Toy Review: MU Black Widow

Marvel Universe Black Widow

I love it when I’m able to score a toy that I thought I’d never see on my shelf. It’s not really about the bragging rights but more about that insanely happy feeling I get adding it to my line up. It’s my poison of choice really.

The Marvel Universe (MU) Black Widow is one of those toys. It’s part of the new H.A.M.M.E.R. Files, the 2nd wave in this 2nd MU sub-line (the 7th wave if you continue the count from the Fury Files in 2009), which wasn’t released locally until recently. When Playkit finally brought in cases of the newly revamped restock assortments, the supply was insanely limited compared to that of the Fury Files. They were gone as soon as they were out of the boxes.

I didn’t even bother looking for them. I was able to get one from a very awesome PTK member who is based in Singapore. This guy frequents toy stores while he’s out of the country and brings them back when he comes home. A lot of us collectors depend on guys like him to continue our hobby despite the challenges. I can’t thank him enough.

I’d already reviewed the H.A.M.M.E.R. Files Colossus and Juggernaut from MU wave 8 by the time I got this baby, which really shifted my perception of the Universe figures. I really hated these small figures when they first came out. Hasbro had so much trouble getting their 6″ sculpting team used to the 4″ scale that we got a lot of pretty awful looking toys.

I’m happy to say that things are looking up.

The package of the figures hasn’t really changed since that first wave. The shape of the card is still the same, there’s still a plastic tray inside the “bubble”, the blurbs are still blurby, and I still hate the product photography.

The only thing that changed is that they now have Norman Osborne on the back instead of Nick Fury, and the S.H.E.I.L.D. logo on front has changed to a H.A.M.M.E.R. one.

Other than that, same old same old.

Inside you’ll see we still get the collectible card with the bio and a portrait of the character. Mike Deodato was the one tasked to do the package art honors this time around. Personally, I prefer Frank Cho’s work from the Fury files better. Deodato’s pin up art doesn’t seem to be really be eye-catching.

There’s also a code you can use for the new H.A.M.M.E.R. Files website (the Fury Files one is down I think).

The figure also comes with an accessory. An M-16. Color me underwhelmed. Seriously, Hasbro, I can understand that you need to re-use molds in order to maximize return, but this is ridiculous. We’ve seen this stupid gun with every other figure that you’ve released so far (or at least it feels that way). You’ve got a buttload of accessory molds from the GI Joe line.

USE THOSE!

I took it upon myself to go ahead and do just that, giving her two pistols from the Rise of Cobra toy line. I have to say that Hasbro really dropped the ball on this one. She looks infinitely better with small arms as opposed to the machine gun.

I’d love to see a movie version of this character with a try at Scarlett Johanssen’s physique, but until I find that figure on the pegs this’ll have to do.

Articulation on the figure is about what you’d expect. She lacks the bicep swivels that the male figures get, and has those annoyingly immobile hips that Hasbro insists on using. I’m not sure they add anything to the look of the figure and it’s agravating that she doesn’t have any thigh swivels.

Like Storm and Kitty Pryde, Widow shares the same mediocre MU female mold. It’s not bad… it’s just not amazing. Plus we’ve seen it on every female figure that’s been released so far. None of them have any really unique tooling or anything to really distinguish one from the other except a new head and some paint.

I hear Hasbro’s going to release a new female soon, so I’m crossing my fingers.

Reading back, I realize I’ve been kind of down on this figure. Why did I buy it?

Because the character is one I really like. She just feels like an underdog to me. A Russian character created during a time when Russians were “the enemy”. She can hold her own with the best America has to offer and she’s a woman.

The fact that she struts around in skin tight black leather doesn’t hurt either.

Honestly, the figure is very good and I like the face sculpt very much. If she was more readily available I’d probably have gotten a few more so I could use the head as other female characters. Too bad.

Did i mention she comes with her Widow’s Bite bracelets? They’re both seperate pieces like her belt, but I wouldn’t try and remove them.

Overall a fairly good effort from Hasbro. It’s not going to win any awards for Toy of the Year, but I’m definitely keeping this one in my collection.