Mercy & Pharah

The winged heroes Pharah and Mercy work together to win the battle from above. Hey look, the two-packs get a little bio in addition to the personal stats. And against all odds, it doesn't say anything about these two being a couple. Surely some corner of the internet is upset about this. Name: Angela Ziegler Age: 37 Occupation: Field Medic Affiliation: Overwatch (formerly) Mercy is like the Overwatch equivalent of Team Fortress 2's Medic: they both created magical nanotech healing weapons tools, they both have German accents (he actually is German, she's Swiss)... but he seems okay with battle, while she's a pacifist. A pacifist who built a suit of armor that let her tend to the wounded in the frontlines of battle, and also made her look like an angel. Like, specifically like an angel - it's white, it's got wings, it's got a freaking halo... like, dang, Angela, just admit you want to cosplay a heavenly being, nobody in this super-horny game is going to judge you for your kinks! Angela (which we're willing to bet is pronounced "ANG-uhla," like Angela Merkel, not "AN-jella," like Angela) wears her hair in a high ponytail, with a few large locks falling loose over her forehead. Her golden halo, which is actually a visor that can scan patients' vital signs, connects to the rest of the suit via a black head-sock - want to bet the designer grew up on Jim Lee X-Men designs? The entire undersuit is dark brown, with white pieces worn above it, and color coming in the form of a yellow-to-red blend on the arms and skirt. Her wings are clearly mechanical devices, though the translucent yellow energy that forms the "feathers" could be fairly mystical in a different setting. This does overall look like a doctor's lab coat wedded to a techno-angel design, which is probably what they were going for - you're never going to look at Mercy and think "tank." She does have some weapons, though. Her main one is the Caduceus Staff, a spear that can either heal her teammates or increase their damage output. Her secondary is the Caduceus Blaster pistol, which is a bit odd for a pacifist like her, but what can you do? It's a shooting game. Technically they should both called "Asclepius," not "Caduceus," because the Rod of Asclepius is the actual medical symbol; the caduceus is the symbol of Hermes, patron god of liars, thieves, and gamblers. Whoops! The staff includes a translucent yellow energy that can attach to the tip and swirl off toward a target. Mercy's internal Blizzard codename is Merengue, which is a mistake: merengue is a dance; the word they were looking for was "meringue," the concotion of whipped egg whites and sugar used in many desserts. And as we know, her partner in this box is "Don." Name: Fareeha Amari Age: 32 Occupation: Security Chief Affiliation: Helix Security International Even if you didn't know that Pharah was from Egypt, you'd probably be able to guess it from her outfit. Dubbed the "Raptora Armor," it's a mech suit like Samus Aran wears. A lot like the one Samus wears! It's got the huge shoulders, the flared hips, the pointed chest, all of it, just done in blue instead of red and orange. It also has a big pair of wings on the back, but, like, "anime robot" wings, not bird or airplane wings. The thing that's most strongly "Egyptian" is the helmet. The front is golden and hooked, while the back rises to a point - it's designed to look like a hawk! There are small silver wings over the ears, like Thor's helmet, and she has an Eye of Horus marking on her right eye - research leads us to believe it's a tattoo, not makeup. Sadly, the toy's helmet is not removable - you'll need the Figma if you want to do that. And really the gold part should be clear, not solid, allowing her to see through it. Still, sculptor Dennis Chan did a fine job. For some reason, Overwatch fans are obsessed with the characters being amputees - like, they just can't wrap their heads around the idea that these stylized cartoon character people might just be drawn a certain way, so they'll MS Paint graphs showing why Pharah's body couldn't possibly fit inside her Raptora armor, never once considering the real answer is "it's just art." The armor iself does look very cool, with its gold and silver accents, and in addition to the usual Overwatch Ultimates articulation, it has a few play features: while the rocket on her left forearm is not removable, a thin flap on each shoulder pad hinges open to reveal missile batteries within. Those are just sculpted, not functional, but they really do make her look like a rocket queen! Pharah's weapon is a handheld rocket launcher, which is big enough to partially pull the toy off-balance if you don't pose her well. The thrusters that plug into her shoulders split in half, and the set includes four translucent yellow flame effects to simulate her Jump Jet ability. The paint here does feel a bit light, with the jet thrusters being solid blue, rather than having any grey by the exhaust ports, and there's no paint around the elbows or knees, either. Still, between her metallic blue and Mercy's pristine white, this two-pack does have terrific color contrast. The set includes a clear flight stand, since both these characters can fly. But notice that's "a" flight stand, not "two" flight stands. Why are we forcing one of them to always be grounded? It's a nice stand, but what are we, supposed to buy a duplicate set just to get another? As much as we love Lucio's skate tracks and wished Tracer had something similar, I feel confident in saying fans would have been okay skipping some of the effects pieces here if it meant both ladies could get off the tarmac at the same time. -- 06/20/20

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