Marvel Legends Darkstar review – BAF Ursa Major wave

Darkstar is a flexible character who can work as both a hero and a villain. As a member of the Winter Guard, she’s frequently pitted against The Avengers and I’m always down for more teams to pit against my Marvel Legends Avengers squad.

Hasbro obliges in providing us with two members of a team in one wave thanks to the Build-A-Figure Ursa Major being another teammate of Darkstar, which is appreciated.  Let’s see if this figure puts the lights out as one of the main highlights of this wave.

Packaging:  It’s a little weird just seeing the big Marvel logo instead of someone unifying theme or umbrella like Avengers or Iron Man. The package art is from Winter Guard #3.

The bio is lacking as it doesn’t explain her powers, allies or enemies. Yes, people could go online, but the bio should offer more insight. I do like the new touch of adding comic book art in the insert. This one features her alongside Red Guardian, Crimson Dynamo and Ursa Major.

Likeness:  Darkstar’s head sculpt is impressive as it has the stern expression of someone who has been trained under harsh conditions and doesn’t take any foolishness.

The sculpting on her hair limits posing options, but does look great with a more natural flow across the left shoulder with the rest behind her right shoulder. Her tiara/gem also turned out just fine.

Her costume isn’t overly complex so it’s basically the blank body with painted lines creating the separation for the gloves and boots.

Paint:  Darkstar has a simple, classic style costume, but the color combination makes it stand out. Her yellow eyes turned out very nice and the darker shade of red lipstick are a smart contrast. Hasbro added a wash to her hair, which was essential here considering how much of her outfit is a flat, basic yellow.

Darkstar’s outfit isn’t so complex that there should be any noticeable issues. The gem on her forehead and her chest logo could use a tad more yellow since it’s over black, but it’s not weak coverage at all.

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Scale:  Darkstar isn’t typically portrayed as an Amazon so she should be slightly smaller than her fellow Winter Guard member Red Guardian. Hopefully, Hasbro will get around to bringing us a Vanguard figure as well so Darkstar can be paired up with her twin brother.

Articulation: Darkstar is a gesturing character so the lack of bicep swivel articulation isn’t as annoying as it would be for a character that’s more of a physical combatant.

She definitely would benefit from double jointed elbows though as her range of motion is below average on that front. We’ve seen Hasbro release single elbow joint figures with enough clearance to work around the lack of double-jointed elbows. That’s not the case with Darkstar.

She’s got the standard female figure articulation otherwise though her hair is somewhat restrictive on her neck’s left and right and back and forth movement.

Darkstar has:

• neck
• ball-jointed shoulders
• elbow
• wrist
• wrist hinge
• torso
• hip
• thigh
• knee (double-jointed)
• ankle

Accessories: Darkstar comes with two alternate sets of hands with a gripping set and fists. She doesn’t have the most obvious accessory needs so tacking on extra hands was a solid move.

That doesn’t really matter since she comes with the biggest sections of the Build-A-Figure Ursa Major with the massive torso.

Worth it?  Darkstar was $20 so she got in before the price hike to $23, which feels more excessive than ideal. She’s well worth that price and she’s clearly essential if you’re building Ursa Major.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Articulation limitations and lack of exciting accessories hold her back. The cool thing with Darkstar and the completed BAF is you have a complete version of The Winter Guard and it’s always great to finish a team for Marvel Legends. There’s some more members that could be added, but this is a nice core team.

Where to get it?  I got Darkstar from Target.com since Retail Roulette has gotten frustrating, but try your local Targets or Walmarts. You can also order her from Amazon and Entertainment Earth.