W.A.R. # 30 : Marvel Select, Spider-Woman

"Her genetic code accidentally combined with that of a rare breed of spider, Jessica Drew was duped into serving evil as a Hydra assasin. As Arachne, Jessica attacked S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury, who revealed Hydra's true nature and won her to the side of justice. Adopting the codename Spider-Woman, she subsequently embarked on a career as a costumed heroine. Jessica now wields her superhuman strength and bioelectric blasts as a member of the Avengers, Earth's Mightiest Heroes."

Spider-Woman(Jessica Drew) comes with a short hair variant. This was released in 2006 and sculpted by Sam Greenwell.

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W.A.R. Contents:

• Packaging
• Detail/Sculpt
• Articulation
• Pricing

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Packaging

As usual with the Marvel Select line, the blister packaging is huge. Enough to showcase the figure and its accessories. But I must admit the packages do look cool if you can find enough space to display them on the shelves like books.

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Detail/Sculpt

As far as female superheroes goes in the Marvel Universe, Spider-Woman had her own show back in the late 70's. I vaguely remember watching the show on either R.T.B or R.T.M. network. For those of you who can't recall about that show(like yours truly), there's always youtube.

Now lets get on with the show...the sculpt. You will always expect the best sculpt when it comes to Diamond Select Toys. The expression on Jessica's face is of determination(well, it is if you think about it...what else could it be?). The hair is not so much of a nuisance that it constricts movement of the head. The height is in accordance to Marvel Select figures. Which is just slightly above the height of Marvel Legends figures. So still no chance of mixing the two lines on the shelves.

The paint is nicely applied with very minimum smears...VERY. They have also added a sort of metallic look into the red color of her costume. The sculpt of the body is decent from the front and very distracting...from behind. I'm not trying to come off sounding like a perv so you judge it by yourself.

The figure came with two accessories. A detachable 'venom blast' and a base with 3 hydra agents. Make that 3 halves of hydra agents. I reaaalllyyyyyyyy don't know what they were thinking of. I mean, the hydra agents was a great idea...but just making half of their body? I'd rather they made one complete figure.

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Articulation

This is one of the earlier figures that Diamond Select Toys made with decent articulation. Not really in the Marvel Legends category, but hopefully its getting there.

• Ball-jointed neck
• Hinged elbows
• Hinged wrists
• Ball-jointed & swivel hips
• Hinged knees
• Hinged ankles

Swivel waist??? What happened to a basic swivel waist??

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Pricing

I haven't quite seen this figure sold online. It is still available on Amazon for around USD 19. Besides the variation of this figure with short hair, there is another variation of Spider-Woman in the black costume. That figure was a Comic Con exclusive. It had the same useless base and word is they are making another variant. This time around its Arachne with her modern Omega Flight suit. The figure looks nice in the pics but its just a different paint app of the original figure.

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Overall if you're looking to complete to your existing Marvel Legends collection, this figure is a definite no-no. The difference in height will just be off-putting. I'm really not sure what the people at Diamond Select goes through when they are selecting(no pun intended) which figures to produce or how the figures should be articulated. Don't get me wrong, I'll still buy the figures because at the rate they are going I'm sure they will improve in the articulation area. They've already done so with Captain America and Iron Man to name a few. In addition, ever since Hasbro took over producing the Marvel Legends line, its not really that great.

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