Skip to main content

Hasbro Marvel Legends Retro 375 Waves 1-6 and the Exclusive Phoenix/Wolverine two pack

 


Admittedly, it took me awhile to warm up to this line but once I did, I was all in. Wow, these toys are great. They may not be super articulated or come with great accessories but these look and feel like actual toys. That might seem like a silly statement, but think about it. In modern years, we have moved ever forward into the adult collectible genre. Everything is hyper detailed, hyper articulated, hyper accurate, and hyper expensive. Excluding price, that is all really cool but as the pendulum swung ever more toward that direction, the other side, the toy side, seemed to be left in the past. 

That has been a huge bummer for me. I don't know about anyone else, but as a kid, I always wished I was an adult with a job so that I can buy all the figures, vehicles, and playsets I wanted. Having adult money promised to remove the boundaries set on me by Christmas lists, Birthday surprises, and gift certificates. Then when I became an adult, toys shot up in price. Not all at once, mind you, but it's to the point now that finding 5 figures for $20 is a distant memory. In fact, finding 1 figure for $20 is now a stroke of luck. I know I have been kind of on a rant here, but these 3 3/4 figures from Hasbro not only look and feel like toys, they can be purchased like toys! I was able to get most of these figures for $9.99 each! That is definitely not 1995 Kenner Star Wars prices ($4.95) but it definitely feels like it and I absolutely love it!. The prices are so great that I was able to completely catch up on the line in less than a month with my adult money. I love that. But even more, I love the way these figures look. 

These toys seem to jump right out of the comic books that I grew up reading and they evoke memories of finding Secret Wars and Toy Biz Marvel Super Heroes figures in stores. I love the imagery of the blister cards and I love the era being showcased with the figure designs. If I could have one main gripe, it would be the pose of the figures. Every figure has that 1978 Kenner Chewbacca pose. The 'waiting for the bus' pose. It is so static and boring. I don't mind the lower articulation but if these toys had the hunched, battle ready poses of Secret Wars or even some of the poses of the POTF2 figures, it would help bring just a little more life to these super heroes. Another complaint I have is that the female figures all share a high heeled boot sculpt. That is fine when appropriate, like Storm and Jean Grey but figures like Elektra and Sue Storm would have definitely benefited from a separate sculpt. However, if it keeps the prices at toy prices, I can totally look past it.

Okay, enough words for awhile, here are the toys!

The X-Men


























Fantastic Four



















The Avengers





















































Marvel Super Heroes

















Anti Heroes and Villains 

































Whew! That's a lot of toys! And I bought them all with my adult money without having to miss a meal. This is what I want as a toy collector. More toys and at toy prices. And this line seems to be far from over. We already have the next wave teased along with a deluxe figure! Excelsior! 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Toy Biz DC Superheroes - Flash, Wonder Woman, Robin, Riddler, and the Penguin

Toy Biz's DC and Marvel Superheroes lines were my first comic book toys growing up and I loved them! For DC, I had Superman, Luthor, Batman, Robin, Joker, Mr. Freeze, Penguin, and the Riddler. For Marvel, I had Spider-man, the Punisher, Captain America, the Hulk, Deathlok, Human Torch, Doctor Octopus, Venom, and Silver Surfer. Now, these were not the best toys by any stretch of the imagination. They were very gimmicky and cheap, especially the DC line. A lot of the issues were straightened out for Marvel. With all of that in mind, these toys still hold a special place in my nostalgic heart. Unfortunately, most of my figures broke, were lost or their paint wore away, so I decided to get back in on the line. Ebay, my ever present nemesis and vice, had a lot of carded figures that I was able to snag for $37. Not a bad start by any means of the imagination. All of the cards had some water damage and Wonder Woman's bubble had some yellowing but the figures themselves were in g...

Carry Cases - X-Men, Batman Returns, Marvel Superheroes

Since I got back into collecting a few years ago, I have been keeping my figures in boxes or tubs but within the last few months I decided to go with something different. I always loved having Carry/Collector Cases growing up. It was the ultimate way to say that not only do I have these toys but I'm a HUGE fan as well. It definitely gave you some street cred on the playground and during sleepovers. Using these now, there are some pros and cons. The pros being how great they look. The art on these things were always wonderful. Having these on your shelf rather than tubs just adds a little bit of flair to your collection. The cons, however, is the fact that they don't hold very many figures. Most Cases have two trays that are made to hold 6 figures each. That gives you 12 per case if you follow the suggestion. Luckily, there is always more wiggle room than they mention and a lot of us were able to get up to 24 figures in some of our Carry Cases. I decided to go ahead with getti...

Star Wars Power of the Force Classic Edition 4 Pack

I had no idea this 4 pack existed until a few weeks ago. As I've previously mentioned, my first Star Wars toys were hand me down vintage figures. Later on I would get Bend-ems and the Micro Machines sets, but the vintage figures were my Star Wars figures until Power of the Force 2 came out. Apparently, this pack was released ahead of their arrival in a way to both build anticipation and also create a neat throw back for classic fans. If I had known about this, I would have been ALL over it. I only had Hoth Han Solo and Bespin Luke in my collection at the time so having these versions of the two would have been amazing. I didn't even have a Chewbacca or a Darth Vader, so yeah. I would have bought this. I probably would have bought two, one to open and one to keep as a memento. Star Wars toys were just so rare at the time that the idea of having one complete in package would have been a piece of art for me. I had been watching some of these on ebay for awhile but I finally found ...

Will It Motu or Notu? Schleich Big Knights Castle

Schleich has been around for quite while. They specialize in super detailed animals and fantasy creatures. More recently, they have been adding figurines and now "action figures". These toys are all pretty awesome and are in a 3 3/4 scale, like Star Wars and G.I. Joe. They have been making playsets and dioramas, as well, and a few of them really caught my eye. Since I have been on a vintage MOTU binge, my mind immediately began trying to figure out just how well these playsets would scale with my toys. I asked sellers on Amazon.com who responded negatively, but it didn't sit well with me. Being a toy collector for as long as I have been, my mind has become pretty adept at this. Many of you, I'm sure, can say the same. I decided to reach out on He-Man.org. Nobody was negative on it but they weren't really sure either. One member, Barbecue17, had the playset I was thinking about and had covered it on his blog, which you can check out here -  http://www.actionfig...

Funko - Savage World - Thundercats Wave 1

Masters of the Universe has always been one of my favorite franchises. There is a particularly visceral charm to it that has captivated my imagination for years. Thundercats falls into that same category. Since I was born in 1986, I wasn't old enough to have watched the show's original run. However, I did have the action figures for Lion-O and Jackalman and a coloring book that told the story of the Thundercats search for their missing Time Capsule. These were more than enough to hook me on the franchise.  I was able to rent a few VHS episodes from Blockbuster in early 90's but I wasn't able to fully grasp the glory of the refugees of Thundera until Toonami added it to its programming. This show really had a lot going for it. The animation was fantastic, the characterizations and voice acting were superb and the music was enthralling. I think one of my favorite things about the show was that each of the characters had their own theme (and yes, Panthro's was t...