REVIEW: X-Men Marvel Legends Apocalypse Build-A-Figure 

It’s taken almost a full year since the wave started to be unveiled at San Diego Comic Con 2017, but the long-anticipated 2018 Marvel Legends X-Men Apocalypse Series is finally starting to ship out to online retailers and some brick and mortar stores. I wanted to kick off my figure reviews for this wave with something big—and what’s bigger than the Build-A-Figure, right? The Marvel Legends Apocalypse BAF is selling for north of 100 bucks right now all by himself—is he fit to survive for that kind of money?

Marvel Legends 2018 Apocalypse Review

When it comes to X-Men villains, Apocalypse is perhaps second only to Magneto in overall popularity and threat level. Even so, there hasn’t been a new Marvel Legends Apocalypse figure since Toybiz released their Build-A-Figure of him way back in 2005–13 years ago!

So we’ve been waiting quite a bit for ol’ Big A to get an upgrade from Hasbro. Is this the Apocalypse that we’ve all been waiting for…? Well, for me personally, the answer is a decided yes.

Apocalypse Marvel Legends Build-A-Figure Review HasbroThe chunky style of the Marvel Legends Series 7 Apocalypse was never my jam, whereas I liked the design of the Toybiz Apocalypse BAF but hated that they made him a giant. Hasbro has swooped in at last to give me exactly the Apocalypse I’ve been hoping for in both scale and design.

X-Men Legends Apocalypse Figure Throwing WolverineWhile the Hasbro Apocalypse ML figure still stands menacingly tall over standard X-Men Legends, he doesn’t absolutely tower over them anymore. He looks large and intimidating, but not gigantic. For my money, this size is just right. The figure is also quite sturdy, with joints strong enough to easily hoist other X-Men Marvel Legends figures (like poor Wolverine!) over his head.

X-Men Marvel Legends Apocalypse BAF ReviewAnother thing that’s “just right” is the head sculpt, which might be my very favorite Apocalypse head ever on a toy. With his teeth bared in fury (showing off his healthy purple gums!) and his furrowed forehead, this is one En Sabah Nur who’s ready to kill some “weak” bitches dead. Love this head. Love it!

Apocalypse X-Men Legends BAF Pieces UnassembledAnd as good as the head is, the rest of the figure doesn’t disappoint. The “A” belt fits snug as can be, the coils running from Apoc’s back to his arms lock into place tightly, and the sculpting work on his armor (particularly the boots) is top-notch.

Back of Marvel Legends X-Men Apocalypse Build-A-Figure Hasbro 2018I’m equally impressed with the paintwork and plastic colors Hasbro selected for this X-Men Legends Apocalypse BAF. The shiny bright blue that makes up the bulk of the body looks appropriately alien with little sparkly flecks in the blue, and also contrasts perfectly with the dark blue-grey portions of the armor.

Marvel Legends Apocalypse Build-A-Figure ArticulationThis Apocalypse figure is even ready to conquer on the articulation front, where I was surprised to see just how poseable he is. Ankle rockers are present for balancing purposes, the shoulder armor is movable so as not to inhibit shoulder articulation, and the arms move around without tugging off the coils attached at all.

Elbow Hinge Joint on Apocalypse BAF

The only real flaw to speak of articulation-wise is the elbows, which only have a single hinge and don’t bend as far as I would like. It inhibits some of the poses I wanted to do with the arms just a hair.

I’m also not enamored with the fact that the tops of Apocalypse’s boots are a separate piece that just sort of flops around on his lower leg. I don’t really understand why these were executed in this manner, but they’re my least favorite thing about the BAF.

Apocalypse Legends Build-A-Figure Close-UpFinally, since Apocalypse is a Build-A-Figure to begin with, I think it would have been cool and added many more display options if a swappable weapons arm had also been available. He’s a great figure as-is already, but I think giving him a shape shifted weapon arm would have really put him over the top.

