Hasbro promised a strong showing of Heralds to coincide with the release of the mega-sized Haslab Galactus figure this year, and (as long as your favorite herald of Galactus isn’t named Air Walker or Golden Oldie) Hasbro has come through in spades with a new Terrax, the awesome Herald Thor and more—including the subject of today’s review! Retro Marvel Legends Firelord is a long, long overdue addition to the Marvel Legends pantheon—but after 20 years of waiting, is this figure all it could be?

There’s good news and bad news about this Hasbro Firelord Legends action figure. The good news is that, after just over two decades of waiting, a 6” Firelord figure has arrived and looks pretty slick in a vacuum. The bad news is that Hasbro chose to use a body mold a lot of fans would like to see retired as the base for ol’ Pyreus Kril.

On the surface, that might not seem like a major issue, since the Sunfire mold is still -relatively- modern and features the much-needed butterfly swivel shoulders that two-handed flaming staff poses really require. In execution, though, this body causes some… challenges to the overall product.

In a nutshell, the Sunfire body has notably disproportioned shoulders and is simply too short. You wouldn’t expect Loki to be looking down on a Herald of Galactus with the Power Cosmic, but he does. This one monumental misstep makes it extremely difficult to display Firelord convincingly next to other heralds, which is a huge shame.

Firelord comes packaged in the oversized Toybiz Fantastic Four vintage-styled packaging, reminiscent of his first toy ever decades ago.

The throwback packaging looks tremendous, though it was short-lived for me since I had to tear the cardback apart to get at the toy itself. Definitely a wonderful-looking piece for packaged collectors, though.

The variety of bright translucent colors on the fire staff looks awesome, as does Firelord’s flaming hair. This is a figure that will really pop hard on a shelf.

The stern, no-nonsense portrait on the head sculpt clearly demonstrates that this is a herald who means business.

There’s lots of straight and jagged lines as part of the paint deco, and I’m very impressed with the quality of the paint applications and the solidity of the plastic this toy is made of.

Along with the flame stick, there’s also a pair of swap-out fists as accessories. I can’t imagine anyone will display this character engaging in fisticuffs, but the option is at least there.

Articulation-wise, Firelord is also pretty strong:
—Ball-Hinge Neck and Shoulders (with Butterfly Swivel)
—Upper Torso Ab Crunch
—Ball-Jointed Hips
—Swivel-Hinge Wrists
—Swivel Biceps, Waist, Thighs and Calves
-Double-Hinged Knees and Elbows
—Hinged feet with ankle rockers

Unfortunately, as the base body here isn’t the newest, the inaugural Firelord Marvel Legends figure is cursed with visible pinned knees and elbows. Is it too early to complain to Hasbro that I’d like a redo of this mostly excellent faction figure?

Overall: Hasbro did almost everything right with their new Firelord Retro Marvel Legends figure, but their one misstep was a big one. Utilizing the Sunfire base body (along with its bizarre shoulder proportions), poor ML Firelord looks a little short for a Power Cosmic-charged badass. It’s a real shame, too, as his paint deco, flaming staff and head sculpt are all excellent. In a vacuum, this would be a nearly perfect solo Firelord six inch figure. But posed with the rest of a shelf of Marvel Legends, Pyreus comes up a little… short.

GRADE: B