I swore to myself that I would not start another new toy collection. But then I saw the new Hasbro Marvel Legends 375 retro collection. BUT, I was strong. I resisted. Then I got a bonus from work and that strength went out the window.
These are simple toys in the 3.75″ scale– the same as vintage Star Wars and G.I. Joe. The articulation is absolutely closer to Star Wars in that most figures only have 7 points of articulation at the shoulders, hips/thighs, neck, and a swivel joint at the forearms, usually above their gloves. So far, however, two figures are lacking that extra forearm swivel.
This limited articulation is surprising because the regular 6″ Marvel Legends are among the most jointed and poseable action figures on the market. But Hasbro has already done an extensive 3.75″ series called Marvel Universe that had more articulation along the lines of G.I. Joe.
The most striking and appealing thing about these new figures is how vibrant the colors are and the fact that they are based on these characters as they appeared in comic books in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. This, plus the limited articulation, immediately called to mind the mid-’80s Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars collection by Mattel. I had most of those as a child.
A Little History
As an adult, I learned that Mattel had originally been invited to pitch a toy line to DC Comics, but at the time, Mattel already had the best-selling toy on the market– Masters of the Universe. They weren’t interested in another fully-realized action figure line, which might cannibalize MotU sales, and gave a lackluster presentation. (Reportedly, they simply gave DC a folder with some ideas.) Kenner, who had also had a massively successful toy line, Star Wars, was eager to score a major license as Star Wars’ popularity had plummeted after the release of the “last” movie, Return of the Jedi. They went all-out with their presentation and scored the DC license, resulting in the classic Super Powers Collection.
Having lost the DC deal, Mattel phoned up Marvel Comics and pitched them on a toy line, and Marvel’s editor-and-chief at the time, Jim Shooter, went for it. The result was Secret Wars, a stripped-down assortment of action figures that, like early Masters of the Universe, reused the same basic body parts on multiple figures. They also featured very little tooling with most costume details simply painted on. And sadly, the paint Mattel used was pretty crummy as it rubbed off if you looked at it funny.
Most of the figures didn’t include accessories– Magneto and Doctor Doom didn’t wear capes. However, at least Doctor Octopus had his tentacles (although they were made of cheap plastic and usually broke off) and Wolverine had his claws. A few others came with generic plastic guns, and each included a shield that snapped apart and could be inserted with lenticular art cards that, inside the shield, changed from one action image to another.
A “Tower of Doom” playset was made but was too small for the figures to stand inside. A few non-comic-based vehicles were also manufactured.
Despite its shortcomings, Secret Wars was a hit. The toys were in scale with Kenner’s Super Powers, so kids could create crossovers between the DC and Marvel casts. Unfortunately, Secret Wars didn’t last long and only included a small assortment of characters– Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man in both his classic red and blue and his then-brand-new black costume, Wolverine, The Falcon, and Daredevil were made over the course of two waves composing the team of good guys, while Doctor Doom, Doctor Octopus, Kang, Magneto, Hobgoblin, and Baron Zemo were the villains. The Series 2 figures, with the exception of the black costumed Spidey, were not actually included in the accompanying Secret Wars comic book that Marvel published to promote the toys.
A third series was in production when Mattel pulled the plug. A few new characters had been manufactured, but not enough to distribute in the United States, so the toys that had been made were only sold in parts of Europe. American kids missed out on adding Iceman, The Constrictor, and Electro to their collections.
Recently, artwork was uncovered which revealed that Mattel actually had a FOURTH assortment in the works and the line would have made some innovations. A larger, muscular body would have been used to add The Hulk and The Abomination. A female body would produce Dazzler and Mystique. Mattel may have even had plans to create new uniquely molded bodies (something they utilized for Hobgoblin) for Annihilus. Mister Fantastic and Thunderball would have also gotten figures.
Despite the shortcomings, Secret Wars is a beloved toy line from the ’80s, still collected by many.
The New Marvel Legends 375 Retro Collection Line
Modern superhero action figures, including the 6″ Marvel Legends tend to be a bit darker, literally, perhaps because that is considered more realistic. The typical ML Spider-Man is more burgundy with a black paint wash to create his webs. The blue is also usually more of a navy. The Marvel Legends 375 Retro Kenner Collection figures are bright and colorful, looking like they stepped out of a vintage comic book or animated series. Black Panther is actually BLUE despite his name as that was how he was colored in the books.
