Marvel Legends Black Panther/Spider-Man Noir/MvC War Machine review

Covering Marvel Legends can be a bit tricky if there isn't much to go over while covering one in a single review. Especially if you only have so little in terms of accessories or comparisons. Which is why I bunched up two similarly themed figures in a single review unless they can stand on their own for more to discuss. These three make sense for a review, as I wanted to review a comic Black Panther, the Spider-Verse iteration of Noir himself, and the MvC War Machine redeco as a final revisit of the Modular Iron Man mold. So let's take a look at three superheroes who are back in black, cliche as that sounds.

Let's first cover Black Panther, as he is the new one for the site as far as the comic iteration. This guy reuses the Sunfire base mold, already having some better proportions than the Bucky Cap body due to a more natural physique that fits the character even more in my opinion. Black Panther doesn't have much in terms of paint apps beyond the silver of the eyes or the gray gloves and boots, so to make up for the flat black plastic, he comes with a small cape with a collar surrounding his head to help him stand out from most of the other versions of the character we got in Legends past; close one to have a cape was the first Legends BP and its somewhat heavier appearance with more texturing and gold paint apps to make him more regal rather than prowling for evil in the shadows. As we'll get to, the cape is removable.

Head sculpt is certainly a Batman-esque mask with the mouth region covered up, which is unique to this guy as he conceals his face entirely and only lets the personality shine from the piercing eyes with furrowed eyebrows molded onto the mask. The eyes being silver does make them shine, but white paint would be a bit more preferrable for a standard display. It's a YMMV thing. Using the Vulcan buck, Black Panther has a good amount of articulation, with a ball joint and neck hinge, shoulders that move front and back, in and out, bicep swivels, double-jointed elbows, wrist swivels and hinges, ab crunch, waist swivel, hips move front and back, in and out, thigh swivels, double-jointed knees, boot swivels, ankle hinges, and pivots to boot. His elbows and knees use pinless joints and are done successfully here.

Apart from the alternate hands and I guess his cape (which is removable by first popping the head off and lifting the cape over the neck before sliding the chest straps down the legs), he comes with one of Attumu's legs...and that is a BAF I doubt I'm going to complete as I have no interest in MCU Legends so far. 

For a size comparison, here he is with two Avengers from previous waves. The Bucky Cap old was deemed too skinny for the previous versions of him, whether it's the 2013 Rocket Racoon version, the Walmart-exclusive wave version that ditched most of the blue, the Retro version that was metallic and had a more rounded head design, so using the Vulcan gives him his needed bulk while still making him smaller than either Iron Man or Captain America, two more bulky characters in the Marvel universe. If you see Black Panther for cheap, go get him.

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

And here we have Spider-Man Noir from Into the Spider-Verse. Surprisingly took Hasbro 4 years since the movie came out, though TBF, the earlier Spider-Verse figures that were not the Miles/Gwen 2-pack from Target were made a few years since the film's release, and this came out half a year before his brief cameo in Across the Spider-Verse. The figure appears to have a lot of new parts, which is especially appreciative since one would expect he would never receive this kind of treatment as a retail-exclusive. Yes, this guy was a Target-exclusive. Anyways, this figure is generally accurate to the movie, but he is missing the buttons on the shirt. His trench-coat is sculpted to be in a dynamic flare, similar to the McFarlane DC Multiverse toys of Superman and Batman. While it's great for photography, it looks awkward for vanilla poses, though I guess it's either this or a stationary one that limits posing, and it's not like Hasbro would make a cloth one that looks good and poses with bendywires. While the figure is colored black from top to bottom, there are a few paint apps around the legs to break up the color. One thing I should mention is that the hands might be reused, because while they look like black gloves from far away, the detail of veins on the outer portions of the hands as well as fingernails when seen up close is eyebrow raising with Hasbro's decision to not sculpt the hands like that.

Head sculpt is where most of the paint apps reside, with the spot pattern for the hat, the lenses for the mask, and the webbing for the mouth region of the mask. It's a successful part of the toy in my opinion. His articulation is the about the same as Black Panther, and by extension, every Marvel Legends figure of late, only he has a double ball neck joint, no butterfly joints, and no boot swivels. One of the few accessories he has is a pistol that can be stored away in a holster and stay stuck in there unless you shake it out. 

His only other accessories are the fedora-less head that reveals the rest of the mask and a slightly recolored Spider-Ham. The same one that came with Gwen Stacy. Honestly, I wish Noir came with another Spider-Ham that's posed differently and comes with a hammer accessory. Even an alternate expression would be appreciative. Apart from richer colors, there is no difference in molding between the two Spider-Hams. So that resolves Spider-Man Noir, a figure I took too long to review because I was hoping to get this guy in a shared review with a Peni Parker & SP//DR toy set, but it never happened because I am still holding on for a proper Legends version that has the general accuracy of the Sentinel release but with a joints that are easier to manipulate and Peni Parker with good articulation and is the same look as the figurine from that set. Noir is a mostly good release, but the inflated price tag is not worth it for him unless he is on clearance.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

And let's get a DBZ homage out of the way as Iron Man and War Machine perform a fusion dance to become...well, a War Machine that's recolored from an Iron Man. To the average Marvel fan, this makes no sense, as it was never in the comic books and it would lead to fans thinking this is just a lazy repaint. But if you look into the history of War Machine, you may recall that he was once a recolor of Iron Man in a video game that is old but still loved by fans. If you're someone who only knows the MCU and heard of the most recent game from this crossover I'm about to mention, I pity you, but before we had a fourth mediocre game, War Machine was in the first two entries as a recolor of Iron Man's sprites in Marvel vs Capcom and its sequel. Iron Man was only present in Marvel Super Heroes and was absent in Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter, while War Machhine filled in for his fellow Armored Hero by reusing the Iron Man sprites with his own colors. Iron Man did return in MvC2 before taking over entirely in MvC3.

His accessories include repaints of the new spike-glowball and a unibeam effect piece that were originally from the Hasbro Pulse exclusive Iron Man with Proton Cannon in 90s-style packaging and colors. There is no paint for the spikeball, but it and the repulsor blasts and unibeam (which does have paint) are cast in red plastic and fit nicely with darker color scheme. Honestly, the black and steel blue combo is gorgeous, even if fans would probably wish he was a little more accurate with a purplish tint to the black and the blue a lighter shade. This is one I recommend, especially with Modular Iron Man already being a favorite of mine.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