Doctor Strange fans have been quite blessed in recent months thanks to his apperances in What If?, then in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and now his upcoming sequel movie, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. This also means we've had a lot of Stephen Strange Marvel Legends figures of late, this being the latest - a traditional MCU Doctor Strange from the Multiverse of Madness released in March 2022 as part of the Multiverse of Madness wave with Rintrah as the build-a-figure.
Like the other MoM releases in the wave, the packaging uses the standard Marvel Legends format with a deep red hue to the logo and character nameplate and a multi-colour backdrop to the side art, the figure backing card, and the rear art - with the window design of the Sanctum Santorum phased into the image. The rear of the box carries the checklist for Rintrah with this standard Doctor Strange figure being the only one of the wave to come without any parts. We also get a short piece of relatively 'non-spoilery' background text.
"Doctor Stephen Strange is Earth's mightiest sorcerer, battle-hardened and reckoning with his lonely place in the Multiverse after the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame."
Hasbro has quite a bit of Stephen Strange body parts to hand now dating back to the original 2016 figures, the Infinity War release, Strange Supreme from What If?, the No Way Home release, and the Supreme Strange figure from the Multiverse of Madness. And yet, this Doctor Strange figure is a full new sculpt and reflects the subtle changes to the outfit we see on screen. While the torso looks similar to the pattern on Defender Strange, it is different and now includes an inserted and fixed in place Eye of Agamotto that is cast in a translucent amber colour.
The belt is intricate and has a sculpted sling ring as well as a similar circular sash tie that we saw on the No Way Home version. The lower robes are softer plastic and encase the top half of the legs which then go on to finish in a pair of angular patterned boots.
The costume colouring starts with the base plastic - blue in most cases - and over this, we see applications of a lighter blue at certain panels, and a very neatly applied thin red trim for the majority of the upper robes. The belt is leather brown, as are the bracers, with a grey trim, red tied rope and a tasselled brown sash that also features a painted silver clip.
As we have seen with other MCU Alumni like Stark and Captain America, Hasbro does tend to improve figure by figure on the likeness of a character and while I felt the No Way Home release was pretty spot on, this new figure goes a step further by including an ever so slight smirk to Strange which brings the sculpt to life much more. The photo-real decor does a great job on the eyes, mouth, facial hair and some shading around the head.
The hair is an individual piece added over the top of the head, cast in brown and with the white at the side of the head added in dry-brush strokes. Including the hair as a second part means there is no paint bleed where the two meet, nor is there any discernable gap that can be an issue when the heads are done as a two-part piece.
Stephen comes with the Cloak of Levitation, and this has had a full do-over also. It is cast in a deep red and now is shaped to sit over the figure's neck and shoulders and does away with the peg socket at the rear to hold it in place. This works pretty well and I like the more flamboyant shaping on this cape vs previous versions as it flows out to either side.
There is limited paint across the cloak relying instead on the texture of the plastic with a patchwork design on the outer section and a more intricate textured lining. Paint is added at the clasp sitting in two halves just under the neck line with gold added here to accentuate this detail.
The magic shield effect hands seen with the No Way Home release, and used again with Wong from this same wave, are included for Stephen to utilise. These see the magic circular effects cast in translucent orange and pre-attached to the hands that then swap out with the ones included.
You also get a third pair of hands with the fingers posed as though spell casting, giving you a fair bit of choice over how Strange is displayed. Each hand is cast in the flesh colour and the ones without the magical effects do appear to show the scarring on the back of each hand.
While all this choice is great, the right hand feels a little too samey with two spell-casting hands and a third hand with the spell itself attached. I would have preferred a more neutral choice for the right hand - either another clenched fist as we see with the right or a more natural open hand.
Doctor Strange has 20 points of articulation, gaining a torso t-joint and waist swivel on this iteration of the character. The arms are very expressive, particularly thanks to the double joint elbows that allow the arms to reach a wider range of movement. There are no discernable butterfly shoulder joints, but these are not really missed in terms of overall movement and most spell poses and dynamic stances are available - the cloak being the only real blocker as raising the arms does push this up and out of the way.
While the head does look to be jointed at the base and top of the neck, the lower joint is static and locked in place but there remains sufficient movement in the upper joint for Stephen to give that 'cocked head' look.
The lower leg articulation is, like most of the other Strange figures to date, constricted by the lower robes. While these robes are a softer plastic they can't really support much movement from the upper part of the legs and while the double-jointed knees could allow some sitting or kneeling positions there is not enough give at the hip to bring the legs out far enough to coordinate these movements. That leaves you with pretty standard leg positions, but the joints are all secure enough that once the figure is posed he will stay solidly in that position.
As a new body, it is also worth mentioning that this new Doctor Strange is fully pinless even with the double joint elbows and knees. This does wonders for the aesthetics overall.
Doctor Strange is definitely filling in the Iron-Man role presently both in the MCU and in terms of output of figures from Hasbro over the last year and a bit. This may be the 5th we have had since the start of 2021, but I would argue it is probably the best to date with the cloak, in particular, being reworked into something more dynamic - and as we see it on the screen. The magic FXs hands will not be everyone's cup of tea, but I do like the new Eye of Agamotto and how that is integrated with the figure but retains a slightly transparent overall look.
The Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness lineup looks like it has avoided the usual issue of inaccurate elements having been produced off either concept or preliminary designs, and the figures line up great together on display - with demand likely to go up as the movie hits our screens. Am sure we have more Doctor Strange to come - variants or not - but for now, this is up there as the best of them and certainly would not be significantly out of place if you were filling in a Stephen Strange size hole from Infinity War or Endgame.
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About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...