HasLab Marvel Legends Giant-Man review (2024)

Giant-Man was one of the best Build-A-Figures Toy Biz made during their tenure with the Marvel Legends license. Hasbro has done some stellar work replacing the Toy Biz Marvel Legends with superior versions, but Giant-Man seemed like he’d be a…tall task.

While Hasbro has since introduced a model to get larger figures released outside of a HasLab, Giant Man seemed like a fitting release in this format for Hank Pym’s largest alter ego.

This has been one of my most anticipated releases of the year. While there’s been some concerning quality control issues, I’m hopeful High Pockets rises above those to be my crowdfunded purchase of 2024.

Packaging: One thing that immediately stands out is the size of this figure’s box. I knew Giant-Man wasn’t tiny, but this is the kind of you’re not gonna quickly fool your spouse into thinking this is just another package from Amazon kind of big.

The ML team made the packaging interactive with a poll to decide on the layout artist John Tyler Christopher would use from three available choices. While I chose the more heroic looking up at the Avengers and Giant-Man layout, choice B with the Avengers flanking GM heading into battle was another good choice and it won. This really does kinda have the look of what could have been if Giant-Man and Wasp were included in the Phase 1 lineup of MCU movies.

On the back, there’s some wreckage of Ultron parts on the street. The side is interesting as it just has the MCU original Avengers plus Wasp. Poor Giant-Man doesn’t even get on the side of his own package. I like how the front is also styled like a comic book cover complete with Hank holding Wasp in the palm of his hand.

Likeness:  The funny thing about Giant-Man’s look early on is that Jack Kirby kept tinkering with the look over the first few Avengers issues. By issue #6 Kirby settled on a look that lasted for multiple issues. That’s the look Hasbro used for the HasLab, which was a smart choice as it has the most design elements that could be sculpted on a large-scale figure.

The sculpted detail for Giant-Man is really impressive especially when you compare him to the standard six-inch scale Giant-Man that came in the two-pack with Wasp. That figure was pretty solid, but all of the outfit detail save the helmet panels and belt were just painted on. For the HasLab, the gloves, trunks and boots are sculpted. The boots even have zippers on the back in a really cool touch.

To avoid making him look overly simplistic, Giant Man’s outfit has textured elements throughout along with uniform seamlines. Hank’s harness is a separate piece made of a looser plastic sculpted to look like it’s leather. This is smartly done so it’s loose enough to not interfere with the articulation without looking sloppy and ill-fitting.

I like the default face plate, which has a stoic expression showing Hank is ready for business alongside Thor, Iron Man and Captain America.

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Paint: Giant-Man has some nicely done shading throughout the outfit. This was necessary as one flat color on a figure of this size was going to look pretty cheap.

The only concern for me with the paint was if the HasLab Hank matched up properly with the two-pack Giant-Man. The red on the regular size GM is darker than the HasLab, which has a darker silvery-blue belt and much darker blue with more of a tinge of purple. It makes for a more striking figure, but Hank’s blues were always lighter. The Hasbro Ant-Man has the more accurate shade for reference.

One of the cooler aspects with the paintjob is the work done on the eyes. They were done in a manner to convey the natural wet eyes look, which allows the figure’s eyes to catch the light and reflect like they would on an actual person. It’s an amazing effect and executed very well.

Scale: Hasbro showed pictures of Giant-Man with some of his fellow Avengers, but it means nothing compared to having him in hand. He is so tall! Fitting for the guy called Giant-Man, right?

The 80th anniversary Iron Man, who is taller than the average Marvel Legends figure, comes up to Hank’s boot. Even on one knee he’s still a massive and imposing looking giant. He’s still going to be looking up at the other HasbLabs with Galactus and the Sentinel.

Articulation: Giant-Man isn’t lacking for articulation with 91 points. Granted, some of them are superfluous like the three in each finger. The finger joints have had some QC issues and require heat to properly bend. I’ll likely make a fist out of them and call it a day to avoid any problems.

Still, Hank gets all of the essential modern Marvel Legends articulation including butterfly shoulders (!) and toe joints. Hasbro’s smart engineering of the harness prevents it from being a restrictive aspect to his poseability.

GM does have very useful joints like the side-to-side mid-torso joint combined with the torso hinge, which allows for very helpful stooping down to grab someone poses.

His knees and elbows have the full double-jointed range. The trick is Hasbro wanted to ensure he didn’t topple over too easily and made sure to give him very strong detents and tight ratchet joints.

Giant-Man has:

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

Accessories: Giant-Man was hurt in the eyes of some fans by not including figure tiers particularly a Silver Age Wasp to accompany him. We got that figure along with a regular size Giant-Man in a two-pack released earlier this year.

What Hasbro did include with Hank wasn’t quite as exciting as more figures though there are some interesting add-ons for mixing up his expressions courtesy of two additional face plates.

He’s got an angry expression with intense eyes and an almost snarling mouth sculpt. This is a good one for the middle of a battle where Hank has fully lost his temper and has had enough.

The other is a smiling face plate where the smile is off. It’s too strained almost like Hank is forcing himself to smile and doesn’t look genuine so much as psychotic.

And a third that was the first tier that was reached. That was the zombie face plate, which features some excellent sculpted detailing including a partially gnawed off nose, pock marks and jagged teeth. The paintjob is really nice as well with a blue-grey skin tone with a darker wash, purplish lips and dark pink gums and grimy teeth.

Additionally, Hank gets three different set of antennae. One is black — the mostly default look in this attire although there are some images with them being white. The TB Giant Man has white antennae so you can also replicate that look here. Both sets plug into the holes on the forehead easily and can go up and out to provide some measure of articulation.

Finally, there’s a set of mangled antennae for the zombie face plate. The zombie eyes have a hazy mist to them as well as some red in the iris. It’s a very cool effect.

But Hasbro had some issue with the factory as the set of eyes should have a front facing set, a sideways glare and intense, lower set eyes specifically for the angry face plate. Only problem was Hasbro didn’t include the front facing set giving most backers two sets of sideways eyes.

Hasbro customer service has been bombarded by service calls, but their reps have been on top of it and fielding replacement requests. The rep I spoke to said they should arrive in mid-December, which for now means my GM will be casting some McFarlane Toys style side eyes at the other figures in my collection.

Worth it?  As a HasLab, Giant-Man was more expensive than the standard figure.  At $199.99 he was the least expensive Marvel Legends HasLab by far. Some of that was due to the lack of figures as tiers, which kinda feels like a wash since most collectors wanted that Wasp and regular size Giant-Man anyway.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

This figure makes me smile. There’s enough off — the shade of blues, the missing front eyes (for now) and the tricky fingers, but this is a very impressive HasLab. I could get more variants, but I won’t need another Giant-Man in my collection.

Where to get it?  Since he was a HasLab, Giant-Man was just available through Hasbro Pulse. Now your best bet is to get him via third party sellers. Good luck!