“All we’ll ever need is each other. Absolutely, that’s true, my dear brother. But if you’d stop being so cynical for one second and take this chance with me…we might finally find ourselves a place where we belong. With the Avengers.” – Scarlet Witch, to Quicksilver in Avengers Origins: The Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver.
A little cheat here for Avengers week, I have a huge backlog of reviews lately and want to throw some quick one-page reviews with a few pics to help cut through the backlog. For Avengers Week, I’m going to take a brief look at a comic-based Avengers character with a much-awaited apology figure, Scarlet Mitc… I mean, Scarlet Witch.
Yeah, we, finally, finally have a Scarlet Witch. A good one. Ten years ago, Marvel Legends released Wave 11. It was an odd wave – the recently created (and amazeballs idea) Build-A-Figure was dropped for a wave so each figure could have a mini-vehicle. The wave had some great figures like Hulkbuster & Taskmaster, but there was a lot not good – Wonder Man used a terrible buck with a rough texture. First Appearance Thing was more like a last appearance. Ultron was a dog, and then wasn’t. And Scarlet Witch? Well, the female bucks weren’t so great back then. Her face sculpt wasn’t the best and a 5 o’clock shadow in the paint department… well, you get the idea.
So we waited. I was 24 when I still bought the figure (oh, the shame), but I had to wait until I’m 34 to finally get a good Scarlet Witch figure. And this is a good figure with just one glaring annoyance. I have a terrible time getting her to stand. I can get her to stand on my display, mostly in a wide stance balancing on her cape. But when I first opened her on the table and again in these pics, it was a nightmare getting her to stand up. I either went completely pose-dumb or there’s issues with the figure. I’m going to blame it.
Overlooking that I was poseblind during this photo session, I still love this figure. Hasbro has really made a concentrated effort to have the girl figures be not crappy these last few months and they’ve nailed it. Scarlet Witch is no exception. Her soft knees could be stronger and her cape not so heavy, but she is so many light years ahead of the ten-year old v1 figure, that I’m still happy.
The sculpt is great. Her body largely draws from the previous upgraded female bucks used in the line, but everything works here. There are some minor costume details like the boots and gloves that might be mismatched, I’m okay with all of it. The only costume disappointment I have is the bare skin on her shoulders. For some reason, I’m a big fan of her wearing the full pink catsuit underneath her red bodysuit. I don’t know if it’s unique or just sexy, but I don’t find the bare skin here better. The figure looks great to be sure, I just miss those pink shoulders.
The best part of the figure is easily the amazing head sculpt. We’ve come a long way from Mitch! The figure almost has an Adriana Lima quality to it in some angles, so there’s no doubt that the sculptors were trying to get this one right. And they did. On top of the solid sculpt, pretty much everything else is nicely done. The paintwork solid – the mid-thighs were the pink paint is over the red plastic is a little prone to scratches, but it’s a nitpick on otherwise good paint throughout.
Articulation is strong throughout, ball-joints at the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, and inverted ankles; swivels at the biceps & thighs; double-hinge knees; and the ab joint. On my figure, the knees are soft and a little warped which is causing me grief while the cape is on, but she stands pretty well with the cape removed, even with the heels.
Finally, Scarlet Witch included these two great hex accessories that clip onto her wrists – I usually pull the hands off and peg them in between, but they work either way. They look fantastic. They’re perfect accessories for her and they really complete the figure.
Overall, this really is the figure we’ve been waiting for all these years. For me, she’s one minor costume detail and some tougher legs away from being perfect. I’m not the world’s biggest Scarlet Witch fan (maybe the movie will change that) and I often questioned why I even bought Scarlet Mitch all those years ago if it were such a terrible figure (she was kinda rare too). I ended up selling it pretty quickly. I don’t question why I bought this one. It’s a great figure. She’s going to look sharp in my collection for years to come.
I would like to know when we’re getting a movie version though. Very little merchandise on the twins front so far…
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This is unquestionably a better figure than the one from ten years ago, no doubt, but so is nearly every other ML figure. I never had the issue some people did with the older figure. The female body was the best on the market at the time, and the head sculpt isn’t bad, it’s just got a very distinctly Eastern European look to it, which I think perfectly suits her origins. On that same note, I don’t get peoples’ beef with the head sculpt on the DCUC Wonder Girl figure, which I thought was quite attractive, but distinctly Mediterranean (again, making sense for the character). My theory is that a lot of toy buyers just have a very Americanized notion of female beauty.
Yeah, no. She’s fugly.
Whoa, slow your roll there, Captain Nationalism. It’s because her eyes make her look like she’s on morphine, and that’s not sexy on anyone
This figure is the first Marvel Legend I have ever bought, and I love it — but she is a real pain to get standing.
whoa. it’s been TEN YEARS since Mitch?? 0_0
I really like this one, altho I didn’t notice her heels made her taller than Carol before now. I have picked up some extras for custom fodder (Polaris, Amora, maybe updated Storm as I never saw the Jubilee wave, etc), lucking into them as they hit up here during that recent BOGO 1/2 off sale few weeks back.
Not a big fan of her cape, tho.I just find it odd that it loops around her neck, then a big gap to the middle of her back.
the “Hex bolt/blast” accy is already being used for her 3.75″ movie version (red jacket, black dress, thick unibrow) and prototypes of Dr Strange were sporting them in yellow. It’s already paying for itself.
I can’t confirm, but rumor is she gets a new costume at movie’s end? and we MAYBE/MIGHT see it on pegs later this year?
WE need Elektra, Classic Ororo ( with hair), Phoenix, Invisible Woman (Sue Richards),in same shape as Scarlet Witch.
The differences between this figure and the Toybiz one are astounding. I held onto the TB Witch for so long, due to it just being the only option and Wanda being such an important character to me. I’m so happy that Hasbro finally got us a new one. (And I love Hasbro’s trend towards better female figures in general)
If you pop her head off, you’ve essentially got a custom Ruby Thursday!
Happy never bought the old one. Own this and posed in a standoff against Uktron with a mix of Marvel Heroes.
I picked up a few of these. Excellent figure. I took the cape from the older SW figure and swapped it onto the new one. Looks good,weighs less.
I’ve already heard of kids going out after seeing Avengers2 and looking for a Scarlet Witch, only they can’t find one, they can only find this, and who the hell is this??
Hey, I’m a comic guy and I love to see the guys at Hasbro really working these “movie” assortments to include comic characters, but they are really dropping the ball here by not having a movie-based Scarlet witch on the racks. That’s how you get new fans.
It’s just like Avengers1 and Black Widow all over again.
It seems we always have to run at a deficit. We had to wait until Avengers for most of the characters, but no Widow. We get Widow, but not Falcon, and now we’ve got none of the new characters even in the pipeline.
I guess the answer to StrangePlanet’s question is those 5-points of articulation Hasbro toys that do include a movie Scarlet Witch (but no quicksilver).
Whereas Marvel Legends is a toy line made for adult collectors, but sold in Toys R Us to force the adult collectors to run the gamut of excuses about how they are buying the figure for their nephew.
Cashier: “Are you one of those ‘adult collectors’?”
Patron: “Unless you are referring to my platoon of ex-wives, I don’t collect adults.”
The cape looks good on Captain Marvel. All great photos!
Damn you, ITSALLTRUE.NET!!!! I definitely did NOT need another toy line to get into!!! lol
I so thoroughly enjoyed this review and several others related to the new ML line. I went and picked up NOVA cheap as a “test” figure. Absolutely loved him, despite the nasty rubber bodies bound to degrade quicker than others.
My only complaint with the female ML figures I own thus far (scarlet witch, hellcat, spiderwoman (red & yellow) is the lack of articulation compared to male figures. The female figures I have can’t do a decent kick or split, yet my captain america from the Thanos BAF is insane with great articulation AND details. The ML females are a bit of a downer in comparison!!
I also absolutely hate the packaging. The pose they stuck my scarlet witch in warped one of her knees – another problem caused by the garbage rubber-like bodies used…
Still love this line though (Hawkeye is pretty damn awesome as well!)