Marvel Legends Yelena Belova review

It’s always nice when Hasbro does a wave dedicated to one corner of the Marvel Universe. The Puff Adder wave is Avengers-focused and allows Hasbro to work in a Black Widow variant. In this case, her longtime rival/eventual ally Yelena Belova.

Black Widow deserves to have an arch-rival in the line just like the other A-list Avengers so Yelena was probably overdue for a comic book entry in the Marvel Legends line.

This is a wave I’ve been looking forward to since its debut, but this take on Yelena wasn’t my most anticipated. Let’s see if this widow stings me or I get ensnared in her web and end up liking this figure after all.

Packaging: I’m still not loving the window-less packaging — no shocker there — but at least the comic artwork still gets nicely profiled on the side. I really miss the bio, which had some solid information on the character, which would have been especially helpful in this case.

The back does a decent enough job of showing the accessories that might have been swapped out and find once you get home. I miss the cross sell with the images of the rest of the figures in the BAF wave though the right side panel does highlight which piece comes with Yelena.

Likeness: Yelena rocks her full black bodysuit with this figure — no bare midriff to show off her abs. There are some seamlines and wrinkles throughout the attire so it actually looks like an outfit as opposed to a blank body painted to simulate wardrobe.

She’s also got a belt/holster setup that has some nice, sculpted detailing including the Black Widow logo and pouches.

What clearly stands out the most is Yelena’s head sculpt. She’s rocking a spider-eye like optical device that seems to be a holdover from her time when she was resurrected by A.I.M. with the powers of the Super Adaptoid, so this basically allows her to be a villain that can take on the second version of the Secret Avengers.

This look for Yelena seemed to vary based on the artist, but Hasbro sculptors didn’t just go with the first Google image this time for the reference. Her outfit is pretty close to the comic book costume with the exception of the thigh paneling and the chin guard. The “spider-eyes” look nice and creepy while her smirk conveys another level of sinister confidence.

The hair is nicely done flowing over her shoulders in a manner that at least attempts to avoid hindering her articulation.

Scale:  Yelena and Natasha Romanova are basically the same height so she shouldn’t tower over the other figures in your Marvel Legends display.

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Paint:  Yelena has a fairly simple color scheme. Her outfit is black and her colors are all basic. It would have been nice for Hasbro to add a darker wash to her blonde hair, which is too clean.

The more detailed work like the logo and the red energy lights from her optical device are well executed without any overspray or slop. Her holster could’ve used a wash as well as there’s a lot of flat tan. Adding a darker brown would have helped sell the illusion of this being a leather-like material.

Articulation: Given that Hasbro introduced the badly needed female mold upgrade with the Shriek body, it’s baffling that Hasbro went with an older body that lacks bicep and double-jointed elbow articulation.

This body is ok-ish, but has some real limitations that stop her from being much fun. The double-jointed elbows would definitely help with more dynamic fighting/aiming poses. Hasbro added an elbow swivel although it clearly doesn’t provide the same effect. Even minor butterfly jointed shoulders would do so much for her. Yelena’s hair is slightly raised up, yet it still restricts left and right movement.

The big holster creates a barrier to how much range she gets for splits or side kicks with the right leg. Like most female figures, Yelena’s butt limits how far back you can position the legs. I wonder if drop down hips would help here?

Easily the biggest offense though is her gummy double-jointed knee joints, which make any kind of balancing poses very frustrating. She might hold it for 10 seconds, but she will quickly topple over.

Yelena Belova has:

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

Accessories:  Yelena has some great accessories even if she’s lacking the most obvious one.

She’s got a set of swappable set of hands — the left gripping hand and right fist to match the default look.

Yelena is loaded for battle with a smaller handgun and another utilizing the same base model just adding a scope at the end.

She also has a Dragonov-style sniper rifle. There’s some decent detailing work on the butt with a mix of brown and gunmetal blending together nicely. It’s too bad the strap can’t rest over her shoulders properly due to the hair. You’ll have to suspend it more around her arm, which doesn’t look great.

Finally, she comes with the torso of the Build-A-Figure Puff Adder. He’s going to be a fun one to build up over the next few months.

Worth it?  I got Yelena for $12.50 as Target already started clearancing her out. Of course, that’s an awesome price for Marvel Legends figures and a terrific deal.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Yelena is a pretty decent figure, but the old articulation mold is a misfire that’s not helped by the restrictive hair, holster and ridiculously gummy knees. She wasn’t on my Top 100 list, but Yelena does help flesh out my AIM shelf.

Where to get it?  The Puff Adder wave is apparently being removed from Target to make way for the Ch’od wave so if you spot her grab her quickly. Of course, you can still get Yelena from Amazon or Entertainment Earth.