Marvel Legends Avengers Vision, Kate Bishop and Sam Wilson figure review

Completing a team can lead to some very interesting figure collecting OCD. After getting the phenomenal Invincible Iron Man figure, I felt obligated to get the Avengers three-pack. Kate Bishop was fine, but she was a random figure to have by herself. Nightmare color scheme Vision just made me resentful we still didn’t have a classic version yet. But it was the Sam Wilson Captain America that kept daring me not to get this set. Thanks to a super price, buyer’s remorse is a non-factor here, but let’s see if it fully wins me over.

Package:  Hasbro never does too much with these retailer exclusive sets. It’s really just a larger version of the standard packaging. While that’s great for MOC collectors, that does make for a bit of a lackluster presentation.

The sides feature the three characters like they’re going into battle together and the back has a minimalist bio. If these haven’t impressed you at this point, nothing here will win you over.

Likeness:  Vision is basically just a repaint of the BAF Hulkbuster figure with a different cape and head sculpt. All the work on this figure comes from the paint job. That’s perfectly acceptable since this version of Vision doesn’t have a lot of obvious sculpted requirements.

For Kate, Hasbro used the same body here as it did with the Kitty Pryde figure, but there’s enough changes that it looks different enough. She’s got a great headsculpt with well-scaled glasses and focused expression. Or at least normally she does. Somehow my figure managed to get mangled on her left side with some bad scarring. I’m not sure if sanding will repair it, but I’ll need to do something.

Those kinds of problems are the most annoying as it’s not obvious in the package. The low boots are a nice unique touch and her side quiver properly hands along her hip. I wouldn’t expect dedicated sculpting for a cost-effective set, but I wish Hasbro could have sculpted the outfit instead of relying on paint.

Sam Wilson aka Captain Falcon features a lot of reuse from the Marvel Now Captain America with a new chest piece, shoulders and belts. Naturally, he’s got a new head sculpt, which is one of my favorite aspects of this redesign. I love the expression and the furrowed brow to show Sam is focused.

Despite my cynical realization that Sam was just filling-in, I found myself liking this outfit on his solo run and it’s conveyed well in figure form. Maybe the coolest aspect of Falcon Cap is Hasbro has a hole in the back, which you can plug the Toy Biz Redwing into so Sam can hang with his other buddy.

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Scale:  No scrawny Falcon this time. I’m almost embarrassed to put my Toy Biz Falcon next to the modern Hasbro figures. He looks malnourished. Now he stands tall and eye to eye with his Avengers peers.

As the leader of the All New All Different Avengers, it’s important he doesn’t look scrawny. He’s a tad smaller than the Civil War Captain America, which again is fine since Sam didn’t have an instant superhero serum.

Vision still seems somewhat undersized to me. In hindsight, I’m OK with these modern Visions getting released if it means getting a classic version on one of the larger bucks like the UK Spider-Man.

Kate stands the same height as the regular females. I think she probably should be a tad smaller, but the Kitty body was a touch too tall as well.

Paint:  Let’s get Vision out of the way here. This costume is altogether too busy and way too involved for an android. I can’t fault Hasbro too much here for paint issues as there’s so much to keep straight. For the most part, the various sets I saw had good to OK paint work with one area being a problem.

Ultimately when choosing my set, I gave up worrying about finding a perfect Vision and one that featured a better Falcon and a Vision without any issues on the head. He has a ton of paint issues with random scrapes and even a fingerprint. Probably the most annoying aspect of Vision is some of the paint looks like the kind of work that you’d see from a decent custom. There’s too many areas that look unfinished.

Kate’s paint job was fine. In person, the light pink shade of lipstick looks fine and the gold trim of her glasses came out nicely. Of the trio, she’s the less paint intensive figure.

Sam’s paint job also was kind of hit and miss typically in the torso area. I found one I was reasonably happy with since white was going to prove much harder to match than other colors.

Articulation:  Of course, Kate gets hurt big time from the standard female articulation meaning no bicep joint or double elbow movement. After a great figure like the Jane Foster Thor, it’s hard to understand why Hasbro doesn’t incorporate that into every female figure. As you’d expect, Kate’s long hair poses some limitations.

Falcon and Vision are spared those issues and have the regular fluid articulation that make Marvel Legends so fun to play with and pose.

Sam Wilson and Vision have:

• Neck
• Shoulders
• Biceps
• Elbows (double-jointed)
• Torso
• Waist
• Hips
• Thighs
• Knees (double-jointed)
• Ankles

Accessories:  And here’s why I waited so long to get this set. Falcon is missing his wings. That’s a pivotal aspect of the character to leave out. Sure, everyone uses the Playmation Falcon wings to cobble together reasonable stand-ins (now at Toys R Us for $2), but it’s not something I’d expect from Hasbro during its Marvel Legends renaissance.

Kate gets the standard bow and arrow used with other Hawkeye figures and a quiver. No arrows though so hopefully your Clint Barton has a few to spare.

Vision doesn’t have or need accessories. No issues there though that should have freed up more of the budget for Sam to get his wings, right?

Worth it?  Thanks to Reward Points, exchanges and Shopkicks, I got this set for $5. Three figures for that price is always a good deal. The going rate for this set is $40 or $13 a figure. Given the lack of some crucial accessories and no Build A Figure piece that’s just about right, though $35 seems the ideal price point.

Rating: 7 out of 10

I wasn’t a fan of this Vision outfit and the paint job didn’t sell me on the figure. Hawkeye would have been better with a clean face and bicep articulation. I got the set for Sam Wilson and he came through even with the lack of wings.

Where to Get It?  As a Toys R Us exclusive this is the only place you need to check. The price is enough to qualify for free shipping so there’s no reason not to go that route. If you’ve got some Amazon gift cards, you can go that route as well, but it is more expensive. Order the Marvel Legends set from Amazon.