Marvel Legends She-Hulk & Whiplash review

It took Hasbro a while, but they now remembered they could milk the 90s Iron Man a little more beyond their retro-carded War Machine and the Hasbro Pulse Iron Man with the Proton Cannon. This time, we have figures that represent neither cel-shading nor flatter metallic colors as we instead have She-Hulk and Whiplash to go over. She-Hulk never got a figure in the Toy Biz Iron Man line, but I doubt Hasbro would make a dedicated blister card line for the Hulk despite us getting one for the Fantastic Four in addition to Spider-Man, X-Men, and the regular Marvel/Avengers lines that began in 2018. Whiplash, on the other hand, did have one, albeit in a blue costume. These are two of the 4 retro-carded Iron Man series figures that I chose to buy, so let's see how well they turned out. 

Here we have She-Hulk in hand. Wearing a simple yet effective purple leotard with a white belt to keep everything fit (along with matching wrist covers and boots), this She-Hulk serves as a perfectly classic interpretation, especially with a new body mold that captures her physique much better than prior versions of the character, at least in comic form. The musculature on the arms and thighs, combined with the 4-pack abs, all make for a well-sculpted figure one would hope She-Hulk would receive, all without being too petite or overly muscular on the Hulk side of the spectrum. The breasts may not look as well-sculpted as the rest of the toy, but not as annoying as the different shades of green used on the elbows and knee joints. This has been a common issue that Hasbro's Legends received of late for their pinless joints, so why is there no attempt towards fixing that? On a side note, the clothing is simply painted on, which makes sense for a budget approach with future repaints yet sucks that there isn't anything to make the skin feel separate from the outfit in some way.

The head sculpt is the best part of the figure, between that smile and the green strokes of paint representing some needed shading on the hair. I prefer She-Hulk better as a more carefree and confident character, especially given how Jennifer Walters needed a bigger self-esteem boost than Bruce Banner, her cousin. Her articulation consists of a ball-jointed neck (no hinge nor double ball neck so boo), shoulder rotation, hinges moving in and out, bicep rotation, double-jointed elbows, wrist rotation, inwards wrist hinges, a diaphragm joint, ball-jointed hips, thigh rotation, double- jointed knees, boot rotation, and ankles that can hinge and pivot.

Here accessories include two open hands and a bent gun so she can be posed damaging it. I chose this route for how much of a pin-up pose it is. Next to the Hulk, she's just as tall and perfect for towering over most Legends in your display. Though not 100% perfect with the joint discoloration, the outfit being painted on, and maybe the lack of an alternate head, She-Hulk is a figure I recommend thanks to the well-sculpted body and lovely face sculpt. I bet we'll see her in the Fantastic Four uniform soon. 

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Up next is Whiplash, one of the few villains shown in the Iron Man Season 1 intro albeit named as Blacklash in a blue costume. It's funny how the one named Whiplash is in a mostly black costume while the one named Blacklash isn't. Being one of the villains Iron Man fought against, Whiplash, aka Mark Scarlotti, was a former Stark technician who lusted for luxury before becoming a criminal. He would later be part of the Maggia criminal organization and occasionally fight Iron Man before quitting and teaming up with other villains such as Black Lama, Man-Bull, and Melter. The 90s series had him as a servant of The Mandarin instead. Aesthetics-wise, the black and two-tone lavender/pink color combo is certainly an uncommon combo, and the tooling used for the gloves, collar, cape, boots, and satchel make for a unique design that helps him stand out from other Iron Man villains. The figure uses the Spider-UK buck, which at least gives the figure some needed buk to match the comic proportions. I wish some paint accentuated the details on the cape or mask. The ponytail looks to have some applied, but the rest of the figure just comes off as fairly plasticky for the brightly-colored parts. The chain holding the cape together could have been painted in gold rather than relying on marbleized plastic.

His head sculpt intrigues me, because a small part of me thinks it's dual-molded with the mouth region looking to be a separate piece from the rest of the mask, yet it's clear that it is painted on. Without the ponytail, you could paint this in black and pretend it's Man from r/batmanarkham. The articulation is more or less the same as She-Hulk, though with an ab crunch and waist swivel combo. The shoulders are so annoying to pose because at least on my copy, you'd have to push the arm slightly down before moving them up. After all, the cape obstructs some of the access combined with how gummy the joints feel on this figure. In addition, the whip doesn't like staying in his hands, and combined with the overall lack of articulation to the figure, makes display options rather limited than necessary.

As I said before, the ponytail is removable, allowing fans to pretend this guy can become Man if you paint the head black. Honestly, this figure is worse overall compared to She-Hulk, who wasn't perfect but still more worth the money spent. This guy, however, is much easier to stomach if you get him on clearance, which is possible given how easy it is to find him, Count Nefaria, and the golden Iron Man armor with a skirt.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