Marvel Legends Silver Surfer Duo review

The Silver Surfer is often seen as much of a selling point for the Fantastic Four series as the Human Torch and Thing are. Between the character's simple yet shiny appearance, the iconic surfboard, and the brief rivalry with either Marvel's first family or Dr Doom himself, it's also gotten easier to sell him on his own considering his lore goes as far back as the history of Galactus. When his world was caught up with the planet devourer, he was given a chance to serve as one of his heralds, and it wasn't until he met the Fantastic Four that he regained a sense of nobility as he betrayed his master. You'll definitely see versions of this plot in the 2007 movie he appeared in or the handful of Marvel cartoons either focusing on or including the Fantastic Four. Did you know he had a cartoon of his own near the end of the Fox Kids Marvel era? You may know of his titular video game through the Angry Video Game Nerd rightfully bashing it, but you may also be surprised to spot his gunmetal counterpart, the Fallen One. We'll talk about him later in the review, but let's cover the character we know as Norrin Radd while killing two birds with one stone!

Here we have both versions of the Silver Surfer in hand. They both use the Sunfire mold, which may work great at first glance until you realize that the character should be a little taller. That being said, they have a respectable level of anatomy you wouldn't normally see from some recent Hasbro Legends apart from the shoulders being slightly lower, but the selling point has to be how impressive the paint jobs are on both. Neither character is molded in silvery or gunmetal plastic, as both are actually painted for better consistency and without the marbling you'd find from metallic plastics. So even if the buck they used isn't 100% fitting for the character, at least the figures still look great overall.

The head sculpt is the same for both characters: a simple head shape with no other unique features beyond the stern facial expression representing the character's newly gained struggle in serving as a herald for Galactus. The Fallen One looks even more sinister with how much darker it blends in the background.

The articulation is the same for both figures: a ball-and-hinged combo for the neck, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, bicep rotation, double-jointed elbows, wrist rotation with inward hinges, butterfly joints, an ab crunch plus waist swivel combo, ball-jointed hips, thigh rotation, double-jointed knees, boot rotation (even though he lacks boots), and ankles that hinge and pivot.

They both stay in their gliders with no problem even via one peg, though the tighter joints on the Silver Surfer make him stay on better during a pose than the somewhat loose joints on my Fallen One. Silver also has open flat hands to simulate any pose where he's zipping at a high speed while riding his surfboard. Fallen, meanwhile, comes with Mjolnir, reused from 80 Years Thor (though likely originated from other comic versions of the character). Yes, he took the hammer from the Mighty Thor in a reality where almost everyone is dead, and it was quite a surprise considering normal Silver Surfer wouldn't be worthy of wielding it.

As for their effect parts, I don't like how Silver's parts have the clips slightly too big for his hands to stay in place, but you have to wedge them in a certain way to keep them from flopping. At least the speckle pattern is nice, and the yellow pops among the prominent silver. Fallen, meanwhile, becomes less monochromatic with his purple fiery effect pieces that slip into his hands with ease. I'm sure both effect parts are reused, but they fit perfectly for each character, especially with the color choices.

Here is the Silver Surfer with the Fantastic Four. It's finally great to have this character in my Marvel shelf since even with the Fantastic Four being complete as they are, Norrin adds an extra layer of iconography to comic book history left behind by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee.

And here we have the Silver Surfer next to Doctor Doom while the Fallen One stands next to King Thanos. I love how the gunmetal gray on Doom contrasts the bright silver on the surfer while the Fallen One's own gunmetal gray contrasts the more regal appearance of King Thanos, even if the Mad Titan should probably have gold paint instead of having those parts in molded plastic. 

Overall, I think both figures can have their own pros, as many would likely prefer the regular Silver Surfer for being the true-to-form iteration of Norrin Radd, on top of being painted in silver while including more accessories than most recent Hasbro Legends that are reuses of other figures. The Fallen One, meanwhile, serves as a brief yet interesting lore cut to another part of the Marvel Universe many would normally not think of. For all its flaws, Hasbro Marvel Legends at least knows how to dig deep into certain timelines and eras that we normally wouldn't see from Figuarts as they delve into the MCU while MAFEX does more mainstream comic designs. Silver Surfer being reissued last year was something I did not want to miss out on, and while I got his Obsidian counterpart first, both make for great versions of a unique character in comic history.

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