Marvel Legends Terrax
Build-A-Figure Review

NoisyDvL5

With 6” Marvel figures only trickling out in recent years, it seemed like the toyline of the early 2000s was deep in slumber. The behemoth is awake now. I know because I just bought some figures I didn’t want to build-a-figure I knew nothing about. That’s the power of Marvel Legends.

So, some weeks ago, if you asked me who Terrax was… and then reminded me that he was a herald of Galactus, I could’ve told you that he was a herald of Galactus. My awareness of his existence was the sum total of my Terrax knowledge. So the question you have to ask yourself is why would some crazy bastard (and you know he’s crazy because he runs a toy website) go from not knowing who a character really is to snatching up $90 worth of figures (some not terribly wanted) to obtain him?

Putting aside the possibility of any deep psychological issues, its two things. One is the simple power of a good figure. Not to spoil this review, but I’ll be fawning over dear Terrax here in a bit. Two is the power of the BAF. When Toy Biz introduced the ML BAFS with Galactus years ago, I was pretty damn impressed (though Hasbro has since bested that Galactus). They followed up with Sentinel, which is still one of my favorites to this day and many of the subsequent BAFs turned out pretty nicely as well.

Now, the truth is that BAFs aren’t as cool as they used to be – money and time have had their impact on the BAF like everything else. After the switch from Toy Biz to Hasbro, those first few BAFs were… not quite on par with what had come before. While Marvel Legends was resting, Mattel had some impressive C&Cs, but their internal budget issues and the sad state of DC’s inability to move units capped their size and design.

Even now that Marvel Legends is back, the BAFs aren’t as magnificent as the days of old, but I’m really happy with the 1.5 BAFs I have so far (can anyone believe ROML2 hit so soon? I am Noisy’s empty wallet) because I do think Hasbro has at least gotten them back to being good figures even if they’re not as impressive as the early offerings. That’s why when I have one or two pieces, I simply tend to want the rest. The same is happening with Arnim Zola right now.

For Terrax, it was a slow burn which converted into a desire TRU, Target, & Walmart couldn’t fill fast enough. That helped Iron Man, Klaw & Ghost Rider to come home with me despite my initial intentions. Those figures are varying levels of cool in their own right, but I’d be lying if I said the BAF pieces weren’t a key component in their purchase. And while I know I could buy/trade just the BAF pieces (another cool aspect, by the way), I find that I do better as the guy that eventually sells/trades off the unwanted figures to the folks that don’t share my love of the BAF concept enough to learn to love a new character. It was with that attitude, and after a few trips to TRU & Walmart over a few weeks, I happily completed my Terrax.

Which raised the important question for me to consider – who is Terrax? Hasbro did some legwork for me by including six inserts (one with each piece) that explained a different aspect of Terrax’s story. I did have to do a little more reading around the ‘net, but those inserts are awesome!

Turns out, Tyros was an alien dictator that Galactus wanted as a herald. To that end, Galactus maneuvered the Fantastic Four against him and, upon his defeat, converted him into Terrax. He gained all the supercharged heraldness, but he also has mastery over rock. He also carried a big ax – so Terra + Ax = Terrax. Whoo hoo.

Anyway, he seemingly sucked as a herald, often running afoul of Galactus and getting into various altercations, some of which are outlined in those little inserts. I found them rather amusing, particularly that he got his ass kicked by Dazzler. Nice.

Terrax the figure appears to be an entirely new sculpt and one that is definitely intended to be reused for future characters. While the armor, loincloth, and bootcuffs provide much appreciated accuracy and depth, the basic figure underneath is essentially a clean buck. While this is more a page out of Mattel’s playbook, I’m okay with it. It’s got great articulation and I won’t mind seeing it on another future figure – particularly if its covered for by the new pieces as well as it it with Terrax here.

