Marvel Legends HasLab Galactus Figure Review

It says a lot about my choice of favorite comic characters when mine is Marvel's Galactus, their resident big purple planet eater and wielder of Power Cosmic. How do you beat a guy who can eat planets?

Ever since, I took it upon myself to collect as many action figures of Galactus as I can, with my only caveat being he should be the biggest figure in its corresponding line, like the giant-ass Funko and the Marvel Universe 19-inch figure. So, when Hasbro announced their HasLab asking people to crowdfund a Galactus figure, I could not have pressed the "Back this project" any faster.

Of course, like all crowdfunding projects, it had to get funded to see the light of day. Let me tell you, it was a scary couple of weeks watching the backer count slowly climb. Thankfully, it seems a lot of people wanted it as much as I did, because the figure was funded to high heavens and so I now have my hands my most sought-after figure of all time: the Marvel HasLab Galactus!

Nothing could have prepared me for how big this figure is. It's absolutely massive, towering over even the Marvel Universe Galactus, which was once the biggest Galactus we had!

But you can't really begin to understand what a heckin' chonker this figure is until you pose it beside smaller figures. Normal Marvel Legends figures wouldn't even reach the figure's knees. The 3.75" Marvel Universe line makes HasLab Galactus look the part of the Devourer of Worlds, and if you backed this HasLab and somehow haven't disposed of your Marvel Universe figures, you got yourself the ingredients for an awe-inspiring display!

A canvas of this magnitude deserves all the love and attention, and I'm glad that Hasbro spared no expense to sculpt a Galactus that would make Jack Kirby proud. The details are incredible, and I love how they gave Galactus a high-tech extraterrestrial aesthetic while keeping the Kirby-esque visual cues of his classic look. The purple and blue, the funky geometry, the long skirt, the big head with horns, it's all there lovingly detailed by Hasbro's talented sculptors. Take a bow, people!

Marvel HasLab Galactus weights as much as a human baby and is as fiddly as one too. He has over 70 points of articulation, and I'm still discovering new parts I can move. His extremities are on ratchet joints that are strong enough for him to keep his poses, and he even has articulated fingers! Be careful, as even the old Toybiz Marvel Legends lost some of their grip by playing with the fingers for too long.

There is a case of the joints being too strong, and it took a lot of courage for me to bend elbows, hips, and knees after gingerly trying to feel for their tolerances. You don't want a once-in-a-lifetime, $400 figure breaking on you! But once you get the hang of it, posing Marvel HasLab Galactus is a dream.

Inserting a total of four AAA batteries in compartments in his back and on top of his incredibly huge head gives you access to light up features! Press that blue button on his chest and his eyes, head, and chest light up a bright and eerie blue. A fun addition to an already impressive display piece.

Marvel HasLab Galactus also comes with different faceplates for a nice range of display options. Aside from the default stoic faceplate, he also comes with a snarling face for when the Fantastic Four has exhausted his patience, as well as a skinless skull face to recreate Galactus' time as a dead person. Both look amazing and lifelike and are easy enough to swap out. 

The Marvel HasLab Galactus started off as a crowdfunding project by Hasbro via the HasLab page, needing 14,000 backers to go into production. It hit those numbers, obviously, but to sweeten the deal, Hasbro threw in some extra figures you could get when the project hit certain milestone numbers. Long story short, the milestones were hit and then some, which meant we got fresh action figures exclusive to this HasLab: the Heralds of Galactus!

We start off with the first figure we unlocked at 16,000 backers: Frankie Raye. A one-time Herald of Galactus, Frankie Raye here is cast in gold plastic and features sculpted orange "hair" to simulate her fiery locks. She's not that easy to balance seeing as her hair is heavier than the rest of her body, so it takes some finagling to get her to stand in place.

If you tire of that, then you're in luck, because aside from extra hands, she comes with her own flaming stand! Cast in the same orange plastic as her hair and painted with yellow highlights, you can stick Frankie Raye's leg and foot inside the little notches in the stand and off she goes flying with the power of flames!

The next figure unlocked at 18,000 backers was Galactus' most iconic herald: the Silver Surfer! It's pretty much a repaint of the Wallgreens-exclusive Surfer, with a more pearlescent silver than shiny chrome and a new and better headsculpt. As someone who missed the Wallgreens Surfer, this was a not-so-convenient way of getting my hands on him. But hey, at least I got a giant Galactus as an extra!

Silver Surfer comes with extra hands, effect parts and stand cast in deep purple plastic, and his famous surfboard. The board itself is a bit too narrow for my taste, but it's not so noticeable once you put him on his very own purple stand, ready to surf the spaceways for a very snacky Galactus!

At 20,000 backers, we unlocked Marvel's Morg, the most ruthless of Galactus' heralds and who had no qualms about sending entire planets to their doom unlike his predecessors.

Even though Morg here, with his blood red body riddled with hideous pock marks, is the most visually arresting of the three heralds included, he's also the most boring. Sure, he looks badass in a Hulk Hogan kind of way, but all he has in an axe.. It isn't even some unwieldy 90s axe...it's just a double-bladed axe cast in grey plastic!

A last-minute backing incentive was a Doctor Doom head to recreate that time when Doom stole Galactus' power. Honestly, it's the only inclusion I didn't care for. In fact, I think it's a waste of plastic and not worth taking pics of. There are many more iconic things to include in a Galactus figure set. Why not a 1:1 Ultimate Nullifier?

But I digress. It doesn't change the fact that Marvel HasLab Galactus stands alone as one of the most impressive feats of action figure engineering and fanservice to date. It blows away every single Marvel Legends figure by its sheer size, and the extras included provide plenty of options for play and display. Even a week in and I can't stop fiddling with him and seeing him majestically crowding out the rest of my collection fills me with the same childlike glee I had when I first saw Galactus in a comic book as a kid.

This gargantuan action figure is exclusive to HasLab with only 30,000+ in existence, so if you didn't join the crowdfunding for Galactus, your best bet is the secondary market. I feel extremely fortunate to have been able to back a figure of one of my favorite comic book characters of all time, and I wish everyone still looking for this figure the best of luck and I hope you get your hands on this eventually!

I hope you found this review helpful. If you're a fan of the Big G as I am, sound off in the comments! Thanks for reading! Now if you'll excuse me, I have to tuck my Galactus into bed for his nap time...