Marvel Legends Blizzard figure review – BAF Hulkbuster Iron Man wave

One of the best things Hasbro has done with its Marvel Legends line recently is fleshing out the second and third tier characters. When I start counting up Iron Man’s villains, it takes awhile before I get to Blizzard. He’s not the kind of threat to have Tony Stark waking up in a cold sweat. Thank you, I’m here all week.

What Blizzard does have in his favor is one of the snazzier, simple outfits of the Marvel underworld. And he was one of the punching bags on the old Iron Man cartoon series, which led to a pretty sweet figure from Toy Biz’s pre Marvel Legends days. And for his Marvel Legends debut, Blizzard proves he can stand the heat with a relatively simple, but effective figure update.

Packaging:  The Hulkbuster Iron Man wave featured some dynamic art on the side portraits. Blizzard has a really nice one that makes him look far more formidable than he’s typically portrayed in the comics.

That’s about all the fresh and new commentary I’ve got on the packaging. It’s the same standard look that’s worked too long for a switch now. As I’ve seen a lot of Build-A-Figure part swaps in my area, I definitely appreciate the very visible window to see if anyone’s tampered with the figure or his accessories.

Blizzard’s history is so simple the quickie sentence bio actually covers all the important elements of the character.

Likeness:  Blizzard is one of those characters that doesn’t have a definitive attire. As such, he’s one of the few characters I’m not clamoring for his classic costume. This one is perfectly effective and it’s an attire he wore for a reasonably long amount of time in the comics.

Hasbro probably opted for this look as it simply required a blank body. I’m fine with that as that since Hasbro tends to make good on other figures that need a lot more dedicated sculpting and attention.

The headsculpt has a good amount of character for a masked figure. It almost offers a somewhat beady eye look as if to say ‘Oh yeah Iron Man? You and what army?’ I like it a lot.

Paint:  Here’s where Blizzard gets to shine. He might lack when it comes to new parts, but Blizzard has a fantastic paint application. All of the frost points along the chest and waist are spotless. Hasbro was able to get a pretty close match to the white on the shoulders, gloves and boots to the white plastic used on torso.

But what really makes Blizzard stand out in the pearlescent blue. I’m a sucker for a strong shade of blue and Blizzard’s really pops. The blue has lots of shading with light and darker areas that do a great job of simulating an ice-like visual.

Scale:  Blizzard uses the Bucky/Machine Man buck putting him at the ideal height for a normal, non-superpowered character. He’s not a brawler and definitely doesn’t need a bigger body.

Articulation:  The downfall to the Bucky buck is the engineering can occasionally be shaky…or more specifically, loose. Blizzard’s head isn’t tight at all so I’ll need some glue or clear rubber bands to remove the bobble head effect.

The top portion of the torso isn’t as bad, but looser than I’d like. There’s a far more satisfying click and rotate feel with the shoulders. As with most ML figures, there’s not a lot of poses Blizzard can’t achieve.

He’s got:

• neck
• ball-jointed shoulders
• bicep
• elbow (double-jointed)
• wrist
• wrist hinge
• torso
• waist
• hip
• thigh
• knee (double-jointed)
• ankle

Accessories:  As great as he fared in the paint category, Blizzard fails mightily in this section with a grand total of zero accessories. Sure, asking for an ice slide is probably a bit much, but not even the overused clip power effects? That’s a little disappointing.

To make some amends, he comes with the massive upper torso of the Hulkbuster Iron Man. If you’re building Iron Man, the lack of accessories isn’t as big a deal here.

Worth it?  You can get Blizzard now for $12. That’s an excellent price for a pivotal member of the BAF Hulkbuster wave.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

He might not have been on anyone’s must get villain list, but Blizzard is a welcome addition to the woefully underrepresented Iron Man rogues section. And that paintjob definitely ensures he’ll stand out in a display.

Where to get it?  Get him now from Amazon or you can try and hunt him down at Walgreens, which has a healthy supply of this wave.