I love how every few years we get a new She-Hulk figure that is an improvement over the last. Jennifer Walters is a nuanced character who has been portrayed in a variety of different ways by different creative teams. Choosing a single version to represent her is truly an impossible task, especially because the visual differences are so subtle. To me, this newest Marvel Legends figure represents the She-Hulk that I was first exposed to in the early 90's run of Sensational She-Hulk during the John Byrne era. Now, this isn't necessarily my favorite version of She-Hulk to read (the comedic elements and early-90s vibes just aren't my thing).. but visually this is still the most iconic and timeless She-Hulk to me. It also is a great representation of her first 1996 Toy Biz action figure. I don't think she ever had a toy connection to Iron Man like this current release suggests, but it's a great figure all the same. (I hope we get a purple/blue repaint of Julia Carpenter on this card next. That would make sense). Let's check out She-Hulk below!
UNITING ALL WOMEN OF PLASTIC
Showing posts with label She-Hulk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label She-Hulk. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 30, 2024
Saturday, November 19, 2022
Marvel Legends - SHE-HULK!
The new She-Hulk show on Disney+ was unexpectedly delightful. I had very low expectations from the few weird trailers and the comedy tropes from the comics that I didn't expect would translate well to the big screen. But I was wrong. It was funny, face-paced, irreverent, and the nine episodes ended way too quickly. If it doesn't get picked dup for another season I'll be very disappointed. One of the main surprises for me was how much I loved Tatiana Maslany. She embodied the quirky, down-to-Earth hero perfectly and added a level of personality I wasn't expecting. I personally have never seen any of her projects before, but I have heard great things about most of them (Orphan Black especially). I will likely start populating my watch list with her older projects. I know there was a lot of moaning about the quality of the CGI on the show, and I agree that some of the action scenes were goofy, and the early trailers were clearly a work-in-progress, but I didn't mind it. I love the show. Let's check out Jen below!
Friday, August 6, 2021
Marvel Legends - SHE-HULK!
Lately I've been reading the original Savage She-Hulk series from 1980 (I picked up the two Marvel Masterworks collections) and my appreciation for her has been growing exponentially. I also picked up two collections of her later John Byrne run which I'll be diving into next. Most of her modern comics feature a Jennifer Walters that is in control of her powers and never really "hulks out." But those early comics (and the recent 2017 Hulk series) had her uncontrolled transformations as a focal point of the stories - and I like those unpredictable character dynamics. That's why I love this new She-Hulk figure. She is a repainted 2020 gray Hulk figure, which is a monstrous hulked out version of Jennifer (a physique that we'd be very unlikely to see a green version of in toy form). All the previous green She-Hulk toys have looks too happy and scrawny for my tastes. So although this one isn't particularly comic-accurate, it's my favorite. And the alternate calm face is an amazing added bonus. Let's check her out below!
Monday, January 11, 2021
Toy Biz - SHE-HULK!
I've been sick for a week but today the announcement of a new Marvel Legends She-Hulk figure thankfully brought me out of my funk a bit. I adored the Gray Hulk version of Jennifer Walters we got last year, and I eventually read and really enjoyed that comic (the 2017 Hulk series), but I'll admit, despite my admiration for gray Jennifer, I always had my fingers crossed for a classic green repaint of that mold. And today was that long-awaited day. So in honor of my happy green day, I decided to post a flashback review to the first She-Hulk figure from the 1996 Toy Biz Hulk line. It's actually surprising it took 5 years into the Toy Biz Marvel lines to finally get us this green goddess. She seems way more popular that most of the B-and-C-listers that came before her. It's probably because she required an original mold. And it's quite a unique mold too, at over 6", she towers over almost every other Toy Biz figure, especially the females. She's not perfect, but still a really fun toy to have. Let's check her out below!
Monday, January 13, 2020
Marvel Legends - HULK!
