Hasbro Marvel Legends 2012 Series 1 – Extremis Iron Man

Aaah, it’s good to see some Marvel Legends in toy shelves again! Well, ones that don’t get snapped up as soon as they get put out anyway, like the couple of Legends that I stumbled upon in my local Toys R Us. The return of Marvel Legends is finally underway with Wave 1 starting to show up at retail!

If you haven’t heard yet, Wave 1 or the Terrax Wave consists of Hope Summers, Steve Rogers, Extremis Iron Man, Constrictor, Dan Ketch Modern Ghost Rider, Klaw and Thor. Each figure, with the exception of Thor, come with a part to build Terrax!

Extremis Iron Man is first in line with the pic-taking, so onto some pics!

Here’s a look at the new Marvel Legends packaging:

I love the comic-booky feel of the package, it feels exciting and action packed, or maybe it’s just my excitement at seeing these on the shelves? It’s not just the Terrax series, it’s the Terrax with an exclamation point (!) series!! Each card has the character’s mug in the front and a character illustration in the back, with a very brief profile included. I’m not too crazy about the new Marvel Legends logo though, I wish it had a little more “oomph” to it.

But enough about the packaging – it’s what’s inside that matters!

Extremis Shellhead looks good I have to say! The Extremis armor has always been a favorite of mine, I just love the sleekness of it. I would even say I like it better than the current armor that Iron Man is sporting these days!

Hasbro did a great job capturing that sleekness, the sculpt has all those lines and curves that makes this armor so awesome.

Extremis Iron Man has all the articulation you’ve come to expect from a Marvel Legend with double-jointed knees and elbows, hinge/ball neck (he can look up!), hinge/swivel hands and feet, and ball torso, which has excellent range. He has hinge hips which moves forward/backward and outward on the sides. He also has swivel thighs hidden underneath the armor that’s very similar to the smaller 3.75″ Marvel Universe Extremis Iron Man.

The forward movement on his hips are restricted due to his pelvic sculpt, the pic above is the extent of his leg’s forward movement. This might turn some people off, and I definitely wish there was more bend there, but I can also see why they chose to do it. The sculptors opted for a better looking pelvis sculpt rather than altering it to accommodate a better forward range.

Here’s a couple of flying poses:

I’m glad that he can look up and that his torso has some great movement, it really makes for some better flying poses.

I have to mention that his hands are removeable, just like the 6-inch movie figures and the previous ML 2-pack Iron Man. Unfortunately, he doesn’t come with some extra hands and the hands from the movie figs and the two-pack don’t fit properly in this Iron Man’s wrist. Same goes with the head, I popped them off but none of the older spare heads like the Tony head from the 2-pack fit properly. Maybe the Iron Man Legends version will come with extra arms and head? I hope so!

Up close you’ll see some paint issues on his face, but really, I didn’t notice them until I saw some close-up pics of my figure. Other than that, his paint applications look great! He’s supposed to come out with a traditional red/yellow paint app in the Iron Man Legends line!

There’s also a variant of this figure which sports his “Stealth” paint app, which is supposed to be a running change with future restocks!

Let’s take a look at some size comparisons:

As you can see, this Iron Man is a little on the short side, especially when you put him beside this wave’s Thor (I only have the SDCC one for now) and  he’s almost the same height as ML Face-Off Cap. You can argue that Thor is too big, but I do wish Extremis IM was about a half head taller than Face-Off Cap and a little bit more bulkier to reflect a man in a suit of armor.

His size might be a deal breaker for some, but for me, he just looks so cool that I can get past it.

Not pictured is an insert included called “Tales of Terrax”, which features a specific character, Dazzler in Extremis Iron Man’s case, and her connection with Terrax. Just a little something to read when you open your figure. It even indicates what comic to read for more details on the story, which in this case is Dazzler #11. Flip the insert around and you see assembly instructions for Terrax.

So what do you guys think? Is this a welcome addition to your 6-inchIron Man armory or does his size and restricted hip movement turn you off? Of course, if you’re trying to build a Terrax you need him, as he comes with his right leg.

For me, I’m glad I picked up this figure. His sculpt and paint apps look great, and even with the restricted hip forward movement, you can still get him in some cool poses, plus he looks great in a plain standing pose. He might be on the small side, but it’s not so much that he looks too way out of place with his fellow Legends. If you’ve been a collector for a while now, you’ve probably realized that scale is just something that seems to be hard to stay consistent with when it comes to mass market action figures. It doesn’t make it okay, but it is the reality of it.

I found Shellhead here together with Constrictor, Klaw and Ghost Rider and I just couldn’t help but pick them up, even though TRU is charging higher than regular retail ($17.99 vs. Target’s $14.99). There haven’t been any Target/Wal-mart sightings yet, but I’m hoping that changes soon!

Thanks for looking and let the Marvel Legends hunting begin!