Ms. Marvel is a character that I've always had mixed feeling about. I would definitely enjoy the occasional back issue, but the character never grabbed me the way others did. It wasn't until very recently when Carol Danvers took up the mantle of Captain Marvel that I really began to appreciate the character. Carol Danvers became Ms. Marvel during a very interesting few years at Marvel Comics in the late 1970s. In a brief timeframe, many outstanding female characters were created and given solo series. Spider-Woman, Dazzler, She-Hulk, Red Sonja, and Ms. Marvel seemingly came out of nowhere and added some much needed girl power to the Marvel roster. Similar events were happening at DC, but their new characters just didn't have the staying power of the Marvel ladies. I grew up mainly knowing Carol as the source of Rogue's base powers. In my mind, she didn't have a defined personality or interesting story. Then came her renaissance in the 2000s. Suddenly she became a major player in the Avengers and finally became the staple character she's always had the potential to be.
Throughout Carol's sporadic career, she's had a handful of (drastically different) costumes. To be perfectly honest, this black lightning design was always my least favorite. However, this action figure is beautiful and once again I am forced to reassess my longheld harsh opinions in light of some pretty plastic.
Ms. Marvel shares the exact same mold as the SDCC exclusive Moonstone figure from 2013. Normally I hate blatant repaints, but in this case it works so well that I'll hold my tongue.
Carol has all the excellent articulation we've come to expect from modern Marvel Legends figures, but one POA I want to highlight is the wrists. Their ability to swivel as well as rotate adds a ton of posing potential.
Carol only has a couple potential QC problems. The main one is the paint on her upper thighs. The thigh plastic is black with painted fleshtone. I was luckily enough to stumble into a Target that had about 15 sets to choose from - so this paint is actually very good. But most of the Ms. Marvels I saw were extremely sloppy in this area. Also, there seems to be a variation is the location of the mask on her face. None of them looked bad, but by exposing or covering her eyebrows, you can really change the look of the figure.
Here are some images of Carol in her black lightning costume from the comics.
Time for some Group and Comparison Shots!
Here she is with her 3-Pack companions: Radioactive Man and Captain America.
And with her body double Moonstone.
Cheers!
It's surely better than the previous, and only, Ms Marvel. But I just cannot get that excited. Thumbs up for the two fists. Thumbs down for being a straight repaint. If she has a side parting like Perez Drew her, would be great. Plus...Ms Marvel wears heels! Yeah I know is not practical etc, but a design is a design, and that was hers. Looking forward to the Witch, Spider Woman and over all Hellcat, if they don't cancel them...
ReplyDeleteYeah, this was one of those "You know you're going to buy it, so let's just get it over with while it's sitting in front of you" purchases for me. Not that the Ms. Marvel upgrade isn't appreciated, but this has been such a great year for 6" to 7" figures in general and female figures in particular that there's more exciting things to spend the money on right now.
DeleteSee I loved this figure. This is enough of a repaint that at a quick glance I don't even realize they're the same. I'm super excited to get the Captain Marvel figure in January. I love Carol's new look. And the three-pack price tag at $50 isn't even that bad. I haven't picked up a 6-7" scale superhero figure for under $17 in years. And i know it would be more true to the character, but I never liked her side-part or heels, so this version is like a custom-made version for me :)
DeleteSo interesting, i can tell you are younger than me. I firs saw Ms Marvel in The Avengers issue when she fights Tyroc with Wonder Man and Scarlet Witch. Next she was in the leather get up and the big Gyrich Avengers meeting in the leather get-up, and had no idea who she was. but i remember thinking it was pretty cool, then she got signed up, and she was drawn (by Byrne) with side parting and heels, and i just thought she was a femme fatale. She was written quite feminist then, despised the clothing. Now thats the Ms, i felt in love with. Tough, but not perfect, type thing. See i have never given that much thought to sexuality in comics till becoming an adult and read stuff like "woman in the refrigerator" stuff. Now i know, i get it. But i still feel that dominatrix look she had was female empowerment. Hahaha. probably explains a lot, specially why i like strong woman ( i live with one, trust me). Back to the figure, now that i have her, she is front and center of some cool cabinet, as i still feel (with awareness now) that she looks powerful, NOT hot. I have other figures that do that way more overtly. Diatribe done. Thanks for reading, and for my favourite blog.
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