A Toybiz action figure I got a surprising amount of enjoyment out of growing up was the 1996 Marvel’s Famous Couples Mary Jane from Spider-Man: The Animated Series. I never expected to see that version of the character in toy form again, but 27 years later, Hasbro brought Spider-Man TAS MJ back to life in Marvel Legends form, as part of a 2-Pack with Animated Green Goblin! Was this exclusive VHS 2-pack of Spidey icons worth picking up while you still can?

The Hasbro Pulse Spider-Man Animated Marvel Legends series is a bit of an odd duck in that all of the figures in the line are part of Hasbro Pulse exclusive multipacks, but every one of those packs has ended up eventually being sold through other online retailers.

Even so, these twin packs have been low on my list of priorities, and I almost missed the Green Goblin/Mary Jane Watson pack entirely (I ended up getting the last pack they had in-stock at EE).

I can’t say my heart would have been shattered if I had missed out, but it’s nice to get updates to beloved Toybiz 5” figures of my youth nonetheless.

Toybiz didn’t quite nail the color scheme for Spider-Man TAS MJ all those years ago (shown above), as they mistakenly gave her blue pants and a lavender undershirt. The better part of 3 decades later, Hasbro gets it right with stylish purple pants and a magenta undershirt. (Hey, I’ve never been a supermodel, so I have no business questioning Mary Jane’s aesthetic taste.)

Mary Jane’s portrait gives her an open-mouthed smile that’s a little vapid, which seems a perfectly suitable representation of her character in the cartoon to me. The cartoony expression and bright colors of the figure hit plenty of nostalgic chords for me, clearly reminding me of the now-vintage cartoon show.

For accessories, Mary Jane has, well… just an extra pair of hands. And I’m totally okay with that. There aren’t any logical accessories for this character screaming out to me, and I would have zero interest in Hasbro digging for a deep cut just to give MJ something to hold at a higher price. Marvel Legend Animated Mary Jane can raise her hands in surrender or ball up fists to give Norman a piece of her mind. Works for me.

Hasbro shocked me a bit by giving MJ a very modern, pin-free body that looks absolutely seamless and appropriate for the source material. I love the pin-less knees and elbows, though I do wish Mary Jane got swivel biceps as well. It’s not absolutely perfect articulation, but it’s more than good enough for a civilian character from a 90s cartoon.

Mary Jane comes paired with who most fans consider Spider-Man’s greatest enemy, the Green Goblin. With Gwen Stacy essentially a non-entity in Spider-Man TAS, Mary Jane instead gets the honor of being thrown off the George Washington bridge by Green Goblin in the cartoon series.

Rather than the “scale mail” Green Goblin body from the 2017 Sandman Build-A-Figure wave, Hasbro gives us a much more acceptable “smooth” body here to match the designs in the show (along with an accurate purple glider that Toybiz botched and made teal in the 90s).

The ultra-bright green and hot pink are a terrific throwback, and the figure looks like a lot of fun (although the now-obsolete pinned knees and elbows are very prominent and disruptive on the bright colors).

The purple glider isn’t an ideal fit and Norman isn’t totally stable upon it, but his other three accessories are top-notch. The pumpkin bomb and satchel bag are perfect fits, and having a serious-faced Norman Osborn head to swap in gives the Green Goblin TAS figure a whole different feel. I don’t think this Gobby figure is quite as good as the MJ, but it is a lot of fun.

Overall: Hasbro serves up something I never expected to see again with this 6” Mary Jane Animated figure, and I really do dig it. The colors are on-point, the pin-less construction looks beautiful and this is just a neat civilian figure overall. Green Goblin also has striking bright colors and a fun retro look, but the awkward-fitting Goblin Glider and noticeable knee and elbow pins hold him back a hair. This isn’t quite Hasbro’s best work, but I still think it’s very strong overall.

GRADE: B+