Had Marvel Studios not selected Hela to be the primary antagonist of Thor Ragnarok, it’s very likely we’d have never seen her gracing local retail shelves in toy from any company. Ever. But they did, and now Hela is about to become among the most recognizable Marvel female characters in the world! As such, Hasbro is releasing a non-exclusive Marvel Legends Hela figure for the very first time in the Thor Ragnarok series! Is this MCU Hela all we could have hoped for?

The Right:

I want to move on to discussing the Marvel Legends Netflix Series soon (I’ve yet to review even a single figure from that wave, believe it or not!), but there’s a few more Marvel Legends Gladiator Hulk Series figures left to cover first.

And of the remaining figures, there’s none that surprised as many folks or was as anticipated as a long-overdue mass retail version of the Asgardian Queen of Death, Hela! How did Hasbro do with the first major female villain from the MCU? Let’s find out…

As you might have suspected, an MCU movie version Hela toy required 100% new tooling, and Hasbro has obliged with a phenomenally sculpted and expertly painted six inch figure.

The rich details of the texture of Hela’s costume are as intricate as you can get without the costume being made of actual cloth, and the slightly-shiny black and green paints selected both really pop. Gotta love that painted black fingernails too!

Even the back of this 6″ figure is ornately sculpted, even though very few collectors are likely to display Hela with her back turned and her cape off. Visually, this figure is pure win.

In fact, Hela is so nice, I bought her twice! Why? Because Hasbro was kind enough to give us not one, but two stellar head sculpts for the Queen of Hel!

As expected, Hela comes with one head wearing her elaborate headpiece and mask, which has been lovingly crafted in slightly soft plastic that’s hard enough that it won’t warp, but soft enough that the “antlers” won’t snap off. The face paint, blank eyes and green lipstick make this Hela portrait pretty mesmerizing.

But hey, why get the drop-dead beautiful Cate Blanchett for this role and not give us an unmasked head, right?! And so, Hasbro also packed in an interchangeable unmasked Hela head that shows off Hela’s flowing hair, veiny forehead and dark-circled eyes. This has a really haunting “Dark Galadriel” vibe to it and I love it.

The Hasbro Hela action figure also includes a removable cape and a sword. The cape is two-tone and looks nice, but has some problems I’ll discuss in a bit.

Hela’s sword also isn’t issue-free, but I dig that it’s another totally unique-sculpted piece that looks both ceremonial and deadly. Cool beans.

Articulation, you ask? Let’s be legit here: we all know that Hela has never exactly been a top-tier combatant, so she doesn’t need to have enough articulation built in to go all Episode II Yoda on Thor or anything. But even so, Hasbro has kept her to the usual (female) super-articulated standards.

As usual for the female figs, there’s no swivel waist/biceps/calves or double-jointed elbows, but Marvel Legends Ragnarok Hela has plenty of other points of articulation: ball-hinge head/shoulders/elbows/wrists; hinged feet with ankle rockers; ball-jointed upper torso and double-hinged knees.

I’m having some trouble visualizing interesting dynamic poses to put the Hela Marvel Legends figure into, but I’m confident she’ll be able to achieve most poses that the Thor Ragnarok movie might inspire.

Thor Legends Hela actually looks really cool with her cape off and is a lot easier to pose without it, although it remains to be seen how frequently (if at all) we’ll be seeing Hela without her cape in the movie.

The Wrong:

Once again, I’ve got only one genuine beef with a Marvel Legends figure. And again, it has to do with questionable quality control. The most annoying aspect of this Hela 6″ figure is her ridiculously loose, wobbly legs.

For whatever reason, all four hip joints across both my Hela figures are super-wobbly and rock back and forth like a bobble-head. As you might imagine, this causes some serious issues when trying to pose ML Hela dynamically, which is exacerbated by her tiny feet and cape which makes her back-heavy.

In addition, both the cape and sword feel like they’re made of very cheap rubber. The cape stays on reasonably well, but definitely rattles back and forth a lot when you move her. Hela’s sword came warped with one of my figures, but has stayed thankfully straight on the other.

Overall: I’m ecstatic that we’re getting a 6″ Hela figure at mass retail, and I think overall Hasbro did a very admirable job with her. The 100% unique sculpt is flat-out fantastic, the articulation is nearly perfect, and the interchangeable unmasked head is awesome. Even so, the loose joints and rubbery plastic, coupled with some paint apps problems and the usual missing arm articulation, make this Marvel Legends Hela action figure fall just a bit short of excellent. Hela is available for retail price at EE, so if you need her, snap her up–this is the best 6″ version of this characters that’s ever going to be made.

GRADE: B+