“I would never choose to bring anybody into this.”
Carol Danvers is not short of Marvel Legends releases having picked up four different variations in 2019 when she debuted in her solo origin story, and getting a fifth on the back of her Avengers: Endgame appearance. This sixth MCU Carol Danvers Captain Marvel is part of a trio of releases from The Marvels. The movie had been pushed back from its original Summer release slot into November, putting the figures onto shelves a good 4 months ahead of the movie. Unlike Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3, The Marvels did not receive a full wave of figures - nor did we get a MCU Build-a-Figure like Quatumania. The figures were released within a comic book themed wave with four other comic book based figures and a 'Totally Awesome' Hulk build-a-figure.
The 'Totally Awesome' Hulk BAF wave was in production before the reversal to window boxes so arrives in plastic-free packaging with the figure illustrated on the front and back, with the BAF checklist moving to the left-hand spine, leaving the right to carry the character illustration. The box design remains standard with the scooped sides, hanging tab, and black base colour - while specific elements for The Marvels include the logo, the blue energy background for the figure art, and some gold, blue, red, and white tramlines offset to the main panel - paying homage to each of the main characters.
While the other two figures in the Marvels wave, Ms. Marvel and Photon, are wearing the outfit created for them on Aladna the Captain Marvel release is based on her outfit from the first half of the movie. This is similar in styling to the original Captain Marvel figures - but is a new sculpt cast in the main in blue plastic with sculpted suit lines and panels, but with paint is pretty limited to the red painted top panel of her uniform and the gold linings around the chest, shoulder and the central sculpted star emblem. Even boots and belts are left in the exact same blue colour, but do get a touch more gold trimming. The forearms are sculpted with the shorter sleeve look with flesh-coloured paint applied over the blue for the forearms and again at the fingers for her fingerless gloves.
The new head sculpt is an improvement on those that have gone before and is a reasonable likeness to actor Brie Larson. It uses the now standard facial print tech to apply eyes and mouth in particular and like Photon, Captain Marvel is provided with a neutral stoic expression. The hair is an additional piece with included sculpted braids and ties but left in the base sandy blonde colour with no additional washes or highlights.
Captain Marvel is provided with two sets of hands that can clip in and out with relative ease. The first set includes a gripping left hand and a right hand in more of a claw shape. You then also get a pair of clenched fists. While powered effects were skipped completely for Photon and Ms. Marvel, the Captain does get a re-used set of those flexible ‘powered’ arm wrap pieces that we have seen used repetitively on magic or powered characters - most recently the new Scarlet Witch and Clea figures. These are cast in a translucent yellow and wrap the forearms neatly intertwining the hands where required for a powered-up effect.
Articulation is fully pinless and includes 18 points in total. There are no butterfly shoulders to speak of nor is the neck dual articulated, but we do get a good range of motion in the arms and legs with no cumbersome cloaks, skirts, or armour to hold Carol back when posing. She also stands pretty well despite the slim wedge-heeled boots and can also be placed into flying poses with an appropriate after-market stand.
Like Photon and Ms. Marvel from the same wave and movie, Captain Marvel does enough without doing anything spectacular to set her apart. It's quite a lazy release with limited paint and articulation and while it looks and poses OK it is not to the standard of some other more recent releases like Scarlet Witch from the Multiverse of Madness, or Agatha from WandaVision. The outfit choice is also a bit disappointing - although I am sure Hasbro made the decision based on the movie poster. I would personally much rather have had Carol in her latter updated costume with the larger star emblem and red midsection that would then be relative to the Aladna costumes worn by Photon and Ms. Marvel.
Keep Track of all the Marvel Legends figures from Hasbro at our comprehensive
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About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...