Marvel Legends Iceman figure review X-Men Build-A-Juggernaut wave

I got into X-Men right at the dawn of the Mutant Massacre and quickly was drawn in to X-Factor. Iceman was my gateway from his appearance on Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends and I’ve enjoyed seeing his powers evolve over the years.

I’m less a fan of the recent changes to the character. That’s the great thing about Hasbro’s X-Men Legends line. My Iceman can be my preferred pre-2015 take on the character and others can feature him as he currently is in comics. Let’s see how this updated figure fares.

Packaging: This is your regular Marvel Legends packaging with the dominant black and an accent color. The X-Men get a gold accent and it’s a strikingly classy presentation. I really like the drawings on the side and with no shared package figures this wave, there’s no split sides. The bio naturally could be more expansive and it’s the main thing I’d like to see Hasbro improve with the line.

The window shows off the figure and the Build-A-Figure Juggernaut piece well, which helps determine if pieces have been stolen/swapped.

Likeness: Iceman is a character whose look constantly changes. Of his various looks my favorite is the Age of Apocalypse. There was something about the more sinister mouth-less version that worked. And the hair. The hair was definitely cooler. The figure’s hair is comic book accurate, but the chunky hair pieces look odd either way.

This somewhat modern Iceman looks cool (no pun intended) enough. I’m glad Hasbro opted not to go full out Ice Monster with ice protrusions for the sake of busying up the originally smooth look. And no shorts. I’m so glad there’s no shorts. The bare feet are an issue only in the sense that it differentiates this from a classic version with boots.

Scale:  Iceman has typically been drawn shorter than average size X-Men like Angel or Cyclops. The figure is taller than the average character as a result of the hair.

Paint: Painting Iceman is a tricky proposition. Toy Biz went with a icy frosted look that mostly worked. Hasbro opted for a more translucent appearance with blue shading throughout.

Seeing the joints and plastic connections distorts the appearance somewhat since Bobby isn’t see through when he’s Iceman. His eyes are painted white to give a little color.

Articulation: Iceman has the ‘pizza’ Spidey buck, which works great for slender characters like Bobby and Peter. Hopefully the eventual Human Torch gets the same body. There’s a little gap where the hips meet, which is fine for the articulation, but was one of those things I couldn’t un-see once I noticed it.

The biggest problem with Iceman is his plastic is super gummy and soft. There’s more floppiness to him than I’d like and he doesn’t feel particularly solid when posing. He’s actually more stable in standing than Phoenix, but that’s nothing to brag about.

Iceman has:

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

Accessories: The Toy Biz Iceman came with one of the most useful accessories with an ice sled. It was a little tiny, but it was awesome. Hasbro’s Iceman doesn’t get anything besides that back shoulder piece, which is removable. As far as the numerous potential accessories he could have gotten a shoulder piece is pretty underwhelming.

If you’re buying the entire wave it’s easier to excuse some figures not having any accessories to cost out for other essential pieces for other figures. I’d rather Kitty come with Lockheed than Iceman some random ice attachments. It also doesn’t hurt if you’re building Juggernaut.

Still, I would have loved if Hasbro made an alternate non-spikey hair headsculpt and boots for a classic Iceman or simply a mouthless, more detailed hair sculpt for an Age of Apocalypse version.

Worth It? Hasbro kind of set the market price of $20 for a 6 inch figure with a BAF piece. Iceman isn’t flashy by any means. With some creative accessories, he’d fare better. I doubt anyone is just getting Iceman from this wave so he’s a solid supplemental figure especially if you’re building Juggernaut. Iceman is already the common figure I’ve seen on shelves suggesting he’ll eventually get significant discounts provided you want to wait that long.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Iceman is a good addition to the line, but I can’t see him being anyone’s favorite from the wave.

Where to get it? With the wave now plentiful and shelfwarmers established, you won’t have any problems finding Iceman. I’ve seen him at Toys R Us, Target and Walgreens. If for some reason you can’t find him in stores, get him online from HasbroToyShop, Entertainment Earth and Amazon.com.

I’ve done a lot of Marvel Legends lately.  I recently reviewed Havok and the X-Men series Rogue, 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.