Welcome to our review of the Marvel Legends "The First Ten Years" Yellowjacket.
In 2018 Hasbro announced and would later release a selection of Marvel Legend figures under the banner of The First Ten Years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Each set, which varied from a single figure release up to 3-packs, revisited a movie from the first 10 years of the MCU and gave us reworked and new figures from the movie. From 2015 was this two pack of Ant-Man and Yellowjacket from the first Ant-Man movie.
Packaging (5/5)
For this set of "First Ten Years" releases, Hasbro have moved away from the standard Legends scooped side packaging to these sleek boxes. The window remains and is bordered by a red line and then the gloss black of the box. The overriding logo is top left and that of Marvel Studios and their "First Ten Years" logo. The Marvel Legends logo sits opposite on the right. Beneath the window are the character names with the movie represented by the movie logo bottom right, but also the circular Pym logo.
Round the left side we find a red info box containing text about Ant-Man. Each 10 Year MCU set is numbered, and Ant-Man is number 8.
"When the Government attempts to seize Hank Pym's Pym particle shrinking technology for use in warfare, Pym trusts in the help of petty criminal Scott Lang to do the Ant-Man suit and strike back against corruption. Geared up as the half-inch hero, Lang must stop Pym Industries Representative Darren Cross before he sells the shrinking technology to HYDRA and enables them to create a new army of unstoppable, shrinking secret weapons"
To the right spine is a montage piece from the MCU with images of the movie. On the back of the packaging is a movie poster image with character bio's for both Ant-Man and Yellowjacket. On the rear of the box you can also see feint panel images taken from various movies of the MCU. This montage of MCU scenes is repeated on the inner cardboard insert.
"Ant-Man : Scott Lang is enlisted by Hank Pym to suit up as Ant-Man and fight against competing forces intending to use the incredible, shrinking Pym particles for evil."
"Yellowjacket : The new lead of Pym Industries, Darren Cross, threatens to sell his highly weaponized Yellowjacket suit to the criminal organisation HYDRA."
Sculpt & Paint (5/5)
Yellowjacket is a completely new figure to the Legends line, having been overlooked in the original Ant-Man releases. The Sculpt is impressive, capturing all the intricacies of the Yellowjacket suit with the inlaid honeycomb panels. The head sculpt is two piece with translucent yellow lenses over the painted yellow eyes. The backpack is a separate piece that can be removed if you wish (although he looks quite odd without it).
The whole figure is cast in a black plastic and the only other colouring on top of this is the yellow of the suit. Each painted yellow section is bright and almost reflective like a road sign or Hi-Vis jacket. There is no issues with bleed or sloppy paint application.
The hands are a small niggle with one as a fist and one open as though firing. It would have been nice to have alternatives so there were a pair of each.
Articulation (5/5)
Yellowjacket has a full suite of articulation, 19 points altogether on the figure. The arms are ball jointed shoulders with a bicep cut underneath. Elbows are double jointed for full movement and the hands are pivot wrists. The legs follow a similar vein with ball joint hips, thigh cut, double joint knees and ankle rockers. On the main body there is articulation at the waist, as a ratchet T-joint in the chest and with a pivot ball joint at the head. Yellowjacket stands well enough even with the backpack, and most joints are tight. On my review figure one of the arms is quite loose and may be an issue in the future.
You can also add a further 8 joints on the figure with the backpack. The two upper spear pieces will rotate, although they don't bend which is a shame as they were often pivoted backwards on screen. The lower arms are jointed just under the backpack and again a little further out. A third joint on the rear arms allows the final pointed section to open up or close up on the body.
While a flight stand is not included, Yellowjacket can be posed very nicely in flight mode on an aftermarket stand.
Accessories (2/5)
The only accessory that comes with Yellowjacket is a 1.6cm version of himself. This is a a repack of the 2015 tiny Yellowjacket accessory and it is painted with distinguishable yellow panels on the black plastic. The figure doesn't stand unless you secure it down, but it is cast in a dynamic fighting pose. Sadly the Ant-Man supplied doesn't line up to this mini-figure fight and is posed to be riding an Ant, and Ant that is not included in this box set.
For me these accessories could have been left out with no detriment to the set. And if you were going to add an accessory then maybe Darren Cross' briefcase might have been a nice addition?
Summary
Accessories aside, Yellowjacket is a pretty flawless figure all round. While the pickiest of us would have liked two pairs of hands to vary the fighting pose, there isn't much else you can find to fault. The set, like most of these MCU 2-packs, comes alive when you start to pose the two of them together in their final showdown.
I score Yellowjacket a top score of 5 out of 5. After missing him out the first time round, it is so great to have him in my MCU display. To make the most of him I do urge you to get a flight stand - and then it will only be a matter of finding that perfect pose.
If you enjoyed reading the Yellowjacket review, checkout the corresponding Ant-Man review HERE.