Tuesday, March 7, 2017

ML Titus BAF: Aldriff Odinsdottir/Angela

-gh0st =)


I remember Angela back in the day when she was a slayer of Hellspawns. She was Spawn's rival/friend/bedmate for a while, she died and all of a sudden we see her in Marvel. Since Ragnarok came, Marvel had a lot more leeway with Thor's story so they decide that Angela is Thor's sister, Odin's long-lost sister. So Aldriff Odinsdotter(Odin's Daughter as opposed to Odin's Son/Odinson) is her real name and well, she's a mainstay now in Marvel. Can't really say if that's a good or bad since I don't read her stories or comic books in general. What I can say is that we get an action figure of her and well... Let's get to the review.


So this is the first wave of Guardians of the Galaxy's Vol. 2 figures. The BAF is a cosmic creature known as "Titus"; a Tiger cyborg-like entity whom I know nothing about other than I like his name. I don't think I will be building him, but some of the figures from this wave is particularly cool. Angela being one of them.


I might be interested in Nighthawk and Nova, but that's about it; Yondu looks kind of cool, but if I get him, that means I get all the MCU Guardians and I don't need to do all that. For variety's sake, it's not a bad wave. While I love Stark, I'm glad they didn't throw in another Iron Man in a Guardians of the Galaxy wave.


Now as for the figure itself, it's a bit shocking that this is a retail Hasbro figure. Really, it is. I'll start off with the sculpting, and for the price, this gal gets a ton of it. She has a lot of new parts that aren't seen in other figures before. It's quite baffling. There are more separated pieces to make the limbs, the 'armor', rather than the way we know Hasbro would do it: paint it on. Her 'boots' are different from her things, each gauntlet is different and sculpted, the hair came out magnificent, and her face is just well done. Even her 'skirt' and sheathe for her sword came out real well! It's amazing.


I mean look at the profile! That's a lot of sculpted and well-executed plastic! Now as for the paint, she looks like she has a lot of paint detail but she doesn't really. It's all the different plastics sculpted and placed together to make it seem like they spent a ton on paint. But the things that were painted were done well. And the colors all work well and make her a vibrant piece. It might be the character design to thank, but Hasbro did their part well.


Now as for accessories, she gets two axes and her sword(it's slightly warped from the packaging. I still need to heat it up with a blow dryer to give it a straight posture) and Titus' BAF piece. It's not great or anything, but it's definitely not the worse. We've had worse from Hasbro both in the areas of detail and variety and in some cases, from lacking anything for our figures. Less than mediocre figures getting accessories gives them a fun factor that they wouldn't have had and great characters/figures WITHOUT accessories really rips away the fun factor. Now a great figure/character with some good accessories is something!


There's no doubt about it that Angela's first design when she entered the Marvel Universe steered away with what Marvel is doing with their female characters (covering them up and chiseling at the way Heroines are also eye candy for geeks; another topic for another day), but I like this design and as a figure, there's a lot of things going on with it. But despite all the craziness, Angela isn't hindered and she has a lot of good range of movements. She can move like a standard Marvel Legends, and with some of her clothing sculpted separately, it allows her to be posed in some dynamic poses. 


Again, Hasbro put some thought into her! Even if the accessory department is not ideal (would be cool if she got a spear and some alternate heads/hands), it works to spice up the fun factor department. That and most poses I was able to get her in she looked great.


And here she is slaying Al Simmons who gave in to his Malebolgia tendencies. 


Speaking of Spawn, here she is next to one of my Random Spawns from back in the day. It's kind of cool seeing these two next to each other. 


And just for a comparison, here she is next to Captain Marvel, a standard female figure height. So yes, Angela is towering over her like nothing. 


In conclusion, I'll stand by my statement and sday that this is one of Hasbro's best work in a Marvel Legend. At times I wonder if this is a retail figure and not a higher pricepoint figure. With some great sculpting, a rich color scheme (mostly due to the character design), well executed paint where she has them, and just an over all great piece, I think Hasbro set the standard of what they can do if they put some thought to it. Sadly, I know not all their figures will end up like this, but it would be nice if they give a character that ACTUALLY was born from Marvel with this much effort. Definitley going to put this gal as a good runner up for Marvel Legend of 2017.

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