Welcome to our review of the Cull Obsidian Build-a-Figure from Marvel Legends. Cull Obsidian was the buildable figure included in 6 parts across the 2nd wave of Avengers Marvel Legends in 2018. Parts were included with all 6 figures - Thor & Black Widow from Infinity War, Ant-Man and Wasp from Ant-Man and the Wasp. And with Malekith and Black Knight comic book figures.
Assembly
Like any BAF, the parts for Cull Obsidian have to be gathered from the appropriate wave of figures. For a complete Cull you will need all 6 figures of the 2nd Avengers wave, of which Thor seems to be the hardest to find (or rather the most expensive).
All parts snap and click into each other with ease, and there is no obvious paint or colour concerns between one part and another - even after buying figures from different batches and sources.
Paint & Sculpt 3/5
Let's tackle the big issue first in that this is NOT the Cull Obsidian we see in Avengers Infinity War. It seems this version of Cull Obsidian is based on some early concept work, by the time the movie hit the character had been granted much more armour.
Putting that aside, the sculpt on Cull Obsidian is fantastic, with the head extremely close to what we see on screen with its deep reptilian scales and crested head. And yet there is an expressive face within all this with a flared nose and staring eyes from under those crests.
The body is similarly detailed with scaling and folds of leathery skin overlaid with armour parts on the shoulder and down the spine area. He wears an armoured skirt for want of a better description which has what looks like scraps of cloth hanging from it.
The legs are then a mix of the scaled skin and grafted armour parts - painted either silver or darker grey in places.
If you want to strip even more armour off Cull Obsidian then the shoulder piece is removable and there is a fully sculpted arm and chest under there. You will be left with the two plug holes - one front and one back.
Cull Obsidian stands 9 inches tall, putting him taller than Thanos and Proxima Midnight. It does seem he has been scaled back vs what we see on screen as Proxima and Thanos only seem to come up to his mid-chest in the scenes I've checked? Various sources seem to agree Cull Obsidian is close to 4m tall, which would make the figure a good 3-4 inches short.
Accessories 3/5
Like the costume, Cull Obsidians accessory - his hammer - is not what we see on screen. The accessory is more rudimentary than the more complex hammer weapon he wields in New York.
This piece is cast in grey with plenty of detail and ridges, but no paint apps at all.
It is not the easiest to fit in Cull Obsidians hand, and only fits in his wider left hand grip. In the movie Cull favoured his right hand, so this choice is odd.
Articulation 4/5
Despite his bulk, Cull Obsidian weighs in with 19 points of articulation, the same as most male Marvel Legends bodies.
The head is articulated on a ball joint and can look round fully and also quite a way up. Arms sit on ball jointed shoulders with bicep swivel, double jointed elbows and pivot wrist joints. While the armour on the right arm will move with the arm as it raises, the crests on his shoulders will eventually hit the torso making the arms restricted to about a 45 degree movement upwards.
The torso boasts two joints, both close to the stomach area. The upper of the two is a ball joint that can rotate and enables him to lean backward and forward. The one underneath is less mobile and is restricted to rotations only.
The legs start with ball joints under the skirt piece. That skirt is an individual piece so it wll slide up when the legs are moved outward, but it will stop full sitting or crouching positions. Beneath the hips are a thigh swivel and double jointed knees.
The feet are sat on ankle rockers and these will align the feet to wider stances or action posing, they just need a bit of tweaking. These ankles don't feel ratcheted and I would worry over their longevity of supporting such a heavy and bulky figure. Don't leave Cull Obsidian alone on a shelf edge...
Summary
Cull Obsidian is a big bold figure that looks fantastic in terms of sculpt and paint. He is well articulated and has a pretty meaty weapon to boot. The issue is this is some way off what we saw on screen - the armour is wrong, he is too short and the weapon is inaccurate also.
All of this is disappointing and is sadly a symptom of Hasbro working with preliminary artwork and concepts in order to get the figures out on the movie release date. For me, while I do like new figures on or ahead of a movie, I'd perhaps prefer a more measured approach as we know what Hasbro can do with finished movie details - as seen in the recent "First Ten Years" sets.
Cull Obsidian is a great figure in its own right, and I award it a 3 out of 5 purely on the accuracy to the movie which is wrong in most areas. I do hope that at some point Hasbro will look favourably on amending the figure to a more accurate movie look (and height maybe) as I think he and Proxima are going to look off when eventually displayed with the upcoming Ebony Maw and Corvus Glaive as these look superb and have obviously been developed after the movie.
