The paintworks helps sell the figure. The bare skin is all molded so the figure has no word discrepancies as you look it over and the pastel blues and bright whites are done sharply to make the figure really stand out. The purple in the gold areas doesn’t quite match up with the mold lines, but it’s within reason. I got a very nice painted face with even eyes. The eyes are painted a little large, but they look good.
Articulation is the one area where the figure fails a bit. Some older pieces, intended to preserve aesthetics are reused here and they’re not articulation friendly. The neck & arms are what you’ve come to expect. The torso features only the waist swivel and no ab crunch, which is fine, but the legs bug me. They only feature a ball-joint at the hip, single-hinge knee & single-hinge ankle. The lack of any swivels really locks the legs up. The thigh swivel is gone to remove an ugly cut, I get it, but the lack of a boot cut just doubles down on the legs not being able to move as much as a regular figure.
Mara included two accessories – a shield and a staff. The staff is a nice sculpt and I like that it features the same mace again on one end, but it’s hurt by the lack of paint. The shield is a little better, but neither piece really does much for me. I think she’s destined to go up on the display accessoryless.
Overall, Mara is a pleasant surprise. The figure is overall well executed with a nice sculpt and sharp paint lines that really bring the aesthetic home. The hair pegs not staying where they’re supposed to is a bigger issue, but one I can work around. The articulation in the legs is a bit more troublesome and really keeps Mara from being a great figure. I really wish they’d take any of those limited articulation pieces out of the rotation and find some better solutions. The nice thing though is that Mara finally gets a figure. It’s always nice when a character that got left on the cutting room floor gets a second chance (it’s rare). Now the only travesty is that the lack of a girl NA figure kept us from getting Demolition Man Lenina Huxley figures back in the 90s. Oh, is that just me that wanted that? My bad…
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“So it’s grandfathered sexing up and that’s totally okay. I tease”
…phrasing? #OhMyyy!
She looks good, reminiscent of a classic retro pulp space princess from Flash Gordon or even John Carter books. I’m kinda disappointed you don’t have either 6″ Leia t play her against.
Now I’m disappointed she wasn’t included in the MattyCollector sale today, as she would have been a definite buy.
(which…rhymes with flusterduck on that “free shipping” thing.)
Did they try to sneak Castle Grayskull into your cart? Because I almost didn’t catch that.
Great review and comics, as per usual. I like this figure, but I’m not overly thrilled with it. As beautifully as she’s sculpted, as unique as her look is, I can’t see her as anything more than another box ticked, another space filled.
Oh, and if she were a little more asymmetrical, I could see her fitting into “Spawn” somewhere.
Another one I really wanted but didn’t have the money for at the time. I’m really hoping that she and Snout Spout are some of the daily deals during this black Friday week thing. Though at least I did get to finally pick up Stan (and can I just say that the fact that they didn’t name him Excelsi-Or is a tragic waste of potential?).
Well my NA knowledge is 0% so worse than you. Woulda been buying on if dig the look alone and yes I do. My prob, too many lines and not enough $$$$. I do.have an impressive mixed shelf though but would love to get some new additions. Wish OddLots (BigLots) would have that happen again.
Great review and wish knew more on NA to really have a say on the fig but without I wish woulda got her but, hoping to hit a local toy/comic-con again just to hunt some figures.
She looks great – the design and palette are cool – but the articulation is awful. I don’t really get the “ugly” hip thing – the hips on female figures aren’t really any more exposed than the males with furry shorts (it’s particularly clear on Tung Lashor in these pics) and that’s fine. It kinda reminds me of the Frosta controversy – the male figures can just look how they look, but if a female figure doesn’t fall into a very specific subset of “attractive” fandom decrees it a failure. Let the ladies have their thigh-swivellin’ warrior joints, Matty, and stop worrying about whether your action figures have pretty legs!
WOMEN MUST FIGHT TO GET MEN!!!!