Marvel Legends Siryn review – BAF Bonebreaker wave

2022 hasn’t been a banner year for Marvel Legends. Between price hikes, a slow roll out of the new and improved base bodies, the poorly received reaction to plastic-free packaging while quality control has taken another hit and poor design choices have contributed to one of the weaker years since the Return of Marvel Legends. Did I mention the price hikes?

Siryn is a character that manages to encapsulate a lot of the 2022 issues in one figure. A longtime fan favorite thanks to her lengthy stint in X-Force, Siryn has become a more prominent missing character as more of her teammates were released.

Packaging: The Marvel Legends team has wisely continued its partnership with David Nakayama on the package art. He’s got a gift for capturing the core personality of the character in one portrait. And has been the habit lately, Nakayama is showing how collectors expect Siryn to look.

I’m impressed by the bio this time. It actually explains her background, family heritage, powers and team affiliation in one sentence.

Cramming multiple languages on one package isn’t easy, but this was an exemplary way to execute it.

Likeness: Just like Firestar, Hasbro went with the odd choice of sculpting Siryn’s hair like she’s in a wind tunnel. This wildly contrasts with her calm, peaceful expression and would clearly make more sense with her screaming head. And the way it’s sculpted is weird as it gives the helmet hair look especially on the right side.

Her portrait was also somewhat weird as at some angles she looked young while in others she looked much older. Siryn has been Wasp-like in constantly changing up her costume with varying themes on the green and yellow color scheme.

It took some doing, but I finally found the reference attire (sorta) for this figure. Some of that was because Hasbro omitted the 90s-era thigh bands so many of the X-characters had during that time frame. I hate when Hasbro ignores details that a simple Google search will show is missing. They did get her smaller pixie style boots correct.

Or maybe this is intended to be the X-Force Ver. 2 attire? This would be another puzzling choice as Rictor and Sunspot are the only characters in that style Hasbro has done so far. Either way this isn’t accurate either. Siryn doesn’t have an X-logo on her chest in this attire — it’s at her hip and is red. And the stripes are thicker as well.

I think Hasbro executed her wings about as well as I could ask for while keeping them cloth and not affecting Siryn’s articulation. The cape is attached at the shoulders instead of the biceps like the original Banshee or Black Bolt figures. It bunches up weird and keeps twirling into itself or flies up.

I really don’t see how they could do it better even if it’s still not the most aesthetically pleasing.

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Paint: Yellow plays a lot nicer with a complementary color like green. There’s not as many applications needed to avoid the bleed through compared to reds and blacks.

The paint is largely precise save for some inconsistencies with the attire. Hasbro should have made the middle green stripe more pronounced and thicker than the stripes on either side.

I mentioned some of the other paint issues earlier, so I won’t repeat them.

It would have been nice for Hasbro to add some actual red to Siryn’s hair. Orange in place of red doesn’t look great without a wash. Kudos to the paint squad for getting her green eyes so precise.

Scale: Siryn is shorter than her uncle, Black Tom, which is the most important height measurement for her. Let’s see how she looks next to her father, Banshee…oh wait, that’s right.

Articulation: Siryn is using the new female mold, so she’s got bicep and double-jointed elbow articulation. My figure had some trouble standing thanks to the ankle joint being too tight to rest flat in standing poses. In action shots, she was much better although the hair restricts some movement while looking too static thanks to the head sculpt.

Siryn has:

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

Accessories: With a default serene head it seemed the obvious accessory would be an action portrait featuring Siryn channeling her mutant powers. Nope, all is she gets is grasping hands.

The common thought is Hasbro didn’t want to have a female figure being mistaken by some ultra-conservative mother clasping her pearls at a figure that looks like a blow-up doll. It seems like showing Siryn’s teeth could have eliminated those fears.

This was a really weird decision from Hasbro though and is even more baffling considering the hair sculpt.

She does come with the right section of the Build-A-Figure Bonebreaker’s tank.

Worth it?  Siryn is not worth $24.99 or $22.99. This is the problem Hasbro is facing with its Marvel Legends line now. The value just isn’t there especially with shaky execution and omission of important details/or accessories.

Now, if you managed to get Siryn now, you would make out as she’s on deep clearance at Target for $7.49. She’s not a home run even at that price but is a lot better and her issues aren’t as bad.

Rating: 6 out of 10

From the windswept hair and the neutral expression to the lack of an action head sculpt and the execution of the wings, Siryn has some shakiness. It’s nice to add another member to X-Force even if she’s not an actual fit with many of the existing figures.

Where to get it?  You can get Siryn from Walmart and some Target stores, but online retailers like Amazon, and Entertainment Earth might be a better bet.

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