Marvel Legends Gwenpool Review

I recently received the complete Spider-Man Marvel Legends Lizard Build-A-Figure Series from Dorkside Toys, which was made by Hasbro. These have been showing up at retail for the past month or two, as well (from Target to Walgreens). For my first review of the series, we’ll be taking a look at the Unbelievable Gwenpool, who was even given unique packaging for this series.

I know little to nothing about the character, so my interest in this figure was quite minimal, but in hand? She’s a decent figure. She isn’t my favorite figure in the line-up, but you can tell a lot of love went into this figure.

She is made on the teen female body which we’ve seen numerous times over the years since first introduced with the Anya Corazon Spider-Girl figure (from the 2014 Ultimate Green Goblin Build-A-Figure Series). However, she does get a number of new parts such as new forearms and shins.

Her sculpt is quite nice. I love the intricate texture sculpted into her socks. Even her Penguin backpack looks great (one of my favorite parts of the entire figure because of how off-beat yet cool it look); there’s a detailed seam running down the front of it which is just fantastic. Her head sculpts also came out particularly well; I think my favorite is the head with her tongue sticking out since I love the personality they imbued it with.

Her paint came out pretty decently, though there was some slight slop around the eyes on a few of the Gwenpools I’ve seen (mine were pretty good, though), so you may want to look for the one with the best paint should you get the chance to choose between a few. I do like how bright and vibrant the pink looks on her in contrast with the white parts of her costume. I like the paint applications given to her sword handles so they don’t look like flat, basic plastic. Also, the paint on her backpack came out mostly pretty crisp (just a spot or two where it wasn’t, yet somehow, the eyes, beak, and feet came out perfectly; go figure).

Gwenpool comes with a ton of accessories. She gets two heads as I mentioned earlier, a cellphone (with a carrying case on her belt), two swords (the molds of which we’ve seen used before with figures like Deadpool and Blade), a set of hands to make a heart symbol (the pose they gave her in the package), a peace sign hand, a cellphone holding hand, a set of trigger finger hands to hold the swords (but, ironically, no guns for the actual trigger fingers), and the Lizard’s tail. So if you’re planning to build Doc Connor’s evil alter ego, you’ll need to get Gwenpool.

One major gripe I have in general with Hasbro female figures is the lack of decent articulation compared to their male counterparts; I can’t even get her cellphone up to her ear to take a phone call, which is kind of annoying.  A pretty athletic character like her should be able to get into all kinds of dynamic poses, right? She features what I count to be 29 points of articulation. I know what you’re thinking. How can 29 POA not be enough? Oh, it’s a nice amount. But she definitely, like most of the other female figures in this line, needs double jointed elbows. It’s one of the reasons I can’t get her cellphone up to her ear or pose her with her hand on her swords’ handles, ready to pull them out for battle. The recent Proxima Midnight movie figure seems to be experimenting with them, but this is the first and only figure to have them in about 10 years. I’m hoping it’s a sign of better things to come. So, in short, a better range of motion (ROM, no relation to the Space Knight) would have gone a long way to make this figure more exciting for me. The articulation is definitely where she falls short. It’s worth mentioning that she gets a nice ankle rotation joint that allows them to swivel without compromising the sculpt, so at least there’s that. With 29 POA, she has a ball-jointed head, neck hinge,  hinges and swivels at the shoulders,  hinges and swivels at the elbows, hinges and swivels at the wrists, torso rotation at the middle, hip rotations, thigh swivels, double jointed knees, ankle swivels, ankle pivots, and hinged ankles as well.

All in all, Gwenpool’s a fairly nice figure. The sculpt of the figure, and especially the accessories, pick up some of the slack on the articulation’s end. She’s not my favorite by any means, but Hasbro must be banking on a lot of people wanting her, as she is packed two per case (out of a case total of eight figures). So yes, if you buy an entire case, you can use the extra Gwenpool figure’s Lizard tail to make it look like it broke off before another one inevitably grows back in its place.

If that’s not fun, I dunno what is!