Wow, I can't believe the rich guy named "Nefaria" turned out to be a villain!
A wealthy nobleman and leader of an international crime family,
Count Nefaria launches attacks aimed to take down Iron Man and the Avengers.
Count Nefaria originally appeared in Avengers #13, in a story which also introduced the Maggia as a whole. Back then he was simply "Europe's wealthiest nobleman" and dressed in a regular suit of clothes. His plot was to "David Xanatos" his castle from Europe to the US stone by stone, invite the Avengers to attend the grand unveiling, freeze them in time, and use perfect hologram doubles of them to ruin their reputation with the public. All so they - Earth's Mightiest Heroes - would stop personally foiling his gang's attempts to steal fur coats. After going to prison a couple times and losing a bunch of money and mob respect, he paid somebody to give him superpowers, and got himself a costume.
And a nice costume it is. Like Justice, it's a costume that really could have been given to any super-powered character, good or evil: black bodysuit with white trunks, a white triangle over the shoulders and chest,
and white gloves and boots with red trim. He wears a wide red belt with a black N emblem on a yellow background, and accessorizes the entire thing with a cape slung over one shoulder - of course, he also wore capes with his civilian clothes, so that one's not such a surprise. The fact it's really just on one side and is treated like it's being held on by a rope cord does make it seem more regal than an average comicbook cape, however. His gloves flare out at the top, and the red pattern around the upper edges has a point that, weirdly, doesn't align with that flare. Odd design choice. There are matching designs on the top of the boots, but since they're just painted on, the part above the shin joint is a different color than the part below it.
Count Nefaria is older than he looks, even with those gray streaks
painted in his hair. Remember, he's the father of Madame Masque, and she's a grown-ass adult capable of sleeping with Tony Stark (at least until she got HORRIBLY SCARRED), so he has to be at least old enough for that. In fact, one time while fighting the Avengers he was defeated because The Whizzer made him contemplate the nearness of his own death. That's right, a villain whose main weakness is "midlife crisis."
The figure uses the body Hasbro wants us to believe
is superior to the old standard one, because they think we'll just accept whatever they put out. At least they can't take the shin swivels out of this one (yet). Having extra pec hinges is nice, but they're not worth trading away shins for. The angle of the peg on his cape suggests that the design intent is to have it billowing away from his body (he's got typical Superman-type powers, like flight, strength, eye-beams, etc.), but the weight of it doesn't want to cooperate, meaning it tends to pull the peg out unless you get it in there just right. It also means you'll need extra horizontal space behind Nefaria in your display. No accessories, but your choice of open hands or fists.
Remember that brief period when Hasbro had plastic-free packaging, before the baby-like mewling of fans who don't know a good thing when they see it made the company change it back? Good times, good times. Anyway, while looking for fake excuses to cite instead of just saying "things changing makes me uncomfortable," one of the
imaginary "downsides" to the closed boxes was that you couldn't check the paint before buying, as if this was 2006 and that was a thing you still needed to do. When I found Count Nefaria at Target, on his big dumb Retro Collection card with his big dumb wasteful clear plastic bubble on the front, I failed to notice the missed paint app on his pec hinge, leaving it black instead of getting it painted white. And, as I am (as you, dear reader, know) pure of heart and dumb of ass, I also failed to notice the mistake before opening said big dumb card and big dumb plastic. Due to the way this packaging is made, there's no way to close it up and take it back, so yeah, I'll take plastic-free any day over this. It was better and you know it was better.
Luchino Nefaria may have been (and continues to be) an Avengers villain, and yet the most famous thing he ever did involved the X-Men: he's the one the all-new, all-different X-Men went after for their first mission, meaning he's the one responsible for the death of Thunderbird. He absolutely seems like the kind of character ToyBiz would have turned into a toy at some point, but weirdly, he went unused in the comics from 1978 to 1998, so he missed their most prolific heyday, and wasn't Legendary enough for when they were doing Legends. And that's why he's getting his first action figure in 2024. A nice, barely remarkable, middle-of-the-road action figure.
-- 07/22/24
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