Marvel Review – Onslaught (Marvel Legends Built-A-Figure)

Intro:

Hey there Cybertronians, we’re back, and today we will be taking a close look on one of the most powerful Earth-based villains in the X-Men series, and the entire Marvel Universe for that matter. His name brings fear to almost every Earth heroes.

            He is none other than ONSLAUGHT.

Onslaught is a being born out of the consciousness of two tremendously powerful mutants – Professor Charles Xavier, or simply Professor X (one of the most powerful telepath there is); and Magneto (the mutant Master of Magnetism). It took the combined might of the X-Men, Avengers and the Fantastic Four to defeat him, which ended with the self-sacrifice of all non-mutant members of the heroes (although due to some oversight perhaps, Avengers members Namor and Scarlet Witch are mutants).

Anyways, Onslaught is one of the heavy-hitter villains in the Marvel Universe, and thus, a collector favorite. There have been several Onslaught action figures out there – most of them are very rare, at least in Malaysia – and yours truly only have two of them. Today, however, we focus on the old ToyBiz Marvel Legends Built-A-Figure (BAF) line Onslaught.

To collect all of Onslaught parts, you’d have to purchase the entire Series 13 – Onslaught Series, which consisted of Abomination, Blackheart, Green Goblin, Lady Deathstrike, Loki and Pyro. The Onslaught Series was one of the last few series to be produced by ToyBiz, before Hasbro acquired the right to produce Marvel-related action figures.

I have been hunting highs and lows for this figure, and eventually came across him from a good friend of mine, who was looking to sell this figure off, that I never knew he had it in the first place! So, there was no doubt I was going to going to add him to my steadily-growing Marvel collections.

So here we are, finally, with the review of BAF Onslaught.

Figure:

            This version of Onslaught is based on the Second Form version of him, not the more popular buffed-up-Magneto-on-steroids version. As such, he looks scarier, meaner and deadlier compared to his original look.

            Onslaught is a massive figure, although he is a distinct departure from most of the earlier BAF figures, such as Sentinel, Apocalypse and Galactus. Probably due to cost cutting factors, the subsequent BAFs were significantly smaller.

            Still, Onslaught is by no means a small figure, just that it’s waaaaaaayyyy smaller compared to the other big guys in the series.

            The sculpting is incredibly detailed, and so is the paintjob. Onslaught is predominantly red/ maroon and purple in color. I really like the slight black washes on the red paints – it really enhanced the overall look.

            The face is fantastic – scary as hell.

            Articulation-wise: the head does have a slight articulation to it. The head can only rotate on a horizontal axis, and can’t really look at any other directions other than the front. The shoulders, which are somehow designed to look as if it is always lifted, can only rotate on the horizontal axis. The inner joints look as if the shoulders could move in more directions, but somehow they can’t, and I am too afraid to force it.

Onslaught & Onslaught -- Both from ToyBiz

             The elbows are on soft ratcheting joints. Onslaught comes with 6 fingers in each palm, with the last digit positioned on the opposite side of the thumb. Each of the fingers is individually articulated, which is always a welcome.

            The figure doesn’t come with any waist articulation, but it does have a really good ratcheted abs crunch. The hips are on really tight universal joints, and so are the ankles.

Onslaught standing at 8-inches tall, with fully-collapsed knees... and yes, he can stand perfectly without the stand

Onslaught standing at 9-inches tall, with fully-extended knees -- stand for comparison

            The knees are designed to be like chicken legs, and as such, Onslaught has 2 points of articulations on each knee. And because of these two joints, Onslaught can actually increase its size. When the knees are fully collapse, Onslaught stands at about 8-inches tall. When he fully extends his knees, he gains a full inch in height. However, this figure isn’t really perfect. The figure can stand perfectly on his own, but once you apply him in some fancy poses, that’s when balance loss. As such, he may need some sort of a stand to assist him, which unfortunately he doesn’t come with any.

            The left shoulder, as well as the cape tends to fall off quite easily whenever you’re posing him, particularly the left arm.

The easily-detached cape

            Other than that, he’s okay.

Summary:

For fans of this character, Onslaught is definitely a must have. I know a lot of fans have been wishing for an Onslaught figure that is based on his First Form to be released in the newer Hasbro Built-A-Figure series, but since this figure was released in 2006, there has been no rumors whatsoever.

I am happy with this figure. Ever since I started collecting Marvel action figures, Onslaught has been one of my holy grails. Since my Marvel collections mainly focus on 3 ¾” figures, BAF Onslaught actually fits nicely with the rest of them.

            Highly recommended.

            Final verdict, 9.5/10.