Is that Chris Pratt or Daniel Stern?
Hasbro continues it's trend of excellent detail and sculpting in the Thor Love and Thunder wave with the Star-Lord Action Figure. There are some amazing things to like about this figure and some real head scratching features as well. From the sunny shores of Daytona Beach Florida, Dan's ToyBox is excited to bring you our latest action figure review.
While researching the characer, I learned quite a few interesting tidbits about Peter Quill. The original character debuted in Marvel Preview #4, January 1976, created by Steve Englehart and Steve Gan. Peter was the son of Meredith Quill and J'son of Spartoi. Englehart's plans for the character were never realized as he left Marvel before they could be implemented and this origin and story were then identified as having happened in an alternate universe due to multiple revisions to the character throughout the ensuing years. The convoluted history of Peter Quill is too much to detail herein, but I recommend checking out both the Star-Lord Wikipedia and the Peter Quill (Earth 616) page at Marvel.Fandom.com for more information on the space-faring swashbuckling hero!
As regular readers know, Dan's ToyBox uses an overall rating system based on Accessories, Appearance, Articulation, and Affordability. After discussing these categories, we give the figure an overall rating of zero to five Toyboxes, with zero being the worst and five being a "must purchase." So, without further ado, let's take flight with Star-Lord!!!
The Marvel Legends Thor: Love and Thunder Star-Lord Action Figure comes with Star-Lord's pistols and the Korg Build a Figure's Right Arm. We've seen these pistols multiple times previously, but these do have some paint applications on them which look good enough but aren't really spectacular. I would have liked at least an extra pair of hands because those that he came with are posed for weapon holding, with trigger fingers. On the plus side, the tabs on his legs do hold the guns rather nicely and the trench coat helps keep them in place. Rather disappointing lack of additional hands or alternate head even, so no A for Accessories this time around. Sorry Star-Lord.
As has been pleasantly surprising, yet typical of this wave, the level of detail packed in the figure's appearance is really fantastic. There is a lot of sculpting going on here, the paint applications are surprisingly strong and the amount of detail in the figure is really great to see. I do have one kind of major complaint with the figure though... Marvel's photo realism dropped the ball big time here... the figure is supposed to be based on Christ Pratt, but looks an awful lot like Marv, Daniel Stern's character in "Home Alone." So, evidently, Star-Lord has taken on work as a "Wet Bandit." That is about the most disappointing aspect of the figure for me though because the rest of it is done exceptionally well! Starting with the sculpt... I will admit that from certain angles, you can see Pratt's features, but dead on... not so much. That being said, the detail in his hair sculpt looks great and there is even some texturing in his beard. The trench coat, vest, pants and boots are all amazingly well done. The trench coat itself is remarkable and I was stunned when I even saw the four round grommets on the back. At first I thought... "What are those?" and then when I looked closer I realized that it was additional sculpted detail which I never would have expected to see. There are numerous belts and straps on the coat as well and the blue strip down the front left side is the only painted detail on the coat, but it is applied very cleanly. The silver paint applications for his belt buckle, sleeve deco, boot buckles, vest and bandolier strap details is also very neatly applied and looks really solid. There are shoulder and forearm plates strapped onto his jacket sleeves which are molded in a darker brown, but have gold paint highlights on them and the gold even has a light rust wash over top to give them a worn look. Even the vest underneath has exceptional paint applications, right down to the incredible detail on the gold zipper and strap buckles. The wrinkles sculpted into the pants give them an authentic look and really, my only concern is that the upper thighs are a glossier brown while the rest of the legs are more of a matte look. Unfortunately, that is very noticeable and looks odd when studying the figure. I really like the way the boots are done. The front are a lighter brown while the straps, and wrap around pieces, along with the actual feet are a darker brown and, as mentioned earlier, the buckles on the front of the boot straps are painted a nice matte silver. Overall, this is a very aesthetically pleasing figure and in spite of my minor gripes, regarding the facial features I really like how it looks. I can easily give Star-Lord an A for Appearance.
Even with the trench coat, Star-Lord's articulation is pretty solid. Starting with the head, it will turn left and right easily and can look down a bit. Due to the hair sculpt though, he cannot look up very far. His left arm can raise out to a nice T pose, but due to the sculpt of the shoulder piece on his right, it is a bit more limited. The shoulders will rotate a full 360 degrees though, which is nice. Both bicep swivels work very well, even with the should piece straps around the arms. Amazingly, the double-jointed elbows bend in quite far. I was expecting more limitation due to the sculpt of the figure and was pleased to see how much bend I could get out of them. The elbows are pinless too, which is a nice feature for the figure. Both hands hinge and pivot easily as well. My left arm was a bit loose, but thankfully, not floppy. The next big shock I received was that his abdominal crunch worked really nice, even with the vest piece! I was able to get a very nice bend to the figure. His waist has a nice, easy swivel which works very well. I thought that the coat would prohibit the leg splits, but even moving it out of the way the legs can still only hit maybe a forty-five degree angle. Both legs can kick forward quite well, though initially my right leg didn't want to move forward and remain in place. I did finally get it to ratchet properly and now have freedom of movement in that leg. the upper thigh cuts would have been hidden nicely, but for the difference in color between the thighs and upper legs. The double-jointed knees bend deeply, but not far enough for his heel to reach his back side. There is a very nice boot cut, which is very well hidden and the ankles both have fantastic hinge and rocker motion, though the hinge will move downward, much further than it will upwards. Though there are some limitations to the articulation, I was surprised by how much better Star-Lord moved than I thought he would, thus earning him an A for Articulation.
I was able to find my figure at a Books A Million store in the Volusia Mall, here in Daytona and paid $26.99 for him. I expected to pay a few dollars more than I would have in a regular box store and so the price point didn't really bother me as it is in line with the normal range. I'm sure I could have paid less elsewhere but he's becoming a bit more difficult to find and so I figured grabbing him now might be a good idea. I do hope, at some point, that we'll see figure prices start to drop again, but I'm also a realist and understand that's not likely to happen. It likely means that I, along with other collectors, might just start trimming down what we typically purchase. Overall though, I am sufficiently pleased with this figure to give him a final rating of:
3 3/4 Toyboxes out of 5
Thank you, as always, for taking the time to drop by Dan's ToyBox. I hope you enjoyed this review and if so, please subscribe to the website for notifications on new reviews, interviews, and blog articles. Join us next time when we drop another Retro Review on the Marvel Legends Sauron Build a Figure Wave: Lady Deadpool! Until next time... GEEK OUT!!!