“Oh my God. We’re a team”
Despite only making her MCU debut in 2022, this is already the second Ms. Marvel figure in the Marvel Legends MCU series. This time round it was 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 an 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.
Ms. Marvel arrives in the costume that she is given on Aladna ahead of the finale of The Marvels back on Earth. The body is mostly cast red plastic overpainted with blue and gold detailing. The skirt section is a softer plastic sitting over a generic waist section and shaped down over the legs. A similar approach is taken with the scarf which sits around Ms. Marvel’s neck and flows down, with some shaping, down her back. The blues are neatly painted, while the gold is perhaps not as vibrant as we’d like and looks a little patchy in places. The Kree bracelet, sculpted onto the left forearm, is also quite dull with a mix of gold and green and with no other real details
While the other Marvels figures are given a neutral facial expression, Ms. Marvel has been sculpted with a smile on her face. I understand why this decision has been made considering the way Kamala Khan plays through the movie, but as we saw when they tried this with Ant-Man it does actually throw off the likeness to Iman Vellani. Everything else is there for the face with a good level of detail in the eyes accentuated with the facial printing. The hair too isn’t quite right, sitting too close around her face and with a more centralised parting. It also lacks any depth with no added paint apps over the base cast plastic colouring.
Kamala comes with two pairs of hands, there is a pair that includes a clenched fist on one side and a gripping hand on the other. We then get a pair with fingers outstretched - but like Photon lack any accessories or effects to recreate Ms. Marvel’s light powers. Instead, Ms. Marvel comes backed with a Flerkin complete with its mouth open and tendrils extended.
This is not Goose, which in a way is a shame, and rather a non-descript grey cat that is almost cartoon-like in its proportions. It is cast in grey plastic with the only paint applied to the eyes in green. The tentacles are a vibrant pink with segmented sculpting. The piece is not articulated and is designed to free stand with a flat base to the seated cat, and a further flat base to the lowest tentacle. Sadly these do not line up and the tentacle sits lower than the cat which leads the piece to tip to one side or to fall over completely.
Articulation comes in at 18 points, with pinless joints across the board and good use of double-jointed knees and elbows to extend the range of motion. We do lack any butterfly shoulders and only have a single neck joint and a single torso joint. The legs are partly obstructed by the skirt, while the upper bicep joint is a flat cut and not shaped like normal leading to some ugly arm aesthetics when posed. The lines of the costume also go out of line very quickly during posing particularly the arms and the central torso.
Ms. Marvel was always a given for a Marvels MCU wave considering she shares the lead role with Monica and Captain Marvel. The figure is a pretty faithful recreation of her final costume but lacks some finesse in the finish with dull gold patches throughout. The head sculpt, and its smiling expression is a choice that won’t please everyone, and it does throw off the overall likeness - an alternative head may have been the better option. I would have also sacrificed the weak Flerkin figurine for an extra head, and/or some light power effects to add some dynamics when posing Kamala. Combined with the other two MCU figures from the wave, the movie poster can be recreated to a decent degree and this trio then becomes a bit more than the sum of its parts.
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...