Marvel Legends Annihilus Series Banshee

by Ryno
January 03, 2007


2007 Hasbro
Annihilus Series
Banshee
MSRP: $9.99
BAF Piece: Right Wing


Did the missing collar ruin Banshee? Or is the figure completely doomed anyway?

Okay, I'm going to come right out and say it. Banshee is the biggest disappointment in this wave. There are so many things that attribute to the failure of this figure. Let's dive in.





Packaging

Hasbro's packaging has more life than the old ToyBiz style. I went into great detail about the packaging in the Emma Frost review, so please give that a read. I don't want to spout all the same things, so I'm going to mention one thing in particular that I do not like about Banshee's packaging. The comic book illustrations used in the panels on the right side are mediocre at best. They had to have had better illustrated images to choose from. The image in the upper left hand corner looks okay.

Score: 8





Sculpt / Design

Wow, this went wrong. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to add Banshee to my collection and the 70's X-Men team from Giant Size X-Men #1 but this particular figure tends to dilute that enthusiasm. The head is way too big for this body. It reminds me of Mike Myers' "So I married an Axe Murder", where the dad keeps saying, "Head! Move! Now!" The sculpt detail in the hair looks good but the paint job ruins it. The face looks bad. When I look at the details of the face it seems like it should be a good sculpt but it isn't, maybe it's the awful flesh-color they chose for the plastic the head is cast in. There is no collar, which many have pointed out time and time again. The body is as basic as it gets. it looks an awful lot like the Ant-Man or Captain Marvel body but it's not. Banshee's body looks like it is modeled after aforementioned figure's bodies but it's a whole new sculpt, perhaps it is so that they could make the holes for his wings to plug into. I suppose the body sculpt would've done well if it had a decent paint job, but it doesn't. Due to practically no paint job, the sculpt suffers, you have to give us one or the other. When looking at this figure from any angle, I just shake my head in shame. At least the figure doesn't have trouble standing on it's own or getting into banshee like poses, but they didn't put a hole in the back to insert a flight stand!

Score: 3





Paint / Color

If this figure was any more dull I would have died from boredom already. We are getting a cheap looking green plastic with a wee bit of the dullest yellow paint to make the "v" shape on his torso. The head is a pale, again cheap looking plastic flesh tone. He is a yellow-ish pale, looks like he's vomitting rather than using his sonic scream. He probably just got a good look at himself in the mirror. Oh, by the way, bad choice of color for the hair and eyebrows. Banshee isn't blonde, he's more of a red head. The blonde hair and eyebrows blends in with the puke-yellow-flesh tone for a downright repulsive gigantic head altogether. If you're ever lost in the dead of night you can use this figure's head as a beacon for rescue, of course the rescuers would turn in away so repulsed. Sorry, jokes and stabs aside, with the exception of the painted V on neck and chest, hair, eyebrows, eyes and mouth, there is literally no paint job on this figure. No wash, no drybrush, no airbrush, nothing at all to bring even the tiniest ounce of detail for this poor pathetic simple body sculpt. The choice for skin color, hair color and the yellow in the costume are terrible.

Score: 1





Articulation

As much as I have beaten up on this figure, I have to say that Banshee features a very useful 34 points of well executed articulation, you can get Banshee in just about any cool action pose you may need him for. You can't put him on a flight stand because there is no hole in his back, but you could hang him from fishing line from the ceiling or come up with some other inventive way to display him in his flying positions. Banshee's head is capable of moving completely backwards, so he can fly at you screaming. His arms rotate up and down (like doing jumping jacks) with ease. His legs have a nice range of motion with no looseness. In fact, I'm pleased to say that every Hasbro figure I've had my hands on have all had nice firm joints. No super stiff or absolutely stuck joints resulting in a a permanent position, break of a limb or cracking open of the torso or crotch piece like we had seen much too much of in 2006 from ToyBiz. Banshee could have used some finger and toe articulation.

Score: 7





Accessories

I have to split this category right down the middle. I like the cloth wings used on Banshee, they stretch out nice and they tuck away quite naturally and aesthetically pleasing. I like that you can detach the wings from his body very easily. Some may not like this ability as it leaves big holes in his wrists, sides and calves. So far, the wings work well for me, however the wing design inaccuracy here is inexcusable. Banshee's wings are supposed to be even width alternating black and yellow bars, NOT black with thin yellow stripes. Banshee comes with the right wing of Annihilus which will be reviewed in Annihilus' own review.

Score: 5





Value

I'm not going to go on and on comparing packaging as I have already in the Emma Frost review. The short version is this: Good riddance to the clamshell, who cared about the comic anyway, I love this fresh new design, times are changing, the world is revolving and the figure is a dollar more, price increases happen sooner or later, that's life. Just because this figure is so poor, value has to suffer at least a point.

Score: 7

Score Totals

Packaging: 8
Sculpt / Design: 3
Paint / Color: 1
Articulation: 7
Accessories: 5
Value: 7

Overall: 31 out of a possible 60

To answer the question posed at the beginning of this review, collar or no collar, the figure is doomed anyway. The worst figure in this wave. Not the worst Marvel Legends figure as of yet but, Banshee is still a big disappointment.
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