Marvel Legends Shriek review – BAF Armadillo wave
I was starting to stray away from Spider-Man during the Maximum Carnage arc, but Shriek has been a Spider-Man villain long enough to warrant a figure. It takes a special character to play Harley Quinn to Carnage’s Joker. Not to mention be a major nuisance to everyone’s favorite wall-crawler.
Shriek gets her Marvel Legends debut just in time to debut the new female base body. Who said patience didn’t pay off? Let’s see if Shriek has me hollering or looking for an ideal spot to pose her with Carnage.
Packaging: As usual with the Spider-Man focused figures, the accent color is red on the standard black. The side package art is a little weird as it looks far more like Mystique than Shriek.
Her bio is very basic as it doesn’t explain any of her powers or allies.
It’s too vague for a character a decent number of fans will need to run to Wikipedia to learn anything useful about her.
Likeness: Shriek’s had several looks over the years, but Hasbro went with her Mark Bagley appearance right down to a very Bagley-influenced head sculpt.
That’s the right decision as Bagley was one of the more highly influential Spider-Man artists over the last 30 years.
Shriek is an ideal character for Hasbro as she doesn’t require much in the new sculpting department. All she needed was a head sculpt and her belt.
The head sculpt is fantastic showing a sly smile that’s full of bad intentions. Her belt is positioned so it properly slants along her hip.
Shriek uses a new body that still looks a bit too thin and slender around the torso and waist. It’s a good enough standard base body though it’d be nice to have a slightly wider body.
Paint: Shriek’s paint job is solid, which is impressive considering how dicey the white and black combination can be with sharp, distinct edges.
It’s pretty much a given that there could be another application of white paint as it’s so hard to prevent some degree of transparency.
Her left eye has excellent fading with the star and her filled in iris.
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Scale: Shriek is normally drawn about the same height as Carnage. She scales just fine based on comic reference art.
Articulation: The big news with this new body is it finally brings in the articulation points only awarded to the rarest of female figures — bicep joints and double-jointed elbows.
This feels like a major advancement even though it’s long overdue. I’m glad this will finally be the norm for female figures now.
Shriek has:
- neck
- ball-jointed shoulders
- bicep
- elbow (double-jointed)
- wrist
- wrist hinge
- torso
- waist
- hip
- thigh
- knee (double-jointed)
- ankle
Accessories: Shriek comes with two alternate sets of hands with fists and clutching. The paintwork is consistent on both sets with the pattern on her right hands.
She doesn’t have much else since she has the biggest part of the Build A Figure Armadillo with the torso and rear outer shell.
Worth it? Shriek was at the starter price increase at $22.99, but she’s been one of the figures that’s easier to find for cheaper at $16.79. That feels like a much better price.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10
With the enhanced articulation, a solid new base body and a more reasonable price point, Shriek is a winner. Especially if you’re building Armadillo.
Where to get it? You can get Shriek from Walmart and some Target stores, but online retailers like Amazon, Target and Entertainment Earth might be a better bet.
As an Amazon Associate and Target/Entertainment Earth affiliates, I earn from qualifying purchases.