The first figures were released last year on the Hasbro Pulse website and sold in two packs– Cyclops and Iron Man, Captain America and Black Panther, and Spider-Man and Electro. If you bought all three, you could also get a set of Iron Man and Black Panther in metallic colors. These two packs featured a thin box with artwork of the characters. Inside were individually carded figures with a gold foil sticker indicating that these were first editions.
All of the two-packs have since been made available in stores and most of the basic figures have been released individually minus the gold sticker. Cyclops will be released individually as part of Wave 3, but presumably, the metallic Iron Man and Black Panther will only be sold as a set. (However, that set is available at retail now.)
The card art is just as appealing and eye-catching as the actual figures, featuring large retro comic-inspired images with an era-accurate logo. In the cast of characters that had their own comics, their logo appears at the top of each card. For supporting characters, there is a larger logo at the top, with their name in a smaller logo above the bubble. For example, Daredevil only has his logo at the top, but Elektra’s card has the Daredevil logo on top and “Elektra” above the bubble.
Wave 1 of the individual figures included Cap and Spidey, plus new additions The Hulk (with a larger body), Carol Danvers (yes, she’s actually just called that on the card, but fans will realize this is her Ms. Marvel identity– Marvel may not have wanted to call her “Ms. Marvel” to avoid confusion with Kamala Khan), Magneto, and the Human Torch. Wave 2 included Iron Man, Electro, and Black Panther, plus Ice Man, Daredevil, and Elektra. Cap was also reissued.
I snapped them all up in one form or another. I found all of the single-carded figures at Gamestop. I passed on Iron Man because they had sloppy paint jobs. That worked out in my favor as he was included with Cyclops who wasn’t available by himself yet. I picked that two-pack up from Walmart, along with the metallic set of Iron Man and Black Panther.
They cost about the same either way– around $10 for single cards and $20 for two packs. The low price point is another appealing feature of these toys.
One thing that has confused some is the fact that Hasbro put a “Kenner” logo on the front of the cards. But obviously, they can’t use “Mattel” and this is a nod to the Kenner Star Wars collection which was on the same scale. (Hasbro bought Kenner in the ’90s, so they own that name.) The creators have stated that this is a “What If… Kenner HAD made a Marvel toy line back in the day” concept.
On top of the visual resemblance to the Secret Wars figures, the Marvel Legends 375 Retro Kenner Collection already includes a lot of the characters from that series– Cap, Iron Man, Spidey, Magneto, Daredevil, plus Electro and Ice Man from Wave 3.
Despite the small size and relatively simple tooling, these figures look great and are well-sculpted. Some don’t care for The Hulk’s head/hair. Some have called it a “mullet” which isn’t really accurate, but it is maybe a tad longer than some expected. Some don’t like his vibrant violet pants, but they look a lot like how they were colored in the comics back.
Ms. Marvel and Elektra look great. I could have lived without them having high heels, but I suppose that’s accurate to the way female characters used to be depicted. They’re both really pretty, compared to the homely Princess Leia and female G.I. Joes from the ’80s. Elektra, who is Greek, even has ‘exotic” features. Once again, a real accomplishment on such a small scale.
Unfortunately, perhaps due to the small scale, and low price-point, most characters don’t include accessories, and just like with Secret Wars, many body parts are reused from figure to figure. (This will continue with upcoming waves.) We’ve gotten so spoiled with modern toys including interchangeable hands and heads, loads of weaponry, and even energy bursts and such. But in the Marvel Legends 375 Retro Kenner Collection, Cap comes with a shield, Daredevil has two battle staves, Elektra has two sais, and that’s about all. Magneto has a cape, unlike his Secret Wars iteration, and both Elektra and Ms. Marvel have sashes around their waists which are separate pieces.
Wave 3, which some people have already found, expands a few teams and includes a notable repaint. From the Fantastic Four comes Invisible Woman. She is vibrant and looks good, but she isn’t quite comic-accurate, as this version of her suit was actually colored navy blue/black in the comics, not bright blue, but as I said, she still looks great so I’ll overlook that. New additions to the Avengers include The Vision and Ant-Man. To battle Daredevil and Elektra is Bullseye, who includes the same sais that Elektra did. (That’s grim if you ever read the old Frank Miller DD run.) The unique, bulky Hulk body gets a repaint with gray skin and blue jeans. Cyclops will be issued on a solo card and it appears that Black Panther will re-ship with cases of this assortment.
