Hasbro Marvel Legends Infinite 2015 Exclusives review
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2015 was a very good year for the Marvel Legends Infinite line with six full series of figures released this year. But if that was not enough for
you, they have also produced a number of exclusive sets. I already reviewed three of them back in August. But they have released three more retailer
exclusive this fall. Walgreens followed up their Ant-Man Exclusive with a repainted version of the Daredevil figure from the Hobgoblin series in his
original yellow and red outfit. Target has a box set with a new version of Ultron, the Hulk and Vision. And Amazon has a box set of figures based on
the Age of Ultron appearances for Thor, Black Widow, Bruce Banner and Hawkeye. So with the end of the year coming up, I thought it would be a great time
to check out this final trio of offerings.
Packaging - Daredevil 6/10, Box Sets 7/10The packaging designs for the two box sets and Daredevil are the same designs as we have seen with the regular series figures and recent box sets. Each package has a large window on the front that gives a clear view of the figures. The matte black background allows the logos and other graphics to stand out well. The back of the boxes have photos of each figure on a black background with a brief description of the character. Interestingly, Daredevil's box shows the figures from the Rhino series of figures at the bottom despite the fact that he is not part of that assortment nor was the regular version of the figure. It would seem easier and more logical to have left the images of the Hobgoblin series figures on it. I like the overall appearance. But I do have to admit that there is a lot of wasted space on the back of the boxes.
Sculpting - Hulk 5/10, Vision & Ultron 7/10, others 8/10The sculpting for all of these figures is well done. Though I am least impressed with the figures in Target's Avengers set. The Hulk figure is the same as the Thanos Series Hulk, but with a new head sculpt. I don't know where they got the head sculpt from, perhaps they were trying to imitate one of the smart Hulk versions but it just seems really out of place to me. The Vision has no sculpted costume details and for some reason they used a body with sculpted toes on the feet which seems a bit odd. Ultron reuses the modern Beetle body from the Green Goblin series but with a new head. The head is a decent, classic Ultron design. It would have been nice if they replaced the feet as well though. Daredevil is a straight reuse of the Hobgoblin series Daredevil which is a nice looking figure. For the Age of Ultron set you have the Brruce Banner figure which is just a new head on the suit body that was used for Agent Coulson and Chameleon. It's a decent likeness of the actor though. The other three figures each replicate the costumes from the second Avengers movie fairly well. There are minor details that don't seem to match the stills from the movie that I have seen. But they are just small details.
Paint - 8/10There isn't a lot to talk about for the paint work here. And I mean that in a good way. All of the appropriate and neccessary details are painted. They didn't go overboard with washes or details that come out sloppy. Instead all eight figures have just enough to bring out and highlight the details of the sculpting.
Articulation - Black Widow 7/10, others 8/10Do I still need to sell anyone on the amount of articulation on a modern Marvel Legends figure? Sporting thirty-plus points of articulation including double jointed elbows and knees, multiple shoulder and hip joints and more. The figures have impressive range of motion. And with years of experience, the days of floppy joints or joints that are so tight that you risk breaking the limbs off are long gone. While the racheting joints work fairly well, they do have the unfortunate side effect that you can not always make the minor adjustments needed to properly position the feet flat on the ground. This is particularly troublesome for Black Widow due to her smaller feet.
Accessories - Avengers set 0/10, Age of Ultron 6/10, Daredevil 8/10The Avengers set with Ultron, Hulk and Vision doesn't include any accessories. Given the three characters included don't have any items or accessories that are intrinsic to the characters, it's not like anything is really missing. But I still would like to see some little additions as a bonus. The Age of Ultron set on the other hand includes three characters that do battle with weapons. And all three come with the appropriate weapons. Thor's hammer and Hawkeye's bow and quiver are recycled from previous figures. But this is the first time Black Widow has gotten any weapons to take on her opponents. It should have included her guns as well, but the stun batons are a decent alternative. Daredevil includes his staff/club/cane which can be split in half and stored in the holster on his left hip. And then as a bonus, this exclusive version throws in an unmasked head as a bonus. The head is just a movie Hawkeye head, but it works well enough as a Matt Murdoc head so I won't complain about the recycling.
Value - Avengers 4/10, Age of Ultron (original price) 6/10, Daredevil 8/10The Avengers box set sold for $50 when it was released which isn't a bad price for three Marvel Legends Infinite figures. But Hulk's head sculpt is so odd and neither Ultron nor Vision offer anything particularly special over the single carded versions that have been released over the last few years. So even though the price isn't bad, there just isn't a lot there to warant the price anyway. The Age of Ultron set on the other hand carries a price of $80 which is basically full retail price for four Marvel Legends Infinite figures. So it isn't a bad value. But usually if you buy a box set you should save some money. And if you were only interested in a few of the figures in the set, you are stuck paying through the nose for them. But Amazon did just recently drop the price to $40. So if like myself, you were putting off getting this set, your procrastinating can pay off big time. Daredevil should sell for the normal price of a Marvel Legends Infinite figure. The only problem is that Walgreens tends to be quite expensive for toys so you will likely be paying at least a few dollars extra.
Happy Hunting:Each of these sets/figures are retailer exclusives. The Avengers set is a Target exclusive. Daredevil is a Walgreens exclusive. And the Age of Ultron is only available from Amazon.com. So your options for where to find them is pretty much those three stores/sites.
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