Marvel Legends Phoenix figure review – X-Men Build-a-Figure Juggernaut wave

Without a doubt the Chris Claremont/Dave Cockrum/John Byrne run on X-Men is my all-time favorite comic book stint. The Dark Phoenix saga is easily among my Top 5 favorite story arcs. But with Hasbro neglected the X-Men, it’s been a long wait for updated versions of those figures. The competition with new costumes makes that even harder.

I was thrilled with the reveal that Hasbro went with the classic look for Phoenix with the X-Men Legends set. If I’m going to recreate the Dark Phoenix saga in figure form I’ve gotta start somewhere, right?

Packaging: The standard black packaging gets a nice classy boost with the gold accent color. I haven’t been the biggest fan of the ML presentation, but for whatever reason the gold is very appealing. Phoenix’s drawing in particularly showcases her in a nice action moment.

With the arrangement of the BAF piece and the wide open space in the window, it looks like something has been stolen. Don’t worry, it’s intentional even if it certainly calls attention to wasted space and a lack of accessories.

Likeness: Phoenix is one of the characters in this wave that initially is easy to overlook. That’s a function of being in the same wave with two of Hasbro’s best ever females.

The hair sculpt captures that free flowing look Phoenix sported through most of her original run. The left side is great, but the right side has this weird layered look that didn’t quite work out giving Phoenix a bit of a helmet hair appearance. It might just be a simple matter of bringing the right side hair down over her face somewhat instead of the swept back look. As Phoenix, Jean Grey was less restrained and fully embraced life.

Hasbro was on the ball with the part choices as Phoenix has wide open hands. She’s hardly a brawler so this was some nice attention to detail.

Scale: Phoenix seems to use the same body as Captain Marvel. That’s a great, no-brainer choice and I’m glad Hasbro didn’t overthink it. She clocks in right at an average height with her hair providing a few extra inches.

Paint: Phoenix’s costume is one of my favorites. I love the color scheme and how it contrasts with Jean’s red hair. This shade of green and gold isn’t one you see a lot (apologizes to Electro and Banshee) so it really helps to make her stand out. I love the pearlescent color used for the gold. It conveys that reflective material Phoenix’s costume had and it looks great.

One super nitpick gripe though. Phoenix’s logo is oversized and shouldn’t dominate the black neck piece. I’ve seen a fair amount of Phoenix figures and they all sport clean paint apps on the face and the logo. Consistency is always appreciated and it’s something Hasbro has gotten a lot better at with the line.

Articulation: In shooting these newer females and posing the older ones with them it’s easy to see how far the line has come. Phoenix sports the newer female body with a pretty comprehensive articulation scheme comparable to the male figures with a few exceptions. The hair once again gets in the way as it hinders some flying poses, but she’s otherwise solid. I had some trouble finding the best standing pose for Phoenix as she had a pesky habit of falling over. Going to blame the heavier hair for some of those issues.

Phoenix has:

• neck
• shoulders
• bicep
• elbows (hinge and swivel)
• wrist (hinge and swivel)
• torso
• thighs
• hips
• knees (double-jointed)
• ankle

Accessories: Phoenix gets a goose egg in this category. True she’s got one of the bigger pieces of the Build-A-Figure Juggernaut figure, but on her own she gets nothing. As Hasbro has been more willing to do alternate head sculpts I would have loved to have seen a powered up variant with wilder hair and whitened eyes.

 

Barring that some flame or even some telekentic effects would have been welcomed. If you’re building Juggernaut this definitely won’t be a big problem though.

Worth It? Phoenix is a figure if you’re not building Juggernaut is not going to feel $20 worth. Some accessories and a better head sculpt would help. On the plus side, I see Phoenix being a figure that will get decent discounts as time goes on.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

On her own I really liked Phoenix. She’s a solid kickoff to the Claremont/Byrne era X-Men and I definitely hope she gets some more company over the next year.

Where to get it? Phoenix isn’t as highly demanded as some of the others in this wave. You should be able to find her at most Toys R Us and Target stores. Online HasbroToyShop, Entertainment Earth and Amazon.com all have her in stock.

The X-Men have been somewhat neglected with Hasbro until this wave. I recently reviewed Havok, but other ML reviews include Spider-Woman, Nuke, Stryfe, Hellcat and the Guardians of the Galaxy box set.

To check out all of my figure reviews, be sure to visit the main page.