Review : Marvel Legends Wasp, Ant-Man and the Wasp

Welcome to our review of Wasp, as released in 2018 as part of the 2nd wave of Avengers figures. Wasp is based on her appearance in the 2018 movie Ant-Man and the Wasp. She was packed in a wave alongside Ant-Man as well as Thor and Black Widow from Infinity War, and comic book characters of Malekith and the Black Knight. Parts were included with each figure to make a Cull Obsidian "Build-a-Figure". Wasp was re released as part of a "Best of MCU" wave in 2019, this time containing parts for the Thanos BAF

Please note our review copy was purchased from Marvel Legends UK, hence the oversticker on the packaging. We are not affiliated with Marvel Legends UK in anyway.

When the original Ant-Man hit our cinema screens, there were no true MCU 6" Legends releases to coincide with the movie. While we got a few comic characters, even the main character of Ant-Man got a semi-accurate version which was more based on the Avengers cartoon. Our first true MCU Ant-Man figure would come later when the BAF Giant Man was included in the Civil War releases.

Roll forward now to the sequel and Hasbro obviously didn't think that this Summer release could hold a full wave of Marvel Legends on its own, and has packed the two titular characters within a 2nd wave of Avengers Infinity War figures which also includes MCU versions of Thor and Widow as well as comic book figures of Malekith and the Black Knight.

While four of the figures in the wave continue the purple and yellow colour scheme for Infinity War, Ant-Man and the Wasp have their own red and yellow design which is much more visual. The side art has similar colour shading with a side profile of the Wasp on both panels. Round the back we get the usual promotional image against a fiery red background and a breakdown of the Cull Obsidian Build-A-Figure and where each of his 6 parts can be found.

The other change vs the Avengers figures is the top logo now becoming the Pym Tech logo, and this is also printed on the inner yellow cardboard tray - something you don't notice immediately. Wasp comes packed in the inner tray with her alternative head to one side, the Cull Obsidian head to the other and her backpack and swap out hands beneath this.

Behind this sits a second tray containing her wings.

The figure comes packed with the masked head fitted, so let's take a look at this first. The design is similar to that used by Ant-Man but has been slimmed down. The visor is a transparent yellow and there are sculpted and painted eyes and eyebrows clearly visible underneath. The helmet is a pretty basic silver tone and therefore the lines towards the front are not as well defined. Further back we get a transition to a darker grey and this colour is also used to ring the visor and to the side of the mouth piece.

The two "antena" are a softer plastic and sadly my left one (as we look at her) was warped out of the pack. Since taking the images and having given it a bit of hot water treatment I have kind of trained it back into place.

The Wasp body is sculpted with a huge amount of textured detail, with the whole upper torso being a honeycomb pattern with the various panels painted on top of the dark grey / blue base coat. Each panel and the interconnecting red and gold lines are all neat with no obvious paint bleed or splashes.

The detail gets a little less down into the legs which hold the pattern only on the back of the thighs and then down around the calves. There is a gold and red stripe that runs from the crotch downwards and this is a bit messy in places and also suffers from being broken by the thigh split.

If you are displaying her without her wings deployed then the backpack piece can be slotted on via a shaped hole in her back. This is quite plain being cast in silver with a single red painted detail.

For some reason female bodies on Marvel Legends seem to get a raw deal on articulation, and while Wasp has 16 points on the body this is 2-3 less than most, with some joints pared back to a more basic movement than we may be used to.

The head is ball jointed as is the torso, there is no ratcheted T-joint in the torso. The arms are ball jointed at the shoulder but there is no bicep swivel. The elbows are single jointed only and do rotate and we end with pivot wrists. The legs are pretty standard with ball joint hips - albeit a bit ugly with some very apparent gaps between crotch and legs. The legs do get a swivel, at the thigh, and the knees are double jointed. The knees do feel a bit loose out of the pack. We finish with ankle rockers - and even despite the Wasp's slim frame - she is pretty easy to stand.

Wasp comes with a pair of fists, and these can be swapped with open palmed hands. The operation is smooth with the hand popping out with a small amount of pull and popping back in with similar force.

The same can be said of swapping the head, although I wonder how many will put on the Evangeline Lilly head and then never ever take it off. This unmasked head is a thing of beauty and is for me one of the best likenesses we've had since the line moved to the face print technology. The skin tones are subtle, the eyes quite piercing and they've even captured her mannerisms with the mouth.

If you want to get Wasp with her wings deployed then the first backpack needs to be popped off and replaced by the wing set that comes in the box. Like the first backpack this is a plain silver piece with a red stripe - but now into four segments of the back pack are inserted partially translucent wings.

The wings arguably add to the articulation count, as each one is jointed and can be moved up and down. There is no ball joint however, only a hinge, so the wings will only move up and down on a single axis.

Wasp is very much like Falcon that she takes on a whole new dimension if you get her onto a flight stand. There is nothing packed with the figure, so you will have to source your own. The one we have here is an unbranded generic stand with a waist clip that slides up and down a pole so the height can be adjusted.

In this flying pose the wings and the articulation come into their own. The only shame is that really she should be wearing her helmet when flying, but that Lilly head is so gorgeous I am going to flaunt the Pym-Tech rules and have her in hovering pose with the unmasked head in play.

As a central character I am so pleased to be getting both Ant-Man and the Wasp from the movie. The Wasp is very well sculpted and painted as a figure with a lot of texture and paint apps in that costume. The second unmasked head is gorgeous and the masked head is pretty decent with that translucent visor - if you forgive the bent antenna. The only let down on this figure is the articulation with the chest joint and elbows in particular reverting to a basic joint.

If you are an MCU collector then you need to get Wasp, stick her on a flight stand and have her in full flight (like Falcon) in your display. I score her a solid 4 out of 5.