Well, with Black Widow, or at least the Natasha Romanoff version of her, being dead and all, I guess one shouldn't be surprised to see more non Scarlett Johansson Hot Toys figures show up here. I generally keep an eye out for somethings, but never buy them at MSRP. But when a sale happens, well, I'm there front and center. Most of the female Hot Toys figures are on that list, though luckily for me it's not a list that particularly upsets me if I never complete it because lets face it, some of those aftermarket prices aren't a joke.
A fellow collector was, and still is, trying to moving some older figures and Nebula was on the list. She was never really a priority for me (well, none really are given that they're not Black Widow), but she had some memorable moments in that first Thanos driven story arc, particularly her change in personality from jealous sibling to team player. Of course, there's that little sequence from the beginning of Endgame with Tony Stark before they get rescued by Captain Marvel.
Got her loose, so no box pics or anything. Contents are relatively low but it's not like I recall her having anything memorable gear wise:
- 1 x Main Figure
- 7 x Gripping/Posing Hands
- 1 x Concealed Baton
- 1 x Pistol
- 2 x Batons
- 2 x Lightning Effect
I'm sure there were some wardrobe changes to her appearance through the years, and because this is from Endgame I'm going to presume this was her look from Infinity War when the Guardians were on Titan fighting Thanos. I'm also going to presume that the outfit is generally accurate, as I've never really heard any complaints on this issue and Hot Toys generally gets this right.
The overall curves of the body being off? Well, that's all Hot Toys female figures.
Is the headsculpt perfect? Nope, never is. Breaking it down a bit, I feel they got the general expression of Nebula right - of course she's either angry or brooding, so that kind of fits into their general comfort zone. I feel that they made her face too round, or at least they didn't emphasize the narrowing of her jaw through more pronounced jawline and cheek bones. The general colouring appears to be fine, but admittedly it's a lot easier to match actual colours versus skin tones. Her eyes are way off, and it throws things off for me.. which is what always happens.
Her outfit is made of a textured pleather for the most part. There are some softer fabric elements. Hard plastic parts are limited to things like her belt and guantlet, nothing that would get in the way of articulation like with Captain Marvel. There are concerns that this material will disintegrate in a few years, which given the track record of these types of outfits, wouldn't surprise me. Of course, this is also going to be affected by how rough you are with the figure, as well as your climate.
It's been a while since I got a female figure that didn't wear a skin tight suit - the last one was probably the Avengers Black Widow. It's nice having an outfit that is not totally restrictive so some of that highly touted articulation of the True Type body can actually be experienced, albeit one without functional ankles. I mean, it's seamless body, but compared to what I've had to work with so far, even the admittedly awkward poses Nebula can pull off are a godsend. It's too bad that the latest Black Widow has mobility issues due to o the use of the more... .solid, I guess... pieces of nylon on her black suit to replicate the textured sections.
The only part where articulation is not what you'd expect, strangely, is actually her robotic arm. Yes.. the one that isn't restricted by anything. The arm, while nicely detailed, isn't double elbowed so you lose some range of motion there. Furthermore, it looks like the arm itself a bit on the wimpy side, as you'd figure a robotic arm would be larger than its organic counterpart, like with Bucky. Of course, you could argue this is because all Hot Toy figure arms look like spaghetti.
There's also an issue caused by the way the shoulder sits, which causes it to look misaligned compared to her organic arm. It just looks really weird without her jacket to balance things out.
As mentioned above, there's really no issues regarding Paint Apps, as traditionally this is an area that Hot Toys does fairly well in. I can't comment about accuracy of her outfit, but it sure looks nice. Work in particular on the robot parts is quite stunning.
Build Quality, however, I suffered that very rare miss. For whatever reason, the socket of her right wrist doesn't like to keep the wrist peg in it. I've had to take out the entire hand, peg and all, and separate it that way. I guess statistically it can happen, but it's just so rare that it comes as a shock.
So, a generally well made Hot Toys release. Nebula doesn't dazzle me, but it doesn't really disappoint me either. The things that Hot Toys traditionally does well are present, and that's really all that matters when it comes to whether or not the figure was made well. Interest in the character, on the other hand is likely what is causing this exodus of collectors, but I'll tell you this - if Hