{"id":16689,"date":"2012-02-05T23:21:31","date_gmt":"2012-02-06T05:21:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=16689"},"modified":"2012-02-06T01:50:12","modified_gmt":"2012-02-06T07:50:12","slug":"marvel-legends-terrax-wave-iron-man-variant-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=16689","title":{"rendered":"Marvel Legends (Terrax Wave)
Iron Man & Variant Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>I didn\u2019t intend to purchase many new Marvel Legends. I wanted 2012 to be a year of cutting back, selling. But, the figures are getting better – the Seventh Market is expanding, Mattel\u2019s still got their hand in my wallet, and Hasbro? Well, they went and stepped up their six-inch game. <\/p>\n

Vault and I found the Marvel Legends at our local TRU about a week-and-a-half ago. We each had one or two that we were mulling over, Hope<\/a> and Thor<\/a> for starters, but as the week wore on, I was feeling the pull (and I didn’t even have any Terrax pieces!). Disaster struck a few days later – the variant case! The classic dreamsicle Ghost Rider, Steve Rogers and his Electro-Shield, and the Stealth Iron Man. <\/p>\n

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I hadn’t anticipated picking up Iron Man, but not for the reason one might think. Years ago, I had a near complete Marvel Legends collection, but in leaner times I had to sell off most of it. I miss some pieces more than others, but what I really hated parting with was my Iron Man Armory (long time readers will note that I built<\/a> it<\/a> back<\/a> up in<\/a> 4″ form<\/a>). I didn’t necessarily want to go down that path again, love it though I do. (And Vault was right alongside, for a shiny new Stealth Iron Man is similarly ensconced in his collection too). <\/p>\n

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I had resisted the traditional Extremis Iron Man the week prior, but my resolve easily melted for the Stealth Iron Man. I’ve always loved seeing IM in off-the-wall colors (hence my love of War Machine) and blue is a great deviation from his usual red and yellow. I was indecisive for just a bit, but ultimately Stealth Iron Man had to come home with me… and wouldn’t you know, his little red and gold friend tagged along. Well, damn. <\/p>\n

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I have only one issue with the sculpt and it’s something that’s endemic to most Iron Man figures. These IMs, like nearly all of the ones before them, are beautiful and sleek… almost too sleek. There’s just not a lot room for Tony in there. I do think the figures look great, but I wish the sculptors would take a basic buck, like the one Constrictor or Klaw sport, and take into account that the armor should fit over that size figure. <\/p>\n

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With that longstanding nitpick aside, I do love this sculpt (I did buy it twice). The Extremis Armor isn’t intended to be blocky and the figure is faithful to its comic appearance. I love the paneling, the sharp lines, and how they combine to make the suit feel more layered than it really is. Like the movie figures, the shoulders are achieved by adding a separate piece over the ball-joint, but unlike those figures it’s more firmly attached. This figure won’t be bouncing those off left and right like the movie figures. <\/p>\n

I would’ve liked to see some pegs in the feet (or a hole in the back for a flight stand), but I’m not above drilling into the figure to make those happen. I’ll talk about it more in a minute, but the sculpt gets brownie points from me for working the articulation into the suit. <\/p>\n

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The paint on both figures was really sharp. There were a few areas like the mask\/eyes where things could’ve been a little cleaner, but considering the figures are fully painted (to achieve that high gloss metallic effect) the amount of slop is really quite minimal. Continue to Page 2<\/a><\/p>\n

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When I bought Marvel Legends the first time around, I wasn’t always happy with their experimental articulation. I like having a lot, but my definition of a lot is basically what Mattel uses with MOTU Classics (I would like to see ball-jointed wrists in that line though). I don’t really need jointed toes or fingers, I never cared for those embedded shoulder joints, etc. <\/p>\n

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For my Iron Men, I’m really happy with most of the articulation. I’d like to see better ankle articulation, (they are ball-jointed, but I want the rocker ankles that were promised at SDCC), a swivel waist, and for the figure’s design to be more compatible with the hips (let’s just say it’s a good thing Iron Man doesn’t have anywhere he needs to sit down). <\/p>\n

Those three nitpicks aside, Iron Man is really impressive! Below the waist, he sports ball-ankles, double hinge knees, thigh swivels, and ball-jointed hips. The thigh swivels are ingeniously hidden between the red lower thigh and gold upper thigh, but what I really appreciated was the two circles on his hips – they’re articulated too and can swivel up and out of the way so they don’t block poses. Pretty cool. <\/p>\n

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Above the missing waist joint, you’ve got some nice articulation in the arms with ball shoulders and wrists, bicep swivels, and double hinge elbows. These are tremendously useful for posing, the only pose I haven’t been able to get him into that I wanted was him firing both repulsors side-by-side, but with his fist hand, he can’t really do that anyway (some extra hands would be nice, Hasbro). <\/p>\n

