The arm sculpts are fine, though the paint on my left arm has a really dark wash on it that doesn’t come close to matching the hand. The right arm has a cool sculpted knife and straps deal, which is neat until you think “hey, I’d like it better if that knife were removable”. On top of all that does rest a great, “taking names” head sculpt.
Articulation is the same as Cap. Ball-joints at the neck, shoulders, hips, and ankles, swivels at the biceps, forearms, waist, and thighs, double hinges at the knees and elbows, and the ab crunch. All the joints work great and Drax is fun to mess around with.
That aforementioned issue at the left forearm articulation aside, the paint work on Drax is pretty sharp. I love the shade of green and the highlighting. I love the silver eyes and the tattoos (I guess they’re tattoos) are all sharp except for one small spot on the right bicep.
Drax included two accessories, a pair of pretty nasty knives. They’re a little soft, but they fit great in his hands and the articulation allows for some great knife poses. The belt is removable (like Steve’s, it doesn’t actually stay in place too well) and had sheaths for both of the knives. Always a plus in my book. I love when weapons can be stowed.
While I’ve gained a newfound appreciation for the character (apparently I should track down some classic Captain Marvel), I’ve also discovered that I would’ve rather had the figure in his classic duds than this particular version here. It’s not a bad look for him, but I wish Hasbro would’ve executed it a little better. The new sculpted pieces are great, but the just make me wish there were more new bits to match like full pants and a stronger torso to match his badass, I-don’t-wear-shirts look. Overall though, Drax is still a fun figure. The play factor here is really high with great articulation, appropriate (& stowable) accessories. If we accept the buck use for what it is, the only complaints here are that the belt won’t stay down and the molded weapon on his right arm. Remember what I said about collectors being picky eaters?
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Too many variants this wave… Hasbro will kill our pockets like Toy Biz did with a few waves full of variants. Enjoy your holidays! I’ll follow Clark directions by the way, he sound more DC friendly 😉
Like you mentioned, Drax is a little too small. I just think in general Hasbro’s basic heroes are too scrawny. At this point, people have gotten used to the buck system and parts reuse, so that isn’t the issue…as I said about Constrictor, the bodies Hasbro is choosing to reuse are just not suitable for comic book heroes. The Bullseye body has seen more reuse in the Hasbro Marvel Legends than any and it is just too scrawny to be anyone other than Spiderman, IMO. This FO Punisher body has been reused quite a bit now, and should be retired. The issue isn’t the parts reuse, it’s just that they’re choosing the wrong bodies to reuse and the product is suffering because of it. The DCUC bucks look great, which softens the disappointment of seeing it 100 times…but when your superheroes all look like teenage boys (in Hasbro ML), that sort of amplifies the disappointment and enjoyment of the product.
i would agree and disagree w/ this… while i don’t think too many teenage boys look like the constrictor/bullseye buck, i will eagerly agree that they’re re-using the same bucks too often. and really, don’t they have a plethora of bodies to re-use at this point? the black panther/wonder man buck immediately comes to mind, we saw it a lot in TBML, but hasbro bought those bucks, right? all the bucks they’re using initiated in TB, so it stands to reason that they have a huge library of body parts to use. that buck is more “average super hero” to me, but it’s a tad short compared to the bullseye. but maybe they could pull the kraven the hunter/namor buck, and retool some parts like they have for the hulkling parts, or perhaps they could use the original punisher body? that thing has some dope parts, and for the techno heroes, or urban squad, it could sure work. i loved the daredevil we got from the urban legends pack too, that was a well articulated, thick bodied musculature. i would happily re-purchase the hercules body, if we got some new legs for it. i also LOVE the ultimate cap/FO cap buck, and would love to see more figs use that especially USAgent. hell, if they reworked the arms, i’d re-buy the first elektra buck too. and the sue storm body from the boxed set, i LOVED that female buck.
of note, if they never dip again into the FA bucky buck, or the black knight buck, that’ll be fine by me. 🙂
I’m not sure Hasbro has all the bucks, because Marvel Toys used some of them (in particular that Black Panthor body) for their Legendary Comic Book Heroes.
I just wish there was a little more mix and matching between the bodies. It seems like they always have the same upper arms and legs to go with the torso. Could they not have just slapped a larger chest on Drax and improved the way he looks?
Pretty sure Hasbro doesn’t have many of the old Toy Biz bucks. These things originate in China and for the most part, stay in China. Besides large companies like Hasbro, many companies have trouble keeping track of the tools once lines have been shut down or particularly when the manufacturing companies go out of business. I think a combination of these factors contributed in Hasbro not obtaining all of Toy Biz’s old tools.
” people have gotten used to the buck system and parts reuse, so that isn’t the issue…”
Yeah, it is still an issue.
