Hey, I am all about getting new-and-improved versions of characters in action figure form via Marvel Legends. The recent Joe Fixit series has offered us great new takes on classic characters Kang and Falcon, and I am certainly glad to have them. However, what I like even BETTER is getting all-new characters in the ML line, and as luck would have it, the Fixit series has a couple of those, too. Even with such an insane character history, Jocasta has finally arrived and she is right at home in my Avengers display.
Aside from absolute essentials, I have always been more of a fan of getting those third-string and below characters in comprehensive super hero lines like Marvel Legends and DC Universe Classics. Of course, I need my favorites like The Thing, Kitty Pryde, and others, but when a line really starts to expand, it is those who are less celebrated that often make me the happiest to see in plastic. Jocasta is a great example of this because, while she has never even whiffed at a spot in something like my ML Top Ten, she is a universe-building character who has a rich history with the Avengers, as well as the wider Marvel Universe. Heck, she has even had shared adventures with my boy Ben Grimm, so even though I have not put a sense of urgency around getting her in the past, I have always considered her to be essential Legends fare.
If you know Jocasta, you know her to have a bit of crazy character history even within the Marvel Universe (and that is saying something), and she comes with quite a lot of baggage that can be a lot to unpack if you step back and really consider everything that is going on. I mean, she is straight-up named for it. It is not hard to see why, even in her artificial intelligence state, she has often had a lot of doubt and confusion around her very existence. Like the Vision, Jocasta was originally created by Ultron, and like Vision, she eventually turned on him. So, Ultron was pretty much her dad, but he built her to have a “mate” but she eventually kind of fell in love with Vision, so her dad wanted to marry her, but she loved her brother, so geez guys, that is pretty heavy. Add to the fact the doubt and existential dread she dealt with for not being a real member of the Avengers for a really long time (even though she did WAAAAAAY more than what was likely required for membership), and it is easy to see that she is a lot more complex in her artificial form than a lot of living comic characters. Yes, I know I said, “living” understanding that they are all fiction and not real.
Well, now you can play out all of the family drama with your new Jocasta ML figure, and you will be glad to know that she turned out great. Aside from being a solid universe and team builder, the figure itself is a textbook ML offering in terms of quality and execution, so that is a good thing. Jocosta has a pretty striking design, but it is not one that is overly complex in terms of how it would be translated to plastic, so even though she is new to the line, she helps offset a character like Kang who needed to break the tooling bank in order to be done right. That said, she absolutely got the new parts so that she was not cheated in her construction, and everything works well together to form a cool-looking character based on a dynamic design.
As noted, Jocasta was create by Ultron, and to add another couple of pounds to her character baggage, you can kind of see that he created her in a feminine take of his own image. I mean, you are a robot making another robot as a mate but just to show how overly sure of yourself you are, you make her kind look like you. Ultron. Bubba. Oy. That said, Jocosta has neat look, but at first glance you would probably say that most of her detailing could be achieve with paint work (rather than sculpting). However, Dwight and design team would not do you like that, and Jocasta actually has more new parts than I would have originally expected, but is still well-balanced with some pieces already in the library.
Of course, she gets a new portrait and it is realized faithfully to capture her likeness well. However, Jocasta’s upper and lower torso pieces are also new to bring out the detail lines in her design, and honestly, I really just assumed they would have done this with paint. I am glad they didn’t, though, because the extra flourishes bring a lot to the figure. I *think* the riveted band on her left thigh is new as well, but I am not 100% sure if have seen it before; regardless, it is a essential part of the design, and it also hides that upper thigh joint, so win-win. Both sets of hands (fists and those pinchy/spell-casting hands) are reused, as are the shoulders, arms, legs, and feet. Everything carried over here is appropriate for the character, so there should not be any begrudging in the usage, and I am really glad to see some parts from the “thicker” female base return with this figure. Some of the female pieces in the current ML library are a bit skinny and spindly to me, so having a more solid and muscular build is nice to see here.
Jocasta comes with Joe Fixit’s, ahem, hulking torso, so since that takes up a good chunk of space in the card, she doesn’t feature any other accessories aside from those aforementioned alternate hands. I guess I could quibble over the fact that they could have included a couple of reused electricity effects for her, but honestly, I have so many of those lying around, she can take her pick from the department store-level of options I have available that are not currently being used in the display. Again, this is another one of those cases where I am glad to take the hit in the accessory department if it means we get more accurate figure sculpting, and since Jocosta has more new parts than anticipated, I am glad the money wen there instead.
Hey, if Jocasta has been at the top of your ML want list for some time, you are in luck – she gets a good figure! Even if you were not opining for her, she makes for a great Marvel Universe builder and add to the Earth’s Mightiest roster in unique form. She can hang out with your Del Toro Collector figure, help the Avengers take on Ultron, or have a family counseling session with Vision to talk through some serious shit. Either way, you will want to grab this figure, and you can do so HERE, HERE, or HERE.