Welcome to our review of the Marvel Legends First Ten Years Infinity War 3-Pack. The set, part of the celebration of the First Ten Years of the MCU, was released in 2018 and is the 10th set of the series and is themed around Avengers : Infinity War. The set comprises of 6 inch scale action figures of Iron-Man in his Mk50 armour, Thanos and Doctor Strange. In this review we look at Thanos.
Packaging 4/5
The 10th set of the 10 Years of the MCU releases brings us right up to date with an Infinity War based pack containing the main protagonists of the battle on Titan - Iron-Man, Thanos and Doctor Strange.
Like all the 10 Years of MCU packs the usual scooped sided Marvel Legends pack is abandoned in favour of a standard box with the Marvel Studios logo prominent on the top left. A smaller Legends logo sits to the side of this.
The characters are visible in a red framed window, and the character names sit within this as Iron-Man Mark L, Thanos and Doctor Strange. A large Avengers "A" then breaks the frame in the centre and the movie logo for Infinity War is then placed bottom right.
The top flap of the box features a neat grey Marvel Studios The First Ten Years print, similar to the Black Series shadow text.
The two side spines carry further images and info. The right spine carries some images from Infinity War in individual panels as well as the movies logo. These line up with the other 10 Years releases to make a full montage of the MCU as seen from 2008 to 2018.
The left spine has a bold red panel into which is written a synopsis of Infinity War. We also see the numbering for this box as Legends 10 at the base of this panel.
"A THREAT HAS EMERGED FROM THE COSMOS AS THANOS, A RUTHLESS WARRIOR, PLANS TO COLLECT ALL OF THE INFINITY STONES. JOINED BY HIS FORMIDABLE ALLIES, HE WILL BE NEAR-UNSTOPPABLE AT ACHIEVING HIS GOAL. THE AVENGERS, THE GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, DOCTOR STRANGE, AND SPIDER-MAN MUST JOIN FORCES AND FIGHT SIDE BY SIDE TO STOP THANOS WHILE THE FATE OF THE EARTH AND THE UNIVERSE LAYS IN THE BALANCE."
The rear of the box has a picture of the movie promo poster to the right and next to this three panels, one for each of the characters included in the box. These are headed by a circular panel and a portrait of each character.
"THANOS
The Avengers are brought face to face with the cunning, intelligent, and fierce warlord Thanos, a ruthless cosmic threat consumed with saving the universe from itself. To stop him, the Avengers must join forces to bring down this villain who will stop at nothing to collect the six Infinity stones."
Paint & Sculpt 4/5
This is the 2nd version of Thanos released in 2018, and this one arrives with the grimacing head we saw through the film - giving Thanos a real menace in his look. The head sculpt is excellent with definition to the chin and lines of the face with those piercing eyes and growling white teeth.
The colour tone of the head is a single colour with a touch of wash to bring out the depth and shadows. The lips and teeth are then painted, as are the eyes.
The body remains the same as the BAF from the Avengers wave with brilliant gold trim around the top of the tunic and a meshed textured effect down the rest of the torso to a golden belt. The trousers are a deep brown colour in a matt finish. There is then some more golden trimmed knee armour and knee high black boots.
The arms are in the same purple skin tone as the head with lined detail down each side. On Thanos' left hand is the Infinity Gauntlet. This is a deep rich bronze with the various Infinity Gems picked out across the knuckle area. It is sculpted in an open handed pose, almost ready to snap those fingers and bring about the destruction of half the Universe.
The big issue with this figure is of course it is a much superior figure to the one released as a Build-a-Figure just a few weeks earlier. Fans will feel this revamp should have been the original BAF - or the choice should have been given by announcing both releases at the start of the Infinity War releases.
These images show how stark the contrast is and how improved the 3-Pack version is with a better skin tone, crisper Gold on the armour and a better looking Infinity Gauntlet. In fact the BAF looks like a substandard product next to its slightly newer counterpart.
This new Thanos also comes with a 2nd swap out head. This is a more thoughtful looking Thanos, and is sculpted and painted the same way - with the eyes this time looking up to the sky.
For those who are interested, the heads are of course transferable between both versions - although the skin tone is far from a match and some repainting will be needed.
Accessories N/A
Thanos has no accessories to speak of. There are also none that immediately spring to mind other than the Gauntlet which he is already wearing.
Articulation 5/5
Like the BAF release, this Thanos has 19 points of articulation and is pretty nimble in his posing considering he stands nearly 8.5 inches tall.
The chunky legs have ball jointed hips, thigh swivel, double jointed knees and ankle rockers. This lets Thanos crouch and even kneel, although Thanos does not kneel for anyone. Being so big and stocky Thanos stands perfectly well.
Arms are ball jointed at the shoulder too with a bicep swivel and then a single elbow. Each wrist is pivoted even on the Gauntlet hand.
The head is jointed on a ball and socket with a further pivot to let the head look up and down. Thanos has a T-Joint ratchet chest joint as well as rotating waist to allow the upper body to rotate as well as rotating.
Summary
This is a hugely improved Thanos who looks fantastic posed with any of the Infinity War figures - whether fighting Iron-Man and Star-Lord on Titan or facing down Cap and Vision in Wakanda. Yes, it is a slap in the face for those of us who invested heavily in the first BAF version (circa £125) but we can't really score him on that.
If you need a Thanos then I'd aim for this version for your collection. If you have the original then I'd look out for picking this upgrade up at some stage - at the right price of course.
I can find very little to fault on this Thanos other than the way he was released, and I score him a 4 out of 5.
Read about the other figures in this Infinity War 3-pack. Check out Doctor Strange and Iron-Man in their own reviews. Or visit our full Marvel Legends archive.