Marvel Legends Age of Apocalypse Sabretooth review – BAF Colossus wave

It seems like the norm now in the X-Men is to make all of the great villains heroes. Before that was an overdone trope, Age of Apocalypse explored on a really interesting level by making Sabretooth, not Wolverine, the team’s resident bad a$$.

Surprisingly, it was a great fit and Mr. Creed really came off cool and proved to be one of the more popular AOA characters. So popular that he was only a handful of characters Toy Biz revisited in its take on Age of Apocalypse for the Marvel Legends line. That figure was OK at best, but made for a nice reminder of a unique time in Sabretooth’s X-Men history.

Hasbro was up to the challenge of making a more formidable and comic accurate take on the character and it’s one of my most anticipated for this series. Let’s see if he delivers.

Packaging:  No changes here from the first series. The X-Men logo is done in the AOA font and it showcases the character well. Sabretooth is massive in the bubble and does a nice job of conveying the value.

David Nakayama provided the artwork for this wave and I love his wild, unhinged take on Sabretooth. His bio actually does a good job of explaining Creed’s AOA backstory and his allegiance to the X-Men.

Likeness: Creed was largely drawn in AOA by Joe Maduerira the most exciting X-Men artist of that era. That means he was a bit more stylized than would work easily in figure form, but the exaggerated eyebrows and sideburns remain intact.

His hair in general is fantastic with the strands flowing down on either side and his long ponytail.

 

I’m not sure if I love the default head sculpt’s expression. It has that sly, about to play with his food vibe as opposed to a more serious and focused demeanor.

Fortunately there’s an alternate head that is far more fitting for the AOA take on Creed.

All of the signature AOA X-Men elements are included specifically the studded collar. His right wrist has some armor plating since that was the hand he predominantly held the chain that kept Wild Child leashed.

It features some dents and cracks to show keeping Wild Child in line isn’t always easy.

The texturing on the glove, collar and belt is very nice giving off a leather-like appearance. His big boots are also sculpted well.

Joe Mad drew Sabretooth more like a tank and Hasbro used broad pieces to properly capture that look. His arms also have sculpted hair for that accurate AOA appearance.

Paint: Sabretooth was one of the few characters that didn’t have a massive color swap from his normal appearance. It’s the brown orange jumpsuit and brown. There’s not a lot of issues with the paintwork. The irises seem to come down further out of the sculpted eye socked, but it’s very minor.

 

Hasbro seems to used some very fine printing to show a hint of stubble. That’s a great effect and came out really nice.

Thankfully, Hasbro made sure to match up Creed’s colors with the previously released Wild Child figure, which is important since they’re essentially a tag team within the X-Men.

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Scale:  Sabretooth was the big man of the X-Men only looking up to Colossus.

He should tower over the rest of the team specifically his Astonishing X-Men roster. He’s massive enough that the average size Wild Child looks appropriately small slung over his back.

Articulation:  This incarnation of Sabretooth is more of the absorb damage mode to protect his fellow X-Men so he’s not crouching as much as normal.

Besides, Wild Child handles that aspect of combat for him. Having Creed makes me wish we get Nemesis/Holocaust in a third wave or as a deluxe figure soon.

He does lack the normal double-jointed elbow thanks to the bulk of his arms.

Sabretooth has:

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

Accessories: Sabretooth has some very useful accessories. First up, the more feral head. This seems more in line with how he was portrayed during AOA and will likely be my default. Somebody got a little excited with the red for his gums, but otherwise it looks great.

He’s also got some swappable fists. These are cool although I would have preferred more slashing hands instead.

It’s not necessarily his accessory since it came with Wild Child, but you can wrap his chain around Creed’s armor hand to pull off their signature look.

Finally, Creed comes with the head of the Build-A-Figure Colossus.

Worth it? During Black Friday some retailers actually had Sabretooth for the old $19.99 retail price, which naturally is a good deal considering the current $22.99 price point. He’s somewhat Build-A-Figure size himself so he would be a good value even at the increased price.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

I really like how Sabretooth turned out. I don’t mind the single-jointed elbow so much since Hasbro captured his walking tank visual so well and he looks like the heavy hitter of Rogue’s Astonishing team.

Where to get it?  You can get Sabretooth from Amazon or Entertainment Earth.

As an Amazon and Entertainment Earth affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.