I started my reviews of the new Guardians of the Galaxy Marvel Legends series several weeks back, but got sidetracked by the news juggernaut that was New York Toy Fair 2017. But now it’s back to reviews! And this time, I’ll be covering a movie character who probably deserved to have a figure for the first movie–but didn’t. Luckily, Hasbro has come a long way in three years. So even though he’s already down to 16 bucks shipped online, the first-ever 6″ Marvel Legends Yondu figure we’re getting this year is way better than the one we would have gotten in 2014…

The Right:

Yondu is another one of those classic comic book characters that I’ve known who they are all my life, but I never really gave a crap about. Other than his blue skin and mohawk (and outfit straight out of He-Man), I just never found the classic version of Yondu to be particularly compelling.

But all that changed with James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy movie in 2014, where I found myself not only connecting with Yondu, but actually loving him. I’ve been waiting for a great Yondu action figure ever since, and after a lengthy wait, he’s finally here…

I’m going to begin my Marvel Legends Yondu review in a place I usually don’t: accessories! Besides the Blaster Arm for the well-done Titus Build-A-Figure I reviewed last month, Yondu comes with what are almost unquestionably the two best accessories in the entire wave: an effects piece arrow and an alternate Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 whistling head with huge Mohawk!

There’s no alternate hands this time, but I’m okay with that since we haven’t exactly seen Yondu in any fisticuffs action thus far in these movies.

Hasbro giving us a head for the short haired version of Yondu from the first movie is a godsend, and I love how you can almost feel Yondu’s sleazy charisma radiating off his grin. Also, sometimes there’s little to no actor likeness in the 6″ Marvel Legends movie figures, but I can absolutely see Michael Rooker in this portrait. What a fantastic head sculpt!

Meanwhile, the whistling Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 head with long Mohawk and corresponding effects piece arrow are a straight-up blast. You can shove the effects piece trail into Yondu’s holster to mount the flying arrow, and frankly, it looks awesome. Supernatural whistling is Yondu’s thing–and also a rather difficult power to portray in an action figure–but Hasbro has totally nailed it here. “A+” for ingenuity, Hasbro!

Hasbro did a stellar job with the 100% newly-tooled sculpting on Yondu’s costume all-around, and particularly on the jacket. The highly-detailed sculpting on Yondu’s jacket is excellent–clearly, the days of low-detailed, boring jackets are gone.

And although Yondu isn’t the most active guy in the MCU, he still has ample articulation to be: ankle rockers, double-jointed knees and albows, ball-jointed hips, ball-hinge head/wrists/shoulders, ab crunch, swivel boots/waist/thighs/biceps… the usual high standard of articulation is retained here.

The Wrong:

If there’s one thing about this figure that disappointed me, it’s the fact that the Yondu Marvel Legends 6″ figure doesn’t include a non-effects piece arrow. If you want to put the arrow that comes with Yondu into his holster, you certainly can, but the huge and long streak of attached molded-on energy effects is gonna look a little weird. You can pretend that it’s the arrow returning to Yondu, but having the option of a plain arrow for casual poses would have been much more desirable.

For me personally, either making the energy effects removable or just including another plain arrow would have made this figure perfect.

Overall: Yondu is one of my favorite characters in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie, but I can say without any personal bias that this Hasbro Yondu action figure is outright excellent. While an arrow without energy effects and perhaps some alternate hands would have made this figure totally perfect, the actor likeness, amazing sculpt, great paint deco and outstanding interchangeable head make this likely to be the best movie Yondu figure that will ever be made (assuming there’s never a Hot Toys Yondu). Sensational work by Hasbro.

GRADE: A

Comments

Marvel Legends Yondu Review (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2) — 18 Comments

Jeremy Bluejean Jones on March 8, 2017 at 9:59 pm said:

Waaait, which Starlord is that?! ‘Cause I found the Vol 2 one with short jacket at a Walgreens but his shirt has no white graphic and his portrait looks nothing like Chris Pratt…
- Boogieman4hire on March 8, 2017 at 10:11 pm said:
  
  Two pack Starlord with Ego
  - Boogieman4hire on March 8, 2017 at 10:15 pm said:
    
    Never mind I don’t know what the heck you’re talking about. But this is the Titus BAF figure.
    - Jeremy Bluejean Jones on March 9, 2017 at 1:16 am said:
      
      http://m.imgur.com/ndQkyEd
      
      So weird, mine has dark gloves and ankle thrusters on his boots. In fact the whole body of mine seems different…
    - Jeremy Bluejean Jones on March 9, 2017 at 1:20 am said:
      
      Okay, went back to the olad article and compared. The one here with Yondu has to be the two pack Starlord. Now I want that one way more, looks so much better than mine
      - Jared Hockenberry on March 9, 2017 at 4:36 am said:
        
        Nope, the two-pack Star Lord is the exact same as the regular release (the Ego two-pack doesn’t come out for months). What happened to you is someone bought the new Star Lord, swapped the jackets between it and the old movie Star Lord from 2014, put the old movie Star Lord back in the box, and returned it.
      - Jared Hockenberry on March 9, 2017 at 4:39 am said:
        
        You ended up buying that first movie Star Lord because the employees didn’t notice that what was in the box was wrong, and put it back on the shelf. You fell victim to figure-swapping.
        
