2007 Hasbro
Annihilus Series
X3 Beast
MSRP: $9.99
BAF Piece: Left arm & left leg
How does the X3 Beast movie figure fare against the rest of this wave of Marvel Legends figures?
The first two figures I obtained in Marvel Legends Annihilus Series was X3 Beast and Banshee. After opening X3 Beast first, I was initially quite pleased with the figure. Shortly after, I realized some drawbacks that continue to bother me. Read on to see what I mean.
Sculpt / Design
X3 Beast exceeded my expectations in this category. The fur is sculpted very finely detailed, very real and doesn't get in the way of any articulation. I thought it was quite bold of Hasbro to make Beast such a small frame and not over stuff him like just about every plastic version of Beast we've gotten before. In the end he fits in with past X-Men movie figures pretty well, but not perfectly. In a group shot I took (see photo), Beast is just a little short and thin when paired up with previous X-Men movie figures. The head sculpt looks good, the likeness is nearly dead on with the actor, Kelsey Grammer who portrayed Beast in X-Men: The Last Stand. Although I'm a fan of the head sculpt and likeness, I'm not a fan of the choice for expression. Especially in his X costume, Beast should have had more of a fierce or enraged expression and maybe an articulated jaw. The costume sculpt looks accurate and clean, but maybe too clean. The pants for example could have used some texture or maybe some paint apps to bring them some life. They put all this fine texture in Ghost Rider's pants and left X3 Beast's so plain.
Score: 7
Paint / Color
Black costume, yellow stripes, blue fur. Seems pretty straight forward right? X3 Beast requires more attention with washes, drybrushing and airbrushing. Hasbro met the call. Sort of. Their is a gray-blue application along the fur on the arms, in the hair (on the head), on the top of the hands and the top of the feet. The fingers and toes should have gotten more attention with a wash to help give the fingers separation and bring out the wrinkle details. The plastic they used is just too vibrant a blue and too glossy. With that, the face, although a nice sculpt, the more I look at it the more it bothers me that the details and life is so lost without any paint in there. Even more so than detail is accuracy, the face needs to be a more pale blue as well as the hands to match that of how Beast looks in the movie. On to the costume. The vest and pants could have used some wash, drybrush or airbrush to bring out a more realistic leather look and feel. The yellow stripes and "X" on the vest are very clean and look nice.
Score: 6
Articulation
X3 Beast features 32 Points of Articulation, which is nice for a movie figure in the Marvel Legends line, compared to say, Movie Daredevil from Marvel Legends Series 3. Since this is Beast in his combat costume, he should have been able to make a fist, some finger articulation would have been very useful.
When I'm playing with my figures When my figures are displayed in a battle diorama, X3 Beast is left slapping his opponents because he can't close his hands. Ball joint hips, ball joint shoulders, double jointed elbows, double jointed knees and this is a brand new sculpt people. See? Hasbro isn't totally against articulation. X3 Beast's vest is quite rigid and obstructing of major arm movement and doesn't allow for backwards or upwards head movement.
Score: 8
Accessories
X3 Beast comes with his combat vest, it is well sculpted and fits exactly as it should. The yellow stripes and X are very clean. The vest however could have used more sculpt and / or paint texture to give a more realistic leather look and feel. X3 Beast's vest is quite rigid and obstructing of major arm movement and doesn't allow for backwards or upwards head movement. It is so rigid, I was afraid to take it off as I didn't want to rip or break it or pull the figure's arms out of the shoulder sockets. The vest really feels that stiff. X3 Beast comes with the left arm and leg of Annihilus which will be reviewed in Annihilus' own review
Score: 7
Score Totals
Sculpt / Design: 7
Paint / Color: 6
Articulation: 8
Accessories: 7
Overall: 28 out of a possible 40
Some people out there just hate the fact that Hasbro is putting movie figures into the Marvel Legends line and feels they don't belong. Well, ToyBiz did it too, so Hasbro is just following their trend right? If Hasbro puts more than one movie figure in a Marvel Legends line, I don't agree with that, personally. In regards to one movie figure here and there, I'm on the fence. Depends on the quality of the figure I suppose. If I totally had it my way, would I put a movie figure in the line? Definitely not. But until the Marvel toy franchise becomes so large that every single movie gets their own line, ultimate characters get their own line and classic comic book figures get their own line, we will have to make due with the grab-bag that was and still is Marvel Legends.