Wednesday, April 5, 2023

Action Figure Review: Spiral from Marvel Legends Retro Collection: X-Men by Hasbro

 



   The recent series of Marvel Legends Retro Collection: X-Men figures has had some real winners in it and today I'm checking out the second figure from the series I picked up: Spiral. Spiral fits in well with recent releases as she's been in love with Longshot, was modified by Mojo, and upgraded the Reavers. She's been a pretty significant player in the comics, was part of some of the Marvel vs Capcom fighting games, and was released in the vintage Toy Biz X-Men line. She was also released back in Hasbro's early Marvel Legends days as part of a Target exclusive series of figures, but this one is a huge improvement, as would be expected fifteen years later. With multiple weapons and six articulated arms, Spiral is a figure that I expected might have received deluxe pricing, but she didn't. She's sold at the regular (still kind of high) retail price of $25, but she definitely seems worth it. Let's take a look at Rita Wayword, better known as "Ricochet" Rita or Spiral, after the break...

 



The Facts:

Height: 6 1/8ths inches

Articulation: Swivel/hinge ankles, boot swivels, double hinged knees, swivel thighs, ball-jointed hips, balljointed mid-torso, swivel/hinge shoulders (x6), swivel biceps (x6), double-hinged elbows (x6), swivel/hinge wrists (x6), hinged neck, and a barbell jointed head.

Accessories: 5 swappable hands, 4 katanas, boardsword, and axe.

Non-Scalper Price: $25 dollars




The Positives:

* Spiral is really just one of the most impressive looking Marvel Legends figures I've seen lately. Her body looks fantastic and there's clearly lots of newly sculpted parts here that show off not just her muscles and figure but also the wrinkles and bunching of the material of her outfit. There even seems to be a hint of shading to bring out the details. The belt isn't removable, but it is a separate piece with lots of little pouches sculpted on it. I'll talk more about Spiral's six arms shortly, but the sculpt really bends together nicely with everything flowing nicely. 








* Spiral's helmet isn't removable but it looks excellent and nicely frames her face. Her eyes are eerily white though everything else about her face looks normal. Good face printing here, especially on her lips and her eyelashes. 




* Flip her around and you can see Spiral's long, flowing white hair and the back of her helmet. It reminds me of the Shredder's helmet, which is pretty cool. 

* Spiral's sporting six arms, with different mixtures of bracers, arm guard, and even a fully cybernetic arm. They're all fully articulated, too, with vertical wrist hinges for better sword fighting poses. Each arm is attached attached via a standard swivel/hinge joint and everything looks really nice and well engineered. Despite being an unusual character, her arms attach to her body in a fairly normal seeming way. 



* Spiral is sporting some firry cuffs on her boots. Long, furry cuffs, to be precise. They hang down from just below her knees to the tops of her feet, giving her an even more unique appearance. 

* Besides having six fully articulated arms, everything else is articulated just like you'd expect on Spiral. Everything moves quite nicely and has a great range of motion. About the only part of her body affected by inhibited movement is her head, which  doesn't move quite as well because of her long hair. It's not horrible, though, and I think her appearance definitely more than makes up for a little loss of motion. 

* Spiral doesn't come with any alternate hands for her right arms but she does come packaged with two additional hands for her left arms, allowing you to swap things up a bit. For the cybernetic arm there is an expressive gripping hand and a fist and for the basic arms there are two gripping hands and a gesturing left hand for her magical spells. Everything swaps in and out easily.



* Spiral also comes with six blades to fully arm her. First up is a pair of katanas. These are surely reused from previous figures but they work just fine with her and have a paint app on the handles.



* The next two katanas are painted the same, but they're actually a bit longer and straighter than the previous two swords, which were shorter with more curved blades. 


* Two shake things up a bit Spiral comes with a broadsword that we've previously seen with Angela. It's molded in a darker gold plastic with a dark brown handle. It's quite a nice sword and I'm glad to see it used here. 




