Yellowjacket is one of my favorite characters. Not because he is a wife-beating psycho, but I love the costume and I love the edgy character. Now, that all said, Hank Pym has some serious issues, which Kurt Busiek was able to settle by relying on extradimensional mumbo jumbo. Which was perfectly OK in my book since it brought back Yellowjacket, who first appeared in comics in 1968. My introduction to Yellowjacket was during the late ’70s in The Avengers, written by David Michelinie and drawn by George Perez or John Byrne (both worked the magic back then). I liked him. He was kind of a Wolverine for the Avengers at the time.
In addition, when Scott Lang took over the mantle of Antman, it left Pym without an identity. And let’s face it, his future wasn’t to be as Goliath. But as Yelowjacket it made sense. Partnering with Wasp, the two could take over the flying insect world. It was more a fit with the two of them crusading around as Yellowjacket and Wasp rather than Antman and Wasp. At least now the two heroes were more closely related in the insect world. Or something like that.
When Hasbro announced he was coming in wave 2 (the Blob Series) in 2007, I was totally on board. Until, well, I saw that he had the new Hasbro interpretation of the Bullseye body and the goofy feet. God, those feet kill me. I’ll be happy when I can finally remove those calves and feet and replace them with something else. Awful. As with Quicksilver, the head sculpt seemed large, but sticking with Andrew Loomis proportions, I think the head sculpt was spot on. It’s one of the better heads, and when you compare it to the undersized noggin we got on Guardian and Nova, you become all that much more thankful for it.
I don’t have much to add about the articulation that hasn’t been said before; it’s standard Marvel Legends fare. Here is the articulation run down:
hinged toes
rocker ankles
hinged ankles
shin swivels
double knees
ball hips
swivel waist
hinged ab
rocker shoulders
ball shoulders
swivel biceps
double elbows
swivel forearms
hinged wrists
articulated fingers
hinged neck
swivel head
The paint on this figure is really simple. I think the head and the chest insignia are the only things painted. The rest is molded plastic, which is well done. There isn’t much to cry over as the costume is fairly simple, but it would really pop with a good base paint, some dry brushing, and a wash to bring out the sculpt some more.
The variant is the same as the regular figure, only he is molded in a gold color instead of a straight yellow, and the yellow parts are painted gold. It’s a good touch, and for those of you wanting a modern version to fit into your collections, this is a good figure to incorporate. I just wish we’d get a 12-inch version to represent his giant form.
As I mentioned, this is a must-have character for my Avengers display. He’s a key character in the Marvel Universe, and it is good to have him on shelf. You can still get him from:
And you can discuss this figure further on:
