Mini Comic Wave 2

I got this whole wave during the Hasbro Pulse deluge. Slowly opening them.

Astonishing Beast came out great! I read the Astonishing run back in the day. This Beast looks great and poses so nicely. Love both head sculpts.

Astonishing needs some villains now. Maybe Ord and Danger.


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I bought Beast a month ago when I saw him at the out-of-the-way Walmart on the way to the in-laws for Thanksgiving. I passed on the rest due to price. Unfortunately I have this bad habit where I will sometimes think the passage of time saves me money. I was back at the same Walmart yesterday, one month later, and picked up Black Widow.

This is the kind of figure that, at $30, I need to pass on. The black version is my ideal version, she's a great figure, that's the only Black Widow I need. But I looked at the grey one and imagined her next to Daredevil or doing the Uncanny 268 pose with Cap and Wolverine, the aforementioned time had passed, so I bought her at full price. I need to keep here packaged, return her, and wait for a sale of at least $10 off.

Why, at $30, are we dealing with pop-off limbs, upper thighs being gouged by basic posing, and the penny-pinching exclusion tiny fists? I'm not accepting the "they had to rush them to beat the tariffs" excuse because if that wasn't the excuse there would be another. Nah, I can't accept it. Not at $30 a pop.
 
KAILRYU said:
A Maximum Black Widow with a ball jointed pelvis and drop down hips would be a justifiable reason for a £45 price point if they are genuinely looking to innovate in the line as opposed to bulking out the deluxe body with all the accessories and calling it done.
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I disagree with this because implementing the newest in articulation shouldn't have to cause a $10-$15 price hike. Jada uses the latest in articulation right now on their STANDARD releases. Unfortunately, Hasbro Marvel Legends is not a brand that's overly interested in innovation. They are more likely to rest on the articulation schemes for a decade or so; resell Vulcan bucks the absolute maximum amount of times before they HAVE to tool up something new. The fans are the only ones that are talking about ball jointed pelvises. Hasbro knows that's a thing, but they choose not to do it.
 
yojoebro82 said:
I disagree with this because implementing the newest in articulation shouldn't have to cause a $10-$15 price hike. Jada uses the latest in articulation right now on their STANDARD releases. Unfortunately, Hasbro Marvel Legends is not a brand that's overly interested in innovation. They are more likely to rest on the articulation schemes for a decade or so; resell Vulcan bucks the absolute maximum amount of times before they HAVE to tool up something new. The fans are the only ones that are talking about ball jointed pelvises. Hasbro knows that's a thing, but they choose not to do it.
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To support you, GI Joe already has them at the same price.
 
Santa had the good sense to get me Gray Widow and jumpsuit Daredevil for Christmas. I have some nitpicks, but they're among the best Legends I picked up this year.

Widow adds some color diversity to my Avengers shelf. It's probably my favorite of Natasha's costumes, as well. I had the excellent Target exclusive Proto-Maximum Black Widow, so I knew what I was getting into. I have some gripes about the lack of accessories, particularly the hands, but she has enough for me to get by. She's one of the only Legends figures I own that can easily balance in a deep crouch. Her ankles get excellent forward movement, no toe articulation necessary.

Matt is more of a mixed bag, though, again, the positives outweigh the negatives. He's a bit chonky, even for Legends scale, and the torso articulation is laughable. Outside of that, I don't have any complaints. I wish I had a better spot for these one-off characters. I devote an entire shelf to them now, and there's something unsatisfying about that. I wish I had little figure-sized shadowboxes for them. It's hard to focus on any one character on my current hodgepodge shelf.
 
I like the shadow box idea. You can even get those pre-made ones that are clustered and then you could play off the idea of comic panels.

It's also pretty played out at this point but that fire escape hanging rack could work, at least for Matt and Natasha.
 
I'm honestly surprised they haven't been justifying the price increases by the need to "offset the price of our new digital face printing." Of course new tech costs money up front but once it's paid for the price of the figures shouldn't keep reflecting it in the price if they're not improving in other ways. So far we're getting selective implementation of "new" female torso articulation and even the removal of boot swivel on some figures, in addition to single jointed arms which they tend to try to justify more when they do it.

It reminds me of my old cell phone company, always saying the random tacked on additions to the price came from upgrading the network and towers. I eventually left them after 2 years of continual "tower upgrades" where every conceivable tower in my area would be upgraded by now, unless this is like car insurance where your rates are now dependent on how other people are driving and have less to do with you as an individual.
 
After slight delays and 100 notifications for such, wave two is shipping from Walmart. All but Rachel for some reason. I didn’t cancel these POs because they were still only charging $25 each. I will wind up returning some to Amazon to shave a few bucks off each.
 
I only wanted Silver Surfer from this wave and found him at a local Walmart about a week ago. Will never need another.
 
yojoebro82 said:
I disagree with this because implementing the newest in articulation shouldn't have to cause a $10-$15 price hike. Jada uses the latest in articulation right now on their STANDARD releases. Unfortunately, Hasbro Marvel Legends is not a brand that's overly interested in innovation. They are more likely to rest on the articulation schemes for a decade or so; resell Vulcan bucks the absolute maximum amount of times before they HAVE to tool up something new. The fans are the only ones that are talking about ball jointed pelvises. Hasbro knows that's a thing, but they choose not to do it.
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And I agree with you, but based on where we’re at, I said what I did because I think it’s vaguely in the realm of possible with them, whereas what Jada deliver and the quality of GI Joe Classified is beyond the Legends’ reach or ambition.


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Hasbro will get there, they just move at a glacial pace. Partly because of cost since it's a lot cheaper to just use some variation of the Vulcan buck for 80% of the comic males they do, but also probably because of marketing. If they start pumping out figure after figure with a torso setup like Gamerverse Wolverine it will make the Vulcan stuff look like crap, but they have no intention of abandoning that mold yet so they'll slow play it. Maybe do a figure or two this year or introduce new schemes in the Maximum line to make it feel special and more expensive before letting it become the norm. It took a long time for that Bucky Cap mold to get completely phased out.
 
Misfit said:
Hasbro will get there, they just move at a glacial pace. Partly because of cost since it's a lot cheaper to just use some variation of the Vulcan buck for 80% of the comic males they do, but also probably because of marketing. If they start pumping out figure after figure with a torso setup like Gamerverse Wolverine it will make the Vulcan stuff look like crap, but they have no intention of abandoning that mold yet so they'll slow play it. Maybe do a figure or two this year or introduce new schemes in the Maximum line to make it feel special and more expensive before letting it become the norm. It took a long time for that Bucky Cap mold to get completely phased out.
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This is exactly right. They do make improvements to the line, they just take their sweet time and it's often quite uneven. Gamerverse Wolvie is the figure that I've had the most fun messing with since I got him, but I know not to expect a deluge of figures with proper torso articulation in 2026. If they make those improvements on the obligatory a-listers and not so much on the Fabian Cortezes of the world I can live with that - I want the figures to improve but I also want them to keep going deep on z-listers, and I think there's a balance there. But for the love of god, please stop making female figures that can't move at the waist! That's the one area where I'm seriously frustrated and have no patience left now that they've made double elbows standard on the ladies.

Articulation aside I have been impressed with the expanded formats they've been doing for a few years now, and the character selection has been great. Things like a big 'ol classic Sentinel and a Shuma-Gorath do impress me and feel innovative. The deluxe releases (both new and BAF rereleases) feel like positive moves given the lagging popularity of the BAF model, and I'm glad we're still getting Riders after a while there where they seemed dead. And the kickass Inhumans they made this year are a highlight of the whole line for me personally.
 
With Hasbro working two years ahead on figures, they could be slow-rolling improvements until they hear if their customers like said improvements before going all-in because then they have a year+ of releases on bodies customers hate. Feedback does matter?

I got my Rachel and didn't realize her lower torso spikes are different than the upper torso spikes - upper is sculpted on and lower is a piece inserted from inside her stomach.

They don't look that different but it's an interesting choice to not make them uniform.
 
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