* Last up is another of Angerla's accessories reused. This time it's one of her axe-like blades, which looks like it'd be a wicked weapon for up close encounters. 
   Spiral is really an impressive figure and definitely stands out as one of the strongest Marvel Legends releases of the year thus far. Heck, as a figure in general she's one of the top releases. A beautiful, unique sculpt, plenty of articulation, and six weapons definitely makes her feel like a deluxe release at a basic price. I haven't seen any of the new series of Marvel Legends Retro Collection: X-Men figures at regular retail yet (in stores anywhere) but they have been showing up online for a couple of months now. Spiral is an Epic figure and truly stands out as an impressive action figure. Six thumbs up!



   This is the first figure of Spiral I've reviewed. For more Marvel Legends Retro Collection reviews check out the following:

Marvel Legends Retro Collection by Hasbro

Marvel Legends Retro Collection: Fantastic Four by Hasbro
 
Marvel Legends Retro Collection: Spider-Man by Hasbro
Symbiote Spider-Man

Marvel Legends Retro Collection: X-Men by Hasbro
Apocalypse
Gambit
Longshot




















15 comments:

  1. It's nice to hear about you again! Also, Spiral looks really, really nice. I always thought she would blend quite well with Silver Samurai. Only thing is that the axe looks too strange for me as a weapon, but still six weapons for that price is fantastic.

    About me, i found out Metal Gear figures, one of them was the Gurlukovich soldier, which i alwats liked as i like stealth sections on games. My issues are that now most of the soldiers sold are actually third-party falsifications and not Good Smile Company Figmas, and obviously, the money. So, my Alley Viper again gave me the solution.

    I just drawn an exclamation, interrogation and "Zzz" sleepy symbols in a transparent paper and made a pseudo-magazine book with an A4 paper and some crayons, used some toothpics, some tape to fix the toothpics and the symbols i made, and a small cardboard in order to make the toothpics remain stable. Instead of the yellow effect for the eyes, i used the Alley Viper's visor as an advantadge (visor up = undetected, visor down = detected), and as the modern rifle has an AK-esque look, it mimicks the AK-47 really well.

    So, i made a rip-off "Cobralovich Soldier" with common items. Crap, i even think that MacGyver couldn't make it better, ha, ha!

    As a final point, i hope you a d your family are well, i was a bit worried as i saw you didn't posted any review, and the only idea i had was that you and your family were in vacation. Have a nice day, you and your family, i will wait for your next review!

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    1. Hey, thanks for your concern. I did kind of wear out early each night over the last week or so while getting over a sinus infection. I'm feeling better for the most part, though I will be going on vacation next week, so posts will probably be sparse again.

      Your take on a Gurlukovich soldier sounds great. I would love for someone to make an easily acquirable Metal Gear Solid based line that scales well with G.I. Classified Series and Action Force. If we had a Metal Gear Solid line and a Resident Evil line in that scale and style, I'd go crazy.

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    2. Well, i am glad to hear you are recovering from a sinusitis, i hope you get fully recovered as soon as possible. Also, thanks for warning us about you and your family going on vacarion, that way we will know why we will lack reviews for some days. Will the destination be Castle Grayskull, Gotham, Cobra Island? Ha, ha! Now seriously, i hope you and your family enjoy your vacation.

      Yeah, i would also like to see figures like the Gurlukovich Soldier or the Metal Slug Rebel Soldiers easier to get and cheaper. It's a shame that they are exclusive to Japan with massive shipping costs and in the case of the Rebel Soldiers expensive as hell without reason, as i told you before. Meh, after all, with some MacGyver skills and imagination everyone can transform a B.A.T. , a Cobra Officer or even a Phantom Ranger as a pseudo-rebel soldier with some weapons from other figures. Only things i lack is a bazooka (maybe i can make one with a black paper sheet and use half of a toothpick for both the grip and the trigger grip), a rifle (would need to be one like a Karabiner 98K, so that will be hard for me to do one unless i find a compatible one from the toy soldiers i have) and a gatling gun with a canister (unless the M60 the B.A.T. has from my toy soldiers can pseudo-replace it). In my case, as i lack a Cobra Officer, the Phantom Ranger will be the most probable candidate.

