Marvel Legends collectors, the Scarlet “Mitch” era is over. It is done. Dead. Dusted. Buried. Ready to be forgotten for the rest of time. It is now time to celebrate all things Scarlet Witch in Marvel Legends.
If you are not familiar with the term “Scarlet Mitch,” I will give you a VERY brief history since I am doing everything in my power to put that whole era behind me at this point. See, even though we are now being treated to a shiny new Wanda Maximoff figure, this is not the first time the Witch has been brought to the Legends line. See, many years ago, back when Toy Biz was still running the line, the Scarlet Witch was supposed to be released in the eleventh wave, dubbed the “Legendary Riders” assortment. The prototype was beautiful and many a collector was happy to finally have such an important character in the line.
Then, something went wrong. During the production phase the figure had a completely systemic breakdown and everything from the articulation to the sculpt to the paint just went horribly… wrong. It was unofficially announced right on the Fwoosh Forums that she was being pulled from the assortment, but nothing official was ever given and the story of how things fell apart has never been completely told (to my knowledge). Anyway, the figure did make it out to several collectors and while people were buying the figure up, it was pretty much declared the worst ML figure ever before even landing on store shelves. It is a crazy little story that is a permanent part of ML lore, but until recently, we have not been able to put it completely in the past.
Fast-forward several years and we are finally, FINALLY being, ahem, avenged, for a past injustice with the release of the all-new Scarlet Witch in the first assortment of the Avengers Infinite Series. There is nothing like coming home from a great Toy Fair to a brand new assortment of ML, but ever since this figure debuted at SDCC last year, I knew that the Scarlet Witch was going to be the big-hitter of the assortment for me and the best part is, the figure does not at all disappoint. I am not just saying that in terms of comparison to a past figure either – Wanda makes a strong case for being one of the best female figures in the ML line to date. Yes kids, this is quite the “Zero to Hero” story.
Look, I know I made note of what a drastic improvement the new ML Daredevil is compared to past figures in my review of him, but this one is on a whole other level. Frankly, I feel like I really don’t have to say much of anything in this article because, well, the pictures speak very much for themselves. I mean, I could go on all day about how we have gone from this:
to this:
and not really have to say anything else. But as I alluded to before, just talking about this new figure by comparison will not do it justice. If it was just an improvement over the previous offering, it would not take very much in terms of successful execution to be the better figure; but this figure, at least in my opinion, ranks very high amongst some of the strongest Marvel Legends offerings we have gotten as of late, and I say that with no hyperbole. I have already made it clear that I believe we are currently living in the best era of Legends to date. Hasbro and Gentle Giant are taking all of the great things that Toy Biz did in the past and improving on them, and going to new heights with quality and consistent aesthetics. It has taken some time to be sure, but if the showing at Toy Fair last week as any indication, 2015 is probably going to go down as a highlight year for the brand.
I find this Scarlet Witch figure to be a great example of the work that is being done on ML right now and while she is not 100% perfect, she is pretty close. I have always been a fan of her look and classic color scheme, but even if that was not the case, it is hard to argue the quality. It all starts with the sculpt and Wanda has finally been given the treatment that she deserves, and I think she looks great. She takes a lot of her pieces from the pre-existing Hasbro ML female part bank, so if you have figures like Moonstone or Black Cat, you will see a lot of commonality here. I am VERY big on consistent aesthetic so this system works very well for me, but creating a strong library of base bodies means more future tooling can go to places that really need it so if the shoe (or arm, or torso, or thigh) fits, there is no need to reinvent anything just for the sake of doing so. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t find any reuse here to be at all in appropriate, so don’t think that just because she shares with others that Wanda has been compromised in any way, because she has not.
Her head sculpt is also very nice and is certainly up to the same standards as figures like Warbird and Spidergirl, so I think most collectors will be pleased. I particularly like her slightly elongated and green eyes, it gives her a bit of the appropriate Eastern European feel that needed for her origins. She has a sultry quality to her and she looks strong and imposing, but without having to resort to the clichéd “screaming” mouth or angry face. My compliments to the sculptor for being able to convey a quiet toughness without having to resort to an insane Wolverine “berserker” face.
Wanda’s cape is all-new as well and the form has been appropriately represented. Now, on one hand, it is a bit heavy so you might have to work at some poses, but on the other, it can actually be used as a balance to hold her in some interesting “flight” positions without having to use a stand or any other outside help. It is *slightly* dynamic in its shape, but not really enough for me to notice. If it is enough to be an issue for you, I have seen that some people are actually taking the cape from the old figure (the one great part) and putting it on this one, it looks great, so you do have some options.
Now, if I was going to be a stickler about this figure, it would be over two things: the high heels and the knee joints. The latter might just be on this particular figure, but mine has a slightly soft right knee that tends to bend a bit. It is not gummy or anything, just not as strong as say, the elbows. If we can get the knee joints tightened up just a bit, we will be golden. The high heels are a bit more complicated of an issue, but again, not huge. The fact is, having those feet, while appropriate to the costume, make some poses difficult (and add increased verticality) because you are dealing with very little surface area in which to balance. Frankly, I would LOVE it if comic book costume design did away with high heels all together (they are RIDICULOUS), but until that time, I cannot really fault Hasbro for wanting to be accurate to the source, but gravity will have its say for some poses. So, I would call both of these things more “annoyances” than serious issues, but Hasbro has done well with learning from past figures, so Wanda here might offer up a bit help as well. Oh, and the plastic on the flesh portions might be a bit too shiny, but that is getting REALLY nitpicky at this point.
Finally, Wanda comes with a few accessories — of which are pretty great in their own right. Being a part of a Build-a-Figure assortment, included are some chunks of Odin, the All-Father, so the fact that we are getting to build him after all of this time is pretty neat. Also included are two “hex bolts” that snap right on to her wrists and help recreate her mutant hex magic effect. I think these look really cool and the pink is right-on to tie her powers to her look. We saw at Toy Fair that these will get a second life cast in yellow in included with Dr. Strange, but they look great with him, too.
As you can probably tell, I am pretty elated to have that old Marvel Legends feeling back. This line, along with the World of Simpsons and Lord of the Rings is what really brought me back to action figure collecting as “grownup” so to have such great Legends being produced after all of this time is a great thing. I have not been this excited for ML or Marvel in general for a long time. Hasbro has done a great job in bringing on of my favorite Avengers to life in plastic, and the sins of the past have been completely washed away. It makes me very excited for more female figures in the line because we finally have a great system for them, so bring on the gender equality. The Scarlet Witch is about to have a GIANT year with the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron, so I am glad we get this classic version of her to go on our shelves. Now, Vision will follow (twice!) this year, but maybe we can still get a classic version of him, and Quicksilver and Wonder Man as well. Wanda needs the complicated people in her life to stand as well as she does on the shelf.
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