Marvel Legends Spider-Woman figure review BAF Thanos wave

Spider-Woman gets much improved figure update

I have very vague recollections of watching the Spider-Woman cartoon growing up. That nostalgia has always given her a certain level of fondness with me on a purely nostalgic level. Besides, she has one of the cooler costume designs around.

With her increased prominence in the Marvel Comics universe and a previous figure badly in need of updating, Spider-Woman was an ideal choice for Hasbro’s second wave of its Marvel Legends relaunch. Let’s see how they did.

Packaging: You’re either gonna like the Marvel Legends packing by this point or not. It’s the standard black with red accents. Spider-Woman shares a package set-up with Hellcat and her portrait is on the left. As expected, that forces Hasbro to write a generic bio that’s vague enough to work for both characters. Hasbro does a great job making sure you see exactly what you’re getting and catch any Build-A-Figure piece tampering.

Likeness: The newer female base body is perfect for an athletic superhero and it works especially well for Spider-Woman. Her costume is basically a one piece so it doesn’t require a lot of sculpting details. The most important aspect of capturing Spider-Woman’s likeness is the mask and hair. Both are done very well. I really like the head sculpt. It gives her a distinct real attractive woman with the mask providing an air of mystery.

I got rid of my Hasbro version a while ago, but as you see from the Julia Carpenter version, the new figure blows the Toy Biz version away.

The gesturing/conjuring hand sculpts are nice, but I wish Hasbro gave Spider-Woman one fist so she could punch out.

Scale: Spider-Woman is a regular size woman. She’s not going to tower over anyone and fits right in nicely with everyone. Her costume doesn’t need heels so she’s not standing over her fellow male Avengers like she’s an Amazon.

Paint: I always sympathize with companies trying to get a full coverage of yellow paint. It’s the trickiest main color to apply properly if it’s not the base color.

For Spider-Woman, Hasbro went with a yellow base body, but the complexities of her costume required a paint over in the abdomen area. In most cases, that was botched resulting in a yellow smear right at the belly button. It’s hard not to notice and is the biggest issue with the figure.

Spider-Woman’s costume is more complicated than it would seem from first glance. The points and line work have to be precise. Hasbro handles that pretty well save a few instances where they miss the white in the eye lens or some yellow in the points. Hasbro added a little overspray so it wasn’t a flat yellow, which as a nice touch.

Articulation: The hair hinders most of the head movement from either up/down or left/right, which was expected. I wasn’t prepared to lose some of the hip range as a result of Spider-Woman’s ample backside. That limits a full split and the ability to pose her in a decent side kick. Most disappointing I wasn’t able to get many good crouching poses.

Spider-Woman has:

• Neck
• Shoulder
• Elbows (hinge and swivel)
• Wrist (and hinge)
• Torso
• Hip
• Thigh
• Knees (double-jointed)
• Ankle

Accessories: Spider-Woman has a pretty clever accessory. Her costume has glider wings that rest under her arms. To simulate that effect, Hasbro gave Spider-Woman a wide-open set and a folded, relaxed set. The wings peg into small slots in the figure’s forearms and swap in and out easily.

Additionally, she comes with the same Build-A-Figure piece as Hellcat — the head and left arm of Thanos.

Worth it? Spider-Woman has become a major player in the Avengers universe thanks to Brian Michael Bendis’ run. Even if you prefer her solo, this is a fantastic

Where to get it? Naturally retail has long ago dried out of the Thanos wave, but online won’t be a problem. You can grab her from Amazon or Entertainment Earth.  EE still has the entire Thanos wave available so if you’re late coming around to the series you can still get it for a decent price.

Rating: 8 out of 10

This is a terrific addition to the Marvel Legends line. Spider-Woman just needed slightly better articulation, consistent paint and a punching hand away from being just right. Either way there’s definitely no buyer’s remorse here.

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