When I asked readers on social media which of the figures in the first 2019 Marvel Legends Spider-Man wave they wanted to see first, it was really just a formality. The de facto winner was always going to be the Build-A-Figure—and in a landslide, he was. The Marvel Legends Kingpin BAF is selling for over 100 bucks now on the aftermarket—almost as much as the six figures you have to buy for all his parts! Does the Kingpin live up to his enormous hype?
Believe it or not, Hasbro has never released their own Marvel Legends Kingpin figure since they started making 6” ML figures a decade ago. Crazy, right?
Collectors have been rallying for a few years now for a Netflix Kingpin Vincent D’Onofrio Legends figure, but with Netflix Daredevil cancelled, this comics-based Wilson Fisk may have to suffice. Would he be a worthy addition to your collection?
While he has more drawbacks than I anticipated, the new Kingpin Marvel Legends Build-A-Figure is still a rather decent action figure that will appease most fans who’ve been waiting for Hasbro to update this iconic villain.
Arguably the most crucial components of a good-looking Kingpin figure are the size, the Wilson Fisk portrait and the costume, and Hasbro has more or less nailed all three of those. The BAF is in the iconic white suit with purple and black accents, weighs nearly a full pound (~13 oz.) and is close to 8″ tall. For a non super-powered individual, this is one utter beast of a businessman!
I had a preconceived notion in my head that I was going to never use the open-mouthed, “angry” Kingpin head on this figure, but after popping it on for some photos I’ve discovered that it’s actually my preferred portrait for the figure.
While a fat guy in a suit with hindered articulation can feel very static and a bit boring, the “dynamic” style of the enraged head really gives this Kingpin BAF a spark of life. The throbbing veins on his forehead and wrinkles under his eyes really drive home that this is a seriously ticked off Wilson Fisk.
That’s not to say that the “museum” style head for the Build-A-Figure Kingpin is bad, mind you—I think most collectors will still opt for that as their default display head—it’s just not quite as riveting as the angry head.
The most detailed part of this entire figure is surprisingly the Kingpin’s shoes. No—really! The fancy dress shoes (I believe they’re called “Oxford shoes”) have an intricate leather texture on them that’s detailed beyond any other part of the toy. These shoes immediately draw my eye and add a genuine touch of class to this no doubt upstanding businessman.
Other details that add a bit of sophistication to the Marvel Universe’s most notorious crime lord are the painted ring on his left hand (fist), the purple pocket square sticking out of his left chest pocket, and the “diamond”-topped cane.
I like the look of the cane a lot, but was let down that it’s a bit too thin for the Kingpin’s grip to hold it tightly, and the arm articulation on the figure won’t allow Fisk to rest with both hands on the cane.
And speaking of articulation—the posing possibilities are my biggest disappointment with this heavily hyped action figure. Bulky figures such as this Spider-Man Legends Kingpin are always difficult to integrate articulation into, and the execution here doesn’t meet my needs for achieving the poses I hoped for.
I’d love to be able to pose Kingpin crushing Spidey in a devastating bear hug, but his arms simply don’t have that level of flexibility. Likewise, it’d be cool to have Kingpin gorilla pressing Spider-Man over his head, but having a fist for a left hand and no interchangeable hands make that pose look pretty silly.
I really thought I’d be able to have Wilson holding Spidey aloft with his powerful right hand, but the grip is too narrow to grasp Peter’s head in. There’s no bicep or calf swivels, no waist swivel, no double-jointed elbows or knees… the options here are far below what we’re accustomed to, and it makes posing this figure much more of a challenge than I envisioned.
The ML Kingpin suit jacket is made out of a very soft rubber, theoretically allowing it to not restrict articulation. Unfortunately, the figure has no swivel waist and a ball-jointed upper torso that can move laterally only and not up-and-down at all, so the soft plastic goes to waste a bit.
Even the horizontal range of motion on the upper torso is minimally useful, as moving the top button too far away from the lower buttons ends up looking rather bizarre.
One last thing: I’ve seen a lot of people debating the controversy surrounding the Kingpin’s jacket being a woman’s jacket. Here’s my stance on that: I literally had no idea that men and women had their buttons customarily on different sides of a jacket, and I don’t care.
The Kingpin of Crime can have his buttons on whichever side he dang well pleases. If the orientation of the buttons really bother anyone that much, this may not be the action figure for them.
Overall: When a just-released figure is selling for triple digits on eBay, expectations for that piece may get exaggerated a bit. Such is the case with the new Hasbro Kingpin Build A Figure. This is a solid figure that does look great, but he’s by no means one of Hasbro’s best figures of the past year. The sculpt and proportions are on-target, and I dig both portraits. But the articulation scheme leaves a lot to be desired, and the lack of interchangeable hands really limits display options.
I like this new Wilson Fisk toy and I’m glad to own him, but he’s in no way as impressive as some recent Build-A-Figures such as Sauron and Apocalypse. The Kingpin BAF looks good standing around, but there’s just not a lot of fun posing opportunities to be found with him.
GRADE: B
The post REVIEW: Marvel Legends Kingpin Build-A-Figure (Hasbro 2019) appeared first on Marvel Toy News.
