By Loran
In my… unfortunately limited experience with comics (seriously, I’m working on it!), there are a few characters I’ve really taken a liking to, and one of them is Ms. Marvel, and I can’t quite explain why. Maybe it’s because she’s one of the few characters with classic AND modern outfits that I like, or maybe it’s the fact that she’s a bit easier to take seriously than her male counterpart. Either way, I’ve taken a liking to her, especially her Dark Avengers counterpart (a figure I haven’t had any luck finding, so I’ve decided to settle on this one).
For this figure, Ms. Marvel dons a variant of her classic outfit, more along the lines of Dark Ms. Marvel. I actually don’t mind this change that much. I think the covered stomach looks better here, since well, superpowers or not, showing THAT MUCH SKIN is a bit excessive, I think. I’d actually say this take on her outfit is probably my favorite. Shame they never made her classic figure in Marvel Legends scale. Maybe we’ll get to see one when Hasbro revives the scale next year.
Like all too many of the females in the Marvel Universe line, Ms. Marvel uses the same buck body as figures like Black Widow. Here I don’t mind it that much, probably thanks to the exposed leg. It just looks weird on figures like Black Widow where she’s supposed to be a soldier but ends up looking like she jumped in a vat of black paint. It’d be really nice to see a similar mold but with actual sculpted muscles, but something tells me the Hasbro designers aren’t aware that women can have muscles, too.
But of course, one thing about this mold drives me up the wall above all else: WHY ARE THERE NO BICEP SWIVELS?! I mean, really… the G.I. Joe female figures have them, the Star Wars female figures have them, why not the Marvel ones? Is it THAT HARD to sculpt them on these figures? It feels like I’m playing with a Bandai America Power Ranger, and that’s not cool.
But miraculously, Ms. Marvel AVOIDS the problem I have with most Marvel Universe figures, especially the females: her face sculpt is actually really good! Maybe it’s the mask covering up what could have been bad, but it actually looks really good. On top of that, the harsh lipstick color also works here. I do have a problem with the paint job on the hair, though. I think a red or orange wash like on the D-Arts Zero would’ve worked a bit better than a black wash.
One other complaint I have about the paint job is the bottom of her leotard. The black part is a bit too large, like she’s wearing a diaper. A thinner trim would’ve looked WORLDS better.
Her accessories include a non-removable scarf and two energy blasts. The scarf is cool, no complaints there, but the energy blasts are weird, mostly because she has one open hand and one fist. If you put them both on at once it… looks kind of weird. Personally, I think it looks better on the open hand.
Despite some of the mold’s inherent problems, I do really like this Ms. Marvel figure. In fact, she’s probably one of my favorite MUs so far. She’ll do the job until I can get my hands on her Dark Avengers counterpart. Come into FPNYC and get yours!
