Black Widow was supposed to come out today, so it seems appropriate to continue our look at the Marvel Legends Black Widow Series with Yelena Belova!
Yelena has some killer box art and I love the artist’s style though it is a little weird that she doesn’t come with the staff accessory as depicted. It’s fine, though. I’ve got plenty of staff weapons she can use if it’s necessary.
Yelena comes with two grip hands, two fists, two pistols and the Crimson Dynamo torso parts. The guns are super tiny and cast in a solid black plastic. She only has the one holster but it works fine.
Her other holster is for knives, though they are not removeable. The fists swap easily with the grip hands and get the job done. The holsters are attached to the belt and glued to the legs but fortunately do not impede articulation. The shape of Yelena’s vest also helps prevent the belt from riding up like it did on the exclusive Natasha in white outfit.
The Crimson Dynamo pieces have some interesting detail to them. There is a sort of cracked texture to parts of the shoulder pads. The pads and the back of the armor come disassembled but snap together easily and securely. I like that the neck is a ball and socket where it attaches to the body and the head so it looks like there should be good movement there. Again, it’s not my preferred look for this guy, but with the arm from Red Guardian attached, I’m really digging the look so far.
Sculpting on Yelena is pretty great. The costume details look pretty accurate as far as I can tell, though I think the collar of her vest could have stood to be a little thicker and her neck a little shorter. All the little seam details are very crisp. As it is she is a little taller than Natasha, which I’m not sure is right.
I think the face sculpting and the paint work combine for a nice likeness. The only issue with the sculpting is there is a bit of an engineering problem and an unsightly gap at the back of the neck. I think maybe the hair at the back of the head should have been a bit lower too.
It allows for freer movement, but can also allow some weird neck poses too.
The articulation is pretty good, though it is a little awkward in spots. I really like how far her elbows can bend up past 90 degrees, but that has a trade off with a bit of an odd look with the disc showing when they aren’t as bent.
The articulation is standard ML fare with:
- Swivel/hinge shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, and ankles
- Ball and socket head (barbell) and mid-torso
- Swivel thighs
I do like the range of motion on the mid-torso ball joint. It has nice side to side movement. The wrists hinge up/down for the gun hands and in/out for the fists. I do wish the hips kicked forward just slightly more so we get a 90 degree bend. Hey, GI Joe Classified has me wanting drop down hips now too. It would also be nice if she had butterfly hinges in the shoulder for a two handed pistol holding pose.
Paint is pretty sparse with the figure mostly cast in the white plastic of the uniform. I think a light gray wash would help sell those uniform details better.
Overall Yelena turned out pretty nice and my nitpicks are fairly minor and she looks pretty cool with the matching Natasha.
