Marvel Legends Mystique (2012)

Mystique is one of those pseudo-bad guys. She’s been a criminal, and an enemy of the X-Men and other superheroes on more than a few occasions, but she’s been on the side of angels a few times, too. Marvel did something really interesting with her when they made her the foster mother of Rogue, then they did something stupid when they made her the mother of Nightcrawler. The former relationship made for a great story, while the latter smacked of the silliness I usually associate with Hollywood management: “Well… they’re both blue, right? So that means they must be related, right? But wait, he’s German, and he’s got y’know, elf ears and a tail… I know! His father was German! And a demon! BOOM!”

It’s a good thing they pretty much dumped the idea after a while.

We already got a Mystique figure back in 2005 when the amazing Build-A-Figure Sentinel (still wish that Hasbro would reissue that thing) first came out, but that was in her original superhero styled costume with the little skirt, which was kind of silly. The figure was ugly to boot, with a long torso, oddly tiny feet and hands, and a squashed looking face. If I remember correctly, she also came with a gun she couldn’t hold. It was one of the first toys that I sold off.

But, hey! Look, Hasbro’s gone and given us another crack at adding the evil mutant shape-changer to our collection with her inclusion in their third wave of 2012 Marvel Legends figures! And this one's based on the version from the Mystique comics (the ones with the painted covers by Mike Mahew).

 

I won't go into the packaging anymore. Visit Joint Junkie and read back a bit to see the reviews of other toys in this wave and you'll get a good idea about what I think of it (psst... it's fantastic). The Clayton Crain piece this time sports two characters, Raven Darkhölme (Mystique's name) and Danielle "Dani" Moonstar, who was a member of the New Mutants called Mirage.

The figure is another re-use of Hasbro's Elektra body, which has been made into several other figures already. In fact, it's become something of Hasbro's go to figure for any female character. I haven't seen them use anything else since Elektra came out. They used it for the female S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Maria Hill and Sharon Carter and both 2-Pack Black Widows. They used it for Hope Summers, Madame Hydra (Viper), and Madame Masque earlier this year. And now they've used it for both Mirage and Mystique. They'll probably use it for the upcoming Jean Grey, too.

When you think about it, it works out great, since her mutant power is to change her shape into the appearance of other people.

At least Hasbro's given us some variety by swapping the upper torso between the different versions (I think there's a smooth one for the Elektra, one with the shoulder harness for the agents, and the Black Widow version with the half open zipper - guess which one is my favorite) and giving us a different head for each figure.

Well, for most of the figures. This one is just a blue version of the head that we got on Madame Hydra. It does look better on Mystique, though. On Viper, my first thought was, "That's a man, baby!" (in Austin Powers voice of course), but the color and her lack of pupils really helps the sculpting.

The torso they've used is the one from Black Widow, which is perfect since it's got those wrinkles at the bottom, so it looks like she's wearing a halter. I wondered why the Widow figures had those sculpted in.

She's got a mess of accessories:

Not quite as many as The Punisher, but it's a fair amount of firepower. You can read his review if you're interested in what these are based on, though I'm pretty certain that the pistol is just a zap gun that was made up.

Again, it sucks that there's no way for her to carry everything. A strap for the sniper rifle or a hook on her belt for the H&K would have been welcome. At least they thought to include a holster on her belt for the ray gun. That is nice.

 

 

She shares the same problem that Widow had, in that she can't really hold her guns that well. The shape that her hands are sculpted in means that everything that she holds points downwards. She can't shoot straight at all. They're also a little loose in her grip, but you can just squeeze her hands a bit to accommodate.

Her articulation is fair. The only real problem is her hips: because of the sculpted butt and lower torso, she can't bring her thighs up very high. It's not usually a problem, since everything else has a great range, but if you want to get her in a kneeling position, it's not going to happen. That sucks, since she's got that awesome Barrett M107 which doesn't really work well standing. Can't use it lying down either, since her hair's in the way.

Oh, well. I'm just glad they didn't give her any more of those assault rifles and handguns that were included with every Marvel Legend before between 2008 and 2011!

 

Mystique is really one of those figures I was glad to have gotten since she presents me with so much play value. Not only is she a gun user, but she's one of those characters that is a little bit on the shady side. She could be a gunrunner or a mercenary or an assassin, depending on the mood you're in or the story you want to tell. She's definitely one of my favorite villain figures now.

She's probably not a must have, since so much of her is re-used pieces, but it's a great toy, and one of Hasbro's best efforts to date.