Just when we thought we were safe from any more Hasbro Marvel Legends pre-orders in 2019, we got a shock mid-December surprise from Hasbro this morning: the Marvel Legends Black Widow Movie series of figures is now up for order in both full cases and as individuals of every character!
Full Case with Crismon Dynamo Build-A-Figure ►
Once the Black Widow movie trailer dropped a few days ago, I really should have foreseen that pre-orders for the Black Widow Legends 6″ figures series from Hasbro would be opening up for orders imminently. Alas, I did not, so my jaw dropped the same time as everyone else when these figures were solicited this morning!
As I was caught totally off-guard, I’ll be updating this article with my thoughts as I have a chance to carefully look at each figure from this wave. But in the meantime, if you’re worried about being shut out, be sure to check out the links and get your pre-orders placed for any figure you think might be a quick sell-out!
I think the decision to make Natasha herself one-per-case in her own series is rather confounding. I think she’s definitely a figure with potential to hit sell-out status on specialty store websites before the wave actually ships at all, as let’s face it: there’s never been a poor-selling MCU movie figure of Black Widow. I understand wanting to double-pack that cool movie Taskmaster, but not at the titular character’s expense. Truly weird.
Speaking of that new 2020 Marvel Legends Taskmaster though….! Man, this action figure looks better than the character looked in the actual movie trailer! There’s no Build-A-Figure piece with Taskmaster, but I think fans will be willing to forgive that given the three pairs of swap-out hands he comes with, plus the sword, shield and bow. This is just super-cool and bound to be a hit.
There’s never been a single-packed ML Winter Soldier comics-based 6″ figure released ever, and this is as good of a place for one as any. Bucky is pretty significant in the Marvel comics, so this ought to be the hottest comic book-based figure in the wave by a large margin. Or it would be, if he wasn’t shipping in the same assortment as…
…the long-awaited and long-rumored Marvel Legends Crossbones figure. This particular figure has been rumored for an individual release ever since the Abomination Series three years ago, so collectors’ appetites are certainly whet for it. With four pistols (and two holsters) and a Crimson Dynamo arm, this looks like a solid representation of a character that’s been underrepresented in six inch form at mass retail.
David Harbour makes his Marvel Legends debut as the Red Guardian movie figure in this wave as well. I didn’t really get guffaw the way that many folks did at the fat jokes about Red Guardian in the movie trailer, and this isn’t a character I typically care about, so I’m not really psyched about this release. This figure looks nice and all, but all I can see is Sheriff Hopper! I really wish a masked head had been included.
The last movie figure in the series is the blonde Black Widow, Yelena Bolova. I’d love to see a comics-based Yelena get a fresh release at some point in 2020, but for now we’ve got the movie version who looks pretty swell. I don’t really think that the expression-less face was the best choice, but she comes with two huge chunks of Crimson Dynamo that are bigger than she is, and I expect the character to be a breakout star when the movie lands next summer.
Finally, we’ve got the F-List obscure character of the wave: Spymaster. This is a character that 99% of shoppers seeing in stores won’t know who he is–but comic book fans who do remember Spymaster are going to be delighted. Fun pick, and hopefully it doesn’t end up being cleared out at 75% off a year from now thanks to including the last piece of…
…the Crimson Dynamo! I don’t believe that I heard anyone guess that the Build-A-Figure for this series would be a Crimson Dynamo BAF, but it absolutely makes 100% sense. The ML Crimson Dynamo figure looks like a 100% new mold to me, and just looks awesome. I think that this might be a terrific carrot to sell that Spymaster figure to a lot of fans who otherwise would pass instantly, not knowing who the hell Spymaster is. Good call, Hasbro!
The 2020 Marvel Legends Black Widow Movie Marvel Legends series is now up for order, and is scheduled to be released officially on April 1st 2020. Hopefully there aren’t any April Fools’ Day hijinks and this set actually arrives on-time as scheduled! I’m really looking forward to building that Crimson Dynamo Build-A-Figure!
