Last week I started my Marvel Knights Legends reviews with my review of Netflix Daredevil, and what with his show debuting tomorrow (and his figure being on sale for 16 bucks shipped online), the Marvel Legends Netflix Punisher was the obvious choice to follow up with. [I could say I planned to wait and review him during his series’ premiere, but I’d be totally lying.] Fans have been demanding a 6” figure of this version of Punisher since before he ever appeared in a show: will they be satisfied?

The Right:

Although The Punisher hasn’t torn up the comic book sales chart in many years, he remains one of the absolute most popular and recognizable Marvel characters to have never appeared in an MCU film.

So when the very first photos were released showing off Jon Bernthal as the Punisher in the Netflix Marvel series, collectors were already lining up to throw their money at a plastic recreation of the MCU Punisher.

This was a very anticipated figure—and Hasbro has done right by the fans waiting for it.

The most difficult part of creating any action figure of a live-action actor is the head sculpt—and simply put, Hasbro has nailed the Jon Bernthal likeness. The nose, the jaw, the hair, the shape of the face—this is some of the very best work that we’ve seen Hasbro do for a 6” MCU figure.

The subtle wash for his lower face “stubble”, the slightly different paint used for the lower part of his hair, the “beaten-up” deco on the face… this is phenomenal stuff by Hasbro. I am impressed!

The sculpt on the rest of the 6” Marvel Legends Punisher Netflix figure is just as good as the heads, though. Hasbro went all-out with new tooling to make this figure authentic to Punisher’s TV appearance, and the result is one of their best figures of 2017.

The style and amount of texture sculpted onto all the different parts of the figure really drive home that this is somebody wearing a hodgepodge of clothing and armor, instead of just another dude in a spandex leotard.

I love the contrast between the smooth jacket and the highly-textured pants.

I thought Hasbro had done a good job with applying the skull logo onto Netflix Punisher’s vest, but I didn’t realize how good they’d done until I compared it head-to-head with a screenshot from that show. Again: nailed it!! Touchdown, Hasbro.

I always worry that articulation will be a weak link—especially for figures wearing coats—but that turns out not to be the case here. The jacket is made of a very soft and flexible plastic, so it barely limits the articulation on the Netflix Marvel Legends Punisher figure at all.

And as this is a ML figure, he’s loaded up with the usual super-articulation: ball-hinge head/shoulders/elbows; swivel-hinge wrists; ball-jointed upper torso and hips, swivel biceps/thighs/waist; double-jointed knees and hinges ankles with rockers.

I’m okay with ball-hinge shoulders instead of double-jointed shoulders due to the sleeved arms, and I outright love the ball-jointed upper torso. I wish this was the standard instead of ab crunches, honestly. The only part of the articulation that’s ugly is the hinge of the neck, which is especially noticeable from the back.

Marvel Knights Legends Punisher comes with three accessories: the left Man-Thing Build-A-Figure arm, a silver pistol and a black rifle. I’ll review the Man-Thing figure as a whole later on, but even as just an arm, the sculpt looks amazing. It’s a real shame there’s not more hype for this killer Man-Thing BAF.

The Wrong:

This Marvel Knights Legends Punisher is a great figure, but of course, into any great review a few nitpicks must fall.

In my Daredevil review last week, I said that the glossy paint used on Daredevil’s skin didn’t bother me, since all we could really see of it was his chin. And it didn’t—but unfortunately, Punisher is showing a lot more skin.

In Punisher’s case, the “wet” look of his skin tone is very apparent in certain lighting and can be pretty jarring. Depending on what lighting conditions you have him displayed under, be prepared for his head to shine like a freshly waxed car.

[The glossy paint was making it really hard for my camera to focus on the head, which is why some of the close-up photos are rather blurry there. My apologies.]

In addition, the eyes on my Punisher figure are a little, well… crazy, as his left pupil is pushed all the way over to the left side of his eye, leaving poor Frank looking a bit deranged (I mean, deranged in a different way than he should be). If this was a one-off I’d likely ignore it, but I’ve heard quite a few complaints about the eye placement on this figure.

As far as the guns go: they’re… okay. Both guns are sorely lacking paint deco, and the rifle especially looks a little too simplistic in the hands of the intricately detailed Punisher action figure. If you have any other weapons that are compatible, you may find yourself wanting to swap them over to this figure.

Overall: While the derpy eyes on my Netflix Punisher Marvel Legends figures definitely have me planning to exchange mine for a better one, this is otherwise an outstanding action figure. Is it at the same level as the Hot Toys Punisher? Uh, no—not should anyone expect it to be. But with an exceptional actor likeness for a six inch figure, very good articulation and fantastic sculpting, I think very few fans will be unhappy with this Marvel Legends Punisher figure. This is an easy recommend and win for Hasbro.

GRADE: A

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