POP! Marvel – She-Hulk

She-Hulk 

Series: POP! Marvel

Company: Funko

Year: 2016

Well, it’s an awkward time for She-Hulk to debut as a POP because *SPOILER ALERT* it seems that she’s just been killed off in Issue 1 of Civil War II. Whether this is a real death or simply a cliffhanger remains to be seen, of course – and let’s not forget that death is rarely permanent in comics.

Debuting in 1980 as Hulk’s angry female cousin, She-Hulk has been an Avenger, a member of the Fantastic Four and quite successful in her own right, too. She’s never attained A-lister status, but she’s carved out her own little niche in the Marvel Universe -- and to be honest, I find her a lot more endearing than the Incredible Hulk. Marvel’s female characters have been gaining an increased prominence over the last few years, thanks to reinventions (like Ms Marvel becoming Captain Marvel) and new additions (such as Spider-Gwen), so it’s good to see some of that goodwill overflow to She-Hulk too.   

It’s a while since Marvel released any non-movie related POPs – I think Daredevil might have been the last one, actually – and this wave is a good one: She-Hulk, Spider-Gwen, Captain Marvel, Dr Strange, Dr Octopus and (comics) Falcon. I’m not partial to all of these characters, but the designs look pretty great on all of them. With the imminent arrival of the Dr Strange movie, I’ll probably end up picking that one up too.  

This particular costume isn't her first one, but it is probably her best-known. She first adopted it after leaving the Fantastic Four and rejoining the Avengers, so it's not a huge coincidence that the two costumes look quite similar, save for their colour. 

But… as much as I like the design, buying a She-Hulk POP will leave you with a trade-off – how visible the mould line on the chin is, vs how sloppily the costume is painted. I went with a slightly more prominent mould line than I would have liked -- it's not very obvious in the picture, but it's very noticeable in person -- and a relatively neat costume. There were 8 to pick from when I bought her, and this was really the best overall option. Custom painters will no doubt be capable of addressing these issues, but it’s a pain nonetheless.

We could see a few variants further down the line – a Fantastic Four She-Hulk and/or a Gamma Glow-in-the-dark She-Hulk. I’ve got my fingers crossed for a glow version, as aside from being awesome, it would make the mould line much less prominent. But we’ll just have to wait and see.

She-Hulk is a good purchase for fans of the character. For more casual fans like myself, she’s got a great colour scheme that stands out nicely on the superheroes shelf.