Series: Marvel Legends
Year: 2015
Company: Hasbro
BACKGROUND
So, here are with Spider-Woman, another Marvel Legend. As with Captain
Marvel, I’m pretty sure I’ve read virtually none of the comics that
Spider-Woman appears in. Maybe an Avengers
comic or two; that would be about it. But I’ve always thought her costume
design was great – so simple, yet so striking. In fact, until this year it’s been
essentially unchanged since it debuted in the 1970s (and the original is substantially better than the new one, too).
Jessica Drew has had both a Marvel Legend
and Marvel Select figure in the past. While both were adequate (and even pretty
good on some points) at their time, they’re both showing distinct signs of age.
So now we get a very welcome update.
SCULPT AND
ARTICULATION
Spider-Woman has the following articulation:
*Ball-jointed neck
*Swivel-hinged shoulders
*Swivel biceps
*Swivel-hinged elbows
*Pegged wrists
*ball-jointed torso
*cut thighs
*double-hinged knees
*rocker ankles
All of it works well; some of it was a little tight straight
out of the box but not unworkable. Best of all, she actually stands up
properly! Not nearly as much fussing around as Captain Marvel or Scarlet Witch.
Spider-Woman uses the same base body as Captain Marvel –
which I suppose makes sense seeing as they’re apparently besties in the comics.
While this is good for the most part, I think it would have actually made more
sense to use the “leotard”-style body that Scarlet Witch had (and swap figure Hellcat uses). It would have given her just that little bit more room for
posing her legs. It wouldn’t make much of a difference on some characters, but
on someone who’s meant to be as agile as Spider-Man, it seems like a bit of an
oversight. It’s a little more irritating as she actually does have Scarlet
Witch’s hands too. With that said, Hasbro and ToyBiz have both have a mixed history when
it comes to depicting the female form so I think this is an overall good
compromise.
The only new feature is her head, which captures the look of
the costume quite well. Her hair is quite hard plastic, so you’re locked in to
a few specific poses, but this is a common thing with female action figures in
general.
ACCESSORIES
Jessica has two different sets of arm webbing – one spread
wide for a gliding look, and another set that is folded, for when she’s doing things
like keeping her hands by her side. I’m not sure if it’s a perfect solution to
the webbing problem, though. The old figure had cel-style plastic stuck to the
arms, which seems to crack and rot over the years. This is better than that but
I think softer, more flexible plastic should probably have been used.
Some kind of energy blast would have been nice, like with
Captain Marvel, but I can live without it.
Additionally, she comes with two Build-A-Figure parts –
Thanos’ head and one of his arms. I’ve seen the completed figure and I’m not
overly impressed (he doesn’t look big enough to me, for one thing) so I think
these will just go on eBay.
PAINT
For the most part, the paint is of a very high standard.
Some of the thick black lines are a little wonky around the edges, but there’s
nothing so major that it can’t be overlooked. Though there are some minor flaws
(like the yellow on the belly being a little thin) everything looks pretty good
from a distance and there aren’t any major problems. The only thing I think is
missing is some blue highlights on the hair; currently, it’s all solid black.
Interestingly, there are a number of orange highlights on
some of the yellow areas of the figure, though they don't really show up in the picture. They’re quite subtle and help break up
what could otherwise appear as very flat surfaces.
OVERALL
I’m still quite new to the Marvel Legends range, owning 4 at
this point. But so far I like the series and could see myself continuing with
it in the future. All that I’ve bought so far have been of roughly equal quality,
and Spider-Woman continues that high standard. She may not be especially
innovative in her approach, but she’s consistently well-executed and probably
my favourite Marvel Legend in my limited experience so far.
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