Yesterday I talked about the Funko Exclusive Black Widow with Shield figure that we had to wait a few months for after announcement, but that’s nothing compared to the wait for the subject of today’s review: Marvel Legends Rescue! We had to wait almost two and a half years for this figure to arrive, and now Rescue is selling for a crazy $100+ on the aftermarket! But is this 6″ Marvel Legends Rescue figure really worth all the fuss? Read on…

The Right:

Props once again to Hasbro for yet another “make-good” figure that was shown in years past finally being released! With the release of the new Marvel Legends War Machine figure earlier this year, now all we’re waiting on from the Iron Man Legends line is the Trevor Mandarin figure (which is almost certainly never coming out).

But Rescue isn’t “just another” Iron Man variant–it’s the first-ever female Iron Man armor figure to be released by Hasbro, as well as their first Pepper Potts figure overall! Thumbs way up!

Ordinarily we get saddled with a 100% repaint as our Marvel Comics Unlimited exclusive figure. But not this year! This year, our MUP exclusive figure is almost an entirley newly-tooled figure (there’s some old parts in the lower body)!

While some people will balk at the continued lack of a normal package for the Rescue 6″ figure (she comes in a taped plastic bag inside the membership kit), I’m totally fine with that if the money goes toward brand-new tooling like this instead.

The other thing that I especially enjoy about this Rescue Marvel Legends figure is her colors. I don’t want to call it “paint deco”, because there’s actually very little paint on Rescue at all. Instead, she’s primarily cast in a very nice-looking  glossy red and silver plastic.

This look gives the figure a real resemblance to a more feminine Silver Centurion Iron Man armor, and the yellow and orange paint deco on her eyes, shoulder pads and back thrusters really pops. From a visual standpoint, this figure looks terrific!

The Wrong:

While I love that this 6″ Rescue Marvel Legends figure exists, I feel much less positive about the actual figure itself.

The biggest disappointment about this figure is unmistakably the omission of the Pepper Potts alternate head shown at San Diego Comic-Con 2013.

I’m sure Hasbro left it out here because they didn’t want to pay for yet more new tooling, but I would have much rather gotten that Pepper Potts Rescue head than every other item that came in the 2016 Marvel Unlmited Plus Membership kit.

It’s not just the lack of a Pepper head that’s disappointing, though–it’s the lack of any accessories. With no alternate heads and no effects pieces, the number of “cool” poses you can stick ML Rescue in is greatly diminished. And speaking of poses…

Unfortunately, this figure was designed over two years ago, and you can really tell from the archaic articulation scheme. The swivel/hinge hips on Rescue are an abomination (no, not that Abomination), and make it next to impossible to get the Rescue action figure into a pose where she’s doing, well… anything… other than standing around!

The lack of ankle rockers and any kind of waist articulation seals the deal–Rescue is just not a fun figure to try to pose or play with.

My wife always appreciates a good female action figure, so I was hoping she would point out some pros of the figure that I missed when I handed Rescue over to her.

Instead, my wife rolled her eyes at Rescue’s heart-shaped abs (which I hadn’t noticed myself) and “Iron Booty” (referring to the detailed texture on Rescue’s, uh, booty. Evidently, she liked Rescue even less than me. Alas.

Overall: I’m elated that Hasbro chose to produce the 6″ Marvel Legends Rescue figure at all, and she’s easily the best Marvel Unlimited Plus exclusive figure we’ve gotten to date. That said, the figure has a horrid articulation scheme, comes without the Pepper Potts head that most collectors were hoping for (or any other accessories), and simply isn’t all that much fun. I appreciate the new tooling and the nice look of the figure as a free subscriber bonus, but it’s an average figure at best, and certainly not worth paying $100 or more for.

GRADE: C