Marvel Legends Red Onslaught Build-A-Figure Review

“My” golden age of comic books (AKA my teenage years) was the 1990’s, so I’ve got a special place in my heart for Onslaught, the villain so powerful he was able to kill Captain America, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four and the Avengers. The Red Skull became the new Onslaught in 2014’s (awful) “Axis” crossover, and now Hasbro is bringing us 2014’s most important villain! You’ll have to buy all seven Captain America Marvel Legends 2016 figures to build the Red Onslaught Build-A-Figure… but is he worth it?

Captain America Marvel Legends Red Skull Onslaught Build-A-FigureThe Right:

Toybiz produced two figures of Onslaught over a decade ago (and DST has released a great Minimates Onslaught), but now Hasbro is ready to step up to the bat to create their own version of the modern reemergence of one of the most powerful X-Men villains ever!

For those unfamiliar with this iteration of the character, let me summarize: the Red Skull dug up Charles Xavier’s corpse, stole his brain and implanted it in himself. Then, Magneto mercilessly crushed Red Skull to death and the Red Onslaught was born!

(I know that doesn’t make any sense, but that’s exactly how it played out in the comics. Just roll with it.)

Red Onslaught Build-A-Figure Review Captain America LegendsBesides the popularity of the Onslaught villain character itself, the biggest thing going for this figure is the outstanding sculpting job that Hasbro has done here.

From the various plates of the upper-body armor to the fierce sharpness of the claws, this figure excellently brings the Onslaught armor to life.

Back of Marvel Legends Red Skull Build-A-FigureThe back of the armor looks equally cool, as the segmented style gives the shell a real carapice-like feel. The shell attaches to Red Onslaught’s back via a peg, and fits tightly enough that it stays in place nicely and I have zero concerns about it just falling off at random.

The plastic colors used on this Build-A-Figure are also dead-on perfect. The deep red and glossy purple are the iconic colors for this character, and Hasbro totally nailed them.

Hasbro Red Skull Onslaught Build-A-Figure Head Close-UpThe Red Skull head sculpt itself is superb, and looks like the artwork of the character from AXIS has jumped right off the page and into toy form.

I know most folks will opt to use the classic Onslaught head that will be included with the summer 2016 X-Men Legends series (and I will absolutely be one of them), but this really is a great Red Skull head (if you swing that way).

Marvel Legends Civil War Red Onslaught Figure Kills Captain AmericaThe Wrong:

The biggest issue for me with this Red Onslaught Marvel Legends figure is the sadly limited articulation scheme. We’ve been spoiled with super-poseable Build-A-Figures the past few years, but the AXIS Red Skull Build-A-Figure has some major flexibility problems.

The biggest limitations to Red Skull Onslaught’s articulation are his shoulders (which are restricted by his hard plastic shoulder armor), for feet (which have rockers that are totally useless because of the being blocked by the ankle armor), the total lack of a waist joint, the single-jointed elbows and the head (which can only look straight forward, to the sides and slightly down). In other words: he can’t do a whole lot.

Red Onslaught Hasbro Marvel Legends Figure Restricted ArticulationMy Red Onslaught review photos all look pretty static/similar because this figure is extremely back-heavy and wants to fall over constantly if I try to do anything dynamic with him. The lack of working ankle rockers is a big issue here, and the hinged feet simply don’t go forward enough to compensate for the weight of the Onslaught figure’s back.

I had some success getting ML Red Onslaught to stand on uneven ground, but posing him on flat surfaces was the worst. It’s a real shame that more development wasn’t done on the feet for this mold.

Scale Comparison Marvel Legends Red Onslaught vs. Captain AmericaDuring the whole AXIS storyline, Red Skull Onslaught’s scale is all over the place. But during the most memorable scenes of the story (and its covers), Red Onslaught is a monster who towers over dozens of puny-seeming heroes and villains. Sadly, the 8″ Red Onslaught BAF figure just isn’t all that scary when he’s only a head taller than The Wrecking Crew and two heads taller than Captain America himself.

The days of getting gigantic BAFs like Galactus and the Sentinel are long behind us, but I still would have preferred at least a somewhat larger Red Skull. Maybe somewhere between his current size and Hulkbuster Iron Man would have made him look just a bit more intimidating.

