Superhero Times: a service of Action Online
What is it about green women? Well, technically, it’s nothing, since there is no such thing. But in a world without green women, we have had to create them. Whenever it comes time to start assigning non-human qualities to otherwise attractive women, a rich, forest-green skin tone is never far down the list. Why this may be is a truly mind-boggling enigma. There are the Orion slave girls from Star Trek; Oola from Star Wars; and on and on. And what green woman could be greener and, um, womanlier than She-Hulk? She’s got “green” and “woman” implicit in her name!
She-Hulk finally appears in the Marvel Legends line this month, in Hasbro’s second wave at the helm of the line. Apart from the jade giantess, and the previously reviewed Xorn, this line features Quicksilver, Yellowjacket, Ultimate Wolverine, X3Jean Grey, X3Juggernaut, and a new, bearded Thor. That’s eight figures – more than a single series of the line has ever seen before, unless you count variants or the Wal-Mart wave. And three of the figures in this series are from outside the main Marvel continuity! Incredible. Aside from numbers and universe-of-origin, Hasbro has made a number of other minor changes to the Legends line, and as such, their first wave received mixed reviews. How, then, is the line holding up in the second series? Let’s see what She-Hulk has to say about that.
PACKAGING: The She-Hulk figure comes packaged in the new Marvel Legends style. The card is mostly whitish, with a very nice picture of the character at the top. The plastic is no simple rectangle, but rather filled with curves and angles. Down the side of the plastic is a series of four pictures of the character, in various poses and outfits, including one in her role as a lawyer. (But is there a “Lawyer She-Hulk” variant? Nooooo!) On the back there’s the usual short bio, and pictures of the rest of the line. All in all, it’s perfectly decent packaging, though there seem to be those who are put off by the color of it.
One nigh-undeniable step forward in Hasbro’s packaging has been the removal of the twist-ties that used to hold Legends figures in place. The She-Hulk figure is held in place by four transparent rubber bands, and may be freed with nothing more than a simple yank. No longer will you have to take the day off work just to get your action figures out of their packages! The future is a wonderful place.
SCULPTING: Above all, this really is a great-looking figure, with a very impressive sculpt. There’s a lot of fine detail-work – the wrinkling on the costume is especially impressive – and every proportion of body and face is spot-on. (Actually, it is likely that there are those who will complain, as they did about last wave’s Emma Frost, that She-Hulk’s body presents too ludicrous a standard for feminine beauty. And as with Emma, they may be right, but the fault lies with the comic, rather than the figure, which is admirably accurate to most printed versions of the character.) The wide, wholesome grin on the face is particularly well-rendered and character-appropriate. Finally, this figure is huge, standing head and shoulders above most Legends, as it is entirely correct that it should.
The closest thing to a problem with the sculpt is that Hasbro has done away with the peg-holes at the bottom of the figures’ feet. She-Hulk stands up very well without them, but this is still too bad. And it is difficult to imagine why Hasbro has done this. Are they holding the peg-holes hostage? And if so, why aren’t they making any demands?
PAINT APPLICATION: It is part and parcel of being a superhero that you have a bright and simplistic color scheme, and She-Hulk is no exception. They’ve done an excellent job with this figure, simplicity and all; in particular, they’ve picked a better green for the skin than they did in last wave’s Planet Hulk. There are a few tiny points of smudginess, but then, there always have been in Marvel Legends. It’s a tradition, perhaps; it reminds you of the olden days. Many comic artists depict She-Hulk’s hair as being a good deal darker than it is here, but don’t let that ruin things.
One nice touch is that the purple of She-Hulk’s, er, swimsuit is shiny. And shiny is good! Everything is better shiny.
ARTICULATION: The She-Hulk figure boasts 27 points of articulation, which isn’t bad for this line, but nor is it phenomenal. The female Marvel Legends have always had less articulation than the male; historically, though, this has been because their limbs were as thin as pencil lead, and thus the figures were in constant danger of breaking – articulation was too much of a risk. Hasbro is using sturdier plastic, however, and anyway this figure is huge, so this justification for less articulation lies in ruins here. Particularly missed are means of twisting the waist, and of folding the forearms all the way back against the upper arms. (Oddly, however, She-Hulk seems to be double-jointed, in a creepy way; the arms bend a good way backwards at the elbow.)
Still, overall, you can get a pretty good range of movement out of this figure. The hair, unusual in this case, doesn’t interfere too much with the turning of the head, so that’s nice. And particularly impressive is the way the wrists and upper arms are made to be able to twist, On old Legends, there would be obvious, lined joints in the arms to allow this, but here these joints are hidden in the elbows and wrists. It makes for a very nice-looking figure.
ACCESSORIES: The She-Hulk figure comes with no accessories. There is no comic, as there were in Toybiz’ Legends, which is a pity here, because She-Hulk’s comic could use the publicity. And there’s no tiny little car for her to lift over her head, as there was in the recent Marvel Select She-Hulk. This latter absence is, shall we say, not glaring.
This figure is packaged with a portion of the Blob, the build-a-figure for this wave. In this case, you get the Blob’s upper torso. And it’s perfectly good-looking. Insofar as anything having to do with the Blob can be referred to this way.
COST & OVERALL IMPRESSION: The second wave of Hasbro’s Legends is only just hitting the market, and individual figures are commanding upwards of $15 in all the excitement. It shouldn’t be long before they’re more commonly available, though, at the new Marvel Legends price of $10 or so.
If you like green women, this figure is for you. If you like the lighter, more comic side of the Marvel universe, this figure is for you. If you like superhero lawyers, members of the Avengers, or just anybody Gamma-irradiated, this figure is recommended to you as well. And if you just like striking, well-sculpted action figures with good articulation, then you could certainly do much worse than this. This really is a top-notch piece; the time may soon be coming to give Hasbro all the credit we once gave to Toybiz.
Review and Photos by Matthew Kessen
