“Odd that some say I am less than human, when in truth I am far superior to flesh and blood… “ – Vision, Avengers v1 #158 (April, 1977).

Well, it’s not midnight here yet, so this Two-A-Day thing is technically on schedule… Still, this one should be a quick review, maybe just a one-pager.

It’s not because of anything bad about the figure. As I’ll cover, it uses the basic buck, the paint is sharp, etc. It’s also not about the character; I don’t know every detail of the Vision’s history, but as a huge Martian Manhunter & Red Tornado fan on the DC side, the Vision has always held a special appeal to me on the Marvel side. Still, there’s just something about this figure that keeps it from having much appeal for me. I’m thinking Vision will not be in my collection for too long.

After Age of Ultron, most folks are probably at least aware of the Vision. Marvel movies tend to ramp up the profile of the characters they focus on. If you watched the movie, well… Comic Vision is a teensy bit more complicated. I mean, the movie basically got the gist right, they just had to do it by changing all the details. In the comics, Ultron does build Vision, not for his own vessel, but to kill his creator… you know, Ant-Man (that’d be Michael Douglas, not Paul Rudd). His mind does use the template of someone the Avengers know, but it’s a dude named Wonder Man, not Jarvis. Oh, and remember that Easter egg in the first Captain America? The “Synthetic” body on display at the World’s Fair? In the comics, that Human Torch body is the basis for Vision.

Truthfully, none of that matters. I just find it fascinating. Vision, in the comics, is also fascinating to me. He came about when Stan Lee & Roy Thomas were looking to fill out the Avengers ranks in the late sixties. Roy, being a golden age hound dog, wanted to add the 1940’s Timely Comics Vision to the team. Stan wanted a robit. They compromised and we got a pretty cool character out of it, a ghostlike robot that likes to spookily splay his left hand in the air. Since his creation, he’s been a great example of a robot character treated like a person. He’s loved, he’s laughed, and he’s an important member of the team. I think the only continual thing I don’t like is his expendability – I mean, everybody dies over and over in comics, so I guess that’s one more way to make him human. But, like Red Tornado, I still don’t appreciate when writers easily blow him up.

I feel my soapbox coming on… so let’s move on to the figure. As I stated, the figure works on technical merits. The basic buck is strutting its stuff here and looks sharp in metallic green. The newly sculpted head looks good too, though I feel like Vision should have more angular face. He has that splayed out left hand just like he should. It’s a solid sculpt. The only thing I don’t like? The cape. I like the idea of the flowing, swishy cape on paper, but in practice it just takes up too much space. It juts out too far from the figure and connects strangely at the top. Vision should be ghostlike and immaterial. If any figure needed a boring as heck, draped cape it’s this guy.

The paintwork, the metallic green and fine detailing look sharp on the figure. This is his modern costume from Uncanny Avengers. I admittedly haven’t read the book, but I think that may be where the figure falls short for me. The figure captures that look well, but it reminds me that Marvel Legends is sort of in a pinch. Hasbro has been going through and updating Marvel Legends – I’ve replaced my Ms. Marvel, my Spider-Woman, etc. with better figures.

Vision, though, fell into the gap. The original, Toy Biz version is eleven years old. Hasbro re-upped him in the Ares wave while they were still working out their kinks. Man, it feels like I really shouldn’t complain about a third figure with a second costume – but this figure is so better executed then either of the two before. I suppose I should definitely chalk this up to sour grapes.

Overall, this is a good Vision figure. I think the head sculpt could be leaner and I’m not a fan of the cape, but the basic buck works its magic again for this figure. It’s not my preferred costume, but the metallic paint details really bring everything together. If you were trying to build an Uncanny Avengers team on your shelves, this figure should make you pretty ecstatic.