The first, the one, and the only: Steve Rogers. Captain America. My figures have been kept in various locations in my room. Dusted very rarely over the years. Kept in one pose for most of the time. The room can get very humid. Let's see how it has held up against the test of time.
The articulation worth mentioning. The head can travel down, but can't look up. Each finger has its own hinged joint. The shoulders have nice swivel with ball hinged joints. The foot has the super awesome hinged at the ankle with a swivel to the foot. Time has only claimed one joint. The ball joint of his right leg is immobile. The left knee is also a bit warped. Everything else is in beautiful working order.
Venom. Look at this beast. Ah! Just look at him! Magnificent. Majestic. Just plain awesome. Things worth mentioning about this figure. Just one. The head! The head travels up, but not down. Love it. I'll take up travel over down any day of the week. With the bendable tongue and loose hinged bottom jaw, this is exactly how a Venom figure should look like. Time has not done a damn thing to this figure. Everything articulates well just as if I had just unboxed it from the store.
Dr. Doom is the only Hasbro Icon I own. The articulation that it lacks, the figure's costume (almost) makes up for it. Head is only on a swivel. The fingers are grouped together on one hinge. The forearm lacks a swivel. The feet lack toe joints and the swivel from the ankle joint. Gee Hasbro. Way to charge more for way less. As previously reported, cloth capes are freaking awesome. I love the cape and the hood! Good material choice. Still, not enough to win me over. Hasbro fails. The figure looks good, but in limited poses. The lack of head movement is the biggest offense here. The joints are okay, time hasn't done any noticeable damage other than dust on the cape and hood.
Spider-Man. The skinniest Marvel Legends: Icon figure, and there are many big pluses because of it. The head has the epic up and down travel. It has the same shoulder swivels as Captain America. With it's smaller body, Spidey doesn't have the bulk that the other figures have to deal with. It can do an amazing amount of poses. This figure could only be improved with pallet swaps of the black, 2099, and Scarlet Spider costumes. The unmasked variant was lame. Time has been good to Spider-Man.
Iron Man. This purchase was just a "I didn't want a Wolverine" purchase. His mask comes off, so the variant was a super lame gold repaint. The sculpt of the hands prevent the hand from bending back. The head is on a ball joint with the neck on a hinged ball joint. The ball joint of the head allows a very small amount of up travel. The neck joint allows a good amount of down travel. The armor holds up well. I would still love an Extremis version in this size though. Time has not done any noticeable damage the joints. Some of the paint does have a permanent dust glaze to it though.
So, Captain America is really the only one who has sustained any real damage. Punisher and Thor are the only ones I feel like I might have liked to owned. Them being Hasbro made, however, makes me greatly doubt their worth had I bought them when I had the chance. Oh wait, Wolverine! I need to get me one of those. Toy Biz version of course. Venom and Spider-Man are definitely the most impressive of the bunch.
