REVIEW: Marvel Legends Fantastic Four Series -- DOCTOR DOOM

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Back in the days of old, fully one year ago, Toybiz put out quite a number of Marvel Comics-themed action figure lines. There was the famous and popular Marvel Legends line, of course, but so too was there the Spider-Man line, the X-Men line, and so forth. These other lines were of the same scale as the Marvel Legends, and often boasted the same dizzying level of articulation. And yet they were not Marvel Legends, because, well, it didn’t say “Marvel Legends” on their packaging. Therefore, the vast, money-spending masses of Marvel Legends fans had a tendency to ignore these other lines.

Whatever one may think of Hasbro’s takeover of the Marvel Legends line, then, you at least have to credit them with shrewdness: They’ve decided to put out all of their Marvel lines under the Marvel Legends banner. Take, for example, their first wave of Fantastic Four figures. It is not being referred to as the third or fourth wave of the Marvel Legends line, and yet it is being released in Marvel Legends packaging, with the Marvel Legends logo. It even has a build-a-figure. And so, with a wave of their magic corporate marketing wand, they have greatly increased their Legends output, and, most likely, improved the demand for these variant series of Marvel characters.

The first Fantastic Four wave covers the basics of this comic – the Four, Namor, the Silver Surfer, Mole Man, and Dr. Doom. And this lineup has an interesting consequence: For the first time, Hasbro is putting out their own figures of characters that have already received the Marvel Legends treatment, via Toybiz. And this, inevitably, invites comparison between the old and the new. So, as we today discuss the Dr. Doom figure from this series, we’ll also see how it stacks up against the Toybiz Doom from way, way back in the second series of Marvel Legends, a time now long forgotten. Which shall be the true Monarch of Latveria, and which the mere Doombot?

PACKAGING: Unlike the old Toybiz standard of a simple blue rectangle, the Hasbro Marvel Legends packaging is a riot of curves and angles and colored pictures. Doom has packaging that is in accordance with this new standard, with the whitish card, the sculpted bubble, and the quartet of pictures of the character down the package’s left side. The only real difference from the usual Hasbro Legends is additional labeling on the front and right of the bubble, informing you that this is a figure of the Fantastic Four series. This new label does obscure the figure just the tiniest bit, but overall, it is still plainly visible.

On the back of the card is the usual overview of the wave, along with a short bio of Victor Von Doom. This is told from Doom’s perspective; when he “emerges again,” for example, the Earth’s heroes “will break like waves against the might of DOOM!” Awesome.

SCULPT: There have been some pretty impressive-looking sculpts of Doom in figure from the last few years; the Diamond Select and Hasbro Marvel Icons versions spring to mind. But none of them have been exactly accurate; all have missed certain points, or added certain embellishments, to the Jack Kirby design that has lasted for decades. But now, at last, this wrong against the once and future "Master of the Earth" has been righted. Finally, we have been given a Doom with rectangular eyeholes, with a simple, angular, riveted mask. This is Doom as he should look.

Also of note is the cape, which has an excellent, realistic folding effect; the hood, which is broad and deep, producing an intimidating effect; and the holes in the bottoms of the feet, for figure-stands. This is Hasbro’s first wave to include these holes. And we missed them so. Doom is pleased.

The Toybiz Doom, frankly, offers this Doom no challenge. With a tight hood and a radically redesigned mask, it never managed the stark intimidation of the Doom of the comics. And so advantage: Hasbro.

PAINT: There actually doesn’t seem to be much paint application whatsoever on the Hasbro Doom. The various pieces of plastic are green or metal-grey as appropriate, but with no washes or shading or detailing. And this is a pity; Doom’s color scheme is simple – his mighty intellect has more important things to think about than mere color! – but it shouldn’t be quite this simple. The few places where paint does come into the picture, such as the belt and cape-clasps, look good enough, though there is a bit of bleed.

The old Toybiz Doom, in contrast, had plenty of shading to the clothing, and an excellent metallic wash to the armor. It therefore takes this category, though not by so broad a margin as Hasbro took the last one.

ARTICULATION: The new Doom has 15 points of articulation. 15. It’s almost painful to write – a Marvel Legends figure having so few points, in 2007. Have we learned nothing? The old Doom had 22, and that was in the giddy, early days of Marvel Legends! This all is, however, just a tiny bit misleading. What Hasbro has done is consolidated a lot of movement into single joints; the elbows and knees, for example, can both bend and twist. In actual practice, the only movement you can get out of the old Doom that is absent from the new is at the mid-hand and mid-foot joints. Hasbro: You would take away so much ammunition from your detractors with the simple reintroduction of these articulation points. Don’t be stubborn, Hasbro!

Actually, the new Doom has a few new motions available to it, that the old does not. It can do the splits; its feet can point in various directions; it has a ribcage joint. Most of this is standard to the line by now, but compared against the early, old Doom – well, let’s call this category a draw, overall.

ACCESSORIES: Doctor Doom, who has more destructive potential in his shinplates than most good-sized armies could muster, also carries a gun for some reason. And so too do his figures. In fact, they both carry exactly the same piece, plainly from the same mold. The new Doom’s just barely wins, however, since it’s black (rather than the old one’s grey), which looks nice, and also has a holster which fastens shut, which is cool.

Both Doom figures also have removable masks, with the oddly smirking image of Victor beneath. The old one shows a barely-scarred visage, whereas Hasbro’s face of Doom is a mess. Both are perfectly good faces; the new mask wins the race by just a hair, however, because its eyeholes are real – the eyes of Doom stare out from underneath the mask, which makes them all the more impressive. The Toybiz Doom had its eyes on the mask, which didn’t help matters any.

Finally, the Hasbro Doom comes with its contribution to the wave’s build-a-figure: the cape of Ronan the Accuser. To be honest, this seems like a strange choice for an FF BAF; the set of people who care about Ronan the Accuser can only be a subgroup of the set of people who know who Ronan the Accuser is, and it really can’t be too big. Besides, don’t the Four fight lots of giant monsters and cosmic personifications and such that are more interesting-looking than just a big guy in green?

COST & OVERALL IMPRESSION: Standard retail price for Hasbro’s Legends remains at $10, or thereabouts. Doom’s wave of figures has only just hit the market, and so if you haven’t seen it yet, do not despair; your Doom is coming.

Some of the complaints against Hasbro’s Marvel Legends – lackadaisical paint-jobs and reduced articulation as compared to late-period Toybiz Legends – remain in evidence here. And that’s too bad. Consolidation of movement into single joints partially addresses the latter problem, though. And Hasbro has at last brought back the stand-holes in the feet; perhaps they’re learning.

All this aside, this is simply the best, scariest, most accurate sculpt that we’ve seen on a Doctor Doom figure in over a decade. Hasbro has made the best Doctor Doom Marvel Legend out there, therefore, if not the best possible Marvel Legend Doom. The Monarch of Latveria is pleased. Hasbro may live. For now…

CLICK HERE for a Doctor Doom image gallery tour!

Review and Photos by Matthew Kessen