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! 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

Replacement MOTU leg connectors by Rama and Amos Del Retro

Back in February, I came across a post on one of the Masters of the Universe Facebook fan pages about replacement leg connectors from a group in Argentina. I had already known about the screw and o-ring method, thanks to He-Bro -  http://he-man.us/Innovations/BrokenLegs.html , and I had used it on a broken Teela earlier this year. It worked well but it doesn't feel permanent. I have a feeling that I will have to replace that sometime soon in the near future. Plus, I am having to actually damage the figure by screwing eye hooks in their legs. Anyway, these new leg connectors felt like something worth looking into. If you go to their website, www.stands-rama.com , they have a tutorial posted on how these work: Now, my spanish isn't great but I kind of got the idea of how these work. Heat the legs, push the connectors through the crotch and attach. Seems easy enough. I searched for some more tutorials and found this one from Toy Palloi: And this one from Michael Mercy: ...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mattel DC Retro Action Batman

  Late in 2020, I went back through The Toys That Made Us series on Netflix and the Star Trek episode took some time to really dig into the history of Mego. Many of the toys I played with growing up or have collected are technically before my time but Mego was WAY before my time. I always kind of had a general idea of the toys, mainly thanks to Robot Chicken, but something about the presentation of the episode really gave me an itch to try this type of toyline out. I decided to get just one figure, to try it out. If I didn't like them, no big deal, not a lot of time/money wasted. My favorite superhero is Kyle Rayner (Green Lantern/Ion) and I remembered that Matty Collector had a Mego-like brand for a few years. A google search later and I found a Kyle Rayner figure for $10! Perfect. I could hardly ask for a better price for making a trial run. A week later, the figure arrived and I loved it. They had an entire sub series of GL's that I bought and some other items but that is fo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mega Construx MOTU - Wind Raider, SDCC Battle Bones, Man at Arms and Evil Lyn

I'm always sold on when a toy line is offered in a similar way to lego. I have the Mega Construx Power Rangers, the Kre-O G.I. Joe series (that I will showcase at some point) and now I have added Masters of the Universe to my collection. Previously, I purchased and did an entry covering the Heroes of Eternia 5 pack but over the summer I have stocked up on their other offerings. 1 - The Wind Raider (w/ alternate He-Man and Skeletor) At $20, this is a really nice set. The Wind Raider is supremely well built, detailed, and articulated. It has all of the same action features as the vintage vehicle as well - winch, wheels, wings, tail fin. It is very sturdy. I know a lot of people worry about that when it comes to non lego brands, but this thing holds together well. V1 and V2 He-Man. Only differences are in the coloring of the harness and weapons. V1 has the Powersword and Shield in light grey. V2 has the Battle Axe in a silvery color. V1 Skele...
Post a Comment
Read more