Of all the Hasbro Marvel Legends figures that were on display at New York Toy Fair 2016 in February, the one that I was most instantly infatuated with was the Marvel Legends Civil War Scarlet Witch figure. And evidently, I wasn’t the only one–Scarlet Witch is selling for $50+ on the aftermarket already, making this one-per-case figure the most difficult Marvel Legends 6″ figure of the year to acquire. Is Wanda worth the hype and the hunt? Here’s my review…

The Right:

The moment that the case ratios for the 2016 Captain America Legends Wave 3 hit the web and it was discovered that the movie Scarlet Witch figure was going to be shortpacked at one-per-case, I knew tracking this action figure down was going to be one of the most arduous tasks of the year for Marvel movie figure collectors.

And now that the wave has been out for over a month, I can see that my instincts were correct and trying to find this movie Scarlet Witch action figure for a non-inflated price is a real nightmare. But is this figure worth the fuss and effort necessary to acquire it? Let’s take a look…

First off, let me give mega-props to Hasbro for giving us a newly-tooled mold for this figure which is probably not going to be usable for any other character in the future. Unique-molded characters are never a cheap investment, and I’m really happy Hasbro put in the money to do movie Wanda Maximoff justice.

The amount of sculpted detail in this mold is absolutely off-the-charts, making it among the most-detailed Marvel Legends MCU figures yet. Her boots have tiny buckles on them, there’s a necklace sculpted around her neck, and she has sculpted gloves and even rings!

Scarlet Witch’s jacket is totally covered in detail as well, with a sculpted belt, an itty-bitty texture pattern etched into every millimeter of the jacket, and even different-colored patches on her shoulders and elbows! The shaping and shading on Wanda’s hair also looks fantastic–this is one great-looking figure.

As far as the likeness to actress Elizabeth Olsen goes, well… it’s decent. It’s not Hot Toys level–nor should we ever expect it to be–but it’s world’s better than the portraits on the Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. heads we’ve received in the Marvel Legends six inch lines.

Wanda looks quite pretty and has a fair enough resemblance to Elizabeth Olsen, and that’s good enough for me.

Finally, we’ve got the articulation. I feared it might be limited in order to make all the new tooling this toy required make budget, but Hasbro has given us a wonderfully-articulated action figure once again.

The Marvel Legends Civil War Scarlet Witch figure’s articulation includes a ball-hinge neck, ball-hinge shoulders/elbows/hands, ball-jointed upper torso and hips, swivel thighs, double-jointed knees and ball-hinge feet with ankle rockers.

I would have liked to finally see a female with double-jointed elbows (as well as the swivel biceps we usually get), but in this case I’ll let it slide since Scarlet Witch should be a bit restricted by wearing a jacket anyway.

Scarlet Witch’s hair is made of a soft, flexible plastic that allows her to look laterally easily, although she can only look down slightly and not upwards at all.

It might sound like I’m ragging on this figure’s articulation, but I’m really not: every pose I’d want to get this character into is achievable and looks nice, and the “spell-casting” hands make for great posing opportunities.

The Wrong:

Considering that I’m usually a total whore for effects pieces, it’s probably going to surprise a lot of readers that the primary thing I dislike about this Marvel Legends movie Scarlet Witch action figure is, in fact, her effects pieces.

On the one hand, Hasbro went to the trouble of creating brand new molds for these magical effects, wholly different from the magic effect pieces we’ve seen reused over and over now for Wanda Maximoff, Enchantress and Doctor Strange.

Unfortunately, I think these particular add-ons look awful. Seriously–with the opaque reddish plastic used, it looks like Wanda has licorice ropes wrapped around her hands. Hasbro effects to date have always pleased me, but these fall a bit flat.

In addition, I think some of the loveliness of the face sculpt is compromised by the amount of “blush” shading on Wanda’s face. Her eyes and lips are painted wonderfully, but I think a more natural flesh color with less shading would have looked even better.

Finally–and of course this won’t count against her review grade–I’m really disappointed Hasbro hasn’t announced solid cases available of their 6″ Scarlet Witch Civil War figure to date. Hasbro must know the demand for this figure is likely 10 times or more that of the demand for “The Eel” and so forth, so I just can’t fathom why they made this particular decision to not distribute a figure that likely cost a ton to develop as much as possible.

Overall: The Captain America Civil War Scarlet Witch Marvel Legends 6″ figure is easily the best non-Hot Toys Scarlet Witch toy ever made. The all-new sculpt is covered in fine details, the articulation is close to perfect, and the likeness is better than usual. I think there’s a bit too much blush on Wanda’s face and I’m surprisingly unhappy with the look of the magic effects pieces, but there’s no doubt that this is a lovely and well-made figure.

GRADE: A-