Molten Man was the build-a-figure packed with the Marvel Legends Spider-Man wave in Summer 2019 to tie in with the release of the 2nd MCU standalone Spider-Man film, Far from Home. The 7 figure wave included three other figures from the movie and four comic book based figures. You had to collect a part from 6 of the releases to build Molten Man - the 7th figure, Spider-Man in his new red/black suit, did not include a BAF part.
BEWARE SPOILERS : I have reviewed this figure AFTER watching the movie so will reference scenes and plot points where they are applicable to the figure.
Assembly
Molten Man breaks down like most BAF figures into six part - a head, body, arms and legs. The Torso being the key component into which everything else snaps and connects. The fit is good and each joint lines up well. Once connected I would advise against disassembly as the joints seem to be designed as a one way connection.
The trickiest part on Molten Man for assembly is a 7th piece on his right arm. This piece of a girder from the fairground ride he absorbs slots into a socket at the top of the arm and has to be orientated the right way to insert fully and lock in place.
Paint & Sculpt 2/5
It is probably fair to say Molten Man is not universally loved as BAF with many fans disappointed in the sculpt and design of Molten Man. The look does make more sense once you have seen the movie as Molten Man is an elemental (well a projection of one) that rises in Prague and takes form by absorbing a metal statue in the square - hence that deformed undersized almost human head. This also explains the more golden look of the figure with the red hot lava running underneath.
The sticking out parts, as mentioned in our assembly point, also make sense as these are girder parts of the fairground ride he goes on to absorb as he gets larger. This variance and absorption is represented by the oversized right arm and leg on the figure - although that doesn't quite work for me vs the way Molten Man grew in the movie (but I do need a 2nd and 3rd watch of the film at this point). In terms of size, Molten Man does reach the pretty standard 8 inch height for a large BAF which makes him quite a bit taller than Mysterio and Spider-Man - just not as big as he achieved on screen.
The head, up close, has more detail than you may first think with teeth sculpted under that dripping jaw. Paints apps are quite simple across the figure with the bronze colour being the base plastic on the arms and legs and the orange painted over the top. This is reversed on the torso and head where these are cast in orange plastic with bronze over the top. Thankfully all parts match when assembled.
While the paint may be neat and match the base plastic and vice versa, for me there is too much bronze and not enough glowing lava on the figure. If you look at Molten Man on screen he is more a glowing orange lava figure than molten metal and that is how others have interpreted the character - see Lego, Funko or even Hasbro's own "budget" version. Once more you wonder how far ahead of the movie this was developed and what concepts it was built using.
Accessories N/A
There are no accessories with Molten Man, nor can I immediately think of anything I'd have iked to have seen.
Articulation 4/5
Considering his size, bulk and misshapen limbs - Molten Man is pretty agile and comes with 19 points of articulation
Head : ball jointed neck (no pivot)
Body : ball joint torso and ball joint waist
Arms : ball joint shoulder, bicep swivel, single rotating elbow, wrist pivot
Legs : ball joint hips, thigh swivel, single rotating knee, ankle rocker
The biggest barrier to articulation is not the joints themselves, but the bulk of the figure with that giant arm makes him very top heavy and prone to overbalancing. In neutral poses the left arm can sit on the floor and make a third point of balance, but when raised or pose then some balancing of the legs and torso are needed to offset the weight.
Molten Man can get a number of poses, mainly using the arms, to fight off Mysterio and Spider-Man.... I mean Night Monkey.
Summary
The Molten Man BAF is an average representation of a character that appears on screen for one scene in the movie. It is obviously also based on some concept work as the final look are not a brilliant match to what we see on screen.
That being said, as a figure he does have a pretty impressive set of articulation. With the execution overall quite visual.
The issue here for many is that he isn't a true villain, turning out to be one of Mysterio's illusions and perhaps the BAF slot might have been best served filling in a gap with another character from the film - although that would have had to be a standard sized figure like Ned, MJ or even an updated Nick Fury or Maria Hill (with Skrull head and hands for an added bonus)
I score the Molten Man BAF from Spider-Man Far from Home a just under average 2 out of 5.