We worried about it when Marvel Legends first started because ToyBiz had a nasty habit or reusing bodies, and sure enough, by ML series 2 we saw it (Human Torch on SMC Spidey body) and no matter how widespread the practice becomes, there will always be folks like me that find it mostly unacceptable.
If I bought a comic and the artist drew Madame Mask and Madame Viper to have the exact same body, then that’s an artist that has very limited abilities or is very lazy. Same thing with toys.
But certainly as soon as we saw the Kraven figure built in Namor’s body (which was built on an old wrestlers torso) we saw it could be done well, and with good results. Like you say, this is a case of doing it badly.
Hasbro showed all those protos of Nuke, Terror Inc, Bag-Spidey, Brother Voodoo, White Phoenix and more that we’re all on reused parts and almost all well-done, but Drax here is a dud. Oh well, most ML waves have at least one.
Is is a trick of perspective or is Spidey actually taller than Cap? Because, ya know, HELL no. And why does he have Gambit’s coat?
ARRGGH I know NOTHING of these comics/characters anymore!! 🙂
And yeah, Drax could sure use some Dermasage, he’s got some alligator-like skin going on!
that’s actually Ultimate Nick Fury’s coat.
It is? With that collar and all? Huh. Then I stand corrected. 🙂
Pretty sure that’s Fantomex’ coat. He’s coatless in the same picture.
That’s actually Bucky Cap, not Steve Rogers. Bucky is 5″9′, Spidey is around 5″10′, so the scale is perfect, actually.
Yeah, that’s Fantomex’s coat, but at the same time its the same as Nick Fury’s but with a different colour.
I usually don’t complain about having to buy the figures I don’t want for their BAF pieces, but Drax is definitely one I’m not looking forward to. I would buy the BAF piece off e-bay, but most people probably only bought him for that piece, and would be selling him .
Should have come with a Rocket Raccoon acc!! ha ha
Great review!
Why does Piledriver have gloves? He’s supposed to have oversized bare hands. *facepalm* They’re giving us the Wrecking Crew, and they’re STILL not gonna look right.
The group shot above is just reinforcing my concerns about Hasbro ML scale. I don’t recall the Wrecking Crew being significantly larger than ordinary humans, and I don’t recall Thor being THAT much taller than Captain America.
I guess you could say MY Drax was the Infinity Gauntlet/90s Silver Surfer era version, which got a 5″ figure in the 90s SS line. I think I was peripherally aware of him from OHOTMU before that? I thought about jumping into that Annihilation saga, too, but having like half a dozen titles right at the start and the promise of more in the future was too much. The various unnecessary redesigns for most of the characters haven’t held up, either.
This guy is too scrawny and unimpressive. Maybe parents and some less informed collectors will mistake him for another Hulk variant? or repaint him into Generic Thug #37? Like drrampageo suggested, they could have repacked the MU GotG Rocket Raccoon just to add a fun “selling point”. This guy definitely needs one.
Hasbro does need to update their bucks, as I was going to suggest they could have given us modern Luke Cage, but this would probably be the same figure with minor modifications. Meanwhile, as noted above, the Wrecking Crew are way too tall and Piledriver doesn’t have gloves (even given he’s a new head and redeco of T-ball). :/
Have fun on your vacation. I saw the pics on FB and was wondering what was going on. Despite passing thru, you didn’t even stop here and say “hi”! 🙁
😉
If there’s one design Annihilation hit out of the park, it was Nova. I loved his Nova Prime look, and I demand Hasbro re-do him in Marvel Legends.
for anyone interested, YES, the current steve and drax figures re-use the buck first deployed for the punisher seen in the two pack w/ jigsaw… w/ some mods. you’re welcome. 🙂
Cool figure! Glued the belt as it was too annoying and aside from the loose hip-ball joint I love this figure! Hope Hasbro releases modern NOVA and STAR LORD!
The Wrecking Crew are completely out of whack there. They’re almost the size of MOTUC! I do believe Piledriver is being drawn with blue gloves now. (His knuckles probably needed a breather?) I know Thunderball wore a hoodie or something in one the latest Bendis mega cross-overs. But those bucks are still way too huge for MU! Major fail here unless they want to make the Crew look like real badasses.
As for Drax, I grew up with the original Starlin version and that’s the guy I’d like to see in this line. This is his third reincarnation since he was Hulked up in the 90’s and by far the most lackluster.
man, the crew are bigger than a motuc. vikor looks puny next to thunderball.
I’m just saying…Annihilation, as an event, was one of the best things Marvel has done in the last twenty years. Even the Silver Surfer book.
Annihilation: Conquest wasn’t as good, but the original? Fantastic.
Yeah, everyone needs to read Annihilation and at least the Nova tie-in. Any comic fan who doesn’t wish to read this story is doing themselves a great disservice. I’d go further and say they need to read everything from Annihilation to Thanos Imperative, including all tie-ins, Nova’s solo title, and the Guardians of the Galaxy title.