Lady Deathstrike was part of a previous Bad Guy wave, a long long time ago. It feels like some kind of full circle thing, except with much better toys.
Lady Deathstrike is a crazy lady with long fingernails that she uses to slice and dice people. Mainly she tries to slice and dice Wolverine, but that’s ok, because he likes to slice and dice right back. Their slicey-dicey relationship is built around the fact that they just have too much in common. Namely, Adamantium. Every time they are put in the same room they can’t help but start hacking away at each other.
It’s painful to watch.
Being a partially Adamantium cyborg who has been affiliated with the Reavers, Lady Deathstrike is a basically a cyberpunk Asian splatterhouse revenge fantasy come to virtual life, and for that reason alone, is pretty damn nifty, character-wise.
Deathstrike comes on a fully original body from head to toe. She’s also one of what I hope is a trend of more appropriately sized women. I know there has been pushback due to her smaller stature, but I for one am tired of towering women figures.
Deathstrike is also pinless, and this time around I had no issues with stuck joints like I did with Dormammu. It looks like it’s going to be a case by case basis, but I hope that the trend moving forward is less stuck joints and less breakage. Not that I’ve had breakage, but I’ve heard the issues, and it does make me overly cautious when first moving them. As I’ve said, I’ve never had a problem with pinholes in my toys, but I do have to admit that the “new” pinless look does have a more streamlined feel.
Deathstrike is well-articulated in the places she has articulation. The necessities of her design have apparently dictated that torso-articulation was not feasible, so they’ve opted for a ball-jointed waist in lieu of any crunch or wobble. I’m frankly so used to female figures having subpar torso articulation that I don’t feel like I’m missing much without any upper movement. The waist joint takes care of any swivel, and it has enough motion to allow her to move forward and backward about as much as any other figure. It’s not perfectly ideal, but it does preserve the torso sculpt, which is something people get hung up about.
The bulky sleeves are swivel hinge “elbros” so she won’t get deep bends. I think a little more room could have been negotiated in the joint. As is, she gets 90 degrees, which is serviceable. In addition to the elbro, she does have a well-hidden bicep swivel.
The hips get a very wide lateral spread, and the knees and ankles work excellently.
The sculpt of the hands is the main draw to someone with this power set. I have to admit, I do wish the nails were a little longer. I like the overall look and pose of the fingers, and I like the subdued tech elements compared to the more robotic Toybiz figure. I also think the hands look more proportioned to her body, but I do miss the Toybiz figure’s overtly inhuman nail length. The proportions and overall “look” of these hands are better, so it’s a very small quibble. I like these sleeves much more than the Toybiz sleeves.
All in all, this is a massive improvement over an older figure, and is plenty of fun in hand. I didn’t know I needed a new Deathstrike, but having her in hand I wholeheartedly approve of her inclusion. And while we’re talking about Adamantium-infused villains, I need a Cyber as soon as possible.
