MAFEX Daredevil review

While I own the Netflix Daredevil Legends figure from 2018, I never had a comic version of the character for the longest time. Mostly because of how poor some hold up in terms of proportions or sculpted details regarding ToyBiz while articulation, limited detailing, and being scalped frequently are the issues with Hasbro offerings. Hobgoblin wave Daredevil was as hard to obtain as Pizza Spidey, and both it as well as the Defenders 4-pack version are on the commonly used Bucky Cap body. Meanwhile, the 3-pack sold on Hasbro Pulse uses the RYV body from fellow New York hero Spider-Man, and it somehow goes in the triple digits along with Elektra and Bullseye!! How that is tolerated in the action figure community is beyond me, but the Hasbro offerings do so little with their decos and just depend on the flat red plastic as well as any tampographs meant for the double D's. A version with cel shading was made for the Spider-Man cartoon, but I doubt anyone would want that to be their default Daredevil. Medicom now enters Hell's Kitchen to throw their hat in the rain and make their take on the Man without Fear. It's time to say "I'm not the bad guy yet" and review MAFEX Daredevil!

Here we have MAFEX Daredevil in-hand, and I have to commend them for not only keeping the shades of red somewhat distinct between things like the gloves, boots, logo, belt, and holster compared to the rest of the body, but also by applying a wash that accentuates the body and makes it feel more premium than the average Hasbro product. It's also done in a way that feels cleaner than with the average ToyBiz figure, which usually looked dirty and busy half of the time. While the body itself may appear to reuse some of the same limbs or torso pieces, I don't think that is the case; it appears to be entirely new with proportions that fit Daredevil specifically in a way how blank bodies for McFarlane's takes on Adam West Batman, Christopher Reeves Superman, and Jim Carrey Riddler all remain original sculpts rather than share parts given how basic these live action costumes are. I find the proportions also fit the character pretty well. With Has to making the shoulders and upper bodies a bit slender while occasionally having the hips a bit wider apart, we have a properly proportionate upper body for a superhero and muscular thighs that don't look like they belong on a cosplayer. Best part is that the logo on the chest is raised in relief slightly, which beats having it printed on the body. 

Head sculpt undoubtedly Daredevil, and I appreciate how it captures the shape of the mask without making the horns out of scale or not having the ears too prominent. The eyes, despite blending in with the rest of the face, at least aren't hard to pick out while MAFEX made sure not to make some paint apps that look worse. For accessories, Daredevil comes with a screaming head, an angry head, a pair of articulated billy clubs (one with a hook attached at the end), a pair of regular billy clubs, two holsters (one half-empty and one fully empty), a pair of club-holding hands, a pair of karate hands, a pair of claw-like hands, a pair of relaxed hands, and a pair of gestural hands. He also comes with the same flight stand accessories that were covered on the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man I reviewed months ago.

His articulation consists of a double ball neck, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, ball-jointed butterfly joints, bicep rotation, double-jointed elbows, rotation and hinges at the wrists, double ball joints for the upper and lower portions of the torso, drop-down hips, ball joints for the hips, thigh rotation, double-jointed knees, and ankles that can swivel, hinge, and pivot. Finally, he has toe-ticulation.

As shown above, the holsters can be switched out depending on how many billy clubs he's holding, and they attached via a ball joint on the thigh. It's a different approach to the way most companies simply use empty holsters to hold their accessories, but either approach works. The craziest aspect of this set would undoubtedly be wired billy clubs, giving them as much range and display potential as a wired cape. That is a huge bonus, and it's something I wish you companies would do with Spider-Man's webs or Wonder Woman's lasso. The fact that you can display Daredevil either as if he's about to whip an enemy or recreating crazy cover art with those crazy poses a la McFarlane's spaghetti webs makes this even better.

His yelling expression is surprisingly done well, as it captures the slight crack on one of the flight stand clips that are supposed to hold the figure. At least we have a different clip that holds him better. But in all seriousness, this beats a lot of yelling faces like what we see on the 2019 Retro Wolverine with the black around the eyes, the McFarlane Superman that comes with Godzilla, and most live-action Figuarts whose screaming heads look anime-ish like with EP. III Anakin and Obi-Wan. For a size comparison, here we have him along with Hasbro's Kingpin. Lucky, there's a family guy, too. While MAFEX may not be exactly 1:1 with the Marvel Legends scale, it is possible to fudge the differences and have him fit in with your other characters. Overall, I recommend you get this figure if you're lucky to buy him at a reasonable price. He's harder to find than most MAFEX figures given the extreme scarcity and the scalped nature of a character representing a darker side of the Marvel universe. Just be ready to pay a hefty sum for an otherwise outstanding figure. I guess the only negative other than the crack on one of the flight stand claws would be the lack of a Matt Murdock head, but beyond that, I have no complaints otherwise. 

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