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Merchandise Review:

The Modok Series is the final Marvel Legends series for Toy Biz, since the next wave of ML figures will be produced by Hasbro, the new owners of the line. From the look of most of the figures in this series, Toy Biz is going out with a bang. Although I'd have preferred to see a different Build-A-Figure than Modok, that's neither here nor there. This is the line that has given us one of my most-desired figures, Captain Marvel (with Genis as a variant). So, let's get to the review, shall we?

= crap on a cracker, = passable, = good,
= well done, = NICE!

PACKAGING

The Marvel Legends have a fairly uniform plastic clamshell design, which is very sturdy. In the front, you'll find a sticker that displays the figure contained within, and also any BAF portions as well. If you flip the clamshell over, you'll find a brief bio of the character (speaking of, they shafted Mar-Vell in the fighting skills stat), and pictures of the other figures in the line. The design is nice enough, but isn't striking in a visual sense. In fact, its really kind of boring.

SCULPT

At first glance, Captain Marvel looks really, really nice. The costume seems authentic, and the head-sculpt is superb. Its only when you start taking a closer look that it comes up a bit short.

First off, let's talk about that head-sculpt. Frankly, I think it makes the whole figure. The sculptor has really captured the essence of Mar-Vell, from the 70's-style hair, to the somewhat resolute and determined (but not angry) expression. The head-sculpt is SO strong, that it really makes up for a lot of the figure's shortcomings. In another nice touch, Mar-Vell has a peg-hole in his back so that he can make use of those nifty adjustable stands that come with the face-off series.

As for those shortcomings, the first one that stands out to me is that the figure is just too slender. Sure, Mar-Vell wasn't built like Thor, but he wasn't built like Spider-Man either. Frankly, a lot of the Legends seem to have this problem, and I hate to see Captain Marvel get the anorexic treatment. Secondly, much of the figure's muscular definition is sloppily done. It looks as if the sculptor gouged the impressions of the muscle-groups into his clay, and then didn't bother to smooth it out a little make it look more natural, and the approach seems rushed. While this looks okay from a distance, it just doesn't bear up to close scrutiny. The hand-sculpts seem similarly rushed as well (especially the right hand), and I hate seeing such sloppy work, especially when I've seen what the line is capable of. And while we're on the subject of the hands, the Nega-Bands look a little on the large side for my tastes. Lastly, Mar-Vell was usually drawn with 3 bands around his boots, between the ankle and the boot-tops. The sculptor evidently missed that detail, or didn't care to depict it.

All said and told, if it wasn't for the fantastic head-sculpt, this figure would only get 2 stars in the sculpting department.

PAINT

The applications look fine, not that there are many. I'd have preferred a glossier blue, but the shade is fine. The only real problem is that the gold of Mar-Vell's chest-emblem can get a little lost amidst the surrounding red unless the light strikes it. On the plus side, the excellent face-sculpt is highlighted by rather excellent paint apps there. As is the case with the ML line, you may have to search through several figures to find the best paint-apps. Mine has a couple of errors here and there, but its nothing terrible.

ARTICULATION

Captain Marvel boasts the ML-standard 36 points. He has all the articulation you could ever want. However, there seems to be something wonky with the ball-jointed hips, and you sometimes have to work with them to get the pose you want. Its not a major snafu, but it was noticeable.

ACCESSORIES

Captain Marvel doesn't include any, unless you want to count the comic, backdrop and stand. Understandable since he comes with a section of BAF Modok. I would have liked to have seen him come with something like the Cosmic Cube. Still, I can't really hold it against him. The comic is a reprint of the classic 25th issue of Captain Marvel, which is a nice addition. However, the pack-in comic is a normal fixture of this line. The backdrop "diorama" looks pretty good, but the included stand holds it very loosely, and as such the backdrop will lean to one side or the other without some kind of support (such as sticky-tack), and that's just not cool.

VALUE

As far as I'm concerned, the ML line remains a very good value. $8 gets you a highly-poseable 6" action figure, plus a section of a BAF. Not too shabby!

THE VERDICT

I really wanted to love this figure, and it does have its excellent points. However, it does have a lot of shortcomings, as I detailed above. I feel that this figure could have been so much better than what we actually ended up with, and that it seems rushed and slightly subpar when compared to many of the other figures in the ML line. As such, it nets 3 stars, and only a mild reccommendation. If you're a big fan of Captain Marvel (like me), then you'll certainly want to pick him up, because he's a decent figure. Otherwise, you might want to give this one a pass.

Photos:

Taken with my Fujifilm Finepix A 345 Digital Camera. As always, click for the bigguns!