Marvel Legends SHIELD agent two-pack review – Hasbro Pulse Exclusive

S.H.I.E.L.D. has been a prominent force in Marvel long before they got mainstream legit in the MCU. Hasbro realized the potential of SHIELD army builders. We’ve seen a few two-packs along the years with alternate head sculpts and the most recent Nick Fury figure also included army building options.

With Hasbro Pulse, Hasbro has another avenue to get SHIELD army builders out to collectors. SHIELD’s been high on the army builder front, so it was exciting to see them join the ranks along with the Skrulls. My bank account didn’t appreciate it as much, however. Let’s see if this set was worth building. And I probably want to vet for Hydra or Skrull infiltrators too.

Packaging:  I appreciate the packaging featuring the helmeted portrayal of the agents. There’s lots of display options with this pack and this shows more of the army nature instead of unique portraits.

No bio of course although I’d dig if Hasbro mixed up the accent colors. Blue would have been an ideal color here.

Opening up the box, the two bagged figures are separated by a cardboard insert with a bag of the weapons/accessories.

It’s kind of a weird way to pack figures, but I suppose this is how they come when they cross Hydra or AIM?

Likeness: The figure largely reuses the old Nick Fury body. This update does have larger forearms that eliminate the glove cuff piece. All of the straps and thigh holsters are included from the original mold.

I wouldn’t have minded Hasbro cranking out the Sunfire or Vulcan mold for these guys.

But this was a solid gesture to collectors who’d already amassed a sizable army with the original Fury figure.

Paint:  The biggest difference from the Fury figure is a lighter shade of blue and a less dingy (read: no wash) shade of white.

I prefer this hue of blue as opposed to the midnight blue. That actually works for me as I can use my one extra SHIELD grunt as special squad leader.

Another difference is the helmet of the original SHIELD grunt had more detail with silver paint accents. Again, that helps establish a “Gold Leader” among the SHIELD troops.

With the new troops, there’s a red and silver visor plate. These are fine if not spectacular. The holster gun is silver now instead of black.

A big improvement was made to the SHIELD logo on the left arm with the actual lettering appearing this time. That’s a nice enhancement.

I think I prefer that over the silver helmet accents.

MORE:

• MAFEX Batman: Hush – Catwoman review
• Superman and Lois – Tried and True review S2 E6
• GI Joe Classified Series Retro Gung-Ho, Destro available for pre-order
• Mattel’s WWE reveals include Ruthless Aggression, Ultimate Edition figures

Scale:  The SHIELD agent is regular height and will look Hydra agents in the eye but will be looking up at Captain America.

Articulation:  You know the deal with the Bucky Cap mold. It needs to be retired years ago but is still functional offering solid if sometimes unstable articulation.

My earlier Fury figures had floppy, almost marionette type loose articulation. The joints were tighter on these figures although the dainty feet still make balancing harder than necessary.

The SHIELD agent has:

• neck
• ball-jointed shoulders
• butterfly shoulders
• bicep
• elbow (double jointed)
• wrist
• wrist hinge
• torso
• waist
• hips
• thighs
• knees (double jointed)
• ankles

Accessories:  The SHIELD agents have a very strong allotment of accessories.

My favorite is the three unique portraits. Even better — they’re all minorities. We’ve got an Asian, black and Latino sculpt. All three are very well done with strong detail for the hair and neutral expressions allowing them to work in various settings. Another cool bonus is you can swap them with suit bodies for undercover SHIELD agents.

There’s two figures and six guns. That allows for some fun mixing and matching of the weapons to allow for some uniqueness among the figures.

There are the two small blasters recently used with the Hellfire Club guard. The larger pair of blasters were also part of the Hellfire Club guard set.

Also included is a shotgun, which Punisher figures have utilized.

I think the big gun, that looks a bit more future tech, is an original piece. This is the only weapon to get some accent color as its barrel piece is red.

Additionally, there’s three sets of swappable hands — gun gripping, fists and gesturing hands that can stand in for saluting hands as well.

Hasbro was tricky here as the various head options clearly meant you “needed” to buy at least three sets to utilize all the head options.

Worth it?  A standard Pulse army builder runs $15.99. This two pack is slightly more at $33.99. Given the various display options and accessories, it’s not hard to see what led to the additional dollars. That’s really all I want as a consumer.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Like the Skrull figure, this is an outstanding two-pack that immediately helps bolster your SHIELD ranks. This was perhaps Hasbro’s best thought-out army builder set with plenty of accessories that offer a strong value. If they had at least larger feet to provide a steadier base these would be even better.

Where to get it?  You can only order the set from Hasbro Pulse. And it’s sold out right now. It’s popped back up at least once so keep an eye out if you missed them or just want to fortify your army.