As a 13-year-old boy in 1995, the very notion of Magneto himself serving as the founder and leader of the X-Men—even in an alternate reality—completely blew my mind. X-Men Age of Apocalypse served as my favorite comic book storyline ever for over 20 years, and while AOA Magneto was never my favorite character from the story, I still happily gobbled up the 5” Toybiz AOA Magneto figure and its repaint. But 26 years later, I was ready for an upgrade, and Hasbro has delivered: the Marvel Legends Age of Apocalypse Magneto figure is now available! Is it a worthy successor to Toybiz’s version two and a half decades later?

Unlike supporting characters such as Shadowcat and the outstanding AOA Colossus Build-A-Figure I reviewed last month, Magneto seemed like an absolute lock for Marvel Legends Age of Apocalypse wave 2 from the outset.

And so, once he was officially confirmed, there wasn’t much shock or awe for the announcement (except maybe by Medicom, who were launching their own $90+ MAFEX Magneto Age of Apocalypse figure).

Medicom blows Hasbro’s iteration away, though, as their magneto MAFEX comics version is vastly superior to Hasbro’s (as it should be with an MSRP that is over 400% higher).

Hasbro primarily reuses the tooling from the Family Matters Magneto box set figure as a base here, with fresh paint and some updates to the boots and arms.

The 3-Pack Magneto mold was nice when it was first released a couple years back and it’s still good now. The musculature and proportions look correct for Magnus’ character design, and the mods made to the arms and legs add a flair of authenticity for this specific version.

What does not feel accurate, however, is some specific design choices Hasbro made here. Rather than the iconic “purple undies” Magneto wore during the classic Age of Apocalypse comics, Hasbro opted for straight-up red pants from a modern revisit to AOA. It really throws me off and annoys me, especially since Medicom just did the costume to perfection.

In addition, Hasbro didn’t even try to give us a shadowed-in helmet-wearing Magneto portrait , another iconic design from the vintage comics. The helmeted sculpt we fo get is “fine”, but it again suffers from having just been outdone by the MAFEX.

Medicom’s fabric cape also wins out over the clunky Hasbro plastic one, although that’s a more excusable loss to me since soft goods are tough in a $20 figure lineup. The cape doesn’t exactly look or stay put perfect on this AOA Magneto Marvel legends figure (the cape has no peg and is held on by the force of Magneto’s head), but it’s passable and looks fine in a display with Rogue or other figures.

ML AOA Magneto has some okay accessories, although he’s the sole figure in the set that comes without a Colossus BAF piece. Instead, we get extra fists, two magnetic energy effects and an interchangeable unhelmeted head.

It’s not a huge spread, but I dig having options for the hands and the effects to demonstrate Magneto’s mutant powers of magnetism.

I like the unhelmeted head worlds better than the helmeted one, as Erik is sporting a suitably dour expression and the ponytails are nicely done. Unlike the default head, this “unmasked” one actually feels a tad more accurate to the comic books.

Articulation is excellent, as is the norm from Hasbro for their six inch Legends action figures.
The complete articulation scheme includes:

• Ball-Hinge Head and Shoulders
• Double-Hinge Elbows and Knees
• Ab Crunch
• Swivel-Hinge Wrists
• Swivel Waist, Biceps, Thighs and Boots
• Hinged Feet with Ankle Rockers

The head’s range of motion is heavily hindered by the cape, helmet and hair, but pretty much everything else can move freely and be posed as you would want.

Overall: Age of Apocalypse X-Men Legends Magneto is a solidly executed Hasbro 6” figure that doesn’t overachieve. The paint deco, articulation, sculpting and accessories are all “good”, with nothing standing out as overly impressive or awry. The lack of purple on the tights and a shadowy helmeted head really bug me, though. If you’re building any kind of AOA figures display you’ll likely need this Magnus, but he just feels very average and unexceptional to me.

GRADE: B-