Thursday, September 28, 2023

Marvel Legends Avengers 60th Anniversary Hawkeye w/Skycycle review

Hawkeye has been quite an interesting man when it comes to past Legends iterations. While Jeremy Renner gets figures that feel no different from one another in God knows how many MCU films he's stuck in, the comic iteration has at least 4 prior iterations that were each mixed in quality: a ToyBiz version that is its own mold with great value for money (Sky-Cycle included) but has poor-proportions, the 2013 Marvel Now design that is basically a comicified MCU design because that's what Disney does nowadays, an All New/All Different modern classic comic design with a poor reuse of the MCU Winter Soldier arm, and a Retro release that is alright but not by much. Back to avoiding run-on sentences from here, we got a new Hawkeye that might be reminiscent of the Toy Biz version but better-proportioned mostly. We'll see if that's the case for today's review.


Here we have Hawkeye in-hand. This figure has a lot of new elements added onto the Sunfire body, such as slightly longer limbs to fit Hawkeye's body frame  as well as the tunic sculpted on the upper body to go with his belt, arm bands, gauntlets, and the strap meant for the quiver. I like the metallic purple on the tunic and the arm gear, but I wish it was more spread out on the rest of the purple part, including the mask, for consistency sake. This figure uses pinless joints, and I'm sure there are kitbashers willing to use this for sleeveless figures in some way. The shade of blue used for his costume should be accurate to the classic look, but I feel it could use a bit of shading to make it look less plasticky than it currently is (would also go well with the metallic parts of the costume). The thing that makes this figure stand out from the others is the inclusion of fabric goods for the loincloth. The idea is nice on-paper, and some would argue that the added details that match the tunic are nice details, but I feel it looks cheaper on this guy, especially with how it makes the upper body feel like it's loosely connected. So overall, it looks mostly good, but I know there is room for improvement.


His head sculpt is the best part about the figure, reinventing the nicer details of the life-like appearance of the ToyBiz figure that Hasbro failed to live up top with their Allfather and Retro versions of Hawkeye. The mask looks appropriately classic and better uses the realism moreso than the other Legends figures, and that means not having his lips look odd or the face too much like a cosplayer. His articulation is standard for the Sunfire mold, including the butterfly joints needed to better help his archery posing work a bit more. That being said, some of the joints feel a bit gummier than normal, something that affected numerous pinless joints. With his alternate hands along with his bow and arrow, the latter accessories are nicely painted yet annoying with the former not being flexible enough and the latter not being good at staying in place for a firing pose. It could really benefit from having certain hands meant for the arrow, and I am tempted to give this guy the ToyBiz bow and arrows if I see them online.


The Skycycle comes disassembled for the platform, the main portion of the vehicle, the domey windshield, and the flight stand, which is unique to Hasbro for utilizing an asymmetrical length for two of the legs while the ball joint facing upwards can be used for different lengths depending on which part of the base is used. The assembly is easy to work with, and you can disassemble this item without the fear of things getting hard to disassemble if you want to customize this for better weathering or wear & tear. I like this, though with how shitty the economy is and how Hasbro likes to market its items to justify their sometimes higher than deserved price, this would have been marketed as an accessory back in the ToyBiz days vs the second main asset of a toy. Hawkeye rides it well enough, but only the handles keep him secure as there are no pegs for the feet.


For a comparison with other Marvel Legends Avengers new and old, here he is with Retro Cap, Ant-Man, Iron Man, and Ragnarok. It should be mentioned that while everyone else began as heroes, Hawkeye began as a criminal and enemy of Iron Man, but now he has some new friends to fight with. I guess it I could get her, I could also buy Black Widow even though people would associate her with the MCU version. Overall, Hawkeye is a mostly solid release that I feel has room for improvement. If he was $5-10 less, I would recommend him more; as it stands, he is the best Hawkeye that Hasbro had ever done, though I admit there are things the ToyBiz version does better with the paint and accessories.


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

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