Ordinarily I try to steer clear of writing Hot Toys reviews of the many, many Marvel sixth scale figures that I buy, because there’s only so many ways I can describe how amazing the Marvel Movie Masterpiece Series figures are and how vastly superior they are to every other line of MCU toys out there. But as I’m on a bit of a high right now coming off of seeing Captain America: Civil War, I’ve got enough exuberance to talk about one of my favorite toys so far in 2016: the Avengers Age of Ultron Hot Toys Scarlet Witch sixth scale figure!

The Right:

Typically, the toy reviews that I write are anywhere from 800-1200 words, and take me a couple hours to write. But when it comes to Hot Toys figures, I could quickly get into trouble, as I could easily write triple-length reviews that take triple that amount of time to write.

Sadly, I just don’t have that kind of free time to devote, but every once in a while I just can’t help giving my abridged views on one of the extremely expensive but oh-so-irresistible Marvel Movie Masterpiece Series figures.

And that brings us to the subject of this review: the MMS 301 Hot Toys Avengers Age of Ultron Scarlet Witch sixth scale figure. While I was so-so on Wanda in “Avengers: Age of Ultron”, she won my heart in “Captain America: Civil War”, so I want to give her some extra spotlight. This is the first of three known Scarlet Witch toys HT will produce, and features the costume she wears for all but a few seconds during AOU.

As usual, the slipcover for the box of this sixth scale Scarlet Witch figure is drop-dead gorgeous. I wish I had enough space in my home to just set up a wall of my prettiest Hot Toys boxes, because I really love the colors and designs of their packaging.

Inside the box we find out standard tray consisting of a lovely 1/6th figure and accessories. Various parts of Scarlet Witch are wrapped up, but all of the wrapping comes off with minimal effort and no genuine issues.

While I wouldn’t have expected much to come with this Wanda Maximoff sixth scale figure in the way of accessories–there are very few accessories that I think it would make sense to include with her–Hot Toys managed to come up with a pretty impressive spread here, in my opinion: eight interchangeable hands, two magic effects pieces, a couple necklaces, and a character-specific figure stand.

I’ve actually heard a few people criticize the Hot Toys Elizabeth Olsen portrait when discussing this figure, which outright astonishes me. To me, this is a dead-on uncanny likeness to Elizabeth Olsen.

While the facial expression here nah not be the most “expressive” around, Scarlet Witch didn’t exactly demonstrate a wide range of emotions in Avengers Age of Ultron. From where I’m standing, this portrait is incredible. Those who say this likeness doesn’t resemble Elizabeth Olsen are totally nuts if you ask me.

Another detail that surprised me with this figure is the attention to detail on Scarlet Witch’s jacket. The little zipper looks fantastic, and just like in the movie, Hot Toys has managed to create a dark gradient where the red jacket gets darker as you go further down on it. It’s hard to tell in photos, but in person the gradual darkening effect on the jacket looks brilliant.

1/6 Scarlet Witch’s high-rise stockings are also immensely detailed, if you can believe that. These have a much more detailed pattern to them than I can remember seeing on any sixth scale figure’s stockings since, well… ever. The stockings can be easily pulled up to cover her knee joints, though I wasn’t paying attention to them in a lot of these photos and forgot to do so.

What I like almost as much as the head sculpt on this MMS301 Scarlet Witch figure is her immensely cool pink translucent effects pieces!

The “magic” effect pieces are a bit of a pain to get onto Wanda’s hands, but both effects are totally unique sculpts and are frankly quite beautiful. I love the aesthetic of these effects pieces so much that I rarely want to pose Scarlet Witch without them attached. Gorgeous.

While it didn’t set my heart a-flutter in the same manner as the magical energy effects, I do really appreciate the inclusion of Ultron’s heart as an accessory here. It’s an expertly-sculpted unique mold, and has more paint deco on it than you might expect. Moreover, holding it in one hand proves to be one of Wanda’s coolest poses.

MMS 301 also includes a variety of interchangeable hands. I don’t like changing the hands out too much, as I worry about breaking the pegs (which, by the way, HT has provided a baggie of extras in the box for just such occasions), but it’s worth noting that the alternate hands are really neat. I love that we get multiple partially-translucent hands with the fingers in different positions.

They’re technically part of her costume and not true accessories, but I really like the work done on Scarlet Witch’s necklaces. The half-metal, half-string necklace cord is a particularly nice touch.

Finally, we’ve got her stand. The figure stand is nothing that will make collectors’ jaws drop, but it is character-specific with Scarlet Witch’s name on the front and a really cool sticker across the face of the base.

I’m not big into stands, but for what it’s worth, this one is rather nice-looking.

The Wrong:

By and large I think this is a phenomenal figure, but for 230 bucks, you’d better believe I’ll find a couple things to nitpick.

At that price, I don’t think it would be too much to ask for for a second, interchangeable head to be included, perhaps with red “powered-up” eyes or a fiercer expression.

The neutral expression of the included head works great for most poses, but an alternate head could always be appreciated.

In addition, I think that it’s worth mentioning that Wanda’s hair is a little bit frizzy and out of control straight out of the box.

Some hair gel or even water will go a long way to making this Scarlet Witch figure’s hair perfect, but for the purposes of review, I only photograph figures fresh out of the box and unmodified.

Overall: I mean, let’s be real here: the hair is a little frizzy on this Hot Toys Scarlet Witch figure straight out of the box, the price on her certainly isn’t cheap, and an extra head with powered-up eyes or a different expression would have definitely been a welcome addition. But when it comes right down to it, just like much of the MCU product Hot Toys releases, this 11″ Scarlet Witch Sixth Scale Figure is downright incredible.

With a dead-on likeness, an excellent variety of alternate hands and accessories and top-of-the-line tailoring, I’ve got no regrets about having purchased this superb 1/6 Scarlet With MMS 301 figure. You can get her online now for below MSRP for the moment, and I would definitely do so if you like what you see here. Highly recommended.

GRADE: A-