Hasbro has been doing some nice things with the Marvel Legends line for the past year, but their Walgreens exclusives have been going above and beyond.
I’ve been a fan of Colossus’ little sister, Illyana Rasputin, since the mid-80s when I first started reading New Mutants comics. I think she clicked more for me because of the relationship to Peter, who was one of my favorite X-Men.
Over time, as her character grew and her place in the mutant side of the Marvel universe expanded, I ended up liking her even more than I did her brother. Her unique story and wild powerset made her a favorite among a huge number of other characters that I also loved. It would take a whole other post to really run it down, but Claremont’s X-Men are my favorite characters ever. Just thinking about that group and what they went through in the years that I followed Uncanny X-Men (and any related crossover titles) is almost enough to get me a little misty. For an outcast kid who never had an easy time making or keeping friends, they were family.
When Hasbro released Illyana as part of an SDCC exclusive box set a few years ago I was pretty annoyed, but by that time they had already established a habit of eventually rereleasing those kinds of characters. I wasn’t thrilled about it, but I could wait.
As X-Men waves came (returned) and went, I waited. Then, much to my surprise, Magik was announced as a Walgreens exclusive. Even more surprising was the short amount of time that passed between the announcement and me having the figure.
Thanks to our Head of Research Ryan Schweck I was able to order Magik from Walgreens website and actually had her in hand before I found the Thing, though only by a couple of days. And when I did find ol’ Ben, there were six Magiks next to him.
That’s just how toy collecting works sometimes.
Was she worth the wait? Read on and find out!
THE BOX
Magik comes in your standard issue X-Men themed Marvel Legends box. I like that they’ve assigned colors to each type of release. The X-Men are yellow.
For such a tiny figure, this one fills that space up nicely with a ton of included accessories.
I’m still a fan of this box even though it’s been around for years now. The stuff inside displays well, the graphics are clean, and it’s easy to open provided you open the right side (the right side). Hasbro has also gotten much better at packing everything in a way that doesn’t cause warping.
THE TOY
With each new release I am more and more impressed with how fantastic the faces on Marvel Legends are now. The sculpt is definitive and unique, but the paint is truly outstanding. The eyebrows are even and defined without being too heavy or “painted on”. Every bit of the eyes is impressively distinct from the irises to the eyeliner. And the lip liner is the best I’ve seen in this line – not only does she have the requisite red lip gloss, but there’s a dark outline surrounding that that adds to her dark appearance.
Some of the greatness of this figure comes from Illyana’s distinctive look. Nobody else has this haircut, so making the figure look like her didn’t take as much effort as, say Black Widow. But the hair sculpt is nicely detailed and falls in exactly the right manner – it looks right just standing there or in action. Her “crown” – or whatever you’d call the Kirby-esque headdress protruding from her hair – is cleanly sculpted and painted and has a great profile. It’s also a very sturdy plastic, do it isn’t going to droop or get deformed.
On the topic of distinctive looks, Magik has a sort of “Demon Emma Frost” thing going on these days. There aren’t many parts here that could serve double duty on other figures, so stuff like her top, demon arm, belt, and boots are exciting and new.
Note: Now that I think about it these could be the same boots that Nico Minoru has and they probably are. But they still look great and here are part of a very different profile, so they seem new.
Between the seams on the top, the worn, aged detailing on the left arm, the rivets and buckle on the belt and the staggering detail on the boots, a fairly simple black design becomes some great eye candy. All of the colors are where they’re supposed to be, with no slop or speckling in unwanted places. There are a couple of black spots on the torso that I didn’t notice until I was editing the photos, but they wiped off.
As far as articulation, this is another area where Hasbro has been making some big improvements. Illyana has double-jointed knees that function well with deep hip and ankle joints. The torso joint is almost unnoticeable. Her elbows get a little better than 90 degrees of bend and her wrists swivel and pivot. Even her head has a greater range than you’d expect with that long, straight hair.
Why didn’t I take more action pose pics? I don’t know. I’m old and tired.
THE STUFF
Magik comes with three “magic” effects, a flaming skull, an extra hand, a tiny demon dragon, and two versions of her Soulsword.
The old school Soulsword isn’t quite accurate, as it doesn’t have the right crossguard. I’m not sure why they’d overlook this unless this is a completely different Soulsword. That’s entirely possible. It’s looked different over the years. There’s a removable magic effect that’s neat and fits over the sword nicely.
The other Soulsword is the huge “Buster Sword” style that she has had in the last few years. The contrasting colors look great – especially with the accuracy of the paint job – and I love the translucent yellow.
I honestly don’t know if there are places where the other magic effects are “supposed” to go, but they can fit on the figure’s arms and legs a few different ways. They’re neat. They’re also re-colored pieces from past releases, which is fine.
The same goes from the demon dragon and the skull. We’ve seen them before, but I certainly don’t mind when tonally appropriate items are used to bulk out a release. I’m not sure if the dragon is a specifically different character, a random demon, or an actual Limbo Lockheed (which it is a repaint of). Whatever the case, it’s neat.
The hand is in a spooky “casting” pose and switches out easily.
All of the extras interact with the figure nicely and add a ton of play value and variation. The recent Walgreens releases seem to have been pretty loaded. I sure wish we could’ve gotten some more parts with Sue Richards; like, say, default non-invisible parts.
THE VERDICT
This is an excellent action figure. Even if you’re not as familiar with the character, it’s just a great toy. Loaded with accessories and lots of great new sculpted parts, this is a must-have addition to your Marvel Legends collection.
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