There is just one tiny little issue that I discovered while reading up on Terrax. He’s kinda supposed be the height of the average hero. I’m not sure how he’s been portrayed in the art over the years, but he’s consistently listed at 6′ 6″ and tends to be more wide than your average dude. That, as Mattel will tell us when it comes to Lead or Ram Man, is not ideal in a buck line. If you’re a Terrax fan, I’d understand if you can’t enjoy this figure being nearly an inch-and-a-half taller than he’s supposed to be, but – by virtue of ignorance – he doesn’t look wrong to me and I rather enjoy the figure.

There is one other tiny drawback to the Terrax buck too: the painted glove lines. Not a big deal, we’re all well use to paint delineating features on shared use parts, but it just sticks out like a sore thumb on a figure where it’s the only instance of it happening. If Hasbro is going to continue down this road, I might suggest they swipe one thing from Mattel and that’s to create a library of forearms with different glove lines (which Mattel didn’t annoyingly always use properly themselves). Continue to Page 2…

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56 thoughts on “Marvel Legends Terrax
Build-A-Figure Review”

  1. I just came off a 12+ hour stint at work, so this review may contain a few more typos than normal. I’ll fix ’em in the morning. Thank you for your patience in these exhausting times… 😛

  2. Another awesome review, but dear lord, that Madame Hydra figure in the last pic has one UGLY face.

    1. Thanks! Yeah, Hydra’s kinda scary looking, I did a little custom mod on here (which is sacrilege before the review, I know) to lower her hair and that actually helped if you can imagine such a thing…

        1. At this point I’m pretty sure anything would be an improvement. The guy over at onepercase has a tiny paper bag over her head in his reviews.

  3. So this guy’s not supposed to be huge? He sure doesn’t look it.

    I bought the entire first wave at once as my very first Marvel Legends. I was really impressed with Thor, Constrictor, and Terrax, and was more or less okay with the others. Then I started looking at reviews that said these were only “good” MLs. Now I’m going back trying to buy all kinds of older figures. Kinds bites that Deadpool will pretty much cut out two or three months of toys, but for figures this awesome I can’t mind too much. It’ll probably be hard to balance ML, SH Figuarts, and figma, but I just know I need more of these awesome toys.

    2. Yeah, I had no idea that he was out of scale when I assembled him – and I kinda don’t really care, but I harp on Mattel for DC scale so much that I didn’t think I should gloss it over.

  4. I was complaining yesterday I spent more on new Marvel Legends this year, than I have on Marvel comics. But, I may have spent more on Marvel Squinkies than on actual Marvel comics…

    Terrax is probably bigger than he’s “supposed” to be; but it’s an acceptable bit of artistic license. If he’s the same height as say, the Silver Surfer; it loses a bit of drama when the whole Fantastic Four is pummelling him. And it’s not a stretch to think of Terrax puffing himself up a bit with cosmic power, either.

    1. Squinkies! I’m trying to avoid that rabbit hole… I did buy some Bot Shots… O.o

      Totally agreed on the scale issue. I actually need to go back and see what I wrote in my half-asleep brain. His scale’s not really an issue for me, I just didn’t want to be inconsistent because I rail on Matty left and right for their stupid scale issues, didn’t seem fair to let Hasbro slide. LOL

  5. it’s a strange thing, in the world of comics, how some artists blow proportions all out of… proportion. look at juggernaut. officially, he’s 9’5″ tall per the marvel wiki… but look at some of the art he’s been in. anywhere from 6 ft to well over 12 is represented.

    so as it pertains to terrax, he’s not that tall, though he’s very stocky… like if galactus dabbled in dwarves (and then the axe would make more sense. but then psychologically, there’s a sense of grandeur that should come w/ serving one of the most potent forces in the universe, and being tall, and well maintained, certainly fits that, and serves to reinforce presumptions on the appearance of a “herald” as well… so yes, this look totally fits what the reader should kind of expect a 3D version of the 2D terrax to look like.

  6. Man, Fantomex and FF Spidey look like they’re a duo. It’s bound to get a few new collectors confused.

    I’ve always liked Terrax going back to his 90’s Toy Biz figure. The glossy paint and closed fists are major cop outs, but it’s still a cool enough BAF.

