I had hoped to kick off my 2020 reviews with an actual Marvel Legends 2020 figure review, but I was foiled by the fact that, well… I haven’t received any of the 2020 Marvel Legends figures I ordered yet. Alas! And so, for my first review of the new decade, I’ve got to dip back into my cache of unreviewed action figures from the last decade. The Hasbro Marvel Legends Spider-Woman Julia Carpenter figure is discounted to just 12 bucks now and is the first 6” Julia since Toybiz did theirs 13 years ago—has Hasbro outdone their ML predecessor this time out?
Even though Julia Carpenter isn’t the original Spider-Woman, thanks to her 90s appearances in the Iron Man cartoon series and the Force Works comic books, Julia has always been MY Spider-Woman.
I loved her purple-clad Toybiz 5” figure in the vintage Iron Man line, and even though she doesn’t factor prominently into the current Marvel comics, I’m always excited to see Julia get some limelight—including this 6” Marvel Legends 2019 Spider-Man series figure! But even though I’m a big fan of the character, I’m not nearly as infatuated with this toy of her…
The star of the show in this instance is unquestionably the portrait, which is a complete and utter winner. The wavy orange hair with brown wash on it looks exquisite and is my favorite part of this whole action figure, and I also think the glossy white eyes and pink lipstick look awesome.
The hair helps make this Spider-Woman 6″ figure look even better from the rear view! I also think that the body sculpt Hasbro picked is an impeccable choice for the character—the curves and proportions on the mold look ideally suited to Julia’s animated and comic book representations. Hasbro nailed the body sculpt here.
As much as I dug the dark purple costumed Spider-Woman from her first ever Toybiz action figure in the 1990s, I have to admit that going with the more authentic and familiar black costume was the right choice on Hasbro’s part.
What I’m more tepid about is the articulation for this Spider-Woman Legends figure. This is a standard ML female figure, which means no swivel biceps/boots/waist and no double-jointed elbows. The beautiful hair sculpt also greatly inhibits the head articulation.
In total, we’ve got:
- Ball-Hinge Head (Restricted Movement), Shoulders and Elbows
- Swivel-Hinge Wrists
- Ball-Jointed Hips
- Swivel Thighs
- Double-Hinged Knees
- Hinged Feet with Ankle Rockers (Limited Movement)
As a result, we’ve got a great-looking Julia Carpenter action figure that can stand around but not really do all the dynamic posing you’d expect from someone named “Spider-Woman”. This is further complicated by the lack of any alternate fists, so Julia is stuck menacingly gesturing at villains or throwing a web but totally unable to deliver the KO blow.
I’m also unfortunately unimpressed with the paint applications on my figure. While the paint apps on the head are outstanding, the body has lots of little eff-ups on the white logo on the front and back of the costume, as well as having random stray white marks on the black parts of the costume. I can use some paint to fix Spider-Woman up myself, but I shouldn’t have to—and I have to review her based on the toy I bought and not one I’ve modded myself.
Along with the humongous body of the Molten Man Build-A-Figure, the 2019 Spider-Man Legends Spider-Woman has one singular accessory: a new right hand with permanently attached web effect. The web is pointed sort of awkwardly downward, but it’s a very neat aesthetic and I appreciate another display option for what is otherwise a bit of a tough figure to find a neat pose for.
…And that’s pretty much it. If you find one with good paint deco and can figure out a pose you like and can achieve, she’s fine—but this just isn’t an action figure that’s a thrill to play with.
Overall: Other collectors have rated this figure higher than I’m going to, but I’m just not in love with this Julia Carpenter Spider-Woman Marvel Legends figure. The head sculpt is superb and I like the new web effect right hand, but the lack of even one fist, imperfect paint apps and sub-optimal articulation for a Spider-person hold Julia back for me.
This is still a worthwhile update that looks worlds better than the Toybiz Spider-Woman, but I still think that the potential is there for Hasbro to deliver a definitive version of this character once they’ve got a better female body to work with.
GRADE: C+
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Hm…I wonder if Julia would benefit slightly from one of the Figuarts-like stands available (ex. the Dynamic Action Figure Stand)?
She does at least look good enough that I wouldn’t mind having her on my shelf, but I’unno if I’d actively seek her out.
Julia is also MY Spiderwoman. I have the whole Force Works comic series, and would now love to have a USAgent and Century figure to complete that team. This figure gets an “A” from me. I can’t really argue with standard articulation, and yeah, a fist hand would have been nice, but still, not enough to bother me.
I guess if I could fix one thing, it would be the legs. I don’t know what it is about those skinny girl legs, but after a while, the legs start to look bowlegged. My Silver Sable suffers greatly from this, and I even bought two, and the other suffers the same. I wish they’d change those leg molds.
This was one of the figures I wanted most from the Molten Man wave, actually. I always liked her since her debut in Secret Wars. The variation on the “new” black and white Spider-man outfit with the open-topped mask for hair flow… To me, it’s all about her look. I never got to know her well enough for it to be any more than that. For personality, the original Jessica Drew Spiderwoman is the real thing in my collection of longboxes. Now I have figures for both. I would have given this one a B- though. There is no excuse for a SPIDER based character to have such limited articulation. It shows they just don’t care. If they just made one good body mold for a well articulated female character, they could keep going back to it over and over like they normally do. Why the stubborn clinging to this one?
Would be so much less confusing for people if they would just stop calling her “Spider-Woman” and start calling her Arachne. Which is her name.
This figure is an A+ for me. Much better than the Toy Biz and Marvel Select versions.
Julia’s Arachne costume is different—this is her Spider-Woman costume. It’d be like calling Carol “Ms. Marvel” when she’s in her Captain Marvel costume.
Carol will always be Ms. Marvel. 😉
I thought Anya became Arachne when Julia became Madame Web (who also needs an action figure- classic and contemporary)
I have some 2020 figures out for delivery today. Pretty excited to get that new Doctor Doom. I imagine it will be one of the first new figures reviewed here. Looks amazing.
I got Doom last week and it is a great looking figure. Didn’t unbox it because I’m waiting for the rest of the wave to arrive. Had to order Doom (and Vulture) through GameStop because they were sold out on Pulse. Just got a message that Vulture is on it’s way this afternoon… but no word on the rest of the figures from the corresponding waves.