Hey, Mr. Postman! Marvel Legends Black Bolt

After a long night at work, I came home and found that a parcel had arrive for lil' ol' me- sweet! And who was inside you ask? Why it was the guy I had just been reading about in Marvel Essential Fantantic Four Vol.3- Black Bolt! While he can go for anywhere from twenty to thirty bucks, I scored this 6" figure for $13.50 (price included shipping)... he came like this:

Unlike my Marvel Legends Hulk made by ToyBiz, the Marvel Legends Black Bolt was produced by Hasbro. While there are some articulation issues, and his cloth "accordion" wings don't come off quite right, I like the sculpt on this guy and was thankful to have a physical representation of a somewhat obscure Marvel character that I'm currently reading about- that's FUN! I enjoyed playing around with him and taking his picture...

Black Bolt's first appearance was in Fantastic Four #45 (Dec. 1965).  A member of the a super-human race, the Inhumans, Black Bolt had been exposed to the mutagenic Terrigan Mist prior to childbirth, empowering him with the ability to manipulate electrons. Vowing never to speak after a childhood of isolation to protect his race from his calamitous voice and harness his great powers, Black Bolt rejoined his people as a young man.

Soon after, Black Bolt leaves his homeland of Attilan to explore the world, but soon returns to defeat his evil brother Maximus with the help of the Fantastic Four, rescuing his love Medusa and the Royal Family (Triton, Gorgon, Karnak, and Medusa's sister Crystal). Assuming the crown and kingship of his people, Black Bolt defends his people from the Kree race (who genetically developed the Inhumans), the evil super-robot Ultron, and Blastaar among others who deem the Inhumans an abhorrent race.

Through Black Bolt's electron manipulation, he transform matter, fly, and channel concussion blasts or forcefields. His quasi-sonic voice can level a city though, making this Black Bolt's primary offensive tactic, which he used to defeat the Hulk. The fork antenna attached to his head helps control this very dangerous power- a power that took extensive training to harness, for the mere utterance from his lips could mean death to any mere mortal caught in the path of his devastating voice.

Found in my old comics: Black Bolt's page from the Official Hanbook of the Marvel Universe series I had from childhood. Click on the image to read all about Black Bolt circa 1983:

*Black Bolt at Marvel.Com
*Review of the Marvel Legends Nemesis wave that included this toy at ActionFigurePics.Com.
*Marvel Legends toys overview at Wikipedia, first made by ToyBiz, then Hasbro.
*Custom Black Bolt Figures at FigureRealm.Com!
*Review of Captain Marvel and Black Bolt MiniMate figure set- Nice!