Marvel Girl was originally half of a Walmart-exclusive Marvel Legends X-Men 2-Pack alongside a repaint of Cable. It was a strange pairing: a perky teenaged girl and an old-as-dirt mutant geezer. Now, research into the subject tells me two things: Cable is Jean Grey’s clone’s son from the future, and the X-Men are badly in need of a reboot.
The Uncanny X-Men was never a big seller for Marvel, so the company was willing to take chances with the title. After three years, headmaster/leader Professor X was killed off and the team were given new costumes more reflective of their mutant identities. Marvel Girl ditched the blue-and-yellow school jumper for this kicky little number in issue #39.
The translation from page to plastic is not perfect, and here’s why: Jean was built on tooling created for the Rachel Summers version of Marvel Girl, which was released during Hasbro’s first run at Marvel Legends. That figure had short sleeves, so Jean gets ’em too. The big buckles on the gloves are another holdover. The original version of Jean’s outfit had long sleeves and opera gloves, so taken together the arms are a bit of a departure. Fortunately, in spite of what the tooling gets wrong, its the newly sculpted piece that saves Jean.
The figure sports a terrific head sculpt. Teen Jean is positively ebullient here. It’s refreshing to see the character represented at this stage in her life; she’s coming into her own at last, but is still years away from the corrupting influence of the Phoenix and lachrymose writing of Chris Claremont. When I think of the saying “Comics should be fun!” I think of Jeanie here. She looks like Belinda Carlisle.
Jean is sporting one of those masks that just kind of stays on your face — look, Ma, no strings. The sculpt is soft but not overly so. After all, she’s a teen, so her skin is still fairly tight and unblemished. Smoking behind the dumpster at school hasn’t caught up with her yet. Jean’s hair has a nice flow, but it lacks definition. With no paint present to bring out the detail it looks a bit like a foam cosplay piece.
In keeping with Hasbro’s original aesthetic, there isn’t a lot of paint here. Most of the figure’s color comes from molded plastic, which does make Jean one of the duller shades of Grey. The few applications Jeanie does get add a lot — the gold used for the mask and gloves pops nicely against her red hair and fair skin. That said, the work on the belt is lousy. Now, gold isn’t the easiest color to apply, and getting it to look good over green is probably even tougher — even so, this is a Dollar Store quality paint app.
Weak coverage, missed lines, already flaking — every sin present and accounted for. Keen-eyed readers of this column will also notice Jean’s angry abs — no, the gal isn’t prison-fit, she’s just sporting the bare midriff piece from Rachel molded in green. It looks especially weird with the defined seam of the half-shirt present, like it’s a latex gone all loose at the bottom. You’re only supposed to wear it once, Jeanie.
Jazz hands, I guess. Marvel Girl suffers from Hasbro’s mad doctor approach, with abrupt and ugly articulation. The ball shoulders lack any sort of bicep swivel — that comes at the elbow, and the dreaded hinged pin. The placement necessary to allow movement breaks up the arm’s natural shape, pushing it past where the eye will accept it. It’s not bad from certain angles, but it’s not great from any, either.
Here’s where things get ugly. I don’t know what to say to prepare you, so let’s just get it over with:
Yikes! Jean’s kneelessness is a nightmarish flaw in her otherwise normal legs. Makes me wish the skirt were longer, or I had a tiny little pair of knee-falsies for her. Anyway, aside from the wrists and waist, Jean is all Hasticulation. It’s not perfect, but for what it is, it (mostly) works.
The figure stands just shy of the 6-inch mark. If it wasn’t made clear by her gesturing hand, Jean’s lack of muscle tone attests to the fact that her power is purely telekinetic. Her silhouette is realistic and natural; it’s a shame Hasbro didn’t address the issues this tooling had, as it would have made an excellent base for civilians like Mary Jane Watson or Gwen Stacey.
If you can get past her flaws, Marvel Girl makes a nice addition to your X-Men collection. While it’s unlikely Hasbro will bother issuing the other four X-Men in uniforms, this figure is a nice alternative to Cheeto-Jean of the recent 5-pack. Just don’t let her talk you into anything you’ll regret later.
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