Heimdall is a brand new addition to the Marvel Legends MCU line - a character never before immortalised in plastic despite his numerous appearances in the MCU from the original Thor movie right through to Infinity War. Heimdall is part of the 3rd Avengers wave of 2019, a wave made up entirely of MCU characters and with an Endgame Thor as the Build-a-Figure. Heimdall is packed with one of Thor's legs.
"Allfathers. Let the dark magic flow through me one last time."
Packaging 3/5
Heimdall arrives in packaging emblazoned with the Infinity War logo and using the same colour scheme of light and dark blue that we saw with the other Infinity War Legends. In reality this is more accurately a Thor Ragnarok Heimdall, as he was not wearing his cloak in the Infinity War scenes - but the figure does cross both movies as we will see.
The side image is of a particularly fierce looking Heimdall - again from Ragnarok rather than Infinity War - and this image is repeated on the reverse of the pack with the briefest of text that really means nothing anymore considering the destruction of the Rainbow Bridge and the original Asgard.
"Guardian of Bifrost Bridge, Heimdall uses his all-seeing eyes to protect Asgard at all costs"
Paint & Sculpt 4/5
The head sculpt for Heimdall is very good likeness to Idris Elba and uses face print technology to achieve this. By printing the face the eyes in particular are hugely enhanced vs hand painting, and this can be seen here with the glowing gold pupils printed into Heimdalls eyes - something that would have not been achievable by hand.
The hair is sculpted separate to the head, and there is a visible join mark close up. The various bangs and dreads snake down the figures back and the whole piece is painted the same dark grey/black as the beard.
Heimdall's cloak covers a lot of the body. It is cast in a softer plastic and is an individual piece cast in brown and with red markings added and a silver clasp painted as a fastening. The cloak is removable, but you do have to pop off Heimdall's head first.
Under the cloak is a fully sculpted body and the outfit Heimdall is wearing on the ship in Infinity War. It is coloured in a deep red with brown boots, gauntlets and gloves. There is a detailed belt piece across the middle and if you look closely against the deep red of the outfit you will find battle damage including a slash across his stomach and a gash on one arm.
The only criticism of the body is that it is a little slim in stature for Heimdall and without the cloak the hair does float a bit too high above the shoulders. I do not think many people will display him in this configuration.
Accessories 3/5
The only accessory included is his sword, Hofund. This is a re-use from the Ragnarok 2-Pack of Thor and Valkyrie. That version of the sword was made with very soft plastic, and I am glad this one is quite a bit stiffer and therefore less warped - although it is not perfect.
It has however lost some paint apps so what should be a gold metallic hilt and pommel are now a matt dark yellow. And the dark brown leather grip is now the same red as Heimdall's outfit.
The weapon can be held in either hand. Heimdall is right handed, but the sword works best in the left hand if you have the cloak in play. There is a very clever and almost hidden feature if you want the sword shouldered. A thin gap has been left between the sculpted hood of the cloak and the main cloak - a gap that is designed specifically for Hofund to slip through. Very innovative and actually my favourite look for the figure.
Articulation 4/5
Heimdall comes with 18 points of articulation, pretty standard fare for a Marvel Legend.
Head : ball joint pivot neck
Body : torso ball joint
Arms : ball joint shoulders, bicep swivel, double joint elbows, wrist pivot
Legs : ball joint hops, thigh swivel, double joint knees, ankle rocker
With the cloak in play some of the arm movement is lost, but without it Heimdall is as mobile as you like with the ability to kneel and adopt a number of fighting stance with Hofund. I wonder what a soft good cloak would have done for posing and allowing the arm movement to be opened up?
Summary
I am so pleased that Heimdall is finally a Marvel Legends release, and hopefully from here we can go on and get the original armoured Heimdall as seen in the earlier Thor movies.
The figure looks brilliant and is cleverly designed so looks for both Ragnarok and Infinity War can be obtained. There is a lot of detail in the body including the battle wear which is subtle but well executed, and the only gripe is he does look a bit think without his cloak.
The sword is poor in relation to the figure and looks and feels cheap, even though the plastic has had an upgrade since its last outing with Thor and Valkyrie. I do like the clever touch with the cloak and the ability to have the sword slung over his shoulder.
All in all Heimdall is high scoring in most areas, and in total I award him a 4 out of 5 rating.
