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

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...

King Arthur and the Knights of Justice - Lord Viper

I recently saw a tweet that stated that the best things of the 90's were really just backwash from the 80's. I'm still not sure if that is true but it does come up here with King Arthur and the Knights of Justice. It didn't last long but I loved it, especially that theme song! Definitely brought back feelings of Boorman's Excalibur. Also, the Round Table and Suit Up moments felt a lot like M.A.S.K. The biggest connection might be Masters of the Universe. A lot of the same voice actors from the New Adventures of He-Man show up in this series. Garry Chalk, who played He-Man in the New Adventures and Man at Arms in the 200X MYP series plays our main henchman and leader of the Warlords, Lord Viper. Also, let's not forget the Black Wing/Stratos similarities: One further connection, is that Mattel also created the toys for the short lived series. The figures were close in scale to both the vintage line and the New Adventures. The Horde Slime Pit was ev...

Toy Biz DC Superheroes Flash v2, Hawkman, Two Face

I started getting back into the DC Superheroes line early last year. Even though the Kenner Super Powers line is superior in a lot of ways, this line has a nostalgic value for me. Recently, I was able to add three more figures to my collection: Hawkman, Two Face, and the second version of the Flash! Version 2 is a HUGE upgrade over Version 1. V2 Flash doesn't rely on a wind up action feature so it actually has arm articulation. Now Flash can actually do some better posing... let alone throw a punch! V2 Flash also comes with a Quicksilver/Silver Surfer-esqe platform. It even moves forward on its own if you pull it backwards.  Toy Biz vs Kenner. The Kenner figure is obviously the better choice. Just one look at his weapon and his head sculpt and that is obvious. However, there is a dumb charm to the Toy Biz figure and I'm happy to have him. I really like this Two Face figure. He has a winding feature for flipping his...

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...

Custom Remco/Zoloworld style Conan the Barbarian

Conan has always been a favorite of mine. He is the end all and be all of Barbarian/Fantasy heroes. I got my start, like most, from the Arnold films but later on I would be sucked into the Savage Sword of Conan series by Marvel. I knew there was a Remco version of the figure but the price point for him has always been too high for me to toss at a single toy. Funko had planned a Conan series for their Savage World line that I was pretty excited for but that seems to have been scrapped. Recently, I remembered about the Zoloworld series of toys. I knew about Realm of the Underworld and Pirates of the Galaxseas but I decided to check to see if they had made a figure that looked close enough for me to use. They had. Using Champion as my base, and adding on a repainted Primal Age Batman cape, I finally have my Conan the Barbarian. I also gave him a Super Naturals glow in the Dark sword. I always loved this weapon so I was glad to give it to the origi...