MS. MARVEL

MARVEL HALL OF FAME (TOY BIZ)

“It’s non-stop action when the Marvel Universe’s greatest heroines join forces against the power of the Black Queen! Locked in mortal combat with the notorious Queen, Jean Grey of the X-Men uses her telepathic powers to summon help. Jean is joined by fellow X-Man Storm, Avenger Ms. Marvel, and the mysterious Spider-Woman. Together, this team has all the power it needs to stop the Black Queen in her tracks! ”

One of the things that made Toy Biz’s 5-inch run of Marvel figures so expansive and pervasive was Toy Biz’s ability to *really* milk a mold.  Admittedly, they had some help in this venture, in the form of retailers who were looking for exclusives, no matter what they were.  A few different retailers got their own exclusive lines, which were pretty much just an excuse to run a mix of straight reissues of older figures, alongside “new” figures fashioned entirely from repurposed parts.  Online retailer PuzzleZoo got in on the action with their exclusive line Marvel Hall of Fame, which most notably introduced the “She-Force” sub-line, which ran for three of the line’s seven series.  It was an exceptionally rare move, putting out an entire assortment of female figures, and one that the line would do an astounding three times.  Amongst the unique characters in the first round of She-Force was Carol Danvers in her Ms. Marvel identity, granting Carol her very first action figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ms. Marvel was released in the first “She-Force” Series, the second overall series of Marvel Hall of Fame.  Its 1996 release puts it in an interesting spot for the character, who was still kind of bouncing around at the time, having lost her Binary powers in “Operation Galactic Storm.”  She would regain a fair bit of prominence not long after this figure’s release, when she resurfaced in Busiek and Perez’s Avengers, albeit sporting the title “Warbird.”  But, she was intermittently back to using Ms. Marvel at the time, so that’s the name she got.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and she has 10 points of articulation.  Ms. Marvel is a total repaint, specifically of the Fantastic Four line’s Medusa.  It’s not a great sculpt, honestly, and it’s also saddled with a lot of details that don’t correspond to Carol’s costume design in the slightest.  She’s got very clearly defined cuffs on her boots and gloves, which don’t correspond with the placement of those pieces on Carol’s costume, and there’s also a sash present for Carol that Medusa simply didn’t have.  Why they didn’t re-use the mold from Phoenix, who has a design *a lot* closer to Carol’s, is anyone’s guess; it’s worth noting the Phoenix mold was used for the second Ms. Marvel, Sharon Ventura, later in the line.  The paint does the heavy lifting here, of course, and it’s generally fine, but for some reason, they give her full sleeves, rather than sleeveless with opera gloves as the design’s actually meant to be.  Maybe they thought the extra paint-app was just too much?  Ms. Marvel is packed with one of those weird launching bases they liked to throw in when they didn’t know what else to do.  This is specifically the Human Torch variation of the mold, without the obvious “X” on the launching part.  It’s just black for this release, which is kind of bland, but I guess it makes it subtle.  She also included a trading card, which for my figure was Quicksilver.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Because of their exclusively online nature, I had very few of the Hall of Fame figures as a kid.  Ms. Marvel was not one of them.  I know my dad had one, because he had a more extensive Avengers set-up than me.  Mine is a much more recent addition, which my parents got for me in 2022, during a stop at an antique shop, which had a few of the Hall of Fame figures.  She’s…not great?  I mean, the Medusa mold’s definitely not a strong one in the first place, and it’s extra limiting, and it’s downright criminal that Toy Biz used it so many times.  But, it’s also not the worst thing? I don’t know, maybe I’m just warming up to the mold, but I think it might honestly work the best here of the three uses, clumsy as it may be.  I still think the Phoenix mold would have made more sense, but it is what it is, and it’s ultimately okay.