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FLAME ON! Or, at least… sort of on! Maybe 10% on! It’s finally time to complete my reviews of the new Marvel Legends Fantastic Four, with the original Marvel hot-headed young male—Johnny Storm! This is the figure that varies the most wildly from the Walgreens Exclusive version, but this Human Torch is also the easiest Fantastic Four Legends figure to snag online for retail. Is there anything wrong with this flamed-off Human Torch figure, or is non-powered Johnny Storm just not as visually compelling in toy form…?
If anyone asked me my favorite core member of the Fantastic 4, my response 100 times out of 100 would be the Human Torch. His flashy power and cocky attitude made him my favorite member of the team in the comic books and 90s cartoon as a kid, and I’ve never grown out of liking him best.
Like Iceman, Johnny Storm has a powered-down form as his natural state where he looks like a regular dude. While most Human Torch and Iceman figures done over the years have been powered up (although that Toybiz Bobby Drake is a grail for a lot of folks), there’s definitely a need for a de-powered Johnny Storm action figure for many collectors depending on what they want the character posed doing in their display.
Furthermore, Walgreens just released a flaming version Torch that could fit with the modern Dan Slott lineup in 2017, making this the best time to do an unpowered iteration of the character. And so, the new modern Fantastic Four Legends Johnny Storm figure was born. But is he good…?
To put it simply: Yeah—he’s great. The bright blue eyes, youthful hair cut, and half-smile grin all make this a very appropriate and recognizable portrait for Johnny Storm (and also really make me want to see a Hasbro upgrade to Bobby Drake Iceman).
Although the Human Torch doesn’t do a lot of battling when he’s not on fire, this is the most articulated figure in the wave and is ready to bust out whatever kung fu moves you want. The complete articulation scheme includes:
- Ball-Hinged Neck
- Butterfly Swivel Ball-Hinge Shoulders
- Ab Crunch
- Swivel Biceps, Waist, Thighs and Boots
- Swivel-Hinged Wrists
- Double-Hinged Knees and Elbows
- Ball-Jointed Hips
- Hinged Feet with Ankle Rockers
The butterfly swivels are as glorious as ever, and there’s no add-on costume bits inhibiting articulation. Pose this guy up to your heart’s content. If only Johnny was a ninja…!
Plastic quality is top-notch on this figure, as it has been for every figure in the wave I’ve reviewed thus far. No rubbery-feeling plastic and no trepidations about any of this guy’s limbs ripping off at all.
Obviously a figure of an elemental dude just standing around doing nothing won’t fly off store shelves at hyperspeed, so Hasbro has wisely packed this ML Human Torch with a whopping seven accessories: four flame effects pieces and three pieces for the Super Skrull Build-A-Figure (who I’ll cycle back and talk about soon).
The four flaming effects include a pair of spiraling fire coils that you can slip over Johnny’s regular hands or a pair of full-on flaming interchangeable hands. I think either set (or mixing and matching!) looks great, and adds some light and color to an otherwise amazingly dull figure.
These effects are plain awesome, and I legit look forward to seeing these recolored and used by Hasbro for dozens of other powered-up characters in the future.
Kudos to Hasbro for the open-palmed “fire blasting” left hand as opposed to just giving us two fists! I also wanted to briefly note that Johnny has the little treads on the soles of his boots to match Invisible Woman and Mr. Fantastic.
The only genuine disappointing aspect of this figure for me is the paint deco. Whereas the other four members of my Marvel Legends Fantastic 4 have all had masterful paint apps, Human Torch feels a lot more sloppy with stray paint on the neck, logo and legs on his costume.
In addition, the way the yellow paint was used for Johnny’s blonde hair is… not ideal! You can see a notable amount of fleshy plastic under the yellow on top of the head, making it look like poor Human Torch has diffuse balding going on. It’s a weird look for Johnny, although thankfully it’s easy to display the action figure in such a way that you’ll never see his scalp clearly.
Overall: While this Marvel Legends Johnny Storm is admittedly a bit of a boring figure, what could Hasbro have honestly done better here? This fully flamed-off Human Torch fills a big void in the lineup for when Johnny isn’t off adventuring or fighting, and he comes with a great portrait and several new to-die-for effects pieces.
There’s some sloppy paint on mine—including a what looks like a balding top of Johnny Storm’s head—but as far as design, accessories and articulation go, I don’t think it’s going to get any better for this form of this character than this.