Review: SDCC 2019 Exclusive Marvel Legends Grandmaster, Collector, and Hulk

The Collector and Grandmaster, although not acknowledged as such onscreen, are canonically brothers. So it makes sense to pair them up for a 2019 exclusive Marvel Legends set, though another version of this Grandmaster is coming later. Chalk that up to Jeff Goldblum being more of a constant source of internet clicks than Benicio Del Toro. Packed together, the two form a perfect cylinder which hinges open. And seeing them together for the first time, I noticed: they share the sartorial style of a jacket with only the left sleeve. Must be a familial quirk. The sleeve arms have ball-jointed elbows, while the unsleeved have double-hinges. Presumably for aesthetic reasons.

One of the things I’ve learned over years of interviewing toy industry folks is that they love to get crazy with packaging. However, retail and pricing constraints compel them to be modest most of the time. Exclusives are where they get to go wild and do whatever they want. Hence, the two brothers get more elaborate than usual diorama-style packaging. And yes, the Collector’s monitor and the Grandmaster’s chair are just cardboard elements.

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The Collector comes with two heads, with and without his pawnbroker glasses. He also comes with the Reality Stone, which he can hold in his sleeved hand. The black and white printing on his removable cloak is quite fancy, and probably part of why he’s an exclusive.

Grandmaster will be sold later in a different variant with Korg. This version has an exclusive grinning face and melted puddle victim. You can get both, because people rarely have too much Jeff Goldblum.

Hulk comes on an oversized card meant to resemble his original Toy Biz action figure from the ’90s. It’s odd, because I had that Hulk figure and he was more Silver Age. Cast in a lighter green, he had the bowl haircut and paler purple pants, while this is a more modern, monstrous spin. But the old one’s arms did move inward and outward, and this Hulk uses the Spider-man extra pec articulation to achieve a similar effect. He’s a nice bulky comic-based Hulk, but not a must-have except for completists.

Hulk will run you $35, while the left-sleeve bros cost $50 per set. No other version of the Collector is currently planned, so he’s the gem here. If you squint hard enough, it looks like an action figure of director Jim Jarmusch, which is a cinephile bonus.

Check out more images of these exclusives in our gallery below: