REVIEW: Marvel Legends King Cobra Figure (Thanos Series) Latest News March 13, 2018 It’s been a quiet week for Marvel toy news, so time to dip into my huge cache of 2018 Marvel Legends figures that still need reviews! Having reviewed the most in-demand figure of the series first (the Thanos Build-A-Figure), it seemed appropriate to go for the guaranteed shelf-warmer of the series with my second review. The Marvel Legends King Cobra figure is readily available online for MSRP—but what he lacks in star power, he makes up for in being sheerly awesome! The Right: If you asked me what character I had less than zero interest in from this year’s Marvel Legends lineup, my immediate response would have been “King Cobra”. No offense to the Serpent Society, but I’ve just never considered them to be villains that I wanted to read about (ever). But to my utter amazement, my interest level in King Cobra went up an infinitesimal amount once I busted open the packaging for his new Marvel Legends 6” figure and discovered that it frankly kicks ass. Did you know King Cobra got his powers when he was bitten by a radioactive cobra…? Yeah—this guy is wicked cool. Let’s start the review… As they need to be, the head and cowl on the Avengers Legends King Cobra figure are both all-new sculpts. The sinister, teeth-baring expression on Cobra’s face oozes personality, and I appreciate that the cowl is an add-on piece that can be removed if you really want to (although I don’t—it looks terrific). The ML King Cobra figure reuses the ever-popular “mail” arms and legs that we’ve seen on hits like Dreadknight and the Green Goblin previously. I wasn’t sure how much use Hasbro would get out of this tooling when we first saw it, but once it again it looks fantastic. The scale-like chain-mail arms and legs seem totally on-point and appropriate for this character. If Hasbro ever decides to do 6” G.I. Joe figures, they’ll definitely be able to steal some of the bits from this figure to make a redesigned Serpentor. The all-new purple cape this guy is wearing just screams “Cobra”, and I love that Hasbro took the care to add tons of sculpted detailing on both the front and back of the cape. The thick horizontal bars on the inside look particularly fab. As excellent as the mold used for this figure is, it’s the sublime paints Hasbro used that really brings King Cobra to life. The bright metallic green on the arms and legs pops like crazy, and complements the purple tones of the torso and cape smashingly. The matte grey gauntlets and belt tie everything together. This is one pretty Marvel Legends Serpent Society figure (as weird a statement as that may be). Articulation is integral to the success of this figure, as King Cobra’s primary super-power is being a double-jointed contortionist. I think this is a character that could have hugely benefited from butterfly swivel shoulder articulation, but alas, that’s the one bit of articulation I wanted that was left out of this mold. That said, everything else you’d want is present: ball-hinge head and shoulders; ab crunch; swivel-hinge wrists; hinged ankles with rockers; ball-jointed hips; double-hinge knees and elbows; and swivel waist/biceps/thighs/boots. The level of flexibility on this figure isn’t perfect—but it’s close. And while the 6” King Cobra figure doesn’t come with any weapons of his own, he does get the best Thanos BAF piece: the Infinity Gauntlet (with Thanos’ arm). Wonderful choice by Hasbro, as this is easily the most desirable bit of the Thanos Build-A-Figure and a part that many collectors will buy the Serpent Society leader just to acquire. The Wrong: Although I’ve been unexpectedly heaping gushing praise upon this King Cobra Marvel Legends figure, that doesn’t mean it’s quite perfect. It’s great—but not perfect. Since King Cobra doesn’t get any weapons of his own, I would have at least liked some interchangeable hands. He’s a master of street fighting techniques (eat your heart out, Ryu), so some fists would have been nice to alternate with his clawing hands. The metallic purple paint is also just a bit fragile on this guy—mine came with several distracting scratches on his chest right out of the box. Be careful when handling this figure, as it seems it can scratch easily. I’ll be complaining a lot about add-on bits like belts and leg bands in upcoming Marvel Legends reviews, as I think many are WAY too loose on this year’s figures. King Cobra’s belt isn’t floppy to the ridiculous extent of poor X-Force X-23’s, but it is a hair too loose and can be hard to keep properly in place. A minor annoyance. Likewise, as much as I love the cape on this figure, it still gets in the way of putting King Cobra into crouching positions and some other dynamic poses, as it’s just rigid enough to limit posing without causing the toy to fall over. Overall: King Cobra was literally at the bottom of my list of most-anticipated Marvel Legends 2018 figures, but his figure ended up blowing away my expectations and being my surprise second-favorite entry in the Avengers Infinity War Marvel Legends Thanos series. His rigid cape gets in the way of some poses, there were a few paint scratches on mine, and I would have liked alternate hands—but those are minor complaints. Simply put, this is the best damn King Cobra action figure that will ever be made. GRADE: A- The post REVIEW: Marvel Legends King Cobra Figure (Thanos Series) appeared first on Marvel Toy News.
