Avengers: Age of Ultron was the first opportunity for the Marvel Legends team to bring us the original MCU Avengers in their relatively new Infinite Series relaunch of the Legends line. Across a wave of figures and an exclusive box set we could assemble our core 6 Avengers, but not the two new additions in the movie - Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. While Wanda would go on to get her own figure for Civil War, Quicksilver would be a gap in the collection. The annual revisit of certain movies overlooked Pietro for both the First Ten Years series and the 80th Anniversary, it would take until 2021 and the Infinity Saga releases for Quicksilver to finally make it to the Legends format.
Like the other Infinity Saga figures, Quicksilver is packed in a squared-off black package with a front window, beneath which sits the Infinity Saga logo and character nameplate. At the top of the window, we have the movie logo and then the two sides are decorated in a foiled montage of key characters from the first three phases of the MCU. These two panels are slightly different views of the same wider piece and are the same on every release.
On the back of the box is the movie poster for Age of Ultron, next to this is the briefest of background texts that reads:-
"Quicksilver's ultra-high-speed capabilities are a major asset to the Avengers in the fight against Ultron."
Quicksilver is a full new sculpt in the Legends series and replicates his look at the end of the movie when he gears up to work with the Avengers to defend Sokovia from Ultron. This is realised as a textured sports shirt cast in grey with blue and silver pattern designs applied as paintwork. The trousers are a dark grey, cast in the base colour, and with no paint application despite the inclusion within the sculpt of some chevron patterning down the thigh sections. The costume is finished in a pair of grey trainers with bright green soles. All of this is, as you would expect, accurate to the movie as Hasbro have had plenty of reference info considering this is a 6-year old movie by this point. The build and physique for Quicksilver are also accurate.
The paintwork is messy in places, and on my review figure, I had spots of the darker blue trim across the grey of the shirt. The trainer soles too are not a uniform coverage and have bled onto the sides of the trainers.
The head sculpt for Quicksilver has been a point of contention since it was announced, and it is one of those figures that arguably looks better in hand than on the promo images. The likeness to Aaron Taylor Johnson is ok, without being mind-blowing. While the general features are good, the head is let down by the deco. While photo-real printing has been used, the use is more generic and doesn't include the darker rings around Quicjsilvers eyes, the darker sideburns, and rather than a few days stubble he has been given a neat five o'clock shadow.
The hair is the worse element as it is sloppily painted with a dark base and contrasting off-white over the top. Pietro's hair colouring is subtler than this and needed to be sculpted with finer strands and treated with more variation from the roots to the almost white straggled hair we see during the final Sokovia scenes.
Quicksilver arrives with a pair of gloves clenched fist hands which can be swapped out for a second pair which I assume are designed for running poses. These alternatives are odd in terms of posing with each of the hands looking like he is imitating a gun with two fingers outstretched. I may be missing something here (let me know if I am) but in most of the running scenes, we see during Age of Ultron there is a very simple open hand gesture which is what we really needed.
In terms of his superpowers, Quicksilver does not lend himself to accessories, weapons, or even powered effects. Ideally, he should have followed a similar format to Odin with an additional head sculpt, and could have done with - as mentioned above - a better selection of alternative hands.
What we actually get is quite odd in that Quicksilver is packed with three broken parts of an Ultron Sentry. We have a chest section, an arm, and a head with the spinal cord still attached. These are very detailed considering they are background pieces and are cast in silver with paintwork added to add depth to the machinery and weathering to enhance the damaged look.
Quicksilver cannot hold any of these pieces, nor can they be positioned anywhere other than on the floor as diorama pieces. They feel disjointed and add little value to the set and will end up in a bits box most likely. Considering Hasbro went to the trouble of sculpting what is essentially half of an Ultron Sentry - my preference would have been to move this to a two-pack with an articulated Sentry, even a limited articulated one with breakaway parts - even the crawling legless Sentry we see in one scene would have been a big step up on what we get.
Articulation for a character whose whole power is built on running was always going to be key and thankfully Quicksilver does deliver on that part. We have 19 points of articulation in total across a fully pinless body which of course allows aesthetic enhancements without sacrificing posing.
The arms and legs are unencumbered by any robes or armour and are free for full movement for sitting, crouching and running. You will need a foot stand for the more dynamic sprinting poses and thankfully a lot of the aftermarket clear stands fit snugly enough in the footpeg hole to keep him posed with the weight essentially on one leg. The joints are all stable enough o hold that running position although over time the hips may loosen as they are the only lower-limb joint without a ratchet motion.
Quicksilver is a character who I have certainly missed in my MCU display for as long as I have personally collected Legends (circa 2017) and once again I applaud Hasbro for not just focusing on future projects but looking back regularly enough to fill in gaps in our Cinematic Universe collections.
Out of the entirety of the Infinity Series, he was perhaps my most wanted but is perhaps the weakest in terms of execution. The body and costume are great, but the paintwork is sloppy and the head does not live up to the standards the Legends series has set recently with likenesses especially when we consider the other Infinity Saga sculpts like Happy, Odin, Stand, and Iron-Man himself.
The accessory choice is also strange, but I guess I am nitpicking around the Ultron Sentry parts as Hasbro could have simply excluded them and sold us a Quicksilver with a spare pair of hands at the same £25+ price point. This is likely the best we will get for Pietro Maximoff unless he makes a dramatic MCU return, and does fill in the Age of Ultron lineup - if only they'd consider a Wanda from the same movie to round it out?
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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...