Marvel Legends Mar-vell figure review – BAF Abomination wave
Captain Marvel has an increasingly complicated comics history. To keep things simple here, today I’m looking at the first Marvel hero with that name. The Gamerverse hybrid wave hasn’t received the same kind of excitement as some other recent waves, but it’s got some essential and helpful team building characters. And Captain Marvel aka Mar-vell definitely is one of the former as a figure long overdue for an upgrade from the Toy Biz figure.
Packaging: To avoid confusion with folks who would get thrown off with a dude being named Captain Marvel, let alone a black woman having the same title, Hasbro went the simple route and dubbed the package Mar-vell. That works since that’s the character’s name although it’s funny that the original Marvel hero with that name loses it without a legal battle with DC.
The side portrait is nice with a full shot of Captain Marvell flying, but the bio is remarkably simplified. Again, likely to avoid confusion with Carol Danvers.
Likeness: Mar-vell has one of my favorite costumes. I love the split of colors, the half mask and gold bands. It’s a simple design that doesn’t come off too basic. In this case it doesn’t lead to the most exciting sculpt, but what is here is accurate to the source material right down to the size of his nega-bands.
My only “issue” is with the hair sculpt. The Toy Biz figure captured the feathered flow of his hair better with a stronger swoop and blowout on the sides.
Hasbro’s version features a softer hair sculpt that looks like he’s flying. It’s not bad, but it just doesn’t scream 70s hairstyle to me. This hair just seems a little scattered and messy.
Paint: Captain Marvel’s looks is mostly accomplished through the paintjob. My figure had a few issues largely with bleed through along the shoulders, elbows and wrists as the blue plastic still peeks out over the red.
The yellow starburst could have used an additional touch of yellow paint as some of the red bleeds through. I really like the use of the metallic blue and how it contrasts with the flat dark red and gold nega-bands.
While I don’t love the hairstyle the wash was smart to avoid making it look too basic blonde.
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Scale: The scope of the figure was surprising probably because I’ve been so used to the scrawny Toy Biz version. I’m awful at deciphering some of these base bodies. I think he might be a new torso as I can’t place all the wrinkles along the sides on other figures. It’s fitting and big for a powerhouse hero capable of fighting Skrulls and renegade Kree on his own.
Articulation: Like most of the modern ML bodies this one has a great range of movement. You won’t have any problem matching him up against your galactic Marvel villains and side by side with the Avengers.
Mar-vell has:
- neck
- ball-jointed shoulders
- bicep
- elbow (double-jointed)
- wrist
- wrist hinge
- torso
- waist
- hips
- thighs
- knees (double jointed)
- ankles
Accessories: Mar-vell comes up lacking in this category. He probably could have used some energy effect blasts, preferably not the same ones Hasbro has reused for years. Also, alternate flat palm hands would have been cool to showcase his energy projection powers.
Instead, all he’s got in the left arm of the Build-A-Figure Abomination. At almost the same size as a larger scale guy, Abomination is going to be huge.
Worth it? I got Mar-vell for $20. That’s the going rate for this line, but with some hesitancy in getting this BAF, it’s not a great a deal as it normally is for me.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Mar-vell needed a tighter paint job and there’s something still nagging me a little with his hair sculpt. Otherwise this is another welcome upgrade from my Toy Biz figure.
Where to get it? I think this wave is starting to show up at retail, but I’ve only been in a Target once since the pandemic started. If you’re still leery about heading out like me, the wave is available now on Target.com, Hasbro Pulse, Entertainment Earth and Amazon.