Finally, the almost total lack of a paint wash on this figure’s armor is very jarring when you look at the nicely-painted Red Skull head and then the virtually paintless Onslaught armor. The sculpt still looks decent, but I was really surprised to see the almost total lack of paint apps on the majority of this BAF.

Marvel Legends 2016 Red Onslaught Build-A-Figure ReviewOverall: I struggled a bit with the grade for this Marvel Legends Red Onslaught review, as this is a figure that I desperately want to love because of my attachment to the character… but I’m just not there. The Red Skull BAF isn’t as large as I want, its posing potential is too hindered by back heaviness and limited articulation, and the paint apps are sadly minimal. I’m glad Hasbro made this Red Onslaught Build-A-Figure and that I have it–and I am definitely looking forward to getting the classic Onslaught head in the summer 2016 Marvel Legends X-Men Series–but this figure is definitely not as good as I had hoped it would be.

GRADE: C+

Comments

Marvel Legends Red Onslaught Build-A-Figure Review — 17 Comments

  1. I was kind of on the fence about completing him- I mean, Red Onslaught DID come out of one of the worst things to happen to Marvel Comics in the last five years (namely, Rick Remender), but between the extra Onslaught head from the X-Men wave and the fact that, hey, it LOOKS cool, I was considering it- if it was a pretty poseable figure. Since it’s not, I don’t feel so bad about knowing I won’t be bothered to complete him. I’ll probably end up just grabbing Cap, Sharon, Bobbi, and Taskmaster and selling off the BAF parts on eBay or whatever. (Cottonmouth? Really?)

    Same with Absorbing Man, really- he’s not my favorite villain, and I don’t really feel the BURNING NEED to complete him, so I’m just planning on picking up Ben, Gwen, and Eddie (MAYBE Jack-o-Lantern) from the Spider-Man wave and leaving it at that.

    • I really don’t get why he is giving these bafs bad reviews. Especially Red Onslaught. Absorbing man has quite a few issues but has many interchangeable parts and is one of the best villain figures we’ve gotten in a while, and red onslaught is even better than that. My only complaint with him is that he is a little too small. And as for his articulation, Danid has the shoulder pads backwards. The front side has a gap so you can move the arms more. And the ankle articulation isn’t hindered, you just have to push it over the notch. The head articulation does suck on both of these bags though. I give absorbing man an A- and Red Skull an A+

      • The shoulder pads on mine are on properly–those grooves are not part of the Red Onslaught costume and shouldn’t be visible. They should be facing forward for the classic Onslaught armor, but I’m not reviewing classic Onslaught (yet).

        I gave Onslaught a slightly above-average grade because I call ’em like I see ’em. His articulation is below the current Marvel Legends standards, his armor is devoid of paint wash, I think he’s still too small and he’s very back-heavy and doesn’t stand up straight easily at all.

        For the headliner of this wave–and a toy you have to build $140 in other toys to build–I just wasn’t blown away by this guy like I wanted to be. Not saying he’s bad–but he definitely has a number of deficiencies.

    • For what it’s worth, Absorbing Man is…. pretty solid. He’s not the most poseable, but he does alright, and the paint job on his stone head and arm combined with the metal arm absorbing the metal from his wrecking ball (which needs a black wash) actually makes him look pretty damn badass.
      Seriously, that stone head is actually really cool, and probably one of the best painted things I’ve seen from Marvel Legends in a long time.

      Beetle is….I mean….she’s basically Wasp. If you have Wasp, she’s pretty much redundant, but Wasp/Beetle is actually a pretty great figure poseabilitywise and just fun to play around with.

      Jack O Lantern and Morbius are pretty damn cool. Badass horror villains, and well done figures.
      They make me REALLY want a modern Marvel Dracula figure in that badass red armor, and figures for the Howling Commandos (the moster ones).

      Speed Demon is my least favorite. He’s a really generic Spider-Man body and only really makes sense in various running poses, and doesn’t particularly make sense doing anything else.
      I mean….he’s well done, but as far as speedster characters are concerned, Speed Demon is at the bottom of the list.
      (I want a new Quicksilver)
      Silvermane’s head on a toy car is funny, but, not exactly something I needed.
      If you have any of the recent Spider-Mans, you already have a cooler verion of Speed Demon.

