Hasbro Marvel Legends Infinite 2017 Two Packs and Exclusive Figure review

With seven full series of Marvel Legends Infinite figures released already this year as well as two exclusive box sets and an eighth series already hitting some stores, you would think that would be all of the Marvel Legends figures that Hasbro could crank out for a single year. Of course you would be wrong. Because in addition to a record number of regular series of figures, Hasbro has also been cranking out more than half a dozen figure two packs both to coincide with the various MCU movies that have been released this year and as store exclusives. And then if all of that is not enough, they have also been slowly releasing a new Fantastic Four figures individually as store exclusives through Walgreens. And in the time it has taken to finish this review, the Gamestop exclusive Back in Black Deadpool was also released. That's nearly the equivalent of three more series of figures. So I guess I had better stop wasting time and get on with the review.

Packaging - Thor, Mary Jane and Hydra 2 packs 7/10, Others 8/10

Hasbro has a good thing going with the Marvel Legends Infinite line, so it's not too surprising that they aren't making any big changes to the packaging for these two packs and exclusive figures. The Walgreens exclusive Fantastic Four figures come in standard ML boxes. But without a full line to advertise on the back, they were able to use the entire back panel for a large photo of the figure and the usual short character descriptions. The packaging for the two packs does away with the hanging tab at the top, but is otherwise much the same as the single figure packaging, but wider. They offer a nice view of the figures and there is plenty of space on the back for big photos of the figures. I would still prefer some brighter graphics for a comic based line. But we're long past that at this point. And I also have to give Hasbro credit in that they did a better job with the limited space they have for the character write ups on the back of the boxes. A few of them such as the Spider-Man/Mary Jane, Thor/Valkyrie and Hydra Soldier 2 packs and Back in Black Deadpool are still pretty worthless. But the others actually provide at least a tiny amount of character information.

Sculpting - Thor, Valkyrie, Ego & Star Lord 9/10, Hydra Enforcer, Homecoming Spider-Man, Ultimate Vulture & BiB Deadpool 8/10, Medusa 6/10, others 7/10

Hasbro has been doing quite well with their Marvel Legends figures when they put in the effort. And those excellent results can be seen through most of these figures. The movie based figures are particularly impressive. Thor and Valkyrie are the best looking figures of all the sets. Though that opinion could change once I actually see the film. Ego's scarf is a bit too thick. But the rest of his outfit looks perfect. The Spider-man Homecoming figure is identical to the previous two versions of the figure other than the addition of the unmasked head. But the unmasked head isn't very good. It's easily the weakest likeness of all of the MCU based figures. Fortunately a masked head is included as well. The Iron Man Sentry figure that Spidey is paired with is a bit off as well. The neck is too long and the details don't quite match the movie. Many of the other small details are slightly off as well. It's evident that this figure was sculpted to match a version of Iron Man very similar to this one, but I don't think it was sculpted to match this one. The smaller Hydra soldier seems to be a straight reuse of the previous release. The Hydra Enforcer is a fairly creative reuse of existing parts combining the head and body of Captain Britain and the legs from the Juggernaut series Cable figure. It makes a fairly convincing goon. Ultimate Spidey seems to be identical to the previous Ultimate Spider-Man. And Ultimate Vulture has a nice sculpt for his head, torso and arms. But then they did nothing for his legs. That's disappointing. But at least the legs are the least interesting thing about the character. So the lack of effort is easy to miss. The Dark Phoenix two pack reuses the All New X-Men sculpt for Cyclops and gives the Juggernaut Series Phoenix figure a new head and new feet. The feet are a welcome change as it makes this version far more stable than the first one. The Spider-Man/Mary Jane set includes an unmasked Peter Parker head for Spider-Man. It's a decent likeness, as long as you want a more mature looking Peter. Mary Jane shares most of her sculpt with the recent Jessica Jones figure, but with different hands, feet and head. Her head sculpt seems to lack the kind of super model good looks that MJ is supposed to have. But it's still a decent figure. The Invisible Woman figure has no sculpted detail to her at all. It's just a plain female body with a Sue Storm head. But her outfit doesn't need any sculpted detail any way. The Human Torch figure does have sculpted flames on his head, forearms, hands and shins. They aren't very elaborate. But they don't have to be. Medusa is almost identical to the Medusa figure from the Thanos Imperative box set with a belt added and flat feet instead of heels. The sculpt looks decent and the new feet help with her hair. The hair is solid plastic and extends down to just above her ankles. It looks good, but since the hair stops just above the ankles, the figure will never be able to stand up straight without something extra to support the weight of the hair. That is really annoying since just making the hair a tiny bit longer would have allowed the hair to add to her stablity instead of permanently dragging the figure down unless she is squatting. Back in Black Deadpool is just an assortment of reused parts, but they work well together visually. However, I must say that the carnage style head on mine may have been meant for a slightly small neck. It took an extreme amount of force to get it onto the ball joint and it doesn't turn very easily not that it is on.

