Who’s the boss? Why, Angela, of course! Just don’t tell Mona.
Comics have no shortage of convoluted character histories, but even with that lofty threshold, Angela’s background is still a stand out. I generally like to make these features somewhat anecdotal because aside from being an action figure fan, I am generally a fan of the characters/universes the figures represent in plastic. So I can drone on, and on, and on about Star Wars, Mega Man, DC, Marvel, and just about everything else I collect, I usually like to do so to help further a review. For Angela, though, I was ready to skip that entirely, not because I have disdain or a lack of care for the character, but her history inside and outside of comics is pretty insane.
And who is Angela? Well, she is a character created by comic heavyweights Todd McFarlane and Neil Gaiman as an angelic (get it?) counterpoint to the anti-hero Spawn. Well, as creators are wont to do, Todd and Neil got into a legal battle over the character, and once Neil was declared the winner in court, he sold the rights to the character to Marvel, where she was retconned as a long lost sister to Thor. Her prior characterization and design fit the Thor-verse well, so I think Marvel handled that integration pretty well in Age of Ultron (I *think* it was AoU). I mean, it was handled well enough as it could with Wolverine bringing down heaven or whatever, but I totally buy her as a sister to Thor.
So she has traveled from heavenly bounty hunter (just typing that feels ridiculous) to Asgardian, and now to the really important part: she is a brand new Marvel Legends figure. You have only yourself to thank for that as she was the winner of the Fan’s Choice poll at the show a couple of years ago, so the Hasbro team is delivering. I think I picked Quasar as my choice in that poll, but I do not begrudge Angela winning in the least. I like the idea of fans getting to pick a figure in theory, but often times the selection pool is tightly controlled, and trusting fans to pick a character can be a nightmare (see: the Star Wars Black Series picks). However, one thing ML definitely needs is more Thor-inclusion, so Angela helps with that.
Overall, I find Angela to be a quality entrant into the Marvel Legends pantheon, and at this point, we are doing pretty well in terms of better female-to-male character distribution. Sure, it will likely never be balanced, but we usually always get one per assortment now, and the next GotG wave will feature three women. As is appropriate, Angela skews to the larger side in terms of build amongst the ML females, so she is a contemporary of figures like She-Hulk, Valkyrie, and Thundra. Even though she matches those characters in terms of stature, she definitely has her own build, and I find her to be much more slender than the others, but still imposing.
Of course, Angela’s costume is RIDICULOUS in terms function, but the form matches a call back to her ’90s roots, so what are you going to do? On the bright side, it makes for a unique look, and if anyone is going to be sporting metal thigh highs, purple panties, and a solid gold bra, I suppose it is going to be an Asgardian. The figure gets a lot of its height from those boots, and her shins seem more elongated than most of the taller females in the line. I am glad she is tall because those boots are being reused in the awesome upcoming Sif figure, so that bodes well for her build.
Like most female action figures, she is really skinny in the waist, even though her legs have better proportions overall, but it is not too bad. The belt and one-sided loincloth help to fill out her form a bit, but she is so top heavy by design that her, ahem, ample chest and metal shoulder pads kind of make her waist look even smaller than it is. As I said, this follows the design of the character well, so it is not a figure issue, but the ’90s — amirite?
I am a big fan of Angela’s head sculpt and the winged helm Asgardian theme is strong, and this girl has a LOT of hair. Angela has a pretty placid expression (all white eyes never help that) but it does strike an imposing note, which is good for such a formidable fighter. The shape of the hair is interesting and sculpt is good, but as you can imagine, do the big hair, neck articulation don’t care, or don’t move rather, at least very much. I imagine you are not surprised by that, but it is worth mentioning anyway. Her shoulder range of movement is also somewhat restricted due to the armor, but it is not as bad as I would have originally thought.
Angela comes with her requisite Titus chunk in the form of one of his legs, as well as a sword, and two twin crescent-shaped blades. The sword fits nicely into the sheath, but I think I prefer it over the blades, so Angela will be armed with that on my shelf. As is the case with most ML accessories, I wish there was a bit more paint on the sword, but since the golden pommel matches the color of the rest of the gold on the figure, it fits in fine, and at least it has a nice shimmer to it. The good thing about Angela is that, if you don’t like the included weapons, she will look good with just about any melee implement, so feel free to go nuts.
No, I am guessing that Angela will not be appearing Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2, but I am glad she is included in this wave. It always takes some time for fan picks to make it to market due to the required action figure turn around time, but I believe that most people who supported her inclusion in the line will be happy with the final result and forget all about the wait. Of course you will need her build Titus, but if you are like me, you won’t need the incentive because this is a very strong figure on its own. I suspect she will be one of the more expensive figures from this assortment on the aftermarket, so if you see her at retail, I suggest snatching her up, lest you pay an inflated price.