What do you think of this wave, ML collectors? Has Hasbro hit a home run with character selection and the actual toys, and will you be buying the whole set in order to build the Crimson Dynamo?
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I wasn’t too impressed with how Taskmaster looked in the trailer, but if he ends up looking like this later on in the film, I’ll be happy.
Honestly, I’m digging every figure here, except maybe Spymaster.
I guess I still remember & love late 80s/early 90s era Iron Man comics.The Spymaster is not someone I ever thought I’d see as a mass release, but is welcome addition to the other weird villains in classic colorful costumes who I never thought we’d see either. I’m glad in this rather drab costumed MCU era, they’re still putting out the bright & colorful comic versions as another option. Yelena Belova is so boring looking. Spymaster is pure comic madness fun.
Crossbones and possibly Red Guardian from this wave. I’ll pass on everything else.
i guess i won’t be paying off my credit cards after Christmas. Damn you HASBRO. I need all of this hot goodness.
This is undewhelming for me. I’m ordering a Widow and Belova, the rest….meh. I think this whole wave will be easy to get, and even discounted.
Hmmm – red Guardian without his helmet is like Canonball without Legs –
But the Most disapointed Thing is this Version of the Crimson Dynamo- ok ok ist is a big Guy ( Not all New parts- bis legs are Iron monger legs ) put After the thin Version Hasbro did some years ago with the Iron Man Wave ( Buf Iron monger) we Need the Classic silver age Version ( Anton Vanko ) of the Icon Crimson Dynamo !!!
Alright!! That definitely looks like Alpha Flight Box with a small amount of retooling. The wave looks good, but bring on Box!
And Marina. . . 🙂
Yes! I can skip out on every one of these, but I’m excited that this might hint at a future Box figure.
And Marina…
So Spymaster is an “F-Lister.” Really? They might have tried putting him in the freaking movie if he’s so low on the totem pole. Me? I have no idea who David Harbour is, but he’s “MCU,” so people will want to pick him up since he’s Red Guardian. Nothing has changed since I was a kid: Modern moviegoers still treat lifelong comic readers like garbage, ignorant to the fact that there wouldn’t be an MCU if us readers hadn’t picked up all those Bob Layton Iron Man comic books in the 70s and 80s.
You’ve never heard of Stranger Things? OK, i guess. you might want to check it out though, pretty good series, especially enjoyable if you watched movies in the 80s.
Its not news that some classic comic fans don’t like mcu figures and some mcu fans don’t like classic characters that aren’t A-listers (fortunately i like both) The bottom line is every wave is gonna have at least a couple of figures that are nearly all-reuse, which can be hard to get people excited about. If it were an all-mcu wave we’d probably get a repaint of older mcu widow–related characters (although now that i think about it a re-released Hawkeye wouldn’t be so bad).
The good news is that with Spymaster, Hasbro just needs to make Blacklash/Whiplash (?) to complete that cadre of villains that teamed up against Iron Man back in the day. I do think that you have to be pretty old school to remember Spymaster and we are not really the main target of Hasbro these days – note how usually even characters meant to be appealing to “classic” fans often come in a more modern look.
The faces on the mcu figs seem like a bit of a step backwards compared to recent waves, at least based on the promo pics. Hopefully the final product looks better than what we’re seeing here.
That said, might pick up Crossbones, perhaps Winter Soldier. No interest in Spymaster or Crimson Dynamo as i’m not a big Iron Man fan. I’ll hold off on a decision about the mcu figs until i see the movie and get a better look at the figs.
I’ll say it… there’s a little sexism IMO to the 1-per-case Black Widow decision. They’d NEVER do that to Cap, Spidey, and certainly not Iron Man… Even the Wonder Woman DC series had a ton of her… fascinated by this decision.
