How’s your F5 key holding up?
If there was ever any doubt that a single Hasbro Marvel Legends figure was capable of whipping fans into a frenzy, Black Widow from the Captain America Infinite line squashed that doubt with a vengeance. Hasbro’s decision to pack her one-to-a-case was an *ahem* interesting marketing move, and one that has earned them the scorn of many a frustrated collector. Some fans have spent weeks, literally, hitting retail stores every day hoping to find her on the pegs. Some have been successful, while others have left with just her wave-mates (if they were lucky). Many fans have been camped out on Amazon’s Black Widow page for days, constantly F5ing in the hopes of adding one to their cart.
The point here is the hunt for this figure has been the cause of a lot of stress.
Thanks to timing, luck, the placement of the moon, or whatever it was, I was able to snag one on Amazon the second day she was available, so I feel extremely fortunate that my own hunt was relatively short. Once I had her in hand, it became clear immediately what all the fuss was about — she is a stellar figure, as good a representation in plastic of Scarlett Johanssen’s Black Widow as we could possible hope to get from a mass-market toy company. So, in short, yes — she’s worth the fuss and bother. Every bit of it.
At the risk of tossing too many superlatives out there, Black Widow could be the best female Marvel Legends action figure we’ve seen yet. Her proportions are realistic and her overall sculpt is tight and realistic. The paint apps on mine are clean and sharp, and I’m getting the biggest kick out of her head sculpt. That is clearly Scarlett Johanssen’s likeness they were working with, and they captured it well. That was the first thing I noticed when I first saw her, and it’s still the first thing I notice when I glance at my Marvel shelf; it’s kinda nuts to have a 6-inch Scarlett staring back at me from amongst the collection. She’s definitely raised the bar for action figure likenesses.
Her sculpt packs a good amount of detail. Her zipper, her costume’s texture, and the naturally occurring folds in the fabric are all there, richly sculpted. The paint apps on her costume are simple, but equally impressive. From her own “Black Widow” logo to the SHIELD logo on her shoulders, everything looks clean and perfect. This is some top-notch work from Hasbro.
One of the few complaints to be made here, however, are her two faux holsters on her legs. Each looks to come packing a pistol, but they’re for show only, unfortunately. Her only accessories are two swappable hands and the Mandroid’s torso — no guns to be seen, which is odd since two of her swappable hands are clearly posed with the intent of holding a gun. Thankfully, I had a couple left over from some of Hasbro’s previous Marvel Legends releases, so I had her covered.
Paint apps on the eyes can vary widely from figure to figure, but I’m getting the biggest kick out of mine. On the longer-haired head, she looks to be looking up a bit, as though she’s giving you a look dripping with attitude. Normally this would bug me, but here I find it hilarious. The second head fared better in the eye department, so her expression is a bit more neutral.
That’s another thing, though. Her expression is perhaps a bit too neutral. It’s absolutely emotionless and expressionless, so she can look a bit weird in action poses or when posed in action scenes.
Of the two heads, I do prefer the longer-haired version, but the Avengers movie version is nothing to scoff at. The sculpt of her hair alone is beautifully intricate and convincing. It looks great, and I think it would be worth the bother to track down a second Black Widow figure just to have both versions displayed in the collection.
Cap’s “scolding finger” perfectly sets up Black Widow’s “OK, sure, you’re lame” facial expression, which is even more evident below in the “high five” pose.
She makes a great display piece, but, again, her facial expression is just too darn placid to work with any kind of action scene. In the below pic, she’s escaping from the Hulk, but she doesn’t seem too concerned about it. “OK, I guess I’ll run now.”
I don’t know what a better alternative would be, however. Often head sculpts with a more stern or earnest expression look pretty goofy on the shelf, so Hasbro looks to have erred on the side of caution here, which is probably the better move in the long run.
As mentioned previously, she comes with two swappable hands that can easily be switched out by giving her hands a firm tug. They’ll pop right out, though if they’re in there too tight, it may be a good idea to heat them first so as not to break them. With the extra hands, she ends up with two “trigger” hands, and two “I give up” hands. While I appreciate the effort in providing these extra hands, it would have been nice to have some further articulation built into them. As it is, her hands can only swivel at the wrist, which limits the posing options more than I would have expected.
Speaking of posing, it’s not hard to get her in cool poses, but it is hard to get her to remain upright while posed. Maybe it’s just my figure, but she will not stay standing in anything but the simplest vanilla pose. Her feet are small with precious little surface area that makes contact with the ground, and the result is a figure that’s difficult to balance. It’s frustrating to have such a well-done figure in terms of sculpt, paint, and articulation, and then to have so few display options.
Her articulation breakdown is as follows:
- Ball-jointed head
- Pegged shoulders
- Single-jointed, swivel elbows
- Swivel wrists
- Ab crunch/swivel
- Ball hips
- Cut thigh
- Double-jointed knees
- Ankle rockers/swivels
She’s just a bit smaller than the average Marvel Legends female, but a little bit taller than Spider-Girl. Her proportions are more realistically human, which suits the figure well.
As a rule, I’m not much of a fan of movie figures, but these new Captain America figures have made me reconsider. This Black Widow is a much stronger and more effective representation of the character than any previous version, including the previous two comic versions Hasbro released. She works well in my comic display, but if Hasbro’s movie figures continue to be this good, then Black Widow will likely be the first of a new movie-figure collection on my shelves.
I recommend her highly, and I hope the posing troubles I’m having are just my own doing. If you can find her, definitely snag her (like you needed me to tell you that, right?)
Buy from BigBadToyStore (as part of the full set)