EXCLUSIVE: Marvel Legends Goes Retro With Extreme Articulation Spider-Man and Moon Knight

In an exclusive CBR reveal, Hasbro details its latest Retro Marvel Legends figure releases of Spider-Man and Moon Knight with extreme articulation

In a CBR exclusive, Hasbro is revealing its latest Retro releases in its Marvel Legends action figure line, with Moon Knight and Spider-Man getting the nod in these Target exclusive figure releases.

The new figures are both 6-inch scale, and are notable in the extreme articulation used in both figures, which allows them to be highly posable for display purposes, but also very useful for play purposes, as well.

What does it mean to be "Retro" for Marvel Legends figures?

It seems hard to believe nowadays, but there was a period in the late mid-to-late 1980s that there were no Marvel action figures at ALL. In fact, even during the heyday of the Mego action figure line from 1973-1982, which was the first time that there were Marvel action figures at all, there were only thirteen TOTAL Marvel characters ever made available from the company (as mostly Mego sold slight variations of its main Spider-Man figure every year). Mattel then acquired the license for the famed Secret Wars line of toys (that led to the iconic Marvel Secret Wars comic book series designed to tie in with the toyline). After that line sold relatively poorly, there were no new Marvel toys at all at the end of the 1980s.

Things changed when Toy Biz launched a historic line of Marvel figures in 1990 called "Marvel Super-Heroes," but in 1991 (in just two waves of releases, Toy Biz already released had more variety of figures than Mego), the company altered the packaging to highlight the individual characters' names instead of the line name, and it is that packaging that these Hasbro figures are homaging today. Here's a 1991 Spider-Man Toy Biz action figure for comparison's sake...

That Marvel-wide line would quickly evolve into Spider-Man and X-Men-specific figure lines that would explode in popularity in concurrence with the hit 1990s animated series featuring Spider-Man and the X-Men.

Eventually, Toy Biz would return to the Marvel superheroes approach with its historic Marvel Legends line in 2002, which was continued by Hasbro when Hasbro acquired the Marvel license in 2006. Hasbro continues the line to this day, making it one of the longest-lasting action figure toy lines in history.

As you can see from the sample images for both Moon Knight and Spider-Man (but especially Spider-Man, which has even MORE articulation than Moon Knight), the articulation used in these figures allows for a striking amount of poses for the figures.

Notably, the Spider-Man figure can be posed like he appeared on the front cover of Spider-Man's first appearance in 1962's Amazing Fantasy #15.

Here are the solicitations for the two figures, including links to pre-order the figures from Target starting on September 15.

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES RETRO MOON KNIGHT

(HASBRO/Ages 4 years & up/Approx. Retail Price: $24.99 / Available: November 2023)

A vision in an Egyptian temple leads Marc Spector to don a shroud and become the crime-fighting hero, Moon Knight. Celebrate the MARVEL UNIVERSE with this MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES RETRO MOON KNIGHT figure. This quality 6-inch scale Moon Knight figure features deco inspired by the character’s appearance throughout Marvel Comics. The figure features extensive articulation and is highly posable for display and play and comes in retro-style packaging to recreate the classic Marvel Legends releases. Includes figure and 9 comic-inspired accessories including the Fist of Khonshu! Available for pre-order 9/15 @9AM ET exclusively at Target.

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES RETRO THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

(HASBRO/Ages 4 years & up/Approx. Retail Price: $27.99 / Available: November 2023)

In Spider-Man’s first ever adventure, tragedy teaches a young Peter Parker that with great power comes great responsibility. Celebrate the MARVEL UNIVERSE with this MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN figure. This quality 6-inch scale Spider-Man figure features deco inspired by the character’s appearance throughout Marvel Comics. The figure features extensive articulation and is highly posable for display and play and comes in retro-style packaging to recreate the classic Marvel Legends releases. Includes figure and 11 comic-inspired accessories including web wings! Available for pre-order 9/15 @ 9AM ET exclusively at Target.