It’s Marvel Legends versus D.C. Direct, us versus them, right versus wrong, better versus worse, but who’s actually right? This might seem corny, but both sides have their own reasons, so they are both (ugh) “right.”
Here’s the deal: toys cost nothing, but developing toys costs lots of money. It’s ten grand to tool up for every single piece in a toy, and that doesn’t include how much you paid to have the original sculpted.
So articulated toys have more pieces, they must be better!
Wrong. Take a good look at your figures and you’ll start noticing Namor’s (pictured above) and Punisher’s shoulders are the same piece, just painted differently. In a little while you’ll start picking out strikingly similar chests, biceps and thighs. Feet and hands are almost always identical. But does this matter?
Well now take a D.C. Direct figure like Captain Marvel (pictured above). Okay he’s not exactly a Barbie doll, but he does only have twelve or so points of articulation versus a Legend’s thirty-plus. While stiff, you do now get figures who look real! Compare the folds of clothing on Elseworlds Red Son Batman to the Legends attempt at Professor X, and you realize how poorly highly-articulated figures communicate clothing. Okay, that’s just clothes, most figures don’t have that Alex Ross-clothed look. Well it applies to thinner characters as well, like women. Example: Elseworlds Batgirl hands down trumps Mystique.
Also, there’s a volume factor. Legends are sold by the truckload and have to be produced on a massive scale. D.C. Direct is more specialized, so they take more care with the paintwork to make their figures more special, but you lose the freedom to pose them.
To be honest, I think D.C. Direct should work on being a touch more articulated (that Captain Marvel figure is permanently stuck looking down at a funny angle), and Marvel Legends should realize some of their slimmer figures would be better served without the ninety hinges.
