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Quicksilver truly must be the fastest mutant in the Marvel Universe, as Walmart put their new exclusive Marvel Legends Green Quicksilver action figure up for order Thursday, he arrived in most collectors’ hands on Friday (including mine), and now my review of Pietro is speeding in as well! It’s the first new 6” green Quicksilver figure from Hasbro in 18 years. Should you race to add this green Quicksilver Legends figure to your display?
While Quicksilver’s most iconic costume color is blue by a lightyear, Magneto’s sometimes-son actually debuted in a green ensemble as a member of the original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Pietro has actually donned green again quite a few times over the decades, though it’s still blue that fans most associate with him.
Hasbro first released a 6” Green Costume Quicksilver way way back in 2006 as part of their Blob series, which I believe this is largely meant to be an upgraded version of.
The trouble is, I don’t think either figure actually captured the original design from the comics correctly. Quicksilver’s X-Men #4 (60 years ago! Excellent anniversary tie-in release!) featured him in a costume with light green gloves and boots and tights, which Hasbro mistakenly colored as white gloves/boots in 2006 (with proper light green tights), whereas they made the gloves/boots white mistakenly again this time, but compounded the errors by making his tights dark green now as well.
I’ve flipped through a ton of comics trying to find where Hasbro found the inspiration to color this Retro Marvel Legends figure the way they did, and I just can’t find a solution. Quicksilver’s modern green costume appearances don’t look like this either. This particular colorway is either creative license or incredibly obscure. Not what I want from a Retro series action figure either way–I much prefer the accurate Bowen Designs statue of this design (pictured above) I got close to two decades ago now.
Quicksilver comes on the familiar oversized Toybiz-styled cardback packaging. I like this kind of packaging, but it isn’t lost on me that the card art shows flat running hands that this toy doesn’t even come with.
For accessories, there’s a pair of interchangeable fists. That’s it. It’s a stunning omission to not include running (karate chop) hands for a character whose whole schtick is running, especially since those hands already exist in the white color Hasbro picked here (you can steal them from your Retro Falcon, if you have him).
Pietro Maximoff is a character with an extremely arrogant personality, so I sort of expected a demonstrably smug head sculpt. That’s not when we get here. The portrait is pretty neutral, with the barest hint of a smirk. It feels very plastic and artificial to me; I’m not really a fan.
There’s also a very visible and distracting seam line on both sides of Quicksilver’s neck, which will bother some collectors more than others.
The articulation set is close to perfect. The knees and elbows are double-hinged and pin-less, and the colors match good enough in person that I can’t tell the difference in color tones with my naked eyes (though it is possible to see in photos). Quicksilver can’t quite cross his arms as I’d like, but the butterfly swivels are still great to have. The absence of toe articulation on a character primarily known for running is a glaring choice, though.
I probably sound really down on this figure, but that’s largely because Hasbro has raised the bar so high the last few years. This isn’t an awful release or anything—it’s just not the level of excellence we’ve come to expect from Hasbro.
Overall: I don’t award many below average grades to modern Marvel Legends action figures, but I really don’t feel Hasbro gave this Green Quicksilver Legends figure their best effort. The lack of flat running hands or toe articulation, the incongruities of the colors on the costume, the neutrality of the facial sculpt, the ugly seam line on the neck… this Retro Quicksilver figure just doesn’t feel up to Hasbro’s present standards. The body itself is a beautiful mold and the figure is definitely decent, but I hope Hasbro makes some improvements before the inevitable blue Quicksilver figure gets released.