Paint - Deadpool, Hydra Soldier & Enforcer, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, HC Spider-Man
& Spider-Man 7/10, Dark Phoenix, Thor, Valkyrie, Ego & Star-Lord 9/10, others 8/10

The paint work on all of the figures is fairly well done. Even with all of these figures, I don't have any significant quality control issues. Back in Black Deadpool is probably the worst of all of the figures. The white painting isn't consistent in thickness and some of the edges are a bit sloppy. What sets the various figures apart is how much effort was put into the paint work. The four figures for the Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor Ragnarok sets have the most paint work and all four figures look terrific. The paint work for the Spider-Man Homecoming two pack is decent as well. This version of Homecoming Spider-Man is the best of the three produced so far. But the colors are still a bit off. I think the red needs to be a bit brighter or more vibrant. The Iron Man Sentry figure only looks as accurate to the movie as it does because they painted it as the Homecoming version of the suit even if the sculpt is off. But the red used on him seems a bit too light. The two Fantastic Four figures and the Spider-Man figure from the Spidey/MJ set all turned out well. But they weren't as ambitious with the paint work on those three as with most of the other figures. But when it comes to a lack of effort, it's on the two Hydra figures that it is really noticeable. The regular Hydra figure only has a handful of small paint apps for his entire body and all of his outfit. The Hydra Enforcer has a few more. But his outfit also has tons of extra details that could and perhaps should have been painted. At the very least, I would really have liked to see the laces on his boots painted. Cyclops and Ultimate Vulture are both well executed in terms of paint. There's some nice shading on each. But their outfits are also fairly simple. So I can't say that Hasbro was all that ambitious with either of them. Ultimate Spider-Man is pretty much the same. But I will note that the shade of blue that they used for his costume is quite dark. Personally I like it. But it could be a turn off to some people. Medusa has a fairly simple paint design. But I greatly prefer this version for the darker hair color and more classic looking costume compared to the box set version. Finally there is Dark Phoenix and Mary Jane. And again, both figures look good. They did some shading on MJ's jeans and on Dark Phoenix's torso to help break up the large areas which otherwise would have been fairly uninteresting. And both women have interesting, transitioning paint applications for their hair. MJ's hair gets considerably darker until it is nearly brown at the bottom in the back. With Dark Phoenix, they cast the hair in translucent plastic and then painted the top a dark red. The result is a nice effect that makes it appear as if her hair is practically burning at the ends.

Articulation - 9/10

By now we should all be quite familiar with the articulation on a Marvel Legends figure from Hasbro: thirty or so points of articulation, great range of motion and ratcheting mechanism in many of the joints to ensure they will hold their position. I have to appluad Hasbro for dialing in the level of articulation and the quality control as well. But from an editorial standpoint, I am beginning to miss the Toy Biz days when you never knew what crazy new articulation they might try next. Of course the trade off was that you also never knew when a figure was going to be able to stand on its own or not.

Accessories - Hydra 2 Pack 10/10, Deadpool 8/10, Invisible Woman, Ragnarok & Dark Phoenix 2 Packs 7/10, Medusa 0/10, Others 5/10

The accessories included with most of these sets are fairly standard fare. Medusa is the only one who arrived empty handed at least. It would be nice if she had some sort of accessory to replicate her hair attacking power. But most of the figures just come with whatever spare heads and hands were incuded with previous versions of the figures. They gave Iron Man Sentry a new head with an open, empty helmet. But the figure really kind of had to have it. Without that, it is just another Iron Man repaint. And it would have been nice if the face plate was articulated so it could be opened and closed. Instead you have to switch heads which means mine will be poses with the helmet permanently open. Interestingly, the Gaurdians two pack has a second head for Ego. But other than a VERY slight difference in the amount of grey hair, they seem to be identical. A battle damaged head or even a Hasselhoff head would have made far more sense and added some value. This just seems pointless. The Ultimate Spider-Man/Vulture set comes with Vulture's wings and a helmeted head as well as spare hands for Spidey. The wings have an impressive wingspan. But they lack any articulation and they could use some paint to outline the feathers. Invisible Woman comes with a spare left hand that is painted to appear like it is fading from view and H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot sidekick from the 80's Fantastic Four cartoon. Dark Phoenix comes with a bird shaped flame construct and two spare heads. One of the heads is the same sculpt as the default. But it is painted to show the Phoenix force is under control. The third head has hair that isn't blowing around. The Ragnarok set has two spare hands, a large sword and lightening effect for Thor and a sword and sheath for Valkyrie. Without having seen the movie, I don't know what to make of them. Things improve with Back in Black Deadpool who comes with removable symbiote tendrils, a pair of swords, a spare right hand in a web slinging pose, a pair of claw hands and a spare head showing the symbiote is in control. I really like that the parts allow you to create essentially two distinct versions much like the Absorbing Man series Ben Reilly Spider-Man figure. (Not surprising since many of the parts come from that figure.) Finally there is the Hydra two pack which is all about the accessories. The set comes with four additional heads, an optional vest for the regular Hydra Soldier and five weapons. The weapons include a bazooka, a large energy rifle, a tommy gun style machine gun with a removable drum, a smaller automatic rifle and a combat knife. With the exception of the tactical vests, all of the accessories are recycled from previous figures, including the heads. But all of those heads and weapons mean that you can assemble a decent size Hydra army without them all looking identical.

