regular figures, I’m going to say that Tigra will be the only one that gets to stay out on the shelf. Her sculpt is nicely done. I think her head might be a tad small, but it seems okay. All of her paint work is sharp, her bikini even has a glossy finish that makes it jump out from the rest of her body. Pretty much all the articulation points are ball-joints and for the most part, they work well. My main issue with her articulation is, something I have with all HMLs, the removed points. <\/p>\n

Forgiving her hair blocking the neck joint (par for the course on female figures), the issue is in her thighs and the unusual placement of the pegs in the hips. The hip joint doesn’t peg into the side of the crotch, but up into the abdomen. It makes for some weird twists on the ball-jointed hip to get specific poses. And those twists are even more complicated with the lack of a thigh swivel. It just makes the whole thing awkward from knee to hip and I don’t like it.<\/p>\n

Still, Tigra can hang out on the ML shelf, with the other HML bikini babes, and blend in with the other MLs. That’s more than I can say for some of the others.<\/P><\/p>\n

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Nova<\/strong><\/h4>\n


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Nova is my biggest disappointment. It’s partially on me because I love Nova that much. Probably a top ten Marvel character to me and his Marvel Legend needed to be really well-made for me to be happy with it. Technically, he’s the “best” articulated figure of the bunch. He reminds of the classic MLs with the shoulder blade articulation and the the jointed one-piece fingers and toes. I don’t think he’s bad per se, but his articulation makes him look awkward next to the other less poseable, but more aesthetically pleasing figures. His only new piece, the head, is sculpted well enough, but loses something with the flat skintone and odd-colored helmet.<\/P><\/p>\n

That’s where Nova falls apart: the color palette. He’s suppsoed to be gold. He could be yellow. But he can’t be a weird maize-dyed plastic yellowish-brown. I think if Hasbro had commited to molding him in the same shimmery gold plastic color as the modern Dr. Fate in the picture above, this figure would have been tons better. Had they even just committed to yellow for his costume, this figure would have been loads better. I may try to repaint him, but I still haven’t fixed my modern Dr. Fate and I’ve had that for four months.<\/P>
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Black Bolt<\/strong><\/h4>\n


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If you don’t know why Black Bolt is Walking Like an Egyptian, well, neither do I, but he’s packaged that way. Don’t ask. Sadly, his box pose might be the best thing about this figure. Black Bolt makes a case for weakest of the bunch, his paint apps are okay. But the lack of bicep and thigh articulation is a real annoyance on his figure. I don’t mind the waist joint missing on a bikini girl, but I do mind it here. These are three key areas where joints simply must be and the figure suffers for it. Strangely, he does feature swivel calves and ball-jointed ankles.<\/p>\n

But Black Bolt’s real claim to infamy is his underarms. I don’t even know what to call those accordion pieces of cloth that are down there. Normally, I like to make suggestions of what I’d like to have seen instead, but I’ve got nothing. All I know, is that the pleated cloth looks terrible. It folds terrible. And it’s connected to the front<\/em> of his biceps for extra weirdness. I don’t know what Hasbro could have done differently other than to drop it. I know it’s an attempt at accuracy, but they shot too high. <\/p>\n

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Beast<\/strong><\/h4>\n


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Beast is Black Bolt’s main competition for the worst figure in the set. The removed articulation strikes again with the awkward biceps and thighs. The lack of a waist really hurts here because Beast is supposed to contort into some awesome poses. Even more frutrating is the joint in his torso has some of the best range I’ve ever seen. If that were combined with a swivel waist, we’d be talking serious posing opportunities, but sadly, that’s not the case. Worse still, the head articulation is made worthless by a longer hair in the back – make him look up too much and his head will quickly pop off. <\/P><\/p>\n

Sculpted and painted details are mostly fine again here. The detailed fur is nice, but the main drawback is the headsculpt, it looks a little more like a Beast Birthday Balloon than the catbeast head. I still love my non-canon X3 Beast in the picture above. I thought about some type of headswap, but the modern Beast’s head just snaps over a blank ball, so no go there without major work. Continue to Page 2…<\/a><\/P><\/p>\n

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Punisher<\/strong><\/h4>\n


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Punisher’s not a bad figure. If he had the bicep and waist swivel joints (thigh articulation is back for Punisher and Daredevil – as well as double knee joints), he’d be an awesome figure to have. He has great sculpted and painted details on his ribbed shirt and cargo pants. Plenty of details for the belt, pockets, and boots. He even features two guns, the rifle he’s packaged holding and a small holster on his right leg has a removable pistol.<\/P><\/p>\n

My only real nitpick for him is the lack of painted skintones. The molded thing just doesn’t look good with today’s toy standards and I hope Hasbro learns that sometime soon. I’m not a big Bradstreet Punisher fan, but if I were, I think I’d be pleasantly surprised by this figure. <\/P>
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<\/p>\n

Daredevil<\/strong><\/h4>\n


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Daredevil is another figure where he did good until he got to the paint stage. He features all the articulation I want. His sculpt is solid – even a raised symbol and boot treads. He has a specific and appropriate accessory. The paint work that is done is done well – all three colors. DD is molded in one shade of red with his boots, straps, belt, and gloves painted a different shade of red. There’s a couple silver buckles here and there and the the chin is painted skintone of course, but that’s it. He just needed some type of wash or something to give the figure some depth – but they all could have used that.<\/p>\n

Daredevil is up there with Punisher for the best two in the wave, but Nemesis is where my money really went.<\/P><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Nemesis<\/strong><\/h4>\n


