Marvel Legends Kraven the Hunter figure review

Kraven the Hunter has one of the cooler visuals of all of Spider-Man’s rogues. He instantly stands out and looks like a bad a$$. You can’t rock a lion’s pelt without being tough.

Hasbro took a while to update Kraven for its Marvel Legends line. The Toy Biz version was another tremendous version that didn’t warrant a remake as badly as some others. And of course I managed to delay reviewing this one until a classic version got released many years later. Let’s see which one emerges as the true king of the Spider-Man display.

Packaging:   Kraven got released just before the personalized packaging for every figure. On his package side it’s just a boring portrait of Spider-Man. I would have loved to have seen a Kraven drawing as that could have been pretty fun.

Besides that, it’s the standard ML packaging with the red Spider-Man color scheme. Since he splits the package setup with half-brother Chameleon, the bio is even more simplified than usual.

Likeness:  This is Kraven in his newer outfit. This is actually one of the better modern costume changes. All the crucial elements are there. Kraven isn’t wearing a business suit with a lion lapel. While I’ve got a soft spot for the tiger striped pants, this change is pretty good.

Kraven’s expression looks like he’s ready to break Spider-Man. I wish the goatee and sideburns were sculpted a bit more prominently as the paint is carrying a big load in that regard.

His lion mane vest has a ton of excellent detail. His necklace hangs in a non-symmetrical way that they typically fall and his wrist/hand wraps are done in a realistic random fashion. The belt and skirt piece also has good detailing. I’ll probably glue the belt in place on the waist to keep it from slipping as that was the one constant problem as just random fiddling led it to sliding down or off.

The skull knee pads with furry accents complete the sinister look and the wrapped boots are a great touch. This is such a great execution on this modern attire and just looks really cool.

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Scale:  Kraven has always had an imposing look so it’s great his figure is taller than an average size character on the Bucky buck. He definitely looks powerful next to the slighter Spider-Man figures.

Paint:  There’s something just a little flat about the paintjob. Kraven seems like one of those characters who’d be a little grimier and the figure is all around too clean. The skull kneepads have a great black wash, but I wish that carried over to the rest of the figure to dirty him up a bit.

In promo pictures, there’s more shading on the torso and face areas. Their absence is noticeable on the actual figure. Most of the ML figures aren’t running around shirtless, but a wash here would have helped accentuate Kraven’s musculature. Look closely and you’ll see the lion nostrils aren’t painted in the sculpted area, which is a little weird, but not a real problem.

Articulation:  Kraven uses the Grim Reaper body, which is a very useful and poseable body. There’s not a lot of limitations with it and you can still get some nice deep hunter/stalker poses.

Kraven has:

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

Accessories:  For a hunter Kraven doesn’t come packed with a lot. He’s got a great looking spear. There’s really good detailing on it from beads, feathers and the wrapped top. Maybe the feathers are too thick for regular birds, but I dig it and won’t nitpick. A net would have been the only other accessory I really wanted.

Additionally, Kraven comes with the right leg for the Build a Figure Rhino.

Worth it?  For this high quality a figure and a BAF piece, the $20 regular price is just right. I appreciate that Hasbro has this value formula down so well with the Marvel Legends line.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Man, I’m not sure if not having to wait for the classic version helped here, but I was really impressed with this figure. Unless you’re dead set on having the old school version complete with cankles, this really isn’t a bad modern take on Kraven.

Where to get it?  Amazon has him in stock for a super high price now. On the plus side you can get the Classic Kraven and Symbiote Spider-Man for a couple bucks cheaper.