While the building of the 1990s X-Men roster has been pretty blatant throughout the first three series of X-Men Legends, what many fans may not have noticed is that, slowly but surely, we’ve been getting one character from Peter David’s X-Factor per wave as well. With Havok and Polaris out of the way, I think Hasbro made the right choice for the Apocalypse Series entry. Full cases of Madrox are on the way for army-building ease: is the Marvel Legends Multiple Man worth army-building?

Ever since I was a nerdy do-gooder high schooler (with a rebellious punk’s soul) in the 90s, Jamie Madrox the Multiple Man has been one of my favorite X-characters. He may have started out as a Fantastic Four character, but Peter David’s expansive work on Multiple Man has made him a fan-favorite hallmark of the ancillary X-Men books.

And now, after leading X-Factor Investigations for over 100 issues and having multiple solo series to his name, Madrox has earned his first-ever 6” Marvel Legends figure!

And… it’s pretty okay. Hasbro picked the 1990s X-Factor Multiple Man costume, from the first Peter David run on the team. This is a legendary run, but also a bit of a baffler since both the Havok and Polaris figures done the past two years have not been in their attire from that era.

This costume choice was a weird decision, unless Hasbro has at least a 90s Strong Guy in the world to go with this Madrox.

I had wanted to wait until I had at least three of this figure to write my review so I could display all three heads at once, but the straight cases of Multiple Men haven’t begun hitting retailers just yet, so I had to make do with two for this review. Alas.

Because the only accessories this toy comes with are two extra heads and the right leg of the Apocalypse Build-A-Figure, the three total interchangeable heads are a pretty crucial selling-point.

Unfortunately, there’s really only one that I like: the skullcap head with the barest smile on it. The other skullcap-wearing head looks a bit too old and aggro to me, while the unmasked Jamie Madrox head just looks wrong on the body.

I’m not sure if the proportions are off or if it’s just not the right look for a 90s unmasked Multiple Man, but that head just isn’t work for me, even though I expected it to be my favorite of the three.

Even so, I like the one head enough that I can see myself using it uniformly across a whole mob of Madrox Marvel Legends figures (once I’ve got a whole mob worth), and I think the likeness on that portrait is at least “good enough”.

Painting yellow on dark blue is always tough, and neither of my two Madrox’s have perfect paint deco on their costume. Like the heads, the paint apps are “good enough”, but could definitely be improved.

The trench coat limits the number of poses you can get the figure into, but the body has its typical super-articulation scheme nonetheless, including:

• Ball-Hinged Head, Shoulders and Elbows
• Swivel-Hinged Wrists
• Upper Torso Ab Crunch
• Swivel Waist, Boots, Thighs and Biceps
• Double-Hinged Knees
• Hinged Ankles with Rockers

The lack of double-hinge elbows isn’t really a huge deal here, but the jacket really does obstruct posing, even if it is absolutely essential to the character’s look.

Overall: Hasbro was in a tough spot with this Marvel Legends Multiple Man figure, as Madrox has several different “iconic” looks to pick from, and all of them feature an articulation-restricting trench coat. I don’t think the costume chosen is ultimately the one most fans would prefer, and while the trench coat may be soft and flexible, it still does get in the way of any kind of crouched poses.

Three Multiple Man heads is a wonderful inclusion, but I really only dig one of the heads—and outright dislike another. With no alternate heads and removing the coat not an option (because of the sculpted sleeve arms), there’s not a ton you can do with this Marvel Legends Madrox figure besides army-build him and stick a ton together to make a cool crowd.

Overall, I like this figure, but I’d desperately like to see Hasbro do another Multiple Man Marvel Legends figure from the X-Factor Investigations era—along with Strong Guy, Wolfsbane, Monet and more to accompany it. If we can get the Reavers started in 2019, we can get Peter David’s X-Factor.

GRADE: B+