(That’s another throwback to Secret Wars, as some Wave 1 figures shipped along with Wave 2 additions, although that may have ultimately harmed the line, as stores were clogged with leftover Captain Americas and others that kids already had. Hope Hasbro knows what it’s doing by reshipping older characters that have already been released!)
More Secret Wars and repaints come with Wave 4, due sometime later this year. Following in the path of Secret Wars is black costume Spidey. (The Secret Wars figure was the first-ever made of the wall-crawler in this uniform.) Another repaint is a redo of Captain America as the U.S. Agent. This one pushes the limits of the “retro” era, as he appeared toward the end of the ’80s. But prior to that Steve Rogers wore this costume as “The Captain” while John Walker assumed the guise of Captain America. But this isn’t technically a do-over of Secret Wars, and I suppose, the ’80s are the ’80s.
Iron Man gets a repaint as the blue-tinted “Stealth Iron Man.” I don’t actually remember this armor from the comics, but I think they have made this in the 6″ line. I don’t exactly look forward to tons and tons of repaints and I’m not really that interested in a bunch of Iron Men in different colors, but I get the use of repaints like this, Symbiote Spider-Man, Gray Hulk, and U.S. Agent, as that keeps costs down and can hopefully sustain this line for a while.
Last but absolutely not least, Wave 4 adds Loki, the Silver Surfer (with a surfboard), and a gorgeous Storm. Storm is presented in her original costume which is “retro” but going back to my Secret Wars hangup, in that series, Storm had already adopted her “punk rock” look with a mohawk. So perhaps that costume would have been a better fit, but once again, this isn’t actually a Secret Wars revival. Case in point, by the time of Secret Wars, Carol Danvers had already lost her Ms. Marvel identity and had become Binary. But these are just “retro” so the character and costume selections cover a wide time frame. (I hope a mohawk Storm makes it into the line, though!)
Loki is super popular right now, and this line does need more powerful villains (I mean, Electro and Bullseye look great, but they’re not exactly the types to take on the Avengers or Fantastic Four). But it’s a little odd that Thor didn’t come first but I’m sure he’s in the works. And a muscular male buck needed to make Thor, in between the standard and the Hulk, can be used for a variety of characters like Colossus and The Wrecking Crew among others.
I’m a little puzzled by the heavy emphasis on Daredevil. They’ve made him, Elektra, and soon Bullseye. There aren’t even three Spider-Man characters yet. Heck, there’s not a Wolverine and he’s usually one of the first X-Men made in ANY toy line. He was the only X-Man in Secret Wars (unless you count Ice Man). I’m not complaining. It’s just odd.
I don’t want to discuss every individual figure, but for many collectors, the highlight (no pun intended) is the Human Torch, who is molded in translucent red plastic and looks phenomenal. (He, like The Hulk, is missing the forearm swivel joints.) Ice Man is also made of translucent plastic, in his case blue. That’s somewhat questionable, as he’s usually depicted as just clear, but he’s still nice.
The Future
Now I want to look even further into the future, as this series has been composed of various characters from different corners of the MCU. Fans are obviously dying to see some teams completed. It seems obvious that Mister Fantastic, The Thing, and Doctor Doom will arrive at some point in connection to the Fantastic Four.
With Spider-Man and Ice Man already made, I am dying for Firestar to complete the “Spider-Friends.”
I can see certain characters posing some production problems. They could make a standing Professor X, as that would be accurate for the Secret Wars era, but most people would probably prefer him in a wheelchair. That’s a problem, as these toys don’t have knee joints. She-Hulk would also be a challenge as she’d require a larger female buck. But, Hasbro could reuse it to make Titania and possibly Valkyrie among others.
Ultimately, I would LOVE for Hasbro to make every character that appeared in the Secret Wars comic book, but we’ll see if that happens.
So far, I have kept mine in the package, but I have watched a few videos on Youtube of other collectors, and all of them have opened theirs. It’s tempting, but knowing that they have limited articulation, so far, I have resisted opening them. Maybe I’ll buy some multiples just to unbox. Or give me a week and these will be opened.
This is a great line for old-school fans and collectors. They’re bright and colorful. The limited articulation keeps them clean-looking. And the price point of roughly $10 apiece makes them irresistible!
Have you checked these figures out? If so, what did you think?
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