Toys / Comics to Toys / Marvel Legends

The Wasp Red Variant

By Big Bear
April 22, 2007 - 16:43

Janet Van Dyne, the one-time sidekick of Hank Pym, would later become his love interest, then his wife, and then an eventual leader of the Avengers.  The Wasp started out a romantic and comic foil for the Ant-Man has blossomed into a major heroine in the Marvel Comics Universe.  Her powers created through cybernetics, pills and gas, eventually locked into her metabolic system and allow her to shrink and grow wings at will.  She is also equipped with an bio-electric sting which she uses to stun her enemies into unconsciousness.  As a founding member of Earth's mightiest heroes, the Wasp has grown from a secondary character to a first tier hero.  She is currently found in the pages of the book, The Mighty Avengers.

Likeness

The Wasp, traditionally, is a character fond of wearing many different costumes and hairstyles.  Toy biz decided to follow suit and create three different versions of the Wasp for collectors to own.  The standard version is the one that sports her current black and yellow costume with a short hairstyle.  The variant that I own is the red and black suit.   Her hair is a bit longer and falls to cover a portion of the right side of her face.  This is a style typically worn during what I call the "George Perez Years" when his artwork was a major part of the Avengers appeal.  This is the likeness that one finds in this variant.  The version of the Wasp that I purchased is classic Janet Van Dyne with her red and black costume.

Sculpt

This is actually a very well done sculpt.  Although Toy Biz has a habit of using the same body sculpt for their female characters over and over again, this sculpt is new and is only used for the Wasp and Spider Woman.  However, of the two, it is the Wasp that truly shines here.

The great thing about the Wasp is that she may be the female figure that Toy Biz finally got right. Up until now, my favorite female Toy Biz design was Storm.  Now with the stability and the improved look of the arms, the Wasp joins Storm as one of my favorite female Marvel Legends.  The arms are made a little bit thicker and stronger and the scrawny arm effect is thankfully, gone.  The Wasp does not look like she has anorexia as some of the past Toy Biz females did and even her legs are strong and stable.

The only problem with the Wasp is her face. Because of the variants there are slight faces changes and that is based on her hair cuts and how they affect her eyes. The eyes look un-even or at least like she was trying to re-focus her vision after being blinded by lights.  Her mouth is shaped as if to form something of a confusing semi-smile or a slight smirk.  Outside of those criticisms, the Wasp is a very good looking female figure.

Paint

The Wasp has a very good paint job, but there is nothing revolutionary. I found no blotches or bleeds in the paint job.  The only in-balance in paint comes to how they do the lining of her right eye as if does interfere with the hair that falls over face in that area. Otherwise, the paint is solid and decent, if not outstanding for Toy Biz.

Stability

Surprisingly, even with her wings, the Wasp is a very stable figure.  The wings not only look good, but they are also sturdy and light, so that they do not cause her to fall over easily.  Even with her having heeled boots instead of flat feet like Elektra or Warbird, the Wasp can be made to stand although her poseability is limited.  The Wasp can stand all day long, providing you find the right angle for her pose to hold.  The heels and the wings have to be properly positioned. And if that is not enough, the Wasp comes with peg holes under her heels for those who want to easily pose her with stands.

Scale

The Wasp is of a decent size and fits in very well with the rest of the Marvel Legends which are in the standard 6-inch scale for super-hero based action figures.

Articulation

The Wasp shines in the area of articulation.  Since the skinny arms design is gone, the articulation is more useful and effective.  She has ball jointed shoulders and ball jointed hips.  She has swivel rotations for the upper arms and the glove area of the fore-arm.  She has double-jointed pins at the elbows and knees.  She also has swivel rotations below the ball joint at the hips.  Twists for the waist and below the chest area.  There are also rotations at the boot area along with a pin for movement at the ankle for her heeled foot.

Another decently articulated area are her wings.  Instead of just two wings that could flap back and forth, Toy Biz separated the wings into four sections like a real flying insect and pinned them onto her back so that they move up and down.

The Wasp has non-grip hands, meaning hat there are no extra bending joints for her to be able to form a fist. Her hand is sculpted to an open form and she cannot grip down on any object unless she had another hinge to move her fingers for grip.

Plastic

The plastic on the Wasp is a solid form of PVC and holds well as long as it is kept in an ideal temperature/ setting.  Even the wings, though made of a lighter form of plastic, are still just as durable and will survive any falls.

Props

The Wasp comes with three props.  One of the props is the right arm build-a-figure piece of Modok. A second prop is a diorama of a lab setting as her background, and finally a copy of Avengers volume 1, issue # 194.

Packaging

These are typical Toy Biz Marvel Legends so you will come to expect each to be packaged in a clam shell design.  This protects the figure but makes it extremely difficult to open unless you have scissors or a knife.

Cost

When these figures first appeared in late November of 2006, they were going for $8.99 a piece.  Now some stores sell them from anywhere from $5.00 each to $9.00 each.

Availability

Although 2006 is over, many stores such as Toys R Us and Kay Bee still have these figures available.  You can also find them online for discounted prices at stores such as BigBadToysStore.com, AmazingToyz.com, and Killertoys.com

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12