DSC_1813
To the surprise of probably nobody that knows my habits, I preordered what is probably the last Scarlett Johansson Black Widow Figuarts release - of course, I'm speaking of the one for her movie, which we would have seen by now under normal circumstances.
Interestingly enough though, despite being seen in at least two costumes, there was only one Widow figure solicited, and the entire movie only generated two figures - Widow and Taskmaster, which I didn't bother to get.
A bit about the box art first.. bottom right hand corner of the front shows Natasha with her hair down, but wearing the black costume. So for those keeping score, that's now potentially four different hair styles I've seen within the scope of one movie, which will make things interesting if Hot Toys decides to actually make anything for this movie.
If you bought the Endgame release of Natasha, you're basically already familiar with the payload - there's the figure in her all new suit and one of several hair new hair styles, no additional faces this time, two baton handles for her backpack, two batons, one sickle, two empty holsters, two pistols, two filled holsters, Widow's Bite effects mounted on two fists, and pretty much the same extra hands (except her left hand no longer has the Quantum Watch).
If the face looks familiar, it's because she's had that face since Infinity War, and somehow I think maybe Tamashii Nations intended it to be a two faced package, but the same MSRP as before, might have nixed that idea.
If you look at the profile view of her head, you'll see the surgical scars there.
Otherwise, you'll notice that the batons and the handles have paint on them this time, which was not present on the Endgame version (not in the movie anyway) but was lacking from the Infinity War version, and naturally the paint is on the sickles.
A bit more before we move on from comparisons to the previous versions.
You'll notice that this version of Nat is shorter than previously. After a bit of staring.. and more staring, I FINALLY arrived at the conclusion she's not shorter, she's just not wearing platform boots anymore.
Finally, I don't know what happened, but the Endgame version ended up looking much more jaundiced compared to both her predecessor and her successor. Thank goodness they fixed that because it certainly wasn't a one time thing, seeing how my backup Endgame Nat has the same complexion.
The new Widow suit appears to be a very stylized version of her comic suit, including finally gold accents, and she gains some neat elbow pads. It'll be interesting to see if they explain how her movie suits evolve into the IW ensemble that displeased many a viewer, as it appears to borrow many elements from her Endgame outfit, despite taking place between Civil War and Infinity War.
I don't know what to make of her hair. I mean, it's hair.. it's red.. so I guess that's a good start. Her massive ponytail is well detailed and painted for something of this scale. It just feels to me that they might have made her head too square at the forehead and the overall shape of her hair, making her head seem a tad undersized. The ponytail is relatively pliable, so you don't have to worry about it snapping off easily.
Articulation is effectively identical to what Endgame got you - toes, ankles, double jointed knees, hips on ball joints with a floating crotch section for improved range of motion, waist, mid torso, shoulders with some collapse and bicep swivel, single jointed elbows with forearm pivot, wrists, neck, and head. Her upper torso (bust to neck) has more restrictions on range of motion compared to Endgame as she no longer has that gap at the bottom of the piece and her abs.
The good news is that she looks slightly better from the side with fuller bust.
Paint work is once again an area with no real concerns (especially since I'm going forward in time for a review for once). The base black that Nat has all over the body is smooth, and there are no concerns I have to raise with regards to the gold, silver, and red accents on her body, though some of the silver paint on her weapons have seen better days (arguably the fault of the less than stellar finish).
Hands are consistent, which is to say they've been.. alright. You can tell they're fingers and that's about it - the Figma guys definitely have a better product from this perspective.
Hair and face I touched up on earlier. Solid stuff, especially with a decent Scar Jo sculpt and that digital painting stuff that has been working well for the past three iterations (AoU, IW, Endgame) and the new healthy complexion.
Finally there's build quality.. which strangely enough feels a slight step back. There's the anal retentive stuff (to my fingers, the box feels flimsier), and then there's the fact this is first Marvel Figuarts I've picked up that actually had a joint pop apart (fortunately it was something you could snap back together) and the left arm actually popped out of the socket (again, easily reassembled)
There are no other issues with QC (the rough finish on the baton handles were probably always there, just no paint to highlight them). The plastic itself definitely feels softer than Endgame (bringing it back more in line with Infinity War) and this is probably due to the lack of extensive fine textures, which were prevalent on the Endgame suit.
Well that about wraps it up for this Widow. It's still pretty good, despite trading aesthetics for articulation, having only one face, and some minor quality quips. She won't be the one travelling with me (my Endgame Nat is already play worn, so not point damaging another figure) but she'll be at home in the horde, keeping order when I'm not around.