I love She-Hulk. There's something special about the quick burst of female Marvel characters in the late 70s. Ms. Marvel, Spider-Woman, and She-Hulk were simple female rebrandings of established male characters created in a desperate attempt to secure copyrights (After Filmation's Web Woman fiasco). But the characters quickly became something very special. Having the same power sets, with similar origins, and similar environments created an unintentional social experiment on gender. It was like a long-format What If story, and it became the basis for a lot of my aesthetic and collecting obsessions. She-Hulk has gone through a ton of transformations over the years. Not all of them were to my liking, but others were amazing. For some reason I never questioned why she never had a "gray" transformation before, but I'm glad it finally happened (in 2017) because I think she looks amazing. Plus this buck will also be perfect for a new classic green She-Hulk (which has to be coming). Let's check out Hulk below!
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
Marvel Legends - (A-FORCE) SHE-HULK!
This Jennifer Walter She-Hulk figure is surprisingly my least favorite of the entire A-Force box set. Considering how great Hasbro has been with releasing a variety of different body types lately, I'm really disappointed at how off-base this one seems. The ironic thing is that this buck was used on the 2013 Red She-Hulk figure, which I still think is a fantastic toy. But for some reason it seems like a dud on Jennifer. Maybe it has to do with the fact that her skull size is the smallest of the set, or maybe that she has the most bored vacant stare, or maybe it's that all the other figures are using much newer bodies (that are vastly superior in direct comparison). Some other gripes are that her eyes are sculpted too flat and tend to reflect light like a mirror from certain angles (I think this is the Betty Ross head with new hair), and also that her skin tone is a few shades too dark. It's just a bummer all-around, but only because my expectations have been so high lately. She is actually a perfectly decent figure. Let's check out She-Hulk below!
Saturday, July 8, 2017
Rock Candy - WOMEN OF MARVEL!
I've had this group of Marvel Rock Candy figures forever but have been delaying posting them out of sheer laziness. I'm really impressed with this line overall and I'm so glad to see it growing in leaps and bounds. It seems like every few weeks there's a new announcement, and I'm already finding myself being very selective with my purchases. If I manage to find the exclusive Gwenpool and Red She-Hulk Rock Candys in the next few weeks I'll want to post on them right away and I didn't want to be caught too far behind with this first Marvel wave. The Rock Candy line started a little over a year ago with a DC Wave and was followed up several months later with this first batch of Marvel figures. I was a little bummed when I realized that, yet again, the Marvel figures must be bobble-heads. But I found that by jamming some tissue up in the head you can make it stay still in a normal position and overall I'm very happy with this group. (I'm still shocked there wasn't a Masked Captain Marvel variant though). Let's check them out!
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
Marvel Tsum Tsum - WOMEN OF POWER!
I can't say I really understand the Tsum Tsum trend. They started in Japan (of course) as a cute stackable line of plush Disney character collectibles. I always thought they were supposed to be gerbils or something, but apparently they are shaped this way just to be stackable. Either way, between the fact that they were plush, large (7-11"), over-stlyistic (in my opinion), and centered on characters I wasn't interested in collecting, they were just completely off my radar. Then the Marvel characters started and I began to pay attention. But I still wasn't tempted because of the plush thing. Then along comes Jakks with a license to produce small vinyl versions. I honestly wasn't planning to get any until I came across this 9-figure Women of POWer set at Walmart. Getting an instant collection like that was quite an incentive. I actually think I will try to get all the ladies in the collection now that I'm only missing a few. They're pretty cute little additions to my collections. Let's check out the Women of Power below!
Monday, January 9, 2017
Marvel Collectors Corps Dorbz - SHE-HULK!
She-Hulk is one of my favorite marvel Super-Heroes. She's the first character I ever heard of who completely embraced her powers and rejected the idea of a secret identity. The fact that she always juggled being a superhero while having a career as a lawyer was also very impressive. Her solo books haven't always been my favorite titles, but I always loved her presence in the team books like Avengers, Fantastic Four, and most recently A-Force. She's always received a decent amount of merchandise since her first Toy Biz figure back in 1996. I count this MCC-Exclusive Dorbz as her 16th collectible item (excluding Heroclix, statues, and random PVCs). She is definitely due for an updated Marvel Legends figure, but luckily Funko has taken an interest in her in the meantime. In the past year we've gotten a POP Vinyl (both regular and GITD), a Mystery Mini, this Dorbz, and an Upcoming Rock Candy (again both regular and GITD). It's an exciting time for our favorite emerald beauty. Let's check her out below!
