Marvel Legends Hawkeye figure review – Vintage Series
It’s kinda crazy that the Odin Father wave was the first Marvel Legends series I started reviewing. Hopefully you’ve noticed some improvements in the figures reviews since then. I was excited when Hasbro revealed a reworked Hawkeye for the second wave of Retro figures.
I liked the first one just fine as a West Coast Avengers version, but it didn’t have that classic Hawkeye look. For the most part Hasbro addressed my issues with this Vintage series update. Time to take aim and see how close this Vintage Hawkeye is to a bullseye.
Packaging: Like most old school collectors I’m a big fan of this classic style packaging with the vintage blue trim, grayscale comic panels and a big portrait of the character in action. I like the bio as it goes back to Hawkeye’s comic book origin and being inspired by Iron Man.
Likeness: This one comes so close to being a perfect Hawkeye figure. Hasbro went with the vintage look here meaning no sleeves or a metallic arm. Hasbro added the arm bands and bracelets for the traditional look. It’s enough to truly make this look like a different Hawkeye with substantial changes from the original figure. Just a head’s up: the bands tend to slip down past the bicep if you’re not careful to wedge them in the gap. Or just use some superglue.
If only Hasbro went the extra route and gave us an updated head sculpt — one more reflective of Hawkeye’s cocky personality. The Marvel Select Hawkeye remains undefeated in that regard and might be the best we’ll ever see. This head sculpt isn’t bad, but more serious minded than we typically see from Briar’ Hawkeye.
My figure has this weird sheering around its left shoulder that I’m going to need to sand down. That’s a little annoying.
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Paint: To further distinguish this from the first figure Hasbro went with a lighter shade of blue and purple.
I appreciate the shift in tones as well as the subtle details like the studs on the H of his costume being purple instead of blue and only a small portion of the cowl being blue this time. Hawkeye also sports finger gloves this time out.
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Scale: As one of the original adapters of the Bucky Cap body, Hawkeye stands at a regular height and a little smaller than bigger guys like Captain America.
Articulation: The articulation here is better than the All-Father Hawkeye due to the smoother left arm.
The metallic Winter Soldier arm was far more restrictive and was tighter. This one has less of a ratchet feel.
Hasbro did add a new wrist joint, which allows Hawkeye to tilt his wrist up and down, which is very helpful for an archer pose when he’s reaching for his arrows.
Vintage Hawkeye has:
- neck
- ball-jointed shoulders
- elbow (double-jointed)
- wrist
- wrist hinge
- torso
- hip
- thigh
- knee (double-jointed)
- ankle
Accessories: Hawkeye comes with the bow and quiver as the earlier release.
The arrow fletches are painted straight grey white instead of having a purple wash like before. It still seems weird that Hawkeye doesn’t have at least one separate arrow.
Worth it? I got Hawkeye on sale for $15. Considering the lack of a BAF piece that’s a great price for the Vintage wave.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10
The Reto Hawkeye is so close to being my ideal Hawkeye in the Marvel Legends format. All that’s missing is a better headsculpt, but in all other areas this is a terrific classic update of an Avengers’ mainstay.
Where to get it? The second retro wave is a little harder to find at retail now besides the occasional GameStop. Going online is probably easier now at Amazon.com or Entertainment Earth.com.