It’s a real testament to the strength of the 2018 X-Men Legends series that a new 6” Psylocke figure can be mass-released for the first time EVER by Hasbro, and rather than being the headliner of the wave, she’s just one of several most-wanted figures from the Apocalypse Series. After being absent from retail lineups for a decade (since her Toybiz figure), a new Marvel Legends Psylocke Figure is finally available! Is this the definitive Jim Lee Betsy Braddock?
But at long last, Betsy Braddock is getting the mass release treatment once again! And I’m happy to say that while she’s not flawless, she did turn out to be quite nice…
The first thing that pops out at me when looking at this Psylocke action figure is how very much I like the paint deco on her. The sparkly, metallic dark blue chosen for her costume looks absolutely awesome, and blows away the blue that Toybiz used so many years back. It looks terrific and complements Betsy’s hair and sash marvelously.
I also really like the dark purple picked for the hair. I had the black haired variant and dumped it immediately for this version with no regrets.
The dark red sash ties the all the colors together, although the fact that it flops around uncontrollably and can’t be forced into place is driving me bonkers. I hate add-on costume pieces that won’t stay in place, and this is a huge offender.
While this Psylocke has a face that’s clearly Asian, I think the facial likeness is one of the weakest aspects of this figure. It just doesn’t look like Betsy Braddock to me. It’s passable, but far from a spitting image resemblance.
I also don’t think the body mold for this figure is ideal: Psylocke should be a muscular fighter capable of deadly ninja strikes–not some skinny supermodel waif. She also doesn’t get alternate karate chop hands, which further cuts back on what she can do unarmed. Luckily, she’s not unarmed…
Where this ML Psylocke figure outshines every other figure in the wave is the accessories that she’s packed with. She comes with five total accessories: an Apocalypse Build-A-Figure leg, a psychic katana, psychic effects that can wrap around the sword, a psychic blade and a psychic telepathic effects piece.
All of these accessories add a lot to this figure and massively increase the number of dynamic and fun ways to display her. I didn’t think I’d care for the “butterfly” effect piece that clips onto Psylocke’s head, but it actually add a lot of visual appeal.
Likewise, I thought the spiraling energy effect for the katana might be a bit much, but I actually dig this effects piece a lot just wrapped around Betsy’s hand as pure psychic energy. Very cool and different from anything we’ve had before!
The psyblade and psi-katana both fit firmly on/into Psylocke’s hands, giving her the opportunity to look lethal in a variety of ways.
All these accessories do their job of enhancing the base figure exceptionally—I wouldn’t enjoy this toy close to as much without all the extras.
We’ve all come to expect superb articulation from Marvel Legends figures, and the new Psylocke Legends figure has plenty of it. The degree to her elbow hinge can bend to and also how high her hips allow her to kick are particular highlights.
The full articulation scheme includes:
- Ball-Hinge Head/Shoulders/Elbows
- Swivel-Hinge Wrists
- Swivel Thighs
- Ball-Jointed Hips and Upper Torso
- Double-Hinge Knees
- Hinged Ankles with Rockers
I would absolutely like to see double-jointed elbows, swivel biceps and even butterfly shoulders for female figures someday, but the improved elbows do make this Psylocke’s arm posing possibilities decent enough.
Overall: I think this new ML Psylocke figure is solid, but fails to reach perfection in several areas. She looks too frail to me for a powerful martial artist, and the lack of karate chop hands limits her non weapon-wielding poses. The facial likeness to Betsy Braddock also doesn’t hit the mark for me, and the floppy sash drives me insane.
All that said, Hasbro has done some nice work with this figure overall. She has a level of super-articulation befitting of a ninja, great paint choice colors and several new and fun accessories. If this is the only Psylocke we get for a while it’s “good”, but I think Hasbro could still improve upon this design for Crimson Dawn or X-Force versions.
GRADE: B
Related Posts:
Marvel Legends Astonishing Wolverine & Superior Spider-Man Up for Order!
REVIEW: X-Men 97 JEAN GREY Marvel Legends Figure
REVIEW: Marvel Legends X-Men 97 CYCLOPS Figure (Hasbro Wave 2)
Marvel Legends Fantastic Four Wolverine & Spider-Man Figures Up for Order!
REVIEW: X-Men 97 Marvel Legends Goblin Queen Madelyne Pryor Figure
X-Men 97 Marvel Legends X-Cutioner Figure Review and Photos
Hi Dabid
I enjoy your reviews as always, but feel I ought to cry “foul ball” on one of your points. Psylocke is supposed to resemble an obscure Japanese woman villain, Kannon, not Betsy Braddock, the English heiress, due to a body-swap, right? Can you elaborate what you mean by the figure not resembling Betsy? Costume-wise, I do prefer her more modern full-body suit instead of the leotard, but physique-wise, she looks close to how Psylocke looks in the comics. I mean, Psylocke has always been improbably hour-glass shaped with a large bosom and a broad behind (I figure the actual Kannon character ought to have been a bit lean and wiry, though Japanese women can be as “full-figured” as European women. As for the “karate chop” hands, I hear you about wanting them, though the classic Karate chop isn’t as common of a fighting technique as the stereotype suggests–I want my palm-heel strike hand! (Joking). It was a good review and great pictures.
I stand by it! This Psylocke’s arms are like sticks. There’s no way she can deliver a powerful attack with those scrawny arms. =P
I’ve done and seen customs of her on the moonstone/capt. Marvel buck and it fits much better. I think of her as very muscular and strong but not as voluptuous as Rogue.
Typical western thinking. Size does not connote power. From a drop of rain to a diamond or the atom these are all very small objects with immense energy.
This does look, I think the black haired one is going to be more rare as the purple hair was the running change. For more variety I saw on fb that someone used the ext head that comes with X-23, it looks cool.
Yeah, using the name Betsy Braddock just puts me immediately in mind of the real Psylocke. This body swap version was one of the things that made me quit collecting X-men.
You should be happy to know that she just returned to her original Caucasian body in this week’s comics!
Awww man…spoiler! Just kidding! I was happy to see Betsy return but I hope the keep Kwannon as an evil Revanche!
I IMMENSELY prefer the blue costume with the black hair. It just looks SO MUCH better.
Psylocke’s hair in the comics almost seems to be accidentally depicted as purple, because when you see her next to Revanche, Revanche has ACTUAL purple hair, while Psylocke’s hair is DISTINCTLY blacker, and the purple is only used as highlighting, the same way Batman and Venom use blue.
And that makes sense, since it looks MUCH better on the character design.
It VERY MUCH seems like this has been misinterpreted over the year (just like people somehow thinking Batman and Venom are blue), and resulted in people (including later Marvel artists) thinking Psylocke’s hair is ACTUALLY purple.
Similarly, classic Jim Lee Psylocke DEFINITELY wears a VERY medium blue blue, and the purple haired variant of this figure has a metallic blue that’s just entirely too dark and purpleish.
Would I prefer the black haired Psylocke to have a METALLIC medium blue blue? Maybe.
But in ANY case, the blue and black hair figure EASILY looks better than the purple-blue and purple hair variant.
The variant is just too damn purple and everything just becomes a less visually distinct.
I have both.
I’m just going to use the purple version as Revanche until they eventually (probably never) make an actual Revanche figure.
Also, I HATE running changes.
That pisses me right off.
Then you are going to be one happy camper as Hasbro is going to abolish the practice of variants and running changes altogether.
😎Shalom