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This is a great BAF. His articulation is great (only the waist missing). He features embedded ball joints for the elbows, knees, etc – but he still has the cuts for the thighs and biceps too. His canopy opens to reveal his skeleton, more on that in a moment, and it sports a ball-jointed head to boot. Can’t get much better than that. Painted details are good. The spots are consistent through out and the yellow eyesockets on the skull are a nice touch.<\/P><\/p>\n

Probably overstated at this point, but I’m a sucker for translucent plastics. I wanted Nemesis anyway, but that’s the icing on the cake. The little skeleton inside makes me happy, even if he should have a collar bone and shoulders – he’s a little cylinder in there with just his skull and ribs. I’ve been having a ton of fun with him for the last couple days and that’s not likely to change. While most of this Nemesis wave will end up in a box, he’s going to stay out and and grace the shelf. Was he worth the full price of six figures? I don’t know. Was he worth the $30? Asbsolutely! <\/p>\n

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Overall, my feelings on these are hard to sort out. On the one hand, I think they’re inferior to Toy Biz MLs, but I look at them and realize that some of the new sculpted pieces (like Beast’s fur) are well done. But others are terrible (like Beast’s head). The articulation on figures like Punisher and Daredevil are better than the ones on most MLs (and Nova), but other than Daredevil they all need more. The joints are all solid. Not a stuck or loose one in the bunch. The paint work, though it could use MORE, is done well on all the figures. Despite all that, the figures, aside from Nemesis, just don’t seem that great – if I’d not found them for $5 each (a little under half-price), I wouldn’t even have them.<\/P><\/p>\n

After some thought, I don’t think it’s that HMLs fail in comparison to older MLs. I think they’re sub-par to DC Classics and that is where I’m not satified with them. Mattel’s hips are better than the ball joints used here – generally, the articulation is hidden better on a DCUC. Pieces like Beast’s head would never come out of NJ looking like that. The bar was put up by Toy Biz, and despite some missteps, they kept raising it until Mattel took over for DCUC – now they’re raising the bar and Hasbro’s offerings are lacking. But even if the comparison is not fair, there’s something else to be said about these figures too.<\/p>\n

My mixed feelings on this wave could be attributed to when the figures went wrong. Often times, we are treated to an amazing showing at ToyFair or SDCC, a well-planned figure or two, and then we get them and things have gone wrong in production. The paint is sloppy. The joints are an issue. The execution didn’t live up to the plan. But the opposite seems to have happened here. The execution on the figures is great. No paint slop or loose and broken joints here. Other, than Beast’s head, there’s no real sculpting issues. No, the problem for Hasbro here is the planning stage. Planning to use limited articulation bodies. Planning to reduce paint apps or mold the figures in the wrong colors. It’s awkward because that rarely happens. Instead of getting wonderfully conceived, poorly executed figures, I’ve picked up six poorly planned, but well done figures.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, if you can find these on clearance like I did, it’s worth it for the Nemesis. I love that figure, in conception and exectuion. $5 each is probably worth it for a couple of the figures too. If they’re still at full price where you live, maybe you can wait for clearance on the more common figures – but you might want to grab Nova and Tigra since they don’t seem to last as long as the others – but only if you really, really want them despite the flaws. If you can’t handle a few warts, this wave isn’t for you.<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I first heard about the wave, it seems like forever ago now, I was excited. I couldn’t wait to finally add a Nova, a Tigra, an Astonishing Cat-Beast, and a Nemesis\/Holocaust to my condensed Marvel Legends collection. I admit, I had some reservations. I’ve never been completely happy with Hasbro’s offerings for Marvel Legends. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[34,10],"tags":[230,229,232,24,2575,226,228,231,2569,227,2560],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-l1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":609,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=609","url_meta":{"origin":1303,"position":0},"title":"SDCC Sat RoundUp – Armchair Coverage Day 4","date":"July 25, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Coverage is a little later than normal tonight. The ItsAllTrue Crew travelled to Oklahoma City to attend the Grand Opening of Oklahoma's first Lego store! We had a few pics of the outside of the store and the R2D2 Build event at ItsAllTrue.Net's Twitter, but check back on Monday when\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DCClassics.Com"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29622,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=29622","url_meta":{"origin":1303,"position":1},"title":"Hasbro Releases Giant-Size Images of the Next Marvel Legends Wave!","date":"November 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Marvel"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31963,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=31963","url_meta":{"origin":1303,"position":2},"title":"NYCC 2015 Armchair Coverage: Marvel Legends, I Can’t Let You Go!","date":"October 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Marvel"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29108,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=29108","url_meta":{"origin":1303,"position":3},"title":"Marvel Legends Guardians of the Galaxy BAF Groot Review","date":"August 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Marvel Legends"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28642,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=28642","url_meta":{"origin":1303,"position":4},"title":"Marvel Legends Guardians of the Galaxy Nova Review","date":"July 31, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Marvel"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19665,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=19665","url_meta":{"origin":1303,"position":5},"title":"SDCC 2012 Armchair Coverage Marvel, Transformers, & More!","date":"July 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Today, Noisy and I are going to take a closer look at some of our favorite non-Mattel lines featured at San Diego Comic-Con. I\u2019ve got some quick write-ups on Transformers, Star Wars, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, while Noisy will explore the Marvel Universe and Marvel Legends offerings! A year\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Event Coverage"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1303"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1303"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28641,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1303\/revisions\/28641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}