Here we have Psylocke in-hand, and already this is the best figure we got in the whole Gamerverse subline. Feminine proportions and articulation are not always the easiest to merge, but the way Hasbro did her justice with those bucks and curves is impeccable. Not only do we have the slender build with a breast cup size that is at a size accurate to her as well as a bubble butt that would make any Bulma Figuart envious, but the costume details are raised in relief rather than having any of the flesh parts painted on a purple body. The consistency between the flesh tone parts that are molded plastic and the parts painted in the same color are equally considered as with the purple molded parts and any areas painted in that color specifically. This has been something Hasbro should have done more often when reusing body bucks just so they can feel more unique rather than merely having paint apps be the sole changes in a figure. Amirite, X-Men villain 5-pack Vertigo??? Even the purple shading on her hair is great, and something that helps the sculpt pop even more. With all of these factors coming together, Psylocke will easily be a contender for top 5 best figure of the year for sure, at least for Marvel Legends standards.
The greatness continues with the head sculpt in addition to the lovely hair. The likeness not only blends a bit of comic accuracy with the right amount of realism without making her too close to a generic Asian woman face. I'm thinking about how Glenn Webb critiqued the old Toy Biz version for not exactly being that great of a face, and this one easily proves how head sculpts are Hasbro's strongest suits in general. Ber articulation consists of a double ball neck, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, bicep rotation, double jointed elbows, wrist rotation and inward hinges, a diaphragm joint, a reverse ab crunch, thicc ball jointed hips with equally thicc thigh swivels, double jointed knees, and ankles that hinge as well as pivot. She comes preloaded with a left fist and an accessory holding right hand that has no real purpose for her, other than maybe backwards compatibility with the weapons of her prior releases. She does, however, have a clip-on psionic blade.
She also comes with two of the same slash effects that are not mirrors of each other, meaning that they're going to have the same sides regardless of the sculpt. There are clips for the forearms, but those warp the parts somewhat and come off easily and sliding the fingers while clipping them flexes them, so just slide her fingers inside. She has a snarling face with her hair flowing in the wind, which is already as good as the neutral face, but it also has an optional butterfly wing mask energy effect thing that slides into the small opening near her ears. Thankfully, it is easy to attach it without any concerns for warping and the like.
As for Thanos, this is a retool of the comic version we had back in 2021 with a deco closer to his appearances in the games. While the blue is closer to purple and the what's usually gold is closer to orange, this likely stems from the MvC games having different hues for their characters to help them pop better on-screen. It explains why Spider-Man was more orangey than red, and also why Venom was blue despite being piano black. He also has a bit of shading, most notably in the thighs. Applying shading in general on your figures would help greatly, Hasbro. Thanos's retooling won't immediately be noticed to more casual collectors, but the more angular shoulder pads as well as both the gloves and boots consisting of more angles than his original tooling are worth mentioning. Proportions work well for the character, as we previously covered in his review. While I do like the different hues used on him, I have to admit the orange would look better when metallic. And for anyone wondering, his left hand is not the Infinity Gauntlet.
His head sculpt is retooled from the original head to have more pronounced horns, almost like a pseudo crown without being King Thanos. He has piercing red eyes instead of the usual blue. His articulation is more limited, as the bulk of his body prevents him from being as dynamic as Psylocke. The shoulder and skirt armor inhibit his movement, he has an ab crunch and waist swivel, and he has single jointed swivel elbows. He retains the Infinity Gauntlet, but this time the gems are painted metallic, which I can always appreciate.
Since I previously looked at both characters years ago, here we have the 2018 and 2021 versions of Psylocke and Thanos, respectively. The more natural skin tones on the new Psylocke, combined with the refined articulation cuts, result in a female body buck that Hasbro probably would never top with how its curves and bucks capture her attractive character design. I mean, look at how big her boobs are in addition to her thicker sizes. I bet she she got a bigger booty than the original version. If those more lewd comments were concerning you let's instead talk about the tooling differences between both Thanos figures. The armor, skirt, forearms, and boots are new on the Gamerverse Thanos. While I prefer the regular colors, I like that the Gamerverse version has metallic gems for his Infinity Gauntlet rather than flat paint.
Overall, this set may be the best 2-pack out of the MvC-themed Gamerverse subline. Psylocke is already going to be a great addition to any X-Men display, but I appreciate that Thanos has some tooling to better match his sprites & artwork in addition to already having his colors altered. Sadly, not everyone will be lucky to find this in-person, and if you were somehow traumatized by my more lewd descriptions of Psylocke's body, know that there are gooners out there who would put her in a jar. If you want to prevent that, then you better find this set at a good deal and protect both figures from any potentially nasty jars. In other words, good luck finding this set that is less than $100!
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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