Marvel Legends Madame Hydra review – BAF Controller wave
Madame Hydra has been a significant player in Marvel Comics. As a longtime member of Hydra and occasional leader of the Serpent Society, the former Viper fills in some gaps with teams that have strong representation in the Marvel Legends line.
Team building is always great and Madame Hydra is a character that can tangle with heroes like Captain America and The Punisher on her own as well.
For its Return of Marvel Legends rollout, Hasbro released a Madame Viper figure with an awful head sculpt and gangly body. She was ready for an update the moment that figure was released. It’s taken some years, but Hasbro finally decided it was time for a make good figure.
Lets see if this take on Madame Hydra was worth the wait.
Package: This is the last wave Hasbro used with the window packaging. There’s no way to sell that abandoning that was a good move due to the inconsistent nature of Hasbro’s paint work.
Her package insert has the Hydra logo in a nice extra touch.
David Nakayama handles the artwork for Madame Hydra resulting in another great take on the character. And the artwork matches up wonderfully with the figure.
Her bio does a solid job of explaining her backstory, which is aided by the greater prominence of Hydra in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Likeness: Madame Hydra doesn’t get a new mold. She’s using the Kitty Pryde mold with the Hellfire Club Emma Frost’s glove sleeve arms. Given the price increases ideally, Hasbro would roll out the superior base bodies for figures.
The big improvement for this figure is the head sculpt, which is fantastic. Madame Hydra’s got an intense expression like she’s amped and ready for battle. I love the flow of her hair, which covers over the right side of her face.
Scale: Madame Hydra is a smaller figure so she’s shorter than Red Skull, the Hydra agents and is about the same height as the recent comic Black Widow figure.
Paint: I really like the dark shade of green Hasbro used for Madame Hydra’s outfit and the brighter green used for her holster and boots.
The more precise details like her makeup and the Hydra logo on the holsters were very nicely done.
There’s sloppiness with the makeup application making her look a bit more crazed than usual.
Articulation: Madame Hydra suffers from this older base body in terms of movement.
Hasbro introduced the Shriek body, which should be the default for every female figure going forward so it’s frustrating when Hasbro uses an older mold that’s lacking.
Madame Hydra would clearly benefit from the bicep joint and double joint elbows, which are part of the Shrek body. As you’d expect, her longer hair restricts some movement.
Madame Hydra has:
- neck
- shoulders
- elbows
- torso
- waist
- hips
- thighs
- knees (double-jointed)
- ankles
Accessories: Madame Hydra comes with the small blasters we’ve seen with characters like Baron Zemo.
They’ve got a cool snakeskin pattern on the grips and actually fit in the holsters albeit very loosely.
She also has swappable fists. It would have been great if Hasbro included an alternate portrait with the shorter hairstyle Madame Hydra had for long stretches when she was Viper.
Finally, she comes with the right leg for the Build-A-Figure Controller.
Worth it? This wave started out at $22.99 before getting bumped to $24.99. There’s no way she’s worth $25, but you can get her now for $17. That’s a better overall price point for a figure with minimal new sculpting.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Where to Get It? The BAF Controller wave didn’t have great coverage in my area and Madame Hydra and Quake were sparse on my shelves. I ended up having to get Madame Hydra from Amazon, but you can also get her from Entertainment Earth.
As an Amazon Associate and Entertainment Earth affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.