Gladiator (Marvel Legends: SDCC Exclusive)

Finally, a superhero made for this body mold! After months of contemplating about this latest male sculpt and design for Marvel Legends figures, I finally get to appreciate it through the SDCC Exclusive Gladiator. Knowing Gladiator's physique, the definition and mass of its muscles are just right for this warrior from space. He is part of the Thanos Imperative boxset along with Star-Lord, Black Bolt, Medusa and Blastaar (which I'm going to review next), and out of these five figures, Gladiator is my most favourite and that's definitely something to do with the way he is rendered.

Marvel Legends Gladiator (SDCC Exclusive)

His one and only accessory is his removable cape which is made with this soft plastic material. I absolutely liked how it is sculpted; it has these folds going from top to bottom looking more realistic as it rests secure on his shoulders... thanks to that peg underneath his cape which plugs right unto Gladiator's back. Moreover, the cape doesn't impede with any movement on the neck or the shoulders- so a round of applause for that well executed design!

Clearly, you'd notice that this is the ML Luke Cage body mold (another SDCC Exclusive) or some call it the Hyperion body mold that Hasbro is using. This is the type of body mold where medium built yet muscle-bound characters are meant for. It got upsized pecs and thigh muscles but not rivalling that of Hulk's. Gladiator has a perfectly well-done head sculpt; it's the exact face you'd see in the comics with his signature mohawk hairstyle and his pointy elf-like ears!

The paint application is pretty decent. Some have complained about how the colour shadings are sloppily done, but it is not that noticeable. Again accurately basing it from the comics, he got that red, blue and bronze-like colour scheme, and an emblem that is perfectly marked and positioned despite all that rippling on his chest. I also noticed that the blue colours are smooth and glossy unlike the rest which are just matte-finished. They did a good job of adding some blue/purple shading at the top of his mohawk to prevent it from looking like a solid slab glued on his head.

With that broad chest, Hasbro could have added an armpit/shoulder blade joint but hopefully we'll see that in the future. Basically, it's the same type and amount of joints we've seen from Cage. Gladiator's head is on a ball-peg that allows it to aim at almost any angle. He has hinged-shoulders, rotation at the biceps, double-jointed elbows, and the wrists have hinges as well as they rotate. He has an ab crunch useful for that "flying pose" and waist swivel. He has T-jointed that allows him to kick and do the splits. His legs has rotation at the upper thighs and ankles, double-joints at the knees and ankle rockers for that awesome superheroic pose!

Adding up that hair, Gladiator stands at about 7.3 inches tall- definitely a much taller figure compared to Luke Cage or any of the Legends figures with this type of body mold. Every time I see this body mold, it just make wish Hasbro could remake Drax the Destroyer by using it but that's just a suggestion I would like to see happen. This SDCC Exclusive action figure deserves recommendations not only because of the amount of articulation he has but also his overall feature. This is one of the "feel-so-right" figures in my collection.