Marvel Legends Legendary Riders Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze) review

Last year, I already took a look at a version of Ghost Rider in the form of the retro-carded release, which was alright for its time yet it could be better than it already was. It didn't come with a bike since Hasbro doesn't want to splurge out the budget for a $20 release, so I had to look for a spare bike or wait for the perfect version of the character to pop up on my shelf. Also, for anyone wondering: the Ghost Rider, aka Johnny Blaze, was given a deal by Mephisto to serve him while saving his surrogate father. Now the stunt biker must fulfill the tasks of an antihero while bound by Zarathos, the Spirit of Vengeance. Ghost Rider, at least the Johnny Blaze version, would later appear as part of the Avengers of the Supernatural as well as represent the Heroes for Hire and Midnight Suns while also having successors such as Daniel Ketch and Robbie Reyes. With all that said, let's take a look at this blue and red penance starer is worth getting or not.

Here we have Ghost Rider in-hand. He reuses the Vulcan body as expected, and while the blue itself is a little light, it is fairly accurate to the old Johnny Blaze version of the character. Not much for deco is used beyond the rectangle on the torso and the trim used for the collar as well as the stripes for the sides of the arms and legs, but very little variety is included. Some shading would help since the figure could pop even better. Not much else to say about this figure since it's a mashup of reuse and standard effort, but I will say that the figure isn't all shiny plastic. Even the boots look mostly fine and are not black like I expected. So far from rad but not too bad.

Head sculpt looks great with the translucent flame piece molded on the skull with a wash applied. The eye holes could use more black paint while the jaw needs to articulate. Speaking of, articulation consists of a ball and hinge combo, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, bicep rotation, double jointed elbows, wrist rotation and hinges (either in and out or up and down depending on the hand), butterfly joints, ab crunch, waist rotation, ball jointed hips, thigh rotation, double jointed knees, boot rotation, and ankles that hinge as well as pivot. In addition to coming with the same flaming chain whip found on many Hasbro Ghost Riders, we also have an alternate flaming head with the skull colored black, which almost makes me want to see if this glows in some UV blacklight. In addition to the weapon holding hands, he has a left hand moreso for holding the skull, which looks even better than the one on his face in terms of detailing yet is nowhere near as frightening...

...and that segways us into the motorcycle he comes with. It's in two shades of red with some deco for the headlight as well as the speedometer and license plate, and while they may not seem noticeable at first, the tires are clear plastic which makes me wish more of that was used for the Hell Cycle. A wash would also help accentuate the sculpt since it could pop even better. The skull I showed you earlier can be stored on the back via the fork attached to the rear fender.

Removing it lets you use the five fire effect parts, which look cool on him but could stay on better, honestly. The renders show the fifth fire piece sitting behind Ghost Rider while the fork is attached, but it's not possible to do that so it may be a rendering error. He can ride on it no problem though it could be a little bit bigger. Maybe increasing the size could raise the price up to $80 and that's as bad as paying for Mephisto himself! So where do I stand with Ghost Rider? For the most part, I think he turned out fine, but he is far from perfect like some figures Hasbro put out of late that are able to tick a check without issue on a wishlist. He's very classic-inspired, so anyone more familiar with the leather black and rust will find this look unusual, but you can do much worse. Just pay lower than the MSRP and you should be fine. Hell, as needless as this will be to some, I'm happier with this than I would be with the Maximum line, and on a positive note, the joints are not gummy as hell!

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