Thursday, July 14, 2016
Funko POP Marvel - SHE-HULK!
In the late 1970s Marvel was running scared about outside creative groups infringing on their property likenesses. In 1978 Filmation created a cartoon called Web-Woman featuring a purple-clad space adventurer with vague spider-like powers. This was nothing like Spider-Man at all, but it scared Marvel into thinking "Oh crap! We better create a female Spider-Man before anyone else does!" And within a few months we had Spider-Woman. The same premise was behind She-Hulk. At the time, the Bill Bixby Hulk Television show was pretty popular, and The Six Million Dollar Man just hit paydirt with the Bionic Woman spinoff, so Marvel was certain that the Hulk show producers would mimic this and create a lady Hulk that Marvel wouldn't have any rights to. So Stan Lee whipped up the Savage She-Hulk and we've been graced with her amazing green presence ever since. She's arguably the most successful of Marvel's gender-swapped heroes. She's had numerous solo titles and a slew of impressive team affiliations under her belt. But honestly her true measure of greatness is her inclusion into the world of Funko Pop!
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Marvel Legends - THUNDRA!
To me, Thundra always seemed to be Marvel's attempt to create a Wonder Woman character with an extreme and gritty edge. She first appeared in the page of the Fantastic Four in 1972 as a time-travelling Amazon-like warrior seeking to defeat the Thing ("the strongest male warrior of all time") in combat and declare her dominance over all men. Thundra came from a future time when Earth was renamed Femizonia and the US is the United Sisterhood Republic. Men are subjugated and women rule absolutely. Thundra was genetically engineered and trained since birth to be a perfect warrior and she made the rounds in the Marvel Universe challenging other powerful heroes to battle. She's been a hero and an antogonist (I wouldn't say "villain" because her goals are never evil), and she's also notable for being the mother of Lyra. Lyra was conceived in the future from tissue samples of the Hulk, and for a while in the comics Lyra wore Thundra's outfit with only her green skin tone distinguishing Mother and daughter.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Marvel Universe RED SHE-HULK!
It's a pretty common theme in comics for a civilian love-interest character to be granted powers similar to her namesake hero. The most notable examples that come to mind are Lois Lane's multiple transformations into Superwoman and Carol Ferris's becoming a Violet Lantern (Star Sapphire). I always enjoy this type of plot. Mostly because I love seeing how the same powers and abilities would be expressed differently from a female perspective. While I've always paid keen attention when these stories would appear, I've never before become quite as obsessed as I was when Betty (Ross) Banner became the Red She-Hulk. She had a brief 10-issue self-titled run from 2012-2013 which I thought was amazing. The art was beautiful, her characterization was well fleshed out. She was righteous, vengeful, compassionate, and of course angry. I loved every page of it. Unfortunately we haven't heard from her in the past six months. I would love a continuation of the unlikely Red She-Hulk / Machine Man team-up.
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Marvel Legends RED SHE-HULK!
This figure is amazing. Prepare for a softball review because I have no issues with this fine red lady whatsoever. I honestly can't remember the last time I had no complaints or criticisms about a Hasbro figure. The sculpt is amazing, the articulation is great, the paint is flawless (and I ordered several to make sure I got a good one - all perfect), and she is just all around a very very cool toy. For those not familiar with the Red She-Hulk, her human form is Betty Ross-Banner who underwent the same process that created Red Hulk in some bring-her-back-from-the-dead scenario. I was unimpressed with her appearance and character when she first appeared, but when I saw her in the Fear Itself storyline a couple years later, her look had changed into what we see now and her character had become very interesting to me. After starring in the The Defenders (2012) she has now become the titular character in Hulk (Re-named Red She-Hulk as of issue #58). The stories are really fun, the art is beautiful, and I'm always a sucker for a good female anti-hero. Let's check her out below!
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