      Still, i wish you and your family again a nice day and to enjoy your vacation time!

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    3. Can make a decent rocket launcher with a bit of wood or plastic as a handle, I used a lollystick, the round plastic body of a biro and some black tape. Not perfect but a good custom effort for not a lot of money

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    4. Thanks! I'm definitely feeling better, I just tend to hold onto nagging coughs for a long time. And the destination? Hogwarts and Jurassic Park, actually! We're going to Universal Studios, Florida. My daughter is a huge Harry Potter fan and she has never been. My wife and I went once back in 2011 while driving back from Tampa but there's so much more of the Wizarding World at this point that it'll be a whole new experience.

      You honestly might want to look into Valaverse's Action Force. The figure are designed to be fairly compatible and they sell basic troop bodies and accessory kits so you can gear them up at really affordable prices. I'd love to see Valaverse somehow get the license for Metal Gear. They'd do a bang up job and I can't see a larger company like Hasbro wanting to pursue it.

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    5. Well, i never liked Harry Potter, to be honest, i found it a bit idiotical, but that is my personal opinion. Jurassic Park in the other hand has been a film saga i liked a lot until Jurassic World, where i think the idea started to decay and lose power. I hope your daughter enjoys the Universal Studios vacation trip. And who knows, maybe Harry Potter joins G.I. Joe as "Magic Mauler", ha, ha!

      About the Valaverse options, i only have two questions, and ad you are more documented than me, i prefer to ask you:
      -How much the shipping costs are? Remember that i am from Europe, Spain more concretely, and i aleays worry about that. Even when my family wants to buy something from Amazon they always look at the shipping costs and the procedence, as the Brexit made impossible to get UK products from Amazon.
      -Also, how much money "affordable" means? Because now as you know, money is another issue for me and i am still trying to find a job. Obviously i ask because maybe in a future i will contemplate to expand my figures and/or accessories and i would like to have a reference for the future.

      Thanks for answering when you can, and i hope the vacations are "Magictastic" and "Dinosawesome", ha, ha!

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    6. Hey, don't worry, i found out that Valaverse stopped shipping outside the US in 2021. Prices didn't seem to be much expensive but the shipping rates would be a problem for sure. Last time i looked websites like BigBadToyStore or Target the shipping cost to Europe were 30-50€ minimum and that is too much for me.

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    7. Maybe they'll eventually work out some kind of European distribution to bring the prices down. They're great figures but I can understand not wanting to deal with the shipping costs.

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  2. Replies
    1. Indeed. Spiral turned out to be absolutely amazing. One of Hasbro's finest efforts for sure.

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  3. Every time Spiral went at it with Wolverine in the comics I knew there would be some serious slashing! Lady Deathclaw was also a pretty formidable opponent of old Wolvie.

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    1. For sure. It's awesome to have modern versions of so many of the cast from that era.

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  4. MekaneckfrenchiefrogApril 9, 2023 at 2:39 AM

    The concept of a 6-armed female character reminds me of a fantastic figure from the Spawn line, that was called Lotus Angel. Except that, whereas Lotus Angel had a Japanese/Asian inspiration behind her, Spiral looks very Scandinavian in a valkyrie sort of way. I've always had mixed feelings on Mcfarlane 's Spawn universe, some characters aren't to my taste at all, but others are simply stunning visually (Lotus Angel, Mandarin Spawn..).

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    1. I actually had (and maybe still do) that Lotus Angel figure. She was very cool. Definitely from the time when McFarlane's figures had crazy impressive sculpts and paint but little to no articulation. Truly meant as mini statues. She looked fantastic, though.

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