Welcome back to Dan's ToyBox. I'm pretty excited to bring you this action figure review as The Scorpion has always been one of my favorite Spider-Man villains. I was really happy when Hasbro released the previous version as part of the 2019 Molten Man BAF Wave. (Hasbro Marvel Legends Spider-Man wave 10, featuring figures from "Spider-Man: Far From Home".) There were two major problems with that release though, which have been rectified with this version! I'll discuss them below.
MacDonald "Mac" Gargan was a private investigator hired by J. Jonah Jameson to find out how Peter Parker was able to get all of his amazing pictures of Spider-Man. Thanks to his trusty Spider-Sense, Peter was able to avoid each of Gargan's attempts to follow him. Frustrated, Jameson offered Gargan $10,000 to be the subject of an experiment. Dr. Farley Stillwell, a researcher in animal mutation, created the experiment, which would provide the subject/recipient the characteristics of an animal. Unfortunately, the procedure led to the loss of Gargan's sanity, and instead, created the super-powered criminal known as the Scorpion. Over the years Scorpion and Spider-Man have battled one another many times, with the web slinger prevailing. Ironically, many of these encounters were the result of Spider-Man protecting J. Jonah Jameson, as Gargan's hatred for him ranked even higher than that for the web head. After being introduced as Mac Gargan in Amazing Spider-Man #19, (Sept. 1964), The Scorpion first appeared the following month in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #20 (Oct. 1964). He was created by the iconic duo of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and would go on to be a recurring threat both as Scorpion and later as the host of the Venom Symbiote.
Let's dive right into our discussion of Accessories, Appearance, Articulation, and Affordability before giving Scorpion his overall rating of zero to ten ToyBoxes!
ACCESSORIES
None which equals... ZERO. Too bad, because extra hands would have been really nice Hasbro. Really nice. How difficult it must have been to add an extra fist and an extra open hand. Perhaps they ran out of green plastic? Zero grade isn't going to help the rating here, Hasbro. I don't consider the tail to be an accessory because it's an integral part of the costume.
Images © Dan's ToyBox 2022
APPEARANCE
Hasbro did hit a home run here. The look is accurate to the character and the animated series source material as well. During his career, Scorpion both had a full-face mask and the open design this figure sports. As mentioned earlier, the Scorpion released in 2019 had a couple of issues, the first of which was the design of the mask. He was painted as though he were wearing the full mask, yet upon close inspection, we can clearly see the lines around his cheeks and nose where the mask was supposed to end. That was disappointing and it's nice to see the Retro version with the bare mouth/nose look. The paint apps for his flesh tones, mouth, and teeth are really nicely applied and even his eyes have care taken with their application. I'm also impressed with the darker green detail around the eyes on his mask as well as the design of the paint applications on the rest of it. Aside from the mask though, the silver stinger and some points of darker green on the legs, tail mechanism, and gloves are really all of the paint we get. The lines are clean though, which is good, and I really didn't find any issues or concerns with fuzzy lines or anything not lining up as it should This looks like the Scorpion should look and is my go-to display piece now, on the Spidey-Villains shelf. (If I'm being honest, I do prefer the darker greens on the previous figure, but this one stands out so much better.) Scorpion earns a solid 9 out of 10 for Appearance.
Images © Dan's ToyBox 2022
ARTICULATION
There is some great news when it comes to the articulation on this figure... and unfortunately, some not so great news. Starting at the top, Scorpion's head is on a ball hinge, which allows for terrific range of motion, looking up and down very well, side to side very easily and a small amount of head tilt. Sadly, the head on mine is a bit loose, not in terms of falling off, but rather, it tilts too easily and doesn't always sit the way I want it to. However, a bit of nail polish or even a small dab of super glue will help create a layer for better friction to reduce the wobbly-ness. The shoulders are on the old body style and will raise out to a nice T pose, with full 360-degree rotation. However, there are no butterfly joints which limits forward/backward range. The bicep swivel works fine, and the double-jointed elbows do bend in nicely. Both wrists hinge and pivot easily as well. I was excited to see the diaphragm joint is the new ball joint which should increase range. SHOULD being the operative word. It does not. There is very little forward crunch, a bit of side-to-side tilt, and because of the design of the tail and housing, almost no backward bend. I had hoped that there would be a waist crunch to help with the bending, but alas, there is only a waist swivel which works fine, but doesn't really look the best. I think I'm more disappointed simply because that deep forward bend when Scorpion is attacking with his tail is such a dynamic pose and we really can't get that here. Yes, there are ways to pose the figure and photo angles to help simulate the look, but the lack of a really good diaphragm crunch hurts. His legs will split out decently enough and can kick forward nicely, though not back as much. The upper thigh cut is good enough and the double-jointed knees do bend in very nicely. Scorpion also has great ankle motion with hinge and pivot. NOW... the BEST point(s) of articulation on this figure which were left out on the 2019 version have been brought to life here! Scorpion's tail is on a BENDY WIRE and can be manipulated into some incredible positions!!! A coiled look to trap Spider-Man, curled up and over his shoulder, arcing around his body... all of these are available and then some. This is the tail we wanted in 2019 and it was worth the wait! I can say that the bendy tail makes up for a lot of the other articulation problems and thanks to it alone, Scorpion's grade moves up from my initial reaction of 6 to a 7.5 out of 10 for Articulation.
Images © Dan's ToyBox 2022
AFFORDABILITY
Hasbro continues to dumbfound and frustrate me with their pricing structure. I ordered The Scorpion from BBTS for the retail price of $25.99. Yes, I know that price is right in line with the Legends pricing structure, but typically those other figures have some accessories packed with them. Now, you might say that the tail helps make up for the price difference and though I could be inclined to agree with that, I'm not going to. If they can do this (bendy tail) for the figure now, it's something that should have been done initially, oh and we paid less for the other version, though it contained a large chunk of plastic in the form of the BAF piece. I'm actually disappointed with being forced to pay more for less. So, sorry, Hasbro, add a couple more hands and maybe $25.99 would have been worth it. As it stands, this figure gets a 4 out of 10 for Affordability.
Overall, though I'm not happy with the lack of accessories, the price, and some of the articulation limitations, I actually really do like this figure. He looks terrific on my display, poses well with Spider-Man and that bendy tail makes him a much more fun figure to play around with. Taking everything into consideration and trying to be as objective as possible though, I will say he's just slightly above average and as such earns:
6.5 ToyBoxes out of 10
If you are a fan of the Retro styling, then this Scorpion is a solid enough addition to your collection. Thank you for stopping by Dan's ToyBox today, hope you enjoyed our discussion on the Hasbro Marvel Legends Retro Spider-Man: The Scorpion Action Figure. Until next time... GEEK OUT!!!