      I ended up getting the whole wave, including a second Ben Reilly to be my permanent new Spider-Carnage.
      I don’t regret it.
      Not even Speed Demon.
      *shrug*

    • Onslaught is MUCH MUCH better than this review says.

      Cottonmouth is the only figure in the wave that I give a thumbs down.
      Whirlwind would be the only other one I’m not fond of, but that’s because I don’t care about the character. The figure itself is pretty good.

  2. I just realized that I have no idea where I’m going to even PUT Onslaught.
    I had to clear out the MegaMan end of my shelf to be able to set up all my Spider-Man stuff.
    It went from a dense little cluster of Spider-Folk to half a shelf full, thanks to the last couple Spider-Man waves.

    The Spider part isn’t nearly as densely packed as the Avengers, SHIELD, mystic, Asgardian, and Cosmic parts, but I still need to cram Rhino, Kraven and Chameleon up there, and then Mockingbird, Taskmaster, and Scourge too…

    May have to reinforce the “no duplicate characters” rule (you know we got 3 Ben Reillys in the last year, if you count Spider-Carnage separate from Reilly Spidey (which I do, since I got two to have both)?
    And 2 Eddie Brocks, thanks to Anti-Venom and Venom…

    And then there’s Onslaught. Onslaught who belongs to a collection of X-Men figures that I don’t REALLY have….yet.
    And he’s HUGE…..

    Action figuring is hard.

    • It doesn’t have a wide range of motion, but there is a ball-jointed upper torso built in. It’s just not very good…

  3. Just picked the set up today. Was incredibly disappointed when I got home and tried to assemble the Red Onslaught and found that his head won’t stay on. For some reason the ball joint neck is too small the hole in the Skull. I now own an awesome and expensive headless Onslaught. When is that X-men set coming?b

    • If I’m reading your problem correctly, the ball itself is too small and so the Red Skull head just falls off? If that’s the case, just add a little putty inside the Red Skull head to fill in the hole a bit, and then the head should stay on fine. =D

      • It does fall off. Easy to fix but when you drop $150 to build a figure you shouldn’t have to rig it to display. First time I’ve had a problem like this. Hoping the Onslaught head fits better as that’s my preference for that body.

        • I am going to use the Red Skull head from this set on a Marvel legends chameleon figure, and then use the x-men head for the figure. problem solved. Results a cool skull figure in a suit, and a cool Onslaught figure

    • Are you sure you’re pushing it on all the way?
      I had the opposite experience where it was SUPER hard to get on there, and then it took a bit to get it moving properly.

      • Oh yeah its the hole on the Skull itself that’s too large. Probably just a goofy production error. Kinda like my old Rhino from the Sinister Six box set back in the day literally has 2 left feet. If there is a flawed figure that makes it out of the warehouse there’s a good chance I’ll buy it.

        • Well that sucks…
          I guess the upside is that having an extra Taskmaster wouldn’t be a bad thing, and the real Onslaught head will be coming in the X-Men Wave.

  4. Okay, my notes regarding Red Onslaught are as follows:

    – The feet work absolutely fine in all directions. Seriously. Totally fine hinge forward and back. Ankle rocks side to side plenty far.
    He stands just fine and is plenty posable.

    – The diaphragm joint does a pretty good job standing in for the waist pivot and the ab crunch.

    – The head moves up a little, down a little more, side to side fine, tilts a bit.
    Considering the massive collar he has, it’s probably about as good as you could imagine it being.
    I’d say your ability to turn his head is more restricted than the actual range which it is physically capable of.

    – The shoulder pads as shown in the pictures on this page are backwards, as confirmed by all the images of the assembled figure.
    The bitches in the front of the shoulder pads do a good job of addressing the limited range of motion for the arms. Obviously they’re still huge and inevitably in the way, but it’s not nearly as bad as it’s being made out to be.

    – My one real problem with this figure is that if you make it do the splits the top edge of the thigh armor gets a bit dinged up.

    I’d say that the actual grade this BAF deserves is a pretty solid B+