Any way you slice it, the Build-A-Figure of the 2025 X-Men Marvel Legends wave is definitely a weird one. Hasbro is calling this 616 character [Genocide] “Nemesis”, even though they already assigned that name previously to another totally different Apocalypse-related character [Age of Apocalypse Holocaust] that just so happens to look like 616’s Genocide. This is further confusing by two AOA characters being in this series (including one who crossed into the 616). Got all that? Okay, here’s my review of the new Marvel Legends Nemesis/Genocide BAF…

For those wondering what I’m babbling about in the intro, I was clumsily describing how the character of Genocide from Rick Remender’s Uncanny X-Force has been given the same pseudonym Hasbro gave the Age of Apocalypse holocaust. The two characters are unrelated, besides both being associated with their universe’s Apocalypse.

This wave also includes Uncanny X-Force Nightcrawler, who is a refugee from the Age of Apocalypse in the 616. There’s the through-line.

To assemble this Marvel Legends Nemesis BAF, you need to buy 6 of the 7 figures in this year’s X-Men Legends series (the ones that aren’t X-Treme X-Men Wolverine, thank God). So this figure -sort of- costs roughly $150, although he equally SORT OF costs nothing as a pack-in.

I actually fumbled a bit assembling Nemesis, as I didn’t have his limbs fully pressed into place when I thought I did, so they popped off a few times when trying to pose him for photos. Note that you might need to exert a bit more pressure than usual when assembling him tightly.

If you had any concerns about the helmet/dome on Genocide falling off too easily, don’t. It locks into place super tightly and gets even more secure once the harness is attached. I really have fun moving the skull head, so it’s almost a shame the dome is slightly tough to pull off in order to access the skull.

Hasbro was nice enough to give us both a fist and an interchangeable open hand for Genocide’s left hand. This helps immensely with finding poses to put Genocide in, as his right arm being a cannon can be a bit limiting.

The bronze plastic Hasbro utilized for this figure looks tremendous, and the design would look right at home in a Four Horsemen Mythic Legions or Cosmic Legions collection (that’s a compliment). The yellow-orange paint details also pop nicely.

The translucent orange helmet dome with skull head inside looks just so rad. The maniacal expressiveness of the skull looks super cool, and is easily my favorite aesthetic of this toy.

The clear yellow tube affixes snugly to Nemesis’s back and right arm cannon and adds further visual pop to the figure. I had zero issues with the tube coming loose unexpectedly, thankfully.
The Genocide BAF did topple over a few times when I was posing him, but I think that’s unavoidable for a figure with a very top-heavy design. I actually think this Build-A-Figure is remarkably stable, all things considered.

The articulation on this guy is also better than I’d anticipated for a bulky BAF, and consists of:
—Ball-Jointed Skull Head 💀
—Ball-Hinge Shoulders
—Ball Jointed Upper Torso and Hips
—Swivel Biceps
—Double Hinge Knees and Elbows
—Swivel-Hinge Wrists
—Swivel Thighs (VERY tight)
—Hinged Feet with Rockers

All the joints feel nice and strong, and the range of motion possible is as good as I think you can get with this character design. The thighs are really tight on mine, but I’m not too bothered by it since I’m not really looking to move them much on this character anyway. The feet work unexpectedly well for balancing this buff boy, and I really like how smooth the ball-jointed upper torso slides.

Overall: As wackadoo as the way Hasbro named this Genicide figure is, the ML Nemesis Build-A-Figure is undeniably really great. The colors they went with are spot-on, the articulation works better than you might expect on such a bulky figure (love that skull head!) and the quality control shines once he’s built. This will be an excellent figure to pair with the new X-Force Archangel arriving soon, and I honestly wouldn’t mind seeing a lot of this figure recolored and tweaked to make an AOA Holocaust up to modern standards. I was going to buy this whole X-Men wave regardless, and this top-notch Genocide helps make the full series feel worth 150-ish bucks. Killer stuff.

GRADE: A