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While reviewing Series 1 of the Spider-Man Marvel Legends, we questioned whether Hasbro really still needed to do the whole "swap figure" thing. Now, in Series 2, we have to question whether Hasbro is messing with us. Two figures - Misty Knight and Ghost Rider - are sold under the name "Heroes for Hire" but come with different BAF pieces. Meanwhile, White Tiger, who's sold by herself, comes with the same BAF piece as Misty. The heck?!
Investigating evil and protecting the city, these heroes give evil no place to hide!
Misty Knight was an NYPD officer who lost her arm while preventing a bomb attack. She had no interest in taking a desk job, so she quit the force. She was somehow put in touch with Tony Stark, who built her a bionic arm - does he do that for every amputee in the Marvel Universe, or just the sexy female ones? "Here's your new limb, baby - it's already programmed to dial my phone number!" I realize a New York police officer wounded in the line of duty would be pretty high-profile, but still, it's kind of insulting to everyone who's not her.
Anyway, she met Iron Fist, and was Jean Grey's roommate for a while, and eventually partnered with her friend Colleen Wing to form a detective agency, "Nightwing Restorations, Ltd." She's apparently the best detective in the Marvel U, making her a black, female, robot-armed Batman. How is she not Tumblr's favorite thing ever?
Misty uses the female body that was introduced on Medusa, but has flat feet rather than high heels. And why wouldn't she? She can't fly or anything, she has to run around the city like a normal human being, and flats would be much more comfortable for that. Her right hand is new, since nobody else has had a mechano-first like this, but it would have been cooler if they'd left more of her arm un-sleeved. She also gets a new chest: the top is unzipped, similar to Mystique's, but has a harness around her shoulders, like the SHIELD women. Her jumpsuit is red, with a gold zipper.
The figure's head is new as well - it pretty much has to be! Ever since her introduction, Misty has almost always had a big afro, and this toy keeps that tradition alive. She's wearing a headband, and the front of her hair seems to have been straightened, but the back is as big and as puffy as ever. There's great detail in the sculpt, too! Unfortunately, like Wasp and Captain Marvel before her, her eyes are painted a bit crooked. Apparently later waves of those figures fixed their problems, so maybe if you wait a while to get Misty, her eyes will be okay as well.
Misty moves at the balljointed head,
swivel/hinge shoulders, elbows, and wrists, a torso with the range of a balljoint, swivel/hinge hips, swivel thighs, double-hinged knees, and swivel/hinge ankles that act like rocker joints. There's a little bit of looseness in her knees, which normally wouldn't be much of a problem, but since her hair is solid plastic, it adds a lot of weight to the back of the figure, and so she falls over easily. They really should have made the afro from hollow rubber, to keep it light. This is legitimately the most trouble I've had keeping a Marvel Legend on its feet.
In addition to being the world's greatest detective and having excellent martial arts skills, she's also apparently a near-perfect shot. Because being black, female, robot-armed Batman wasn't enough, she also had to be Bullseye. You might be able to claim that there's something about her bionic arm that makes her aim perfect, but she holds her giant gold revolver in her left hand. There's a working holster for the gun on her left leg.
Misty Knight comes with the entire torso of the Spider-Man Marvel Legends Series 2 Build-A-Figure, Rhino. And while that's not the same piece Ghost Rider comes with, it is the same piece as White Tiger. Confused yet?
Neither Ghost Rider nor Misty Knight have much to do with Spider-Man, but it's not like there's some kind of generic, all-encompassing toyline where unaffiliated Marvel characters like them could be sold, right? Right. But we've always said the name on the box matters less than the figure inside, and these are every bit as good as you've come to expect from Marvel Legends.
-- 09/14/15
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