Review: Hasbro Quicksilver

Avengers Month continues with a review of four new Avengers that came in the mail the other day. Big Bad Toy Store shipped me Hasbro Marvel Legends 2, and I’m going to review them while it’s timely and topical. But this is a customizing blog, so I’m eschewing the Michael Crawford Standardized Toy Categories in favor of just two: Out-of-the-Box Quality (OBQ), and Customization Potential (CP).

First of all, this wave is a big step forward from Hasbro’s first Marvel Legends wave. In wave 1, Beast and Emma Frost were microcephalic missteps, Banshee had a missing piece (the collar) that created a giraffe-necked freak, and Planet Hulk had the biggest manufacturing shortcut (the arm painted silver instead of using sculpted armor) since Magneto in Toy Biz Legends series 3. This new wave has only one weird looking figure, and I think it’s due to paint applications on the face. This wave also has more Hasbro innovations, like the Gi-Joe style elbows. I don’t always like them, but they serve to identify Hasbro work instead of Toy Biz inheritance that got manufactured by Hasbro. If the baton is finally and fully passed, and the figures are this good, then I’m happy.

So, for today, Quicksilver!

OBQ: 3 out of 5

Quicksilver is the Hasbro Standard Body, which is pretty similar to what showed up on Captain Marvel, which seemed like a modification of Bullseye. This is a standard superhero body that fits a lot of characters. Hasbro could follow Mattel’s example with their Justice League Unlimited line and use this body with new heads and a host of glue-on accessories to create a host of characters. And maybe they will! The body shows up twice in this wave.


This standard sculpt is a really good choice for Quicksilver. He’s not Spider-Man skinny or Superman buff. I thinkt they have a few hands that fit the body, and chose wisely so Pietro can cut through the wind. The standard body also has boot treds, which aren’t absolutely necessary on everyone but usually don’t detract. On Quicksilver, they’re a big plus. The head sculpt is good, too: it’s Quicksilver and not a reused generic sculpt.

The paint apps are a little weird around the ab crunch, but that’s a tough area to navigate, so I give Hasbro a pass. The face would look better if it wasn’t cast in flesh plastic and was all glossy. Of course, a good wash could help this figure, but I prefer straight plastic to an overdone wash (like the kind that Toy Biz gave everything before 2004).

CP: 4 out of 5

I thought about detracting points because Quicksilver doesn’t give anything new. He’s a generic sculpt, and as such has a lot of uses, but if you’ve already got a bunch of Bullseyes, Captain Marvels, or what have you, then the only thing Quicksilver offers is color. Most of his crucial joints are cast in a dark blue, which is a similar color you could find in a lot of Spider-Man parts (but only in the legs, I guess). The more I thought about it, though, the more usage I came up with for that blue. It’s a utility color, and turns up a lot!

The face is nice, thinner than normal, and I’d like to see what other personality it takes with different hair. It could be like Dr. Strange, a face that looks both good and very different from the original as soon as you remove the mustache or otherwise modify it.

Quicksilver gives me the following customizing ideas:

• Justice showed up in Avengers: Initiative this week wearing a modification of his Avengers costume in the exact same shade of blue. Except that I already started a Justice custom.

• A lot of the X-Men have this build and wear blue suits, like 90s Cannonball and Forge.

• Some X-Men foes like Super Sabre and Riptide might be fun too. Actually, no, building Super Sabre and Arclight wouldn’t be fun unless I did their respective groups. And I hate both groups.

• Morph from Exiles has a suit with a lot of blue in it. He also has a suit with a lot of yellow in it, though..

• Quasar had a costume that was more blue than black., but I’d need a Captain Marvel for the upper body.

• Nighthawk! Perfect fit for this body! I’d give him Luke Cage boots and a Batman head, but I might actually do this custom!

• Texas Twister seems to be on a baffling upsurge. It’ll be a while before I want to do the new Texas Rangers, though.

• Union Jack, although I’d probably want to use a Black Panther and make him look extra-texture cool. Still, this Quicksilver would be a better match for his build.

• The final Citizen V, the English one, would be cool. Quicksilver’s blue would shift easily to purple.

• Blizzard would be an easy custom. All the major color groups are in place.

• Graviton sould need a girdle of white, but he’d be a good fit.

• Darkhawk? Maybe? Darkhawk is one of those blues that’s probably black.

• I have this odd love for the Blue Diamond that doesn’t extend to any other obscure Golden Age Marvel character. Well, Sun Girl. And Namora. And Blazing Skull, I like him too. But anyway, I’d make a Blue Diamond.

• Blue Beetle would be another perfect fit. Well, not perfect, the blue should be babier. But between Spider-Man and Quicksilver you could get a base with very little paint rub.

• Booster Gold could be made with a combination of Quicksilver and Yellowjacket.

• Lightning Lad from the Legion could work. The new Cosmic Boy, too.

• Commander Steel of the Detroit JLA/new JSA wears all blue. I think he’d have a heavier build, though, so DCSH Superman would be a better choice.

• Same thing with Black Lightning and Dr. Fate. Lots of blue joints, but I think they’ve got a heavier build than Quicksilver. Especially based on how Ed Benes draws Black Lightning in JLA.

• Golden Age Flash has blue legs with this build. Again, this seems like a combination of a Quicksilver lower torso and a Captain Marvel upper torso. Is there anyone with a blue shirt and red pants? Because I’m going to have three of those combinations sitting around.

There are a lot of throwaway ideas on that list, but Nighthawk, Blizzard, Graviton, Union Jack, Blue Beetle, and Golden Age Flash are all winners. That’s six! I need more Quicksilvers…

Okay, I started writing this post to review the whole wave, but this is taken more time than I thought. And I feel like I’ve given DC ideas a short shrift. So I’ll visit the three other Avengers in Hasbro Wave 2 this month, and cover the rest of the wave in May. Which I guess will be themeless.