The last two joints are what really sold me though. Normally, I prefer an ab crunch to a ball-jointed torso, but Iron Man has such great range that I have no complaints this time around. He’s got great forward and back movement and it’s tremendously useful in flying poses. The same can be said for the neck joint as well. I was downright gleeful when I found out how far the figure could look up. The ball-joint in the neck has such great range that IM can look straight up while standing, or, more to the point, he can look forward while being parallel to the ground. The ball torso adds to the pose, but the neck does a great job on its own. <\/p>\n

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Finally, I also scored my first Terrax piece! There’s not much notable here other than to point that I now am a proud owner of two Terrax left legs. Though I will point out that the leg has the ankle articulation that I want incorporated into every figure ever. It still features a ball-joint, but with the peg going into the foot instead of the other way around. The peg goes into the foot piece as if it were a shoe and the range is incredible. It’s similar to what Mattel tried with DCUC16 Robin, but y’know without weakass thin plastic. I have this same joint on a few of my MUs and I think Joe\/Renegades Scarlett sports it as well. <\/p>\n

I also got a little slip of paper detailing Terrax’s run-in with Dazzler. I don’t know much about Terrax and as I inevitably build him (let’s face facts here folks) it will be get to the get the paperwork and learn more about him. <\/p>\n

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Overall, after picking up Thor & Iron Man (and a few others…), I think it’s safe to pronounce that Marvel Legends is back. These figures are nothing like Hasbro’s first stab at the license a few years ago. The original sculpts are solid, the articulation useful with no stuck joints, the paint has been good on the two cases I’ve seen so far, and the whole line just looks really good – back from the edge and flush with potential. These are toys I’m happy to own, happy to build a BAF I know nothing about instead of having to buy figures I wasn’t happy with to get a BAF that was more about the character for me than the final toy. Those days feel like a long time ago after seeing this wave. I had a good chuckle at the new packaging, there isn’t much fanfare in this hobby and the little “The Return of Marvel Legends!” sticker amused me, but it belongs there. And the proof will be in the pudding, because there’s going to be a Terrax review here at IAT before you know it. <\/p>\n

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For more Marvel reviews, check out our Review Index<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I didn\u2019t intend to purchase many new Marvel Legends. I wanted 2012 to be a year of cutting back, selling. But, the figures are getting better – the Seventh Market is expanding, Mattel\u2019s still got their hand in my wallet, and Hasbro? Well, they went and stepped up their six-inch game.<\/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":[122,34,10],"tags":[1368,24,473,2575,1344],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-4lb","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17391,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=17391","url_meta":{"origin":16689,"position":0},"title":"Marvel Legends Terrax Build-A-Figure Review","date":"March 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"With 6\u201d Marvel figures only trickling out in recent years, it seemed like the toyline of the early 2000s was deep in slumber. The behemoth is awake now. I know because I just bought some figures I didn\u2019t want to build-a-figure I knew nothing about. That\u2019s the power of Marvel\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marvel Legends"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16513,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=16513","url_meta":{"origin":16689,"position":1},"title":"Marvel Legends (Terrax Wave) Heroic Age Thor Review","date":"January 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s finally here! After being announced nearly a year-and-a-half ago at San Diego 2010, Marvel Legends is back on store shelves in all their 6\u201d glory and with BAF pieces in tow. Our local TRU opened a fresh case this weekend and I happily snapped up Hasbro\u2019s six-inch version of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marvel Legends"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17189,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=17189","url_meta":{"origin":16689,"position":2},"title":"Marvel Legends 2-in-1 Ghost Rider & Variant Review (Terrax)","date":"February 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I know we\u2019d need a Thing Review to be a proper Two-In-One, but let\u2019s overlook that and have some fun, alright? Terrax is complete, but I\u2019ve still got two Marvel Legends reviews before him (not to mention MOTUCS, Joes, DCUCs\u2026). Here\u2019s Ghost Rider and you\u2019ll find Constrictor conveniently to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marvel Legends"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16462,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=16462","url_meta":{"origin":16689,"position":3},"title":"Vault Review: Marvel Legends’ Hope Summers","date":"January 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I had a whole other review planned out for today, but best laid plans go awry easily when you make a minor toy haul from Toys R Us.\u00a0 Not only did I discover the first wave of Transformers Prime, but also the new Marvel Legends! With the demise of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marvel Legends"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/mlho10.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17208,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=17208","url_meta":{"origin":16689,"position":4},"title":"Marvel Legends 2-in-1 Constrictor Review (Terrax)","date":"February 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Nope, there\u2019s no Thing in today's Two-In-One, but we\u2019ve got two great Marvel Legends up for review nonetheless. Ghost Rider\u2019s review is on the books, so it\u2019s time to take a look at the final figure in the Terrax Wave (though, ironically, it was one of the first I purchased):\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marvel Legends"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16943,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=16943","url_meta":{"origin":16689,"position":5},"title":"Marvel Legends (Terrax Wave) Steve Rogers Review","date":"February 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"With Marvel Legends returning, a new Cap figure was as inevitable as the Thor & Iron Man that we\u2019ve already reviewed. I was pretty happy when I found out Hasbro had elected to do a recent look for Steve, when he wasn't Captain America, but rather Steve Rogers, Director of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marvel Legends"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16689"}],"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=16689"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16732,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16689\/revisions\/16732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}