Marvel Legends Union Jack figure review – Build-A-Figure Smart Hulk wave
Union Jack is one of those rare characters that have managed to avoid awful makeovers. It helps that he’s got a pretty sweet costume and there’s only so much even the busiest comic costume designer could do to enhance an already terrific look. Union Jack gets us closer to completing another Marvel team with The Invaders.
Packaging: Union Jack is part of the Smart Hulk wave and in keeping with his wave mates, his bio is short and to the point while covering the essentials of the character. I do think that for more C-list heroes, Hasbro should put a little more time into the bios. I didn’t love the package art for him as it made UJ come off too squat and non-distinct.
Likeness: The biggest shift from the classic to this updated version is the belt with holster and sheath is on the front of the entire outfit. Through the magic of Golden Age designs, Jack’s stripe carried on through to the crotch area over top the belt. It was an interesting choice. Another change is adding some seams to the mask, which conjured up images of Beach Head or Firefly for me.
All of the other design elements like the wristbands and ankle bands are included and executed very well. My one gripe with the setup is the sheath sits a tad too high so his knife hilt ends up bumping up against his rib cage. Ouch.
I think I’m actually tired of the Bucky Cap mold especially when the Sunfire mold seems like a better choice for him. That mold would give him a bit more size as well as some enhanced articulation.
Paint: Given the nature of this costume and the emphasis on the white lining, finding a figure with a perfect paint job is going to be nearly impossible. White is a tough coverage color requiring more applications than others like black or navy blue. As a result there’s some issues where the lining is faint and the blue is bleeding through or just didn’t take very well providing some issues with the sharpness of the lines.
Even if you can eyeball a relatively decent figure, there’s still the matter of the back, which like mine could be in bad shape that you wouldn’t be able to see without opening the figure.
That’s pretty significant, but for a mass market figure I don’t imagine it could ever be done just right.
Scale: Since he’s on the Bucky Cap mold, Union Jack is shorter and slighter than his fellow Invaders. Again, the Sunfire mold really would have been a better fit for him since he’d be next to such larger than life characters/figures.
Articulation: My figure’s right shoulder was very tight on the rotation while I posed him and the right elbow also had some tightness. I prefer that over loose joints right away.
The BC mold is used so often because it’s got great range of movement. Not as good as the Sunfire mold, which would allow for more dynamic gun poses, but it’s solid.
Union Jack has:
- neck
- ball-jointed shoulders
- bicep
- elbow (double jointed)
- wrist
- wrist hinge
- torso
- waist
- hips
- thighs
- knees (double jointed)
- ankles
Accessories: Union Jack comes with his trusty revolver and knife.
They’re both sculpted nice, but the nearly translucent material used for the blade and gun barrel really scream “cheap toy!!!” Maybe a dry brush with some gunmetal paint will enhance it?
Additionally, he comes with the right arm for the BAF Smart Hulk.
Worth it? I wasn’t in a super rush to complete Smart Hulk so I got Union Jack for under $10. That’s a terrific price for pretty much any Marvel Legend and I was thrilled to get him and complete Hulk for half off.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Union Jack is an overall solid figure that would have benefitted from a different body choice and more consistent paint work. Still, this is another fringe character Hasbro cranked out to deepen our Marvel Legends collection, which is always a good thing.
Where to get it? The wave is available at Target and you can also track them down at Wal-Mart and GameStop as well. You could also go with Amazon, which has him so low, or Entertainment Earth and Hasbro Pulse.