Marvel Legends Wolverine vs. Apocalypse BAFOverall: It’s taken 14 years since the first Marvel Legends Apocalypse was released by Toybiz, but I think Hasbro has finally given us the definitive 6” scale figure of the character. While I’ve got a couple trivial nitpicks about this figure, it’s basically a triumph in paint, sculpting, detailing and articulation. Easily my favorite toy of Apocalypse ever, and my front runner for Build-A-Figure of the year. Those who pick up the whole X-Men Legends wave to build him or even just buy the completed Build-A-Figure on eBay won’t be disappointed. An outstanding addition to the X-Men Marvel Legends Series.

GRADE: A

Comments

REVIEW: X-Men Marvel Legends Apocalypse Build-A-Figure  — 11 Comments

  1. I was worried about the coils. They look like they work great (unlike on the Warlock BAF! Grr!). Nice job including the Wolverine to help with scale while keeping him out of the spotlight. Just gave glimpses of him. We’ll being seeing a review for him and the others in the wave soon, I hope. Hmmm… speaking of which… I hope you are ready for some fast reviewing with so many figures coming down the pipeline right now. The waves come crashing in.

  2. I find it hilarious Dabid (in a good way) that you weren’t crazy about the 1st Apocalypse Build-A-Figure due to the height. Whereas however great this BAF is, there are scores of the “Bigger is Better” posse who strenuously disagree with you. I loved the BAF myself, but at the same time I always thought “‘Poccy” isn’t always giant sized”. I wanted something closer to his “normal” height (since he’s a shape shifter, who knows what is actual height is?), and even though we had the single carded version back then, Gorillapocalypse wasn’t ideal.

    PS: To the members of the BIB, Bigger is not nearly always better than “in scale” (of course En Sabah Nur is an exception, but you get my meaning).

  3. The thing is this. Either you look at the figure as is and not concern yourself with comic book accuracy too much or you combine both viewpoints. The way I see it is that it’s a terrific figure in term of sculpting, detail and finish. But it’s lacking somewhat in terms of being able to display the character. Apocalypse should have interchangeable arms, one open hand would have also been better. Furthermore I would like to make the case that he looks a little too bulky, but I’m sure based on the size he comes in he could have looked slightly off if he wasn’t brawny. I really hope Hasbro at gives us a solo Apoc figure in the upcoming years and includes 2 interchangeable weapon/shield parts, but that’s not very likely to happen.

  4. I think that this figure looks amazing. I really want him, but I’m only planning on getting Storm and Sabretooth. I am very tempted to get this though. PLEASE review one of the ones that I just said.

    • How about both? 😉

      I’ve got a bit of a backlog, but I’ll fast-track those two.

      • Thank you so much! I always like to hear your opinion of the figures that I plan on getting.

  5. I’ve been doing really well with catching ML releases lately, but the X-Men wave is my absolute “can’t-wait-for-it.” Just to make sure I didn’t have trouble, I preordered the wave through Dorkside…really hope they ship soon. I haven’t seen this wave at retail yet, but it will kill me to see it in person and not buy instantly lol.

    • I was very fortunate that my wife was able to grab all seven figures for me this past Saturday at Walgreens.

    • Usually Dorkside is pretty good about cancelling orders, so as long as they haven’t shipped already I’d feel OK about picking them up in the wild and cancelling the preorder. WIth my luck I would find 6 out of 7 or something which would be much more of a quandary.

  6. Good review. I do wish his left hand was open/grasping rather than a fist but still very excited to get this guy. Frankly, as someone who currently has a pitiful collection of x-men villains (basically Juggs and Mystique), its great to get Apocalypse, Magneto, and Sabretooth all in one wave. And of course Gladiator has fought the x-men a few times as well.

  7. Do the hands pop out at the wrist?

    If so I may try the Death’s Head II pointing hand or a repaint of Colossus’s open left hand.

    The sculpt is clearly the same as those figures handwise.