If there’s one superheroine I don’t mind seeing Hasbro upgrade every few years, it’s She-Hulk. But when we saw the initial photos with the pre-order for the 2024 Marvel Legends She-Hulk figure from the Retro Iron Man Series, it looked like we might get the definitive Jennifer Walters that would need upgraded no more. Is the final product Shulkie figure up to that high bar of expectations? Here’s my review…

I’ve gushed about my affection for She-Hulk many times previously, so I’ll forgo repeating myself here and settle for saying that I am a big fan of the character and had a lot of anticipation for this release.

I have fond memories of the 90s Iron Man cartoon and Toybiz 5” toy line, so I’m tickled to see the Toybiz vintage styled packaging here. I’d love to see another wave on these cardbacks next year with pin-free versions of Whirlwind, Blizzard, Century and more characters from that 90s line.

That said, one character that was neither in that toy line nor in the Iron Man animated series was She-Hulk, so her inclusion here does feel a mite weird. But hey, I’m not about to turn my nose up at a new figure of the Jade Giantess.

And what a figure it is! This is the tallest She-Hulk Hasbro has released to-date, with a noticeable height advantage over typical 6” Marvel Legends action figures. As she should be, the Gamma Gal looms intimidatingly over most other figures.

Another big feature of this release is a bit of a double-edged sword in this case, as we get our first pin-less Jen Walters here. Ordinarily I’m a huge fanboy for pin-free knees and elbows, but in this instance they slightly take away from the figure in one respect: the pin-less knee and elbow joints are a slightly different color tone from the limbs themselves, which really stands out in photos and under some indoor lighting conditions.

The differing tones are definitely not as jarring in-person or under artificial lighting, but even half-blind, I can’t unsee the different greens after they were pointed out to me. This is probably due to the different plastic used for these joints, but I very much wish the color matching at the factory was done more carefully.

An area where this figure definitely shines, though, is the personality-rich portrait. She-Hulk is a charming lass with lots of energy and charisma, and I think her bright smile here and pretty face capture that perfectly.

The sculpted hair is also a standout, with a perfect texture and paint wash that makes the hair look just like John Byrne’s classic Shulkie artwork come to plastic life.

While the joint colors aren’t all ideal, this ML She-Hulk does still have a very strong articulation set, including:

—Ball-Hinge Head and Shoulders
—Ball-Jointed Upper Torso and Hips
—Swivel Biceps and Thighs
—Swivel-Hinge Wrists
—Hinged Shoes with Rockers

I expected the hair to inhibit the range of motion if the head (it does—a lot), it’s frustrating to combine that with the limited range of motion of the upper torso ball joint. The aesthetic is certainly a big improvement over an ab crunch, but I do miss the functionality somewhat.

Marvel Legends Retro She-Hulk comes with 3 accessories: a pair of grabbing hands and a half-destroyed rifle. The hands are fine since you don’t always want Jen double-fisting, and the bent gun is a cute extra to demonstrate her super-strength. Not terribly exciting accessories, but not offensive either.

Overall: I wrestled a bit with assigning a grade to this figure, as it is really sensational, but does have some notable shortcomings. The head and upper torso articulation are more restricted than I’d hoped, and the pin-less knees and elbows being a different color from the limbs depending on lighting will be tough for some folks to deal with. She-Hulk’s fun-loving portrait, beautifully executed hair and spot-on proportions are big wins, as is her large stature that lets Shulkie tower over standard Marvel Legends female figures. This is an excellent She-Hulk Legends figure in general, but I think Hasbro still has room for improvement.

GRADE: A-