REVIEW: Legendary Comic Book Heroes - STAR

I wish I may, I wish I might, Have the wish I wish tonight.

For a great selection of super hero action figures and collectibles, check out fine retailers Attakus, ToyRocket.com, HobbyLinkJapan.com, BigBadToyStore.com, ToyWiz.com, StatueToys.com, CornerStoreComics.com and WhiteWizardToys.com and TopSecretToys.biz.

For a great selection of pop culture and super hero-themed apparel, check out TShirtGurus.com.

Though a wide variety of comic book universes have been represented in the Legendary Comic Book Heroes line, most of them have also been represented multiply. Everyone’s got somebody with whom to hang out. Stryker has Ripclaw; Witchblade has the Darkness; even Pitt’s got Timmy. So far, only Madman and Marv are alone, hanging out by the folding chairs and moping, or perhaps committing acts of horrific violence in Marv’s case. But at the center of the party seems to be the Savage Dragon ‘universe’; not only has it merited an unmatched three figures already, but it is also the only line of comics currently scheduled to be included in each of waves one through four. (Vanguard is to be in wave three, and Barbaric in four). Somebody must like Erik Larsen; that, or Erik Larsen especially likes having figures of his characters made.

The representative from the Savage Dragonverse in the second, “Monkeyman” wave of Legendary Heroes is Star. Star could be one of four guys: Peter Klaptin, a rock star who wants to be a superhero but who can’t quite hack it; Chris Robinson, the man Klaptin hires to be Star while Klaptin claims to be under the mask; Klaptin’s limo driver, who takes over after Robinson’s death; or William Jonson, former Chicago police officer who later takes up the mantle of Star. Nobody ever said comics weren’t confusing.

PACKAGING: Star is, naturally, in the usual packaging for Legendary Heroes. On a bright blue card is a simple, rectangular bubble, inside which is the figure, plainly visible. It’s a huge, deep bubble, by the way, the largest of this wave, but that’s Monkeyman’s fault, not Star’s. The depth of this bubble makes Star’s the only package in the wave that will stand up on its own! Incredible! Well, maybe not that incredible.

The back of the card shows the rest of the line and gives copyright information. It is also generic, with no Star-specific features. Hopefully this is because the card of the review figure is Canadian, and thus loaded with the language of the Frenchmen, and also of Quebec. The lack of individual bio, as the figures of the first wave had, is really a liability here; people are going to be unfamiliar with these characters, after all, and they will crave information. Especially with a guy like Star here. You ever try to google “Star comics”? Doesn’t work!

SCULPT: The sculpt on Star is really quite good. The muscle tone is especially nice, as are the little pouches on the belt. It’s rather a simple sculpt – Star is in fact the only figure in this wave who wears a full-on old-fashioned superhero outfit, tights, gloves, mask and all. And the look of this is accomplished very ably by our pals at Marvel Toys.

If parts of the sculpt of Star look familiar to you, then no, you’re not crazy, or at least not for that reason. Many of Star’s parts have been seen before on Toybiz Marvel Legends, often multiply. This is, of course, just fine; Star’s a pretty generic-looking guy in tights, at least as far as shape is concerned, and these old Legends sculpts are very, very good.

PAINT: So if Star’s shape is generic, it’s the color that’s going to have to set him apart, and this is done very nicely. The bright, solid, bold colors are all there in full force. Bleed and smudging is minimal; the review figure has a bit of blue on the red left glove, and that’s about it. Which isn’t bad, considering Marvel Toys’ history of bleed problems as Toybiz. Indeed, this whole wave of figures is a step forward for them in this area.

ARTICULATION: 41! 41 is the number of points of articulation on this figure. If someone tells you that this is anything short of excellent, exemplary even, you slap them in the face. It’s especially appropriate for an acrobatic sort of hero like Star. Particularly noteworthy are a pair of joints that allow the shoulders to move backward, toward each other at the spine. These will be familiar to Marvel Legends fans, because they are, of course, cannibalized from a sculpt of that line. Justly, rightly cannibalized, perhaps even nobly cannibalized.

Also driving the articulation-count up is the always-welcome individual finger articulation. Regrettably, Star has big lumps in the middle of the hand to accommodate these joints. And that’s too bad, especially since other figures in this very wave demonstrate that it need not be so. But it’s a small price to pay, in the end, for the ability to point, or give the “okay” sign.

ACCESSORIES: Star comes with no accessories of his own. Some shuriken would have been nice, maybe. Though they would have gotten lost almost instantly.

This figure comes with the head and upper torso of Axwell Tiberius, called Monkeyman. This piece is so totally immense that it might almost be more proper to say that the Monkeyman head and torso comes with a figure of Star. Monkeyman will be reviewed on this very website soon…soon…

COST & OVERALL IMPRESSION: Legendary Heroes figures generally run between 10 and 15 dollars, which is certainly not too bad for figures of this quality. The distribution of this second wave is yet uneven, among the vendors, but that will most likely change. As for this figure, it has no variant, and doesn’t appear to be a chase figure of any sort itself, so it shouldn’t be too hard to come by.

Star is typical of a figure of this wave of Legendary Heroes. Luckily, for this wave, a typical figure is an extremely good one. The sculpt is largely recycled, because it’s an excellent one; the paint job gets the job done; and the articulation is phenomenal, totally beyond reproach. Soon you’ll be able to get a collection of Savage Dragon action figures that’s of quality beyond your wildest expectations. Assuming you expected an excellent Savage Dragon figure collection. And who expected that?

CLICK HERE for even more images of Star.

Review and Photos by Matthew Kessen