Maybe hasbro feels like they made the wrong call in having 2 Carol figures in her wave that didn’t seem to sell very well. Plus the target exclusive and the walmart exclusive (even though it didn’t come out til months after it was supposed to)… they just overdid it. I do think Widow is a more popular character though and her previous figures seemed to sell reasonably well.
I think its more the collecting public that is sexist, if anything. Given that there are usually no more than 2 female figs per wave, they seem to make a disproportionate portion of the pegwarmers. Again, i feel like widow is an exception though.
Idk if I’d say the collecting community is sexist, nor the company for making this ratio decision. Seems like a big reach on both sides. Ultimately all choices for ratio boil down to a cost and gains business decision. I could see them thinking that since they have made numerous movie widows, but no MCU taskmaster and he is likely to be the main draw villain of the movie, that this was their rationale.
The companies have also done FIVE full case assortments of single female characters for the walgreens runs since their inception: Sue Storm, Magik, Emma Frost, Dani Moonstar, Stepford Cuckoos.
Not to mention the fan channel Storm coming down the pipeline.
I really think people spend too much time internalizing nasty comments on the internet and assuming the nerd culture is hateful and anti-women. Just like the Charlie’s Angel shit or the Captain Marvel shit. Most people were not underwhelmed by them because “WOMEN”. They may just not have appealed on the merit of the film or story itself. Some of the greatest sci-fi and adventure movies/games of all time feature female leads – Alien, Terminator, Tomb Raider, Underworld, Resident Evil, Halloween, etc. If the culture really hated women, why would these all do so well and still have such large followings?
Most collectors are driven by love of the franchises they support. Not the genitalia of the leads.
And most companies just want to make money. If anything its sexist that they won’t give them double jointed elbows but they’ve been doing that with the large male BAFs for a long time now so my bet is on the money…
They may also be learning that double packing leads that they have already made numerous times before doesn’t sell well… Quantam Cap, all the Captain Marvels Bash mentioned above?
Idk, maybe I’m off base but this feels like outrage over nothing. Preorder them from Pulse, Amazon, BBTS, EE, Dorkside, Megalopolis or any other online retailer and you’ll get the figures you want.
Woah now… No outrage, just a comment. Note though, sexism isn’t always intentional… Full inclusion and diversity though does have to be intentional, and I’d like all the little girls – and boys, and adult collectors – of the world to have access to as many Black Widows as the do Spidermen… mind you I love both. But these will fly off the shelves and since there aren’t as many, I’d imagine that’ll be harder.
Another note though, the Storm and Walgreen’s women are the hardest to get your hands on, as commented on by many on here and other forums.
Yes, Storm has been elusive for me but I’ve actually obtained the Walgreen’s women fairly easily but Moonstar was the most elusive of the lot.
Actually SIX women action figures for Walgreens. You left out Medusa.
“woman”
And Mystique…
Forgot about Mystique. Might as well include Lilandra’s head as well as the alternate female heads from Dani Moonstar in the total count.
Agreed. This is a head-scratcher. It’s the Black Widow film line and in the box, there are eight figures, and only one of the star of the film…idiotic. Is Perlmutter still calling the shots for toys?
I want that BAF but aside from Bucky and maybe Crossbones I’m really not feeling this wave. I don’t mind getting Red Guardian for the head, but the rest is just not appealing. Spymaster is neat, because I love me some deep cuts, but I dunno how much I really need it.
Crimson Dynamo legs are definitely repaints of the Mandroid legs from way back
Funny to think legends collectors are sexiest. I guess I am, but the opposite direction. I buy strictly female characters of MCU/DC with the rare male purchase.
For this wave, I’m only getting the girls. However, I’m extremely disappointed that they are not life like sculpted and painted. What happened?
The life like releases of the previous black widow, wasp, and Carol made me really excited for the future. These don’t even look as good as jessica Jones.
I feel like these figures were designed by 2016 hands.