Value - Hydra 2 Pack 10/10, Dark Phoenix 2 Pack 9/10, Medusa, Deadpool, Invisible Woman & Human Torch 8/10,
Spidey/MJ 7/10, Homecoming Set 5/10, others 6/10

The retail price for a single Marvel Legends figure has been holding steady at $20 for quite some time. The Invisible Woman, Medusa and Human Torch figures are only available from Walgreens. Fortunatley Walgreens seems to have gotten past their habit of charging more for their toys and currently have the single Marvel Legends figures for $20. For myself, already having a shelf full of Fantastic Four figures from back in the days of Toy Biz, I almost considered passing on these. But for who haven't spent close to two decades amassing a plastic Marvel army, this is the first time in about eight years that Marvel's first family has returned to the Marvel Legends line. So it would be hard not to recommend them. And Medusa is a great rendition of her classic style and the first time the character has been available outside of a limited box set. So she is definitely a great addition to the line. Now we just have to hope that in addition to the already announced Mr Fantastic, Walgreens and Hasbro have a Thing figure in the works as well. As for Back in Black Deadpool, for a Deadpool fan, the real question is whether you need two to have both an in control and out of control versions. But given it is just a repaint based on a limited run story, more casual fans may just not care about this version of Deadpool. And unfortunately Gamestop is not as reasonable as Walgreens and has Deadpool listed for $23.

Since a single figure in this line sells for $20, it isn't surprising that the two packs generally carry a price tag of $40. Ideally I would like to save some money for buying multiple figures. But given that all of the figures themselves turned out as well as they did, as long as both figures in the set are figures that I would buy on their own otherwise, it's still a fair price. But it's that last issue where these sets can run into issues. The best value is the Hydra 2 pack which is an army builder dream. Even if you already have the previously released version of the regular Hydra Soldier and are not the type to want multiple identical figures, there are enough extra parts included with the set to create multiple variants of each figure. The Dark Phoenix set is another standout. While we have seen a number of Cyclops figures over the last two years, this version is significantly different from them. And this is the first Dark Phoenix figure to be released in many years. And if two new figures weren't enough, the set also gives you some spare heads to use on the previously released Phoenix figure so that you can have matching regular and dark versions. The Spidey/MJ pack starts to slide down the scale a bit. The Mary Jane figure is a long awaited and welcome addition to the line. And the Spider-Man figure is significantly different from any other versions previously released. But I can't really say that I have been eagerly awaiting an unmasked Spider-Man figure with an oddly colored spider logo on his chest. The Ultimate Spider-Man, Ragnarok and Guardians Vol. 2 sets all have the same basic issue. While they include two great figures. Each set only has one new figure and one figure that is almost identical to one released in the normal Marvel Legends line. And with the Build A Figures in the normal series, you likely have already bought them. And even if you don't already own them as with the Raganok version of Thor. You will still need to buy a second version if you don't want your Gladiator Hulk BAF to be a headless Hulk. Finally there is the Homecoming 2 pack which is the least impressive set of all of them. In the case of this set, both figures are merely minor variations of existing figures. Granted, this is the best looking version of the Homecoming/Civil War Spider-Man sculpt thus far. If they had gotten it completely right that might have made it worthwile. But as it is, there is every reason to think that there will be another version of this figure in the future that is even better. If that happens, the only thing this set will have going for it is the empty Iron Man Sentry head.

Happy Hunting:

These sets and figures have been slowly been released over the course of the year so far. And most of them have been store exclusives. So your options for finding them are pretty limited. Medusa, the Human Torch and Invisible Woman are exclusive to Walgreens. The Ultimate Spider-Man/Vulture set is a Wal-mart exclusive. The Ragnarok Thor/Valkyrie set is a Target exclusive. The Dark Phoenix, Hydra and Spider-Man/Mary Jane sets are all exclusive to Toys R Us. And Back in Black Deadpool is exclusive to Gamestop. That just leaves the Spider-Man Homecoming set and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 sets which are available from multiple stores. I picked up the Homecoming set at Toys R Us and the Star-Lord/Ego set from Target. It is also worth noting that time is a factor as well. The Homecoming and Ultimate Spider-Man/Vulture sets were released fairly early in the year. While I still see plenty of the Ultimate Spider-Man/ Vulture sets at Walmart, I haven't seen the Homecoming set in quite a while. The other sets are all fairly easy to come by presently since Toys R Us seems to be getting additional stock of all of their exclusive still.

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