        (don’t know why I didn’t include this at the end of my first reply)
- Dabid K. on March 8, 2017 at 10:21 pm said:
  
  I swear it is the same one, just taken from a more appealing angle than the head-on way he’s packaged. The Chris Pratt likeness is quite good–from a certain angle! 😉
  - Jeremy Bluejean Jones on March 9, 2017 at 1:14 am said:
    
    http://m.imgur.com/ndQkyEd
    
    This is mine. Got him at a Walgreens in South Bay Area, came in s GoG Vol 2 Box. Definitely different. Mine has black gloves, too! And the head is not even close.
    - Steranko Fan on March 9, 2017 at 12:44 pm said:
      
      I compared my 2014 Star Lord with the pic you provided. It is identical except for the new 2017 short jacket. Just as Jared said, the one you bought has been tampered with. Also, if you look closely at Star Lord’s grizzly beard, the 2014 version does not have any texture at all while the 2017 does. Was that the only GOTG Vol. 2 figure that you bought at Walgreens? I don’t think any store other than Target has the GOTG Vol. 2 for sale, as Dabid pointed out in a previous article.
      
      Unfortunately, figure swapping does occur and BAF part swapping is rampant. Several years ago, when I first began collecting ML, my wife described to me on the phone the Marvel Legends that were available at a Target store. She described a figure that I had but with a different BAF part. I was curious and told her to buy it. I found out later that the package had been tampered with and someone had swapped out the BAF piece. That was my introduction to BAF swapping.
      
      However, my story does have sort of a silver lining. After doing some research, the swapped BAF part turned out to be Ronan’s right arm which is worth more than price of the figure itself! Good or bad, I got obsessed with obtaining all of Ronan’s other BAF parts.
      - Steranko Fan on March 9, 2017 at 1:31 pm said:
        
        Minor correction… After thinking about it more, the figure was swapped out too. My wife read the name of the figure (Fantom X) while describing a totally.different figure. It turned out to be Tarantula’s head and fists (from the Spiderman series) with the remaining body parts of one of the X-men from an old X-men 2-pack.. Again, at least it had Ronan’s right arm as the BAF.
      - Jeremy Bluejean Jones on March 9, 2017 at 1:37 pm said:
        
        Well poop. Sadness abounds. I was so excited to see a Vol 2 Starlord I didn’t even think twice and ii never had the old one so didn’t notice..
YODO on March 8, 2017 at 11:36 pm said:

Is the arrow made in such a way that you could pull it off the effect? Like is it glued or is it all one molded piece?
- Dabid K. on March 8, 2017 at 11:38 pm said:
  
  That was my hope too, but it’s one solid-as-a-rock molded piece.
  - YODO on March 9, 2017 at 9:31 pm said:
    
    X-Acto knife it is, then.
Steranko Fan on March 9, 2017 at 2:44 pm said:

Fed Ex delivered my Yondu (and Drax) from Hasbro just minutes ago. It is indeed an excellent figure. The sculpt likeness of Micheal Rooker as Yondu is uncanny. No doubt that Hasbro is using 3D imaging to make the head sculpt. I agree with you that it was worth the wait for Yondu. The look on the 2014 Gamora is horrible (a close 2nd to the old “Scarlett Mitch”), or maybe Hasbro didn’t get the make up on Gamora right(?)

I would like to add in “The Wrong” is that Hasbro didn’t need four holes to keep the flying arrow effect in place. As it turned out, the arrow was curved into place. I think a simple piece of clear tape or two would have done the trick, and it would have been faster than having someone snake it through the four holes.

I also want to add that now I was able to completely build Titus with both of his arms in place, and it looks fantastic since the torso and legs are very plain.
Sean on March 13, 2017 at 1:51 pm said:

Are those eBay ads at the top if the site for $50 whole xmen cases legit???
Hawkeye on March 20, 2017 at 8:54 am said:

those arms are actually reused from first starlord figure we got for the first movie (or at least the lower arms) so again not a new sculpt