2015, year of the Build-a-Figure!

We're two-thirds of the way through the year, and Hasbro's put out Marvel Legends figures in a quantity I don't think we've seen since Toy Biz's last year with the Marvel license, back in 2006. Along with con and store exclusives, five series have been released so far--six if the second batch of Spider-Man figures have turned up in your neighborhood--so we're up to five Build-a-Figures for the year! Wait, did I say five...?

The Captain America: the Winter Soldier figures came out in 2014, but I didn't finish the Mandroid until January of this year. Although you could build it by purchasing six figures, the case assortments split: the A.I.M. Soldier and Baron Zemo both came with an arm, as did the Hydra Soldier and the Red Skull. (I used the extra arms with my Iron Monger pieces!) The Stealth Suit Cap and the Winter Soldier weren't high on my list to get, but when I was found them for a few bucks off I grabbed both.

2015's first Build-a-Figure was the Allfather Odin! Or, alternately, you could build King Thor. Did anyone? Beats me! Odin's a bit static, because of the big cape; but the figure moves well enough for the character. Odin could be built with only five figures--but not the ones I wanted! Captain Marvel and Machine Man came with King Thor parts, while Scarlet Witch and Sentry came with the equivalent Odin pieces.

Given a choice, I might've passed on Sentry and Iron Fist, but they were worth getting for Odin. I grabbed the whole lot at once, from a local Wal-Mart at five in the morning, before they were hung on the pegs. (Incidentally, the Hawkeye figure which comes with the torso piece, is double-packed in a case: I mention it because I visited another Wal-Mart that had no less than ten.)

Although I had a few of the Thanos parts first, Hobgoblin was my next Build-a-Figure completed: I ordered the entire case from Hasbro Toy Shop. This left me with a spare Anti-Venom and "Pizza" Spidey; I gave Anti-Venom to one of my nephews, but kept Spidey because the first one's neck joint was popping out. Hobby is an odd duck for me: I'm not terribly familiar with this redesign; and the wings are on there unless you want to remove the arms, which I wouldn't recommend. The flaming sword is also slightly flimsy, and I don't know where I put his pumpkin grenade, either.

I really wanted the Spidey, Spider-Man 2099, and Daredevil figures from this series, to the point that I was willing to grab the whole case. The Spider-Girl wasn't bad, and Anti-Venom was surprisingly fun even though I didn't know anything about the character. The Ultimate Spider-Woman was disappointing, but maybe she'll come in handy later.

Next, Thanos! I really wanted Hellcat and Batroc, then thought maybe Spider-Woman was a worthwhile upgrade from the old Toy Biz one--mine had insanely loose hips! And of course then I decided I needed Thanos himself, which meant shelling out for Age of Ultron-style Hulk, Cap, and Iron Man. Then you have the toss-up between whether this Thanos is quantifiably better than the cheaper, not-terribly hard to find Marvel Select version.

On the other hand, the Hulkbuster Iron Man? So good it's worth buying all the other characters in the series! Even Blizzard! Actually, I rarely mind getting another villain; but most of the rest were modernizing or upgrading characters I already had: Valkyrie, Vision, War Machine, and Doctor Strange. They're all nice figures, but it may depend how attached you are to their older (or more classic) looks; or whether you enjoy them enough to buy them again. Thundra was a new character as far as getting a Marvel Legends figure (as was Blizzard) and I'm not sure if she's anyone's favorite even out of this series; but I was glad to have her.

I got a deal on the case, from Hasbro Toy Store again, which left me with a spare War Machine for my nephews. Who now have to convince my sister to buy them the rest of the figures...

Lastly, for now, we have Ultron! I thought Avengers: Age of Ultron was alright, if not as good as the first movie (or Guardians, or Winter Soldier...or Ant-Man) and he's probably the weakest of the BAF's so far. His somewhat glum face reminds me of Groot, but not in a good way: Ultron's face should've been more eeee-vil. Not as detailed, paint not as good, slightly disappointing design; yet I still had to get Bulldozer and Giant-Man to finish him! I had a gift card that alleviated the cost somewhat, but the normal-sized Giant-Man leaves me a bit cold so far; and I'd enjoy Bulldozer more if I had ever even seen the rest of his Wrecking Crew! (Maybe I saw Piledriver in the wild, but that was about it.)

In this series, I grabbed Tiger Shark and Grim Reaper immediately; then Ant-Man, then Wasp. Four out of six leaves a lot of Build-A-Figure parts, and if they had been readily available on eBay I might've snagged the last two there; but getting the figures doesn't hurt anything. They could always go to eBay later themselves.

I'm certain these aren't the last Marvel Legends I'll get this year: the upcoming Walgreens exclusive Daredevil comes with an unmasked Matt Murdock head, which just sold me on either a Chameleon or an Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Coulson for the suit body. But will I go all in for the Rhino? And are more figures still to come in 2015? Time will tell.