Hawkeye & Black Widow

As I write this, we're still more than a week away from the premiere of Avengers: Endgame, and the time cannot pass quickly enough! The toys have hit shelves, but the Legends assortment sold through in about a day. So while we wait for Hasbro Pulse (and their free shipping) to come to the rescue, let's take a look at this unusual Target exclusive. From the ranks of SHIELD to the growing team of Avengers, Black Widow and Hawkeye put their expert training to use as they suit up to defend their world and universe from intergalactic threats. Although this set is identified as Hawkeye and Black Widow, it's really more than that. Which we'll get to in time. First, let's talk generalities. After more than a decade of looking like the comics, the MCU Avengers have finally copied something from Fox's X-Men: matching team uniforms. Rather than black leather, they're wearing some kind of silver armor, but the idea is the same. The large panels cover the chest, back, shoulders, the outside of the arms and thighs, the ribs, the shins and the feet. There's a bit of red accentuating the silver, and the whole thing seems to be attached to a black spandex suit underneath. Perhaps the most impresive thing is that, accounting for the bodies they have to fit over, the male and female versions of the armor are exactly the same. Black Widow's version doesn't have giant metal boob-cups, it doesn't have a big cutuot to show off her stomach, none of that dumb stuff. It's armor, team armor, and it's more than just the big A on the chest that makes all the team members look alike. And we really do mean all the team members. Like we said, this isn't just a set of Clint and Natasha; it's more than that. The set includes three extra heads, allowing you to fill the ranks of your team. Let's start by looking at the guys, because there are more of them. First, of course, is Hawkeye. This is the first Jeremy Renner likeness to benefit from the new Photo Real process, so it really does look like the guy. He has a little bit of stubbley goatee, and his new haircut is shaved short on the sides but puffy on top, which isn't doing anything to disprove the theory that Tag is part of the MCU. Alternately, we also have Iron Man and Ant-Man helmets, which presumably means they wear this costume too, and not that Hawkeye is actually going to be rocking four different identities in this one movie. Anyway, both of those are existing sculpts, with a few little paint changes. On the female side, we begin with Black Widow. The likeness here is not even half as good as it was on the "Blonde Widow" figure. I mean, it looks a little bit like Scarlett Johansson, but we're talking like "Mattel" levels of likeness, not "Hasbro." This does reveal that Natasha has stopped dyeing her hair blonde, allowing it to go back to its natural red. Well, with just a little bit of gray at the end of the ponytail. Shouldn't that be yellow? Her alternate head is Nebula, because even if Carol Danvers wears one of these suits in the movie, we just got enough Brie Larson heads to last us until Captain Marvel 2 comes out. Borrow one of those. Like the boys, Nebula gets the same mold as before, but new paint - in her case, a copper-colored stripe on the left side of her head. There are a few accessories to be shared around. Hawkeye gets the same bow he's been coming with since the first movie, Black Widow has her battle sticks (though not the tasers), and Nebula has her tiny space-gun. Nothing for Mans of the Iron- and Ant- variety, because they don't use things like that. A lot of times, Target's two-packs hang around until they hit clearance. That may not happen this time, since if you want a full Avengers team, you're going to have to follow Rustin's lead and buy at least two duplicates of this set. And also hope that Armored Thor and Armored Rocket Raccoon are coming along at some point to join the Armored Captain America in the main line. -- 04/22/19

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