Marvel Legends Squadron Supreme — Hyperion and Doctor Spectrum review
The Squadron Supreme is one of Marvel’s more fun teams. They’re Marvel’s not-so-thinly veiled Justice League of America stand-ins that more often than not end up battling the Avengers. Getting a full roster of the classic Squadron Supreme is unlikely so Hasbro opted to do the version with a more manageable roster. To kick things off more aggressively than one team member every seven waves they started with a two-pack of stalwarts Hyperion and Doctor Spectrum.
And bonus! These guys can basically start off your Squadron Sinister too.
Let’s see if these JL stand-ins are ready to clash with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes or need to return to an Earth of misfit toys.
Packaging: We’re still in the dark era of the non-plastic window for Marvel Legends. That means the front is just a render of the figures with some comic book art in the backdrop and the sides.
The bios are gone but the back features different poses of the figures and their accessories. It’s definitely not as fun as the older packaging.
Likeness: Hyperion has already had a figure in the line, but it was using the now very dated “Hyperion buck” that at this point looks like it’s part of another line entirely. This is a much better choice for him as he’s clearly a powerhouse without the ugly blocky joints.
For this version of Hyperion, Hasbro opted for the modern one (shocker!). The biggest difference with the classic style is there’s two cape clasps instead of one with the cape just draped over one shoulder a la Captain Marvel/Shazam. Hyperion doesn’t always wear a mask to complete the Superman analogy, but this figure does sport a domino mask.
His waist piece has the sculpted buttons/rivets as well. Hyperion has pinless legs. Hasbro has started rolling with face printing for non-MCU figures and the detail work on Hyperion’s head sculpt is very impressive.
Doctor Spectrum for some insufferable reason is using the Bucky Cap mold. At this point it’s inexcusable to keep using this buck for figures especially since there’s been so many superior moods since this was the norm.
The Sunfire mold or latest Spider-Man body would be far better choices. On the plus side, Hasbro have Spectrum larger feet so he should tip over as often and he also has pinless arms so I need to take my wins where I can get them.
It is a bit odd that Hasbro didn’t go with pinless arms and legs for both of them. I guess Doctor Spectrum won the coin toss and chose arms?
While masked, his head sculpt is also sharply done with some nice folds to convey he’s wearing a mask that’s tucked around his head.
Scale: Hyperion is tall clocking in right around the height of Thor and Hercules. That’s the right height for a powerhouse character.
Doctor Spectrum is about average height for a character and that fits in just fine with him even if he looks noticeably smaller and shorter to Hyperion. You can toss in Nighthawk and Speed Demon for a mishmash Squadron Supreme if you want?
Paint: Hyperion has a far easier paint job, but that’s not his fault. Hasbro actually went a step further with his mask going with a darker red at the top and a lighter shade on the lower half to simulate how light would catch it.
That’s a very nice extra touch as well as the darker orange wash in his hair. His logo is cleanly applied as well.
Hyperion’s lower torso/waist piece has a sheen to it to suggest its metallic properties. It looks very nice especially in how it reflects light. There wasn’t a ton of opportunities to botch the figure’s paint job and Hasbro didn’t blow the layup. Sometimes you just have to take the easy ones when they come. Especially when Hyperion’s packed with a figure that could be very tricky with all kinds of opportunities for overspray and problematic paint apps.
Doctor Spectrum is clearly one of the more colorful characters in the line with a wild combination of blue, red, green and yellow. The white of his eyes pop against the blue mask strongly. There’s the expected random bleed through — the result of light colors like yellow and a minor bit of white.
There’s a point where the green in his back lines up precisely, but Hasbro continues the yellow and red along the rear torso joint. It’s somewhat of a weird visual, but this was the best option to disrupt the paint job as best as possible.
The biggest problem with Doctor Spectrum’s paint is the old joint system so under his ball-jointed shoulders is a blue pin instead of red and yellow. It’s a minor eyesore, but something I wish Hasbro would fix by now.
Articulation: Hyperion is the Superman-style big brawler. Instead of the usual waist joint, he has the diaphragm articulation joint, allowing for decent twisting and pivoting poses.
His neck is positioned in a way that he gets terrific up and down movement for his flying poses.
Doctor Spectrum gets some welcome tightness in his joints with the upgraded pinless arms. These new feet aren’t as helpful as they should be in providing him with a strong foundation. He’s probably going to be the character you pose flying on a flight stand so it’s not as egregious as it could be with another character.
Hyperion and Doctor Spectrum have:
- neck
- ball-jointed shoulders
- butterfly shoulders
- bicep
- elbow (double-jointed)
- wrist
- wrist hinge
- torso
- waist (Doctor Spectrum only)
- hip
- thigh
- knee (double-jointed)
- ankle
Accessories: Hasbro’s Marvel Legends team seems to be doing the minimum when it comes to accessories and doesn’t do enough out of the box thinking. This is proving to be a big difference compared to the G.I. Joe Classified Series team.
Hyperion comes with a swappable set of gripping hands despite the packaging showing a right clutching hand. While the cape setup wouldn’t make it the most accurate look, an unmasked head sculpt could have been fudged for other versions of Hyperion easily.
Doctor Spectrum fares better with a grasping set of hands, his prism and two of the starburst effect pieces Hasbro constantly reuses. This time they have a variety of colors and even better, the color combinations are different for both pieces.
Again, an unmasked portrait would have been welcome since Spectrum’s design has withstood the makeover machine of various iterations of the Squadron.
Most importantly, he comes with his prism — the stand-in for the Green Lantern ring — it also is packed with a kaleidoscope of colors. This is an original accessory that Spectrum can hold in either of his grasping hands.
Worth it? Hasbro was doing some wacky pricing with two packs previously but have settled into a far more reasonable $49.99 price point. That comes up to the cost of two standard Marvel Legends figures albeit pretty barebones in terms of extras.
Rating: 9 out of 10
Hyperion and Doctor Spectrum are two pretty solid figures. And with Hasbro already announcing the Nighthawk and Blurr two-pack we’re getting close to having a full version of the Squadron. Bring ’em on!
Where to get it? You can get this set now from Entertainment Earth. Use my affiliate code lylesmf to get 10% off in-stock items and free shipping of orders $59 and over.
As an Entertainment Earth affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Thanks to LMF affiliate Entertainment Earth for providing this figure set for review.