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

Custom Super Powers Cyborg Superman

I'm a huge fan of Green Lantern, so as I have been building up my DC Superheroes collection, I realized I needed a good villain from his side of things. I found a seller on eBay listing some stellar looking customs under $100. I decided to take the risk on their Cyborg Superman. Let me just say that I am GLAD that I did! First off, here is their store:  Bigfoot6220 ebay store Secondly, here is Cyborg Superman!  The figure is pretty cool. They used an authentic Super Powers Superman as a base and gave it some great paint apps. The action feature still works as well.  The cape is custom but nice material. The logo seems to be thin cardstock that has been glued to the fabric. Not great, but not bad either. I don't have a Toybiz GL yet but, obviously, the cyborg is a great villain for Superman as well! I'm pretty satisfied with this figure and my Legion of Doom is continuing to round out well.

Custom Vultureman

    With the apparent ending of Funko's Savage World, my dreams of MOTU scaled Thundercats seems to rest in my own ingenuity. To that end, I started google searching all the various MOTU scaled lines like Remco, Savage World, DC Primal Age, and ZOLO. I came across this guy who immediately jumped out at me as Vultureman: A few days of painting later and Vultureman is mostly complete! I still need to decide if I want to paint his tongue, add a skirt, and give him a weapon but I think he turned out wonderfully. The Mutant army continues to grow... ...and Castle Plun-Darr is getting fuller.  I might need to start seeking out Mumm Ra's tomb or a good stand in for it. 

Transformers Legends Scale Jazz, Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Starscream, and Thundercracker

Around the end of the G1 line, Transformers made the Pretenders which produced some smaller versions of some popular bots like Jazz and Starscream that would fit in different shells/skins. In 1989, they re-released these figures without the shells and just called them Legends. In the 2000s, Hasbro decided to bring this scale back with their Robots in Disguise, Transformers Universe, Reveal the Shield and various other lines. Over time, the scale has continuously fluctuated so that it is tough to understand just how different figures will line up. This proved particularly challenging for me when I was searching for an appropriately sized Optimus Prime for my GoBots. Well, now I have added some more Transformers to my collection, Jazz, Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Starscream, and Thundercracker. They are all about the same size. This bothers me a little bit when it comes to Bumblebee and Cliffjumper, but when I put them with Optimus or the GoBots, it all works out pretty ...

Funko Primal Age Batcave

With these toys hitting clearance prices, I decided to pick up the Batcave. You can tell from the above pictures, that the packaging is clearly evoking MOTU. Even with the cross sell on the back. Very nice artwork. However, what is on the inside is far cooler. First, let me say that all of the details on this playset are amazing. And, despite what you may have heard, this is some pretty good plastic and has some weight to it. Now, I am not a fan of the Primal Age series but I plan on using this as a stand in for Castle Plun Darr. I really like that standing area behind the Bat's head.  The Cave opens up just like Castle Grayskull and as some really nice features. The spine/ladder is really well made with nice details and it has some weight to it. I love the depth of the dungeon. I could honestly fit two more figures in there. I have to say, though, that while the overall set is very sturdy, the cage doors and the front door ...

Star Wars Power of the Force Wave 6 Collection

  Here they are, the final wave of single figures from the Red Lightsaber Power of the Force 2 collection. It feels weird to know that I have the complete set and that I got them all brand new. As I've mentioned previously, this series was my Star Wars and they arrived in the aisle at the perfect time for my fandom. And being able to grow up with many vintage figures only raised my excitement for the Star Wars relaunch in 1995. My nine to eleven year old self is feeling an incredible sense of satisfaction. And the only thing that had made this collection even more gratifying has been the prices. I know a lot of people bought multiples of figures way back when, expecting to have a giant pay off in the future. I do have some pity for them but, moreso, I'm thankful that their efforts made the prices on these figures fantastic and what we could only wish all of our favorite toy lines still enjoyed. Greedo As much as I love this line, even I can admit that they made some errors. For...