Marvel Legnds 2-Pack Review: Elektra, Ronin and Forge

August 3, 2008

After my frantic search all over Metro Manila to find the extremly elusive and shortpacked Elektra/Ronin and Wolverine/Forge, I finally able to acquire said action figured. It wasn’t easy, I had to seduce a few stock boys and I had to pleasure them orally. I rejoiced and thanked the high heavens for putting me at the right place at the right time to get these things. They’re out of stock in every major toy store around the metro, from what I hear. So, if you want it, TOUGH SHIT, HAHA!

Okay, let’s get right down to it. How did the latest two-packs from Hasbro do? In the toy collecting communities, Hasbro has been getting the rep of taking the perfection known as Toybyz’s Marvel Legends line and fucking it in the face with a mallet specifically designed and manufactured for face fucking.

Packaging-

The first thing you’ll notice when you go shop for action figures would be the packaging, especially if you’re a MOC/  MIB collector. When you display your toys still in their original packaging, this would, of course, be a factor. WIth the new two-packs, packaging is a tad disappointing, although it did have its advantages.

The packaging, well, looks kinda cheap. It’s just a thin card with a short bio for each figure, a large clamshell thingy and labels in front. You can’t even hang it on pegs. If you were to display these, you’d have to have some extra shelf space.

The package gives you a very good view of the figures inside, unlike the old two-packs that you’d have to manipulate to see what needs to be seen inside.

Packaging gets 6.5 out of 10. It’s just not that appealling.

Sculpt-

Hasbro’s plastic, in my opinion, looks a bit cheaper than Toybiz’s, but I think it’s of better quality.

Elektra- Elektra’s face is beautitfully sculpted, both of them. Yeah, she comes with two heads but more on that later. Her costume is mostly painted on except for her skirt/loin cloth thingy, which is very detailed and looks like actual cloth- really hard actual cloth. Of course, she is practically naked, but maybe they could’ve sculpted the boots and maybe those things wrapped around her arms.

Her hands are really nice, though. Two are made for holding the sais a particular way, and the others are made for holding the swords. They did go an extra step with her feet, carving in those ninja-like sandal-like indentations for the toes, supposedly.

Ronin- Ronin’s sculpt is really good. Lots of detail in the armor and on the mask, and on that robe thingy. His/her armor plates really do look like they’re layers of plates, one on top of another.  The knee plates have an intricate design, which is sculpted and not just merely painted. Impressive.

He/She has hands sculpted to hold his/her nunchuaku or swords. Functional, to say the least.

Forge- His face sculpt is very nice, with very good expressions (or lack thereof). His body looks like the good ole’ reliable Bullseye mold, which we all know to be good. His gloves, tighs and boots have these straps that are sculpted on, and they add a lot of depth and texture to an otherwise simpe figure.

I’m a little disappointed in the detail of his mechanical leg. It doesn’t look quite as non-organic as I thought it would, although it works. Sometimes, I don’t even notice his bio-mech leg. But hey, it works.

My biggest qualm with this figure are the hands. They can’t properly hold the pistol. Actually, none of the hands can hold the pistol at all! And the way he holds another gun is quite awkward, but he is able to hold it, in case you’re wondering.

Elektra- 7 out of 10
Ronin- 9.5 out of 10
Forge 7.0 out of 10

Paint-

Sometimes, this makes or breaks a figure. If the eyeball paint is out of proportion or even just out of the proper position, it would turn a buyer off from the figure.

Elektra- One of my Elektra heads has a paint defect of sorts. Her face paint bled into the hair, so part of her hair is flesh colored. Thankfully, the more attractive head without the bandana is available. Other than that, her paintjob is relatively simple. There isn’t even any wash (except for the loin cloth), at least, I can’t tell if there is. The cloth supposedly around her arms is painted on, and that looks okay for what it’s worth.

Ronin- The semi-metallic paint on the edges of the plates of Ronin’s armor make them stand out and give the figure a feel of value. It also makes his/her plates look sturdier, as they’re supposed to be made of metal or some other glossy material. I also like that there’s very little bleeding over the edges.

The rest of him/her works- black costume, green plates,  yellow kimono/gi thing. Although it does get sloppy around the belt, with paint blots, but then again, this may be only on my figure.

Forge- I like how his paint is very old school x-men, yellow and blue. The tiny details, like the X belt and the silver dots on his straps give the figure good definition. Again, though, my only real complaint is the bio-mechanical part. It looks dull. Maybe if they used a shiny paint, like they did on the Iron Man figures, hm?

Elektra- 7.0 out of 10
Ronin- 8.0 out of 10
Forge 6.0 out of 10

Articulation

The highlight of the Marvel Legends series would be the articulation. They’ve always been known to be extremely posable. These new ones didn’t disappoint, for Hasbro’s standards.

Elektra- She’s got the standard ML articulations, even the double-jointed knees. Unfortunately, her elbows aren’t like that. Like most of the HML figures, she doesnt’ have the toe articulation. I found that largely useless anyway, so I’m sort of glad they got rid of it. Her fingers don’t move, because she’s supposed to be holding things, and tha’s fine. I’d rather a non-movable hand that is capable of holding the accessories than something that moves but can’t hold anything worth shit.

Oh and she has ball-jointed hips, too.

Ronin- Same with Elektra, for the most part, but he/she has a double jointed elbows. Again, the hands don’t move, but they hold stuff. His/her kimono/gi thing restricts the movement of his/her legs even though it looks like he/she’s got ball joints down there. Because of that, points are deducted from him/her on this category.

Forge- Typical ML articulation, and some extra on the shoulders for the arms to be moved at a farther horizontal extreme. That’s likely for gun poses.

Elektra- 8.0
Ronin- 7.0
Forge- 8.0

Accessories-

Toys typically have accessories. And although sometimes unnecessary, they really add value and posability to the figures. This line definetly didn’t disappoint.

Elektra- She comes with two sais, an extra head and two extra hands for holding the swords. Ronin and Elektra have two swords between them. You can either give both to either one of them or give them one each, which is what I did.

The swords are nicely detailed, especially at the handle and hilt. I think these are some of the better swords I’ve seen on MLs. Elektra’s sais are not as detailed, but they’re bigger than the last time an Elektra figure was released. The color of these accessories, I’m fine with.

Ronin- Ronin has a Clint Barton head. I’m kind of disappointed because I was seriously hoping for a Maya Lopez/ Echo head. But that’s okay, I’ll just keep the masked head on. This is defintely better than having to buy a variant just for the head or face.

He/She also comes with a sword and a nunchuaku. I’ve discussed the swords already above. The nunchaku, however, is an entirely different story. If Moonknight came with nunchucks like these, he’d automatically be more kick-ass. This is the best nunchaku I’ve seen on an ML figure.’

Forge- Now, this is where Forge shines. He has one extra “angry” face, two hugs guns, a pistol, one bio-mechanical hand that is posed to support a gun, and a fist. That’s a lot of stuff.  One of the huge guns has a short removable ammo belt.

It irks me that he doesn’t have a holster in which to put the gun. So, what I did was put his pistol underneath his harness support-looking thing around his body, and it looks a bit off, but I’m happy I can display it.

Elektra- 9.5
Ronin- 9.0
Forge 9.5 (He would’ve gotten a 10 if he could hold his goddamned pistol)

There you have it people. I am definitely happy with these figures. Although Hasbro is considering how to continue the ML line, and it doesn’t look too bright for ML collectors, I do hope they come out with figures with even better quality. Here’s to looking forward to Daredevil and Tim Bradstreet’s Punisher and Nova and Astonishing Beast!