    1. I know! The cashier at TRU said “wow! I didn’t know they were doing black and white figures” when I bought those two. 😀

      I found his 90s figure the other day, it looked nicely done for the time! And yeah, he shoud have an open hand on that left arm. He’d be a much better figure!

  7. I spent about 11 dollars and got the wrong Iron Man from BBTS and I’m still waiting to find the right one at retail.

    1. I’m still on the hunt for a regular Iron Man for ya. TRU moved on to wave 2, Target only got the variant case, and the WMs aren’t restocking.

      1. Thanks for grabbing one yesterday! My stores here were completely letting me down.

    2. It took me a while to find a red one. All the Targets in my area got variant cases, TRU seemed to get a mix but by the time I got there they only had constrictor and klaw left. This week they finally arrived at walmart, there were 4 red ones on the pegs.

      1. I’ve seen more variant cases so far myself. I know it fits the paradigm of this type of release, but it’s always funny.

  8. Terrax has always been one of those “cool looking villains that get their asses handed to them” for me.

    As for the figure, I would like him a bit wider, and there are plenty of wider Hulk torsos to pull this off. IMO, his arms could have been a bit thicker, too. My shoulder “armor” also has an obvious knot/burr from the injection molding over the left shoulder. I can barely see a similar mark on your He-Man pic, but mine is more pronounced, like a giant armored pimple. :/

    I think my first experience with him was a FF story where Sue and Doom (and Ben?) faced him down in a supermarket parking lot (by Byrne?). They managed to defeat him by Doom absorbing his Power Cosmic, which backfired and turned him into a statue. He would later revive in the early New Warriors comic and his remains were taken in by GeneTech. They later faced off again, with the Warriors and GeneTech’s in-house super team, Psionex, facing off against him and the founder of the lab was absorbed into Terrax’s mind or something? (See the recent NW Classic TPBs) After that, it was Quasar and Silver Surfer appearances.

    I’ve fallen out of buying Marvel with the exception of a few trades, so I’m not sure what he’s been up to other than involved in that Annihilation mess. Luckily, they didn’t feel the need to “update” his look like Spikey Armor Quasar and Nova, and Tribal Inked Drax that I know of.

    This wave sold out fast online and I’m wondering if the local Target will restock w1 or w2. I still need the “regular” versions of w1, and w2 is a slightly more mixed bag for me, but I definitely want the variants for it, esp Madame Masque/Viper and the Wrecking Crew. I can live without Capt. Puerto Rico, Drax and Spidey variants 36436 and 36437. (Does Fantomex have a “clean” variant? that “urban camo” look from X-Force looks just as stupid as it did on Storm Shadow back in the 90s!)

    1. Getting his ass handed to him is how all those little inserts read. I was just waiting to hear that Squirrel Girl punk’d him somewhere.

      Mine does have that little burr, it didn’t show up in the pics really, but it’s there.

      Fantomex doesn’t have a variant and I’m not a big fan of the urban camo (but I love that Storm Shadow…). I’m actually contemplating doing some custom work to get him back to being an entirely white figure (though that’s something Hasbro could easily do somewhere else in the line if it grows).

      1. Squirrel Girl has, in fact, defeated Terrax. Squirrel Girl has kicked all kinds of ass over the years. At one point, that was her thing. It was a running joke that the baddest of the bad got their asses kicked by Squirrel Girl, including Doctor Doom, Mandarin, MODOK, Thanos, Bi-Beast, Deadpool (twice), Fin Fang Foom, Baron Mordo, Korvac, Ego the Living Planet, and Wolverine.

  9. Awesome pics, Noisey!

    Totally L’dOL @ the pic w/He-Man. ‘Terry’s debut was timely for me & my kids ’caused they’d just finished the FF Byrne Omnibus (required reading for them along w/the Perez Teen Titan’s Omnibus). ‘Terry’s long been one of fav. characters along w/the Sphinx (another character you’re possibly unfamilair with). If I could get that one, a Gladiator, a Super Adaptiod… Oh, and a classic Drax, I’d be in heaven! 😉

    1. Thanks! I was hoping that pic wasn’t too subtle. 🙂

      I’d love a Gladiator and classic Drax (but then I’d cry that I never built Ronan the Accuser). And, yeah I have no idea who the Sphinx is – off to look that one up!

  10. Pingback: Marvel Legends Terrax Build-A-Figure Review | Toys Are Cool

  11. Terrax is a great start for the re-launch, but I do wish he didn’t have a closed fist. No one should have a closed fist unless smashing is their primary method of attack.

    1. Agreed! If Hasbro is going to use the buck bodies like this, I’m cool with it – but they need to get a better library of parts.

  13. I’ve been wanting a Terrax since the Toy Biz days,so I’m really happy.
    It’s great to have the Legends back!! Bring on The Wrecker and Bulldozer!!

    1. When Vault found wave two, he wasn’t the first one there – someone had beaten him and bought the Piledriver! Left everything else… I was crushed! I’m excited to get those Wrecking Crew figures most I think – and yeah we need the other sooner rather than later!

      1. If you thought that you had mixed feelings about Terrax’s closed fists, wait until you see Piledriver’s gloved forearms and the lack of pirate boots on both him and Thunderball… *sigh*. Still, it’s great Hasbro’s finally getting to the characters

        1. I found him last night! I hadn’t even paid attention to the pics (I’m such a different Marvel collector than I am a DC collector). I can overlook the boots (though two soft plastic attachments would’ve solved that easily), but what’s up with the gloves? LOL

  14. I’m surprised you didn’t take a picture of Terrax with his axe/scythe and Nekron asking, “Soooo, can I borrow that sometime?”

      3. That’s a great pic. I saw at at FanEx and had to rethink part of my upcoming Nekron gallery. 🙂

        (And html tags in the comments, bbcode in the forum! 😉 )

  15. For those who want some good Terrax readin’, check out John Byrne’s Fantastic Four run(indeed he originated in the title).
    There was a great story about him in that run in which he handed Thing a royal beating.

    The Silver Surfer/Green Lantern one shot was pretty fun too.

    You’d think that old stony head would have learnt not to trust Thanos by then though..

  16. i’d like to see a whole slew of the surfer/galactus characters get done, magus, tyrant, morg, firelord, airwalker, nova, classic drax, moondragon, gamora, pip, starfox, tryco slatterus, ganymede, nebula, legacy, jack of hearts, the pyla-vell quasar, the wendell vaughn quasar, maelstrom… there are more of course.

    1. Thanks! I have them partially off because I’m only building one Zola and I didn’t want them to get stuck on that Red Skull torso just for the pic.

      1. I wondered about that, but the arm looked all the way installed so I thought I should say something. Does the arm pull back out easily?

        1. The arms went in easily and came back out with little effort, so I went ahead and popped it in. Also, Vault will definitely pick up a Fantomex and not want Zola, so it was less risk.

          I’m curious to see who Vault does buy, I might end up close enough to building both versions – which I wasn’t planning on.

  18. Holy god the Arnim Zola arms do not come out easily. I don’t know if I was doing something wrong but I had to get a flat head pocket screwdriver to pop his arms out. Did a little bit of damage to one of the sleeves on the torso. Anybody else attempt this? Anybody have any advice for future reference?

    1. Hmm. On my Red Skull Torso, I can easily take the right arm in and out (that’s why it’s fully inserted in the picture), but the legs would be difficult to even get on if I was trying.

      It raises an interesting question. The idea, to the collector, was that the variants having variant pieces was to increase our options – that we could swap out the torsos as easily as a Glyos figure. But with the limbs being unswappable, then it kinda defeats the purpose. It does allow for each of us to build one or the other based on preference, but it defeats the collector purpose of the variants having different pieces – we’d have to buy a crapload of duplicates to truly utilize them. All good for Hasbro, of course…

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