With the previous Beetle now reformed and a part of the Thunderbolts, there was a gaping Beetle-sized hole left in the Marvel Universe that needed filling. So along came the daughter of a career criminal to fill the purple and green gap.
This is the third Beetle figure we’ve received in toy form, but we have yet to get the original Beetle, which makes this a bittersweet figure. In terms of general aesthetics, this is the closest we’ve come to getting that elusive original Beetle figure, but there’s a definite gender problem in that this one has lumps and bumps in places the original Beetle doesn’t. So while those of us who pine for the more traditional Abe Jenkins seem destined to sit on the sidelines and wait, let’s see how this new heir to the Beetle throne looks.
Hasbro has upped their game concerning female action figures by so many leaps and bounds that referring to the ToyBiz or early Hasbro years as the “dark ages” is extremely appropriate. Simply put, Hasbro’s females are now actually fun to play with. The 45-degree hips are, for the most part, either gone completely or being phased out, and the gangly mess of randomly articulated arms and awkward torsos seem to be gone. While there is still room for improvement, each newly sculpted female figure shows signs of that improvement, instead of stagnation.
Beetle arrives on a newly sculpted body that sits between the teen body used for Spider-Girls and Spider-Gwens, and the Moonstone/Captain Marvel body. It’s a great sculpt loaded with poseability. She reuses the Wasp wings to great effect, and they, too, are fully articulated. These are cast in a translucent pinkish color that work well for the character.
Her head is able to look up so she can get into much-needed flying poses with no problem.
The torso parts are a very specific sculpt, and since reuse is prevalent, I’d imagine we’ll be seeing it used again down the road on another winged character.
Her hands are a reuse of the spell-casting hands from other characters, and are suited for flying or for firing at the good guys.
Other than the BAF part, she doesn’t come with any extra hands, heads or accessories, so you’ll have to be satisfied with the new sculpting for this one. I’m just glad that nobody decided she needed heels, as they’ve been slapping those on some ladies that didn’t need them.
As this is armor, there’s a hint of Hasbro’s swirly plastic here and there, mainly on the parts that are cast in purple. The painted parts look to have a very subtle pearlescent sheen, but it’s so faint that it might be an optical illusion, at least on mine.
In updating the classic Beetle, there weren’t a ton of liberties taken with this design. It keeps the green and purple color scheme of the original Beetle and gives it all a feminine edge. Years of reading Marvel comics have made me a sucker for the combo of green and purple, a pairing that immediately makes me think of spinner racks and spare-change cover prices. I wasn’t a fan of the previous Beetle-in-name-only Ultimate Beetle figure that was too much silver and red and not enough purple and green, so this at least gets the colors right. While the female Beetle debuted in Brubaker’s Captain America, she really got a character boost in the Superior Foes of Spider-Man comic that this wave owes a lot of debt to. Between Speed Demon, Beetle and the little RC Silvermane, there’s a definite theme working here.
Since every other version has been made, I’m going to hold out hope that the original Beetle’s day in the sun is coming up. Until then, this is a great figure of a modern take of a longstanding villain. Let’s finish up the Superior Foes, Hasbro!
The Absorbing Man series featuring Beetle is in stock at Big Bad Toy Store. You can order a case with just the 7 figures needed to build Absorbing Man, or buy the case with an extra Ben Reilly Spider-Man for an extra five dollars