Welcome to our review of Marvel Legends Nebula from the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 wave. Nebula was released in the 2nd wave from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, the Mantis Build-a-Figure line.
Pros : Neat sculpt. Good Articulation. Swap out arms allow you to have an original Guardians Nebula or one from GOTG2
Cons : Skin tones are too bright and metallic.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 had two waves of Marvel Legend figures - the first include Star-Lord, Drax and Yondu alongside some comic book figures and a comic book Titus BAF. The second wave rounded out the main characters with Gamora, Rocket & Baby Groot, a variant Star-Lord and the villain come hero (sort of ) Nebula.
Gamora and Nebula shared a packaging design in the 2nd wave which had a purple theme overall. Their box was titled "Daughters of Thanos" and carried an image of Gamora on the right spine and Nebula on the left.
On the packaging reverse we had an image of both figures and a brief bio that talked around the sisters paths in the wake of their fathers rise to Power. Under this sat the usual BAF checklist with all 7 figures shown and the complete Mantis with labeled parts (Deaths Head was not supplied with a BAF part).
Nebula arrives in the inner tray with a spare arm to one side and her gun to the other. Behind her sits a cardboard insert that also acts as the backing image for th figure. This carries a faint Guardians logo.
In the movie Nebula is of course a very prosthetic heavy character around the face of Karen Gillan. While the figure does bear that same likeness, the details are much less impressive as say the facial printing used on Gamora. The panels of her face are quite neat and angular and the robotic parts around her eye are very bland and one tone grey.
The lines are all painted black and the eyes a soleless black and not completely painted over the base blue of the head in places. Her lips are also unpainted, left the same tone as the central metallic skin colour. This metallic tone is also off to what we see on screen which is a skin texture and finish, in a darker blue that the surrounding areas.
The body and outfit is as seen in the first half of the movie before Nebula gets dressed up as a Ravager. This is fairly accurate with the ridged shoulder detail, straps down the torso and round the waist. The legs are quite plain but have a black camouflage pattern on the purple leggings.
Everything is painted really well, with silver details around the buckles. There is a belt section, similar to as used on the orignal 2014 Gamora, which also includes painted buckle details and can be moved up and down the waist as you pose the figure.
The arms are also screen accurate with the blue skinned right arm with purple wrappings and fingerless gloves. The other, as packed on the figure, is a robotic arm and is actually accurate to her appearance in the first Guardians movie as it includes her own blue hand. This is silver in the main with almost tendon like detail down each silver section. The elbows are wrapped in purple bands and fingerless gloves complete the arm.
Nebula has the standard "female" articulation for a Legend with 17 points all together. The head is a ball joint with a pivot which makes it fully mobile and can look forward so much as the chin will touch the chest. The torso has a ball joint under the chest and this gives some rotation as well as some lean. Under this the waist is also articulated to rotate.
The arms are ball jointed at the shoulder and then have the single joint rotating wrist. Nebula's elbows do look a bit odd when straight as they have tried to give these extra movement by expanding the joint so it can bend beyond 90 degrees. Under the elbow we have a pivot rotating wrist.
Legs are ball jointed hips, thigh cut swivel ,double jointed knees and ankle rockers. Nebula's joints are all pretty tight, and she is fairly easy to pose and stand.
As well as her Guardians 2014 arm, Nebula also has the claw version she starts Guardians Vol 2 with. This connects at the elbow by popping out the joint and inserting the revised version. With the new arm in place articulation is retained, although the wrist joint is lost on this claw version.
You can see in the above image the range of those single elbow joints with the ability to bend the wrong way, as seen when Nebula gets hurt.
The claw arm gives Nebula a variant look and is more consistent with her Vol. 2 appearance.
Nebula also gets her gun, a short pistol type weapon that is cast in hard plastic. There is quite a lot of detail built into the cast and while it initially looks plain, it does have gun-metal colouring and bronze details around the trigger.
The gun fits into the right hand with a flexible trigger finger that slots into place. It can also be placed in the alternative left arm with the hand. Sadly there is no clip or holster into which the gun can be placed when not in use.
The Daughters of Thanos look fantastic together, although sadly Gamora got most of the shine and detail and Nebula does end up looking a little dheap with her shiny and basic paint job vs Gamora's face print.
Nebula is an under-rated character in the MCU and I would like to see Hasbro take what they have and consider an updated version in her Ravager outfit with new arm - as seen at the end of Guardians and into Infinity War.
Nebula is not as polished a figure as Gamora, but still does a lot right. She has a good likeness to Karen Gillan, just not the face print we see on Gamora and others in this wave. The outfit is sculpted well but is a bit too bright and metallic. I like the arm versions, allowing you to have an original Nebula to go with the upcoming Ronan - or a Vol. 2 Nebula. The gun is also a nice accessory on a figure that perhaps could have done without.
All in all I score Nebula a respectable 4 out of 5.