DSC_1813
To the surprise of probably nobody that knows my habits, I preordered what is probably the last Scarlett Johansson Black Widow Figuarts release - of course, I'm speaking of the one for her movie, which we would have seen by now under normal circumstances.
Interestingly enough though, despite being seen in at least two costumes, there was only one Widow figure solicited, and the entire movie only generated two figures - Widow and Taskmaster, which I didn't bother to get.
A bit about the box art first.. bottom right hand corner of the front shows Natasha with her hair down, but wearing the black costume. So for those keeping score, that's now potentially four different hair styles I've seen within the scope of one movie, which will make things interesting if Hot Toys decides to actually make anything for this movie.
If you bought the Endgame release of Natasha, you're basically already familiar with the payload - there's the figure in her all new suit and one of several hair new hair styles, no additional faces this time, two baton handles for her backpack, two batons, one sickle, two empty holsters, two pistols, two filled holsters, Widow's Bite effects mounted on two fists, and pretty much the same extra hands (except her left hand no longer has the Quantum Watch).
If the face looks familiar, it's because she's had that face since Infinity War, and somehow I think maybe Tamashii Nations intended it to be a two faced package, but the same MSRP as before, might have nixed that idea.
If you look at the profile view of her head, you'll see the surgical scars there.
Otherwise, you'll notice that the batons and the handles have paint on them this time, which was not present on the Endgame version (not in the movie anyway) but was lacking from the Infinity War version, and naturally the paint is on the sickles.
A bit more before we move on from comparisons to the previous versions.
You'll notice that this version of Nat is shorter than previously. After a bit of staring.. and more staring, I FINALLY arrived at the conclusion she's not shorter, she's just not wearing platform boots anymore.
Finally, I don't know what happened, but the Endgame version ended up looking much more jaundiced compared to both her predecessor and her successor. Thank goodness they fixed that because it certainly wasn't a one time thing, seeing how my backup Endgame Nat has the same complexion.
The new Widow suit appears to be a very stylized version of her comic suit, including finally gold accents, and she gains some neat elbow pads. It'll be interesting to see if they explain how her movie suits evolve into the IW ensemble that displeased many a viewer, as it appears to borrow many elements from her Endgame outfit, despite taking place between Civil War and Infinity War.
I don't know what to make of her hair. I mean, it's hair.. it's red.. so I guess that's a good start. Her massive ponytail is well detailed and painted for something of this scale. It just feels to me that they might have made her head too square at the forehead and the overall shape of her hair, making her head seem a tad undersized. The ponytail is relatively pliable, so you don't have to worry about it snapping off easily.
Articulation is effectively identical to what Endgame got you - toes, ankles, double jointed knees, hips on ball joints with a floating crotch section for improved range of motion, waist, mid torso, shoulders with some collapse and bicep swivel, single jointed elbows with forearm pivot, wrists, neck, and head. Her upper torso (bust to neck) has more restrictions on range of motion compared to Endgame as she no longer has that gap at the bottom of the piece and her abs.
The good news is that she looks slightly better from the side with fuller bust.
Paint work is once again an area with no real concerns (especially since I'm going forward in time for a review for once). The base black that Nat has all over the body is smooth, and there are no concerns I have to raise with regards to the gold, silver, and red accents on her body, though some of the silver paint on her weapons have seen better days (arguably the fault of the less than stellar finish).
Hands are consistent, which is to say they've been.. alright. You can tell they're fingers and that's about it - the Figma guys definitely have a better product from this perspective.
Hair and face I touched up on earlier. Solid stuff, especially with a decent Scar Jo sculpt and that digital painting stuff that has been working well for the past three iterations (AoU, IW, Endgame) and the new healthy complexion.
Finally there's build quality.. which strangely enough feels a slight step back. There's the anal retentive stuff (to my fingers, the box feels flimsier), and then there's the fact this is first Marvel Figuarts I've picked up that actually had a joint pop apart (fortunately it was something you could snap back together) and the left arm actually popped out of the socket (again, easily reassembled)
There are no other issues with QC (the rough finish on the baton handles were probably always there, just no paint to highlight them). The plastic itself definitely feels softer than Endgame (bringing it back more in line with Infinity War) and this is probably due to the lack of extensive fine textures, which were prevalent on the Endgame suit.
Well that about wraps it up for this Widow. It's still pretty good, despite trading aesthetics for articulation, having only one face, and some minor quality quips. She won't be the one travelling with me (my Endgame Nat is already play worn, so not point damaging another figure) but she'll be at home in the horde, keeping order when I'm not around.