Some may feel this unnecessary but the Marvel Legends Netlfix Elektra’s arms were just weird to me. They bulged at the forearm and lacked range of movement. I don’t claim to be the originator of this “fix” but it does wonders for the posability of the figure. And it’s easy. Win-win.
For reference, here’s the stock Elektra.
And here’s the original range in her elbows, which are hinge and swivel.
The leg articulation is fine, excellent even, so that made the frustration at the arms even greater.
For this project you’re going to need the Marvel Legends Elektra, of course, and a Star Wars Black Series Farmboy Luke. He’ll be donating his arms. I also use a ML Silk’s pulled down face mask to spruce up the whole thing when using Elektra’s unmasked head but that is most definitely optional. The Luke arms are the biggie here.
Hasbro’s cloth shirt is actually hiding a fairly decent sculpt and an amazing articulation scheme. The arms work because of SWBS’s smaller size. You can’t use the ANH Princess Leia’s arms because they are too small for ML’s larger size.
Quit staring, he’s just working with what he was given.
The whole process is detailed in the video below but essentially you are heating and popping each set of arms and then swapping. It’s kind of amazing how well the Luke arm pegs fit into the Elektra torso, and then Elektra’s hand pegs into the Luke forearms. Almost like the were made for each other. Even more amazing is the realization that the arms pop out of the torso at the shoulder. Remember back in the day when you had to drill and cut and pop and hammer to get those things out? The only bit of grind work to be done here is cutting the glove cuffs from the forearms and hollowing them out to slide over the new forearms but even then, there are other options, such as painting Rogue’s removable glove cuffs black.
Here’s a direct comparison between the new and old arms. Her right (our left) is the Luke arm and her left (our right) is the original Legends arm. Ignore the funky colors and terrible lighting, I just took this to get a 2D visual before proceeding.
The results speak for themselves. Sure, the skintones don’t match perfectly and the bicep muscles are a tad defined but the range of movement and new flow of the arms are improvements in my eyes.
Like I said, I didn’t come up with this idea, smarter people than me did this first. I had heard of it before opening my Elektra but never really researched it, then when I posted the video review I had quite a few comments suggesting it. I’m glad those people did because it turned what was probably my least favorite of the Legends Netflix offerings into standing right there alongside Jessica Jones and Punisher. I still need the Defenders version of Elektra but now this will do just fine. For now.
Now Hasbro, about those hinge and swivel elbows…
