Marvel Legends Armadillo Build-A-Figure review

Armadillo is pretty much considered a more J-list Marvel Legends addition. Still, for those who don't know who he is since he never appeared in the MCU (though he appeared in M.O.D.O.K.),  he is best known to be an enemy who'd pop up in the Marvel Universe as one of the occasional adversaries and was once known as Antonio Rodriguez before he became the bestial villain. During his early days, he sought after a cure for his wife, who upon receiving it, left him because of his altered appearance. He is best known for going against Captain America, with the Star-Spangled Avenger wanting to help the man stay away from villainy. He's popped up every once in a while and is now the subject for today's review as the final piece of the No Way Home wave of Marvel Legends.

Let's rank the figures I've received from worst to best; this is Morlun, who in spite of not being Morbius, shares the same level of okay-at-best vibes that one would have with the movie. However, Morlun is worse because he feels somewhat rubbery, and I don't like how the face sculpts look on him. There are some neat ideas for this niche Marvel villain, but he feels more like a higher quality budget toy than he really should be for the price tag he's going for.

In fourth place, it's J Jonah Jameson, based on his attire from Home movies Far From and No Way. He's neat to get as a figure that fits the line between being one of the main characters and someone that normally wouldn't sell as easily to a casual consumer. I do wish we'd get more display options from him, like a hat or maybe an optional coat for him to wear so he can be shown blaming Peter Parker for the damage he's done, but maybe I'm used to the newspaper JJ that seeing this guy in a suit does make things a little weird to work with in toy form. His left shoulder should have better QC.

In third place, it's Shriek, who not only manages to be a solid release with minimum effort put in mind as part of the character with well-made paint apps that don't look half-assed, but the double-jointed elbows surprised me since those are rare on female Legends these days. She made me want to get a Carnage figure, specifically, the Marvel Select version because that figure is awesome!

In second place, we have Doctor Strange, which is a pretty neat figure to have because of its sculpting and how well it captures the character in the MCU and in general, though the leg articulation is irritating, to say the least. At the very least, the character isn't best known to be in the more dynamic of poses, so he can be displayed with his alternate hands with no issue. And in first place, it's Miles Morales Spider-Man! He makes for a fantastic addition to the line-up after not having his own figure last year when his game came out on the PS5. I love the new sculpt work that the Gamerverse Spidey from 2018 could really benefit from if we're being honest.

Here is something worth mentioning: I did not get either the Black & Gold suit nor the Integrated suit due to me not wanting to stick with too many figures from the wave while also waiting for a possible 3-pack with Tobey and Andrew. Luckily, a relative of mine named SuperAntonioBro provided me with the left leg for Armadillo, and now we can assemble him from here!

And now with the figure assembled and in-hand, Armadillo looks fairly solid for the character design he is supposed to represent. The limbs, backpiece, and everything but his face have PVC pieces made to replicate the layered skin that armadillos are known to have to keep themselves safe from harm, and while they are textured to be similar to what the actual animals have, they might go for either more paint apps to accentuate the sculpted details (like a drybrush) or sharper details. There is a bit of a color mismatch between the pieces, though it all boils down to what kind of lighting you're in. While the bare skin has bare plastic underneath the armor, there is a transition from the beige of the limbs to the off-white of the torso, with a fade toat helps it look naturalistic. I noticed that the back has a few scratches here and there, maybe this is intentional?

His headsculpt has a well-done expression with piercing white eyes and gnarly teeth, and while some may wish he had a little more paint to convey the organic look to him, I do feel a little bothered by the armor layers looking as though it was a DIY design instead of one that looks as naturalistic as the rest of the layers. His articulation has a ball joint for the head, shoulders that move front and back as well as in and out (though the shoulder armor does get in the way while also flexing a bit), biceps swivel, elbows bend, wrists swivel as well as a hinge in and out; there is a diaphragm joint, hips that move front and back, in and out, thigh swivels, knee bends, and ankle hinges as well as pivots.

For a size comparison build-a-figure I took a look at last year, here he is with Stilt-Man from the Spider-Verse wave. You can tell how much the two juxtapose each other with one being a more comically daddy long leg of a character and the other being in the traditional bulk seen with the likes of Hulk, The Thing, Abomination, etc. My guess as to the BAF choice is that Stilt-Man was a cheaper one to make due to the other figures being newly made sculpts (with the exceptions being Frogman, Hand Ninja, and possibly Prowler) while almost every figure in this wave is either using the same tooling/engineering or is a reuse of a previous iteration of a character. While I loved most of the Spider-Verse wave, I felt mixed on the No Way Home wave by comparison. However, Armadillo makes for a pretty good BAF overall, though I don't feel like buying another Marvel Legends wave for a BAF unless the figures themselves were good and the BAF was the bonus.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