The reviews have been coming fast and furious lately! This is a good thing, though because there has been a lot of great stuff hitting the stores! I was pretty stoked when this figure was announced. I never had the older version, and the character is just, really too cool looking to NOT have on the Spidey shelf.
My familiarity with the character is based on the stories in which Jason Macendale Jr. wore the costume. I was very surprised to learn that there have been a number of villains using the Jack O'Lantern identity. Credit goes to Marvel Fandom for the biographical information following:
"In the mainstream Marvel universe, a revolving door of individuals have held the name Jack O'Lantern throughout the years, all of them using the mantle for criminal purposes. The current man behind the mask is Owen Ward who stumbled upon a stash belonging to one of the previous holders of the identity. The individual preceding him, a man only known as Jack, was an operative of The Crime-Master prior to his death. Claiming to have killed all previous users of the Jack O'Lantern mantle, he has appointed himself as the archenemy of Agent Venom; though he outlived his nemesis and was ultimately killed by Deadpool. Other individuals that have operated under the mantle of the Jack O'Lantern in the main Marvel universe have included:
Jason Macendale, Jr., a mercenary and ex-C.I.A. agent who created the Jack O'Lantern identity but abandoned it when he became the fourth person to operate as the Hobgoblin.
Steven Levins, another mercenary who took up the mantle as a member of The Skeleton Crew before vanishing. Levins later resurfaced during the Civil War, working as a "hero hunter" for Baron Zemo's Thunderbolts before he was murdered by The Punisher; his corpse was later possessed by Lucifer and later resurrected as a clone by the Jackal.
After Levins vanished, a Jack O'Lantern working for Norman Osborn appeared in New York, calling himself "Mad Jack". It was revealed that Mad Jack was actually two people working in unison: Daniel Berkhart, the main performer, and Maguire Beck. Berkhart would go back to using the Mysterio name, while Beck committed crimes as Mad Jack until she was arrested.
After the death of Jason Macendale Jr., an unnamed man stole both his name and his identity as the Jack O'Lantern and as the Hobgoblin; this version of Jack was captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. during the events of Secret War, and later released.
During the Dark Reign, Steven Levins' brother was released from police custody by Norman Osborn after committing a murder as part of a satanic ritual to gain supernatural powers."
Courtesy Marvel Fandom.
Let's have some fun as we discuss the Hasbro Marvel Legends Spider-Man Retro Collection: Jack O'Lantern!
Accessories: 5/10
Jack doesn't come with a lot, but what he comes with is pretty cool. He has a detachable pumpkin grenade, which can plug onto his belt, a pair of fists, one grenade holding hand, and one open/action hand. He also has the one-man hovercraft, which features a detachable tip that plugs into the bottom of the board. The removable piece allows you to balance Jack on the board on a flat surface. The board has the marble effect to give it a metallic look, but unfortunately, it just looks like a piece of gold plastic. A wash over the board to help highlight the fan blades on the bottom and give the top deck a bit of wear might have helped. It's a neat idea but just falls a bit short for me.
Appearance: 9/10
For me, personally, Hasbro did an excellent job with the look of this figure. Yes, the gloves and boots could have used a wash for shading, but overall, that's my only complaint. The sculpted chain mail torso has an outstanding metallic green paint job that appears to change color as you move the figure. The light reflecting off the sculpt and metallic paint makes this design really pop. Most impressive though, is the head sculpt. The pumpkin mask is highly detailed with a wash over the orange paint that really brings out the details in the design. His eyes and mouth have a yellow background, which is lightly translucent. I say that because the flame on the back of his head is a translucent orange/red and when you hold it under a light, the eyes and mouth have a glow to them. I feel like you could pop this head off and put it on a Headless Horseman inspired figure and it would fit right in. The orange pumpkin grenades don't have any design to them, which matches up with the comic look and the way they are mounted on his belt is drawn directly from the comics as well. I've always said that sometimes simple is better and the simple design of this character translates exceptionally well into figure form. I'm very pleased with how Jack O'Lantern turned out and even more impressed with how nicely he fits into my Spider-Man Villains display.
Articulation: 6/10
The standard Hasbro engineering applies as usual. However, there are a few limitations because of design. His head turns side to side, but because of the shape and his collar Jack can barely look down and not upward at all. The butterfly joints work well enough, though forward rotation is better than backward. His arms can raise out to a T pose, but not much further. They can fully rotate 360 degrees though. The bicep swivel is unhindered, and the double-jointed elbows bend fully in, even with the glove shape as a potential impediment. The wrists on all of his hands swivel and hinge without issue. His upper diaphragm joint bends forward reasonably well and backward to a small degree. His waist swivels, and the belt is actually attached to the upper torso, which helps to hide the flat surfaces when you turn the figure. His legs can split better than I anticipated and will kick forward to about 90 degrees. The upper thigh cuts work fine, and the double-jointed knees bend in very well. There is a boot cut, which functions as it should and doesn't look terribly awkward when posed. The ankles hinge well enough, but the pivot on my right foot is fairly tight. Little bit of heat helped immensely.
Affordability: 7/10
Jack O'Lantern retails for $25.99 on BBTS and $24.99 on Hasbro Pulse. The figure is still available for order on both sites. Even though I'm not overly impressed with the hoverboard, the fact is that the figure is packed in a retro style package with a sizeable accessory like that. In days past, this might have pushed the figure up to the $30 range from Hasbro. The fact that it doesn't and can be bought for the regular retail price is a good thing.
Overall, for such a simple figure, I find myself really enjoying Jack O'Lantern. As mentioned, I don't know a lot about the character. I've read a couple comic books that he's appeared in, so this wasn't really a "must have" figure for me. That being said, I'm very glad I did break down and get him because posing him on my villains' display looks incredible. I'm looking forward to setting up some pictures with him and Spider-Man. With that in mind, in spite of the few shortcomings, I'm feeling good about giving the Hasbro Marvel Legends Spider-Man Retro Collection Jack O'Lantern figure a solid:
7 out of 10 ToyBoxes
I'll admit that this is likely a figure for die-hard Spider-Man fans, especially for those who want the most complete collection possible. For the casual fan though, he's a good looking addition that doesn't break the bank. Thank you, as always, and until next time... GEEK OUT!!!