[Shin Densetsu]

So today I decided to start rearranging my figures and came across my Marvel Legends figures. I wasn't a completist back when this line was under Toy Biz nor am I one now under Hasbro. Nonetheless, I have a good amount of figures.

Is it just me, or did Toy Biz suffer a drastic drop in quality towards their later waves? I mean, some of my figures from later waves have atrocious quality. Some look cheap, some have horrid paint apps. I get the feeling that since they knew the license was going to go to Hasbro, they tried to rush everything they could out there while they still had a chance.

Some of the paint washes are sloppily applied. Some of the paint itself is sloppily applied. My Face Off Wolverine had 2 right shoulders, and just today it BROKE! Shoulder peg snapped right off while I swiveled the bicep. WTF?! Paint on it was bad, did you know most of the figure was molded in blue? I mean that's a figure that should mostly be yellow. It also had too many damn joints and some were loose.

Either way that POS is broken now and also, it couldn't bring it's arms close to it's body! LOL the most neutral stance it had made it look like it was going to hug somebody!

IT's FUC$%&ING WOLVERINE!

WTF!

The Face Off Sabretooth he came with was BAD ASS. Whomever sculpted that was brilliant. However, mine had one loose arm and I'm pretty sure it had 2 of the same finger. WTF? Not only that, it feels cheap. Not just the paint. Shame, as it's one of Toy Biz' best sculpts ever.

So aside from today with the random anomaly of seeing my FO Wolverine break, I had other previous issues with the lines. The Spiderman 2 super articulated figure was too damn articulated. All those joints made the sculpt unsightly. For example, the best Spiderman figures by Toy Biz imho are that Spider Sense Spidey that had clear "pupils" and lit up when plugged into a base(Spiderman figure series), and a few of their early super articulated ones. The Black Spiderman that Hasbro made from the RULK BAF wave and the upcoming Future Foundation/Big Time one seem to get it right. There's definitely a balance between good articulation and sculpt, too much of a good thing is bad.

Daredevil from Spiderman Classics is awesome, my favorite 6" Daredevil figure but them shoulders were HUGE! Wave 5 Sabretooth had the same problem. Same with ML8 Iceman and the Xmen Classics Iceman. Then XMC Archangel which was a retooled Daredevil buck.

Towards the later half of their run, it seems like Toy Biz got too ambitious. The use of ratchet like detents was cool but inconsistent at times. Sometimes they just didn't work since the joints were too loose. This over ambition lead to excessive articulation which killed some sculpts and sometimes resulted in redundant joints. ML5 Sabretooth could bend at the halfway point of his foot but range of motion was minimal at best.

Then of course the random breaks. 1st appearance Iron Man? Arm broke off on mine. Beta Ray Bill? Not so bad ass once his freaking upper body SNAPS OFF. Deathlok witnesses death....the legs on mine snapped off. My Moon Knight has a broken pioece within his back somewhere, as I hear something rattling. Mcfarlane Spidey? Left ankle snapped off.

ML4 Gambit? Mine has 2 of the same pectoral parts, I'm pretty sure.

I hated how ML8 Ultimate Cap and it's retool as the bad ass FO Cap had limited outwards shoulder articulation. The pectoral part hinders the shoulders. Talking about hindered articulation, FO Mandarin can barely move. I hated how PVC soft parts killed articulation!

The FO Modular Iron Man that came with Mandarin was weird. Looked forward to it as that's my favorite armor but nooooooOoOooOOO, Toy Biz used that blinding bright yellow paint and laid it on thick. It looks 80's in a bad way. Also the body looked too small, or the face did(you can take the faceplate off).

Now not everything Toy Biz was bad. Their character selection was good. Their intricate details were good. Just see the jump fro.m ML1 Captain America to the FO version. Huge jump.

Hasbro trumped them when it came to quality control, overall build quality and construction. However Hasbro had several issues of their own, I mean it seemed like they only started to "get it" with the 2 packs and the 2012 line. Toy Biz is a bad case of excessiveness, Hasbro is a bad case of minimalism. Hasbro seems to finally see the balance now.