Review: Extremis Iron Man

Someone once said that Marvel Legends was the most important toyline of the 2000s. Can't remember who, exactly, but he was surely someone amazing. After Hasbro fantastically managed to kill the line 2 minutes after taking it over from Toybiz, they've now bowed to public demand and brought it back again. Hurrah!

The first Marvel Legends figure I ever bought was Iron Man (I say 'I bought' but it was actually my mother I conned into buying it) so it seems fitting that the first figure I've bought for The Return is also Iron Man, this time in his 'extremis' armour.

I'm making out I bought this particular figure out of nostalgia, but the real reason is that Legends now cost an arm and a leg each and Iron Man was the cheapest in the shop (since there's two of him in each case, compared to one of all the other figures in the wave).

Before we get to the figure I'll quickly note that the packaging looks great on these (no, I didn't take a photo. Because I forgot). The previous attempt by Hasbro was fairly terrible, but I really like The Return box.

Iron Man looks pretty darn great. Articulation on the supposedly 'super-articulated' Legends by Hasbro in the past has been a bit variable, but Iron Man features joints in all the right places. Double elbows, double knees, etc. The little circular bits on his hips rotate upwards so if you want to pose Iron Man with his legs spread wide, there's no problem. There's no removable helmet or faceplate, however, which is a bit of a shame.

The details are great and show up nicely - something which can't always be said of Hasbro's 4" Marvel Universe line. The paint is all pretty and metallicy. The gold isn't quite as good, but nothing to complain about.

As well as inventing (kind of) super articulation, Legends also invented (more or less) the Build A Figure concept (a piece of a figure coming with each figure in the wave that combine together to make a BIGger figure). Well that's back too! For this initial wave, the BAF is Terrax - 

Doesn't he look fab! Okay, so it's a little hard to judge based on a leg alone, but it is a very nice leg. To be honest, given the current price of Legends I'm not entirely sure he'll be anything more than a leg, but still.

Based on this figure, Hasbro is (finally) doing the Legends name proud. The price, however, it a little scary. These are currently selling for around £18, albeit in specialist comic and toy shops. £18 is what I expect to pay for a low-production run, highly detailed figure from a small company like NECA and the like. It's not what I'd consider good value for a mass-produced toy from the world's second largest toy company. I can only hope that when these things reach the big toy shops here (which they are rumoured to be doing around the time all the Avengers stuff hits in March) the price has dropped a little to something more reasonable.

It's a good figure. It's just not that good.