Package Description
Mary Jane spent her entire life dreaming of something better. She knew that coming home every day to her mom crying and her dad sullen and angry was just the prelude to her life. Out there in the world, there was adventure, fame and fortune. Her future. As it turns out, she wasn't far off. Not long after getting out of high school, she started making almost a career out of getting in the middle of fights between Spider-Man and whichever super-powered bad guy he was fighting this week. Finding out that Spider-Man was actually her old friend, Peter Parker, just added to the excitement, and made a lot more sense out of the crush she had on the webhead.
Appearance
Mary Jane has a lot of problems. For starters, the color scheme is ugly. The color they chose for her skin is actually quite good, but the browns look plain, and only enhance the plastic look of the bright red for her hair. There’s no pattern on the dress either, so the plain color puts a lot of emphasis on the body shape.
MJ has a very short torso. The waist is very small and straight, making the normal sized hips look like they jut out from the sides of the figure. The arms are also skinny, but do look more natural on a non superhero figure. The shape of the hair is fairly natural, but is ruined by the unnatural red of the hair. The choice of double jointed knees is odd on this figure, because it looks very ugly. I would have actually preferred ball jointed knees on the figure.
The face is just poorly executed. It would look alright with some changes. For starters, her pupils are just black dots, and they are placed so she is looking up on mine, but not all. The lips are very thin, the eyebrows are too high, and the black eyeliner looks odd on only the top of her eyes. Her face is also rounder than it probably needed to be, with very prominent cheek bones. Put it all together and its one ugly figure.
Articulation
MJ has ball jointed elbows, ankles, and torso. The wrists are a pin. The torso won’t really lean back, but it will lean forward farther than I expected. The elbows bend more than 90 degrees, which is a first for these ball joints. The dress actually doesn’t inhibit motion of the legs. If the legs are moved together, they can go forward, about 45 degrees, which is unusual for characters in skirts or tunics. The legs can’t reach as far if they go in opposite directions, but the range of motion is still impressive. To the sides of her body though, the legs can move hardly at all. Everywhere else, MJ has average range of motion.
Poseability
MJ can stand there and that’s about it. Not that I would expect much more from a civilian character. This figure’s biggest problem is that it turned out so poorly, I’m never going to display it. She can balance reasonably easily, and hold the plank she came with. But there’s not really anything for this figure to do to but to stand next to spiderman. Which may be perfectly ok, just don’t expect more.
Final Judgment: 4
I tried to give this figure a chance, but the more I studied it, the more I disliked it. I was planning on doing a head switch with an extra invisible woman and painting the hair, but I don’t even like the body sculpt now. All in all, I could do without this figure. MJ is a complete redo.
SCALE
10. My favorite possession.
9. My favorite action figure.
8. One of my favorite action figures.
7. An exceptional action figure.
6. A good, but not exceptional action figure.
5. An adequate action figure.
4. Not worth the money I spent.
3. I'll give it to somebody's kid.
2. I'll give it to somebody's dog.
1. It's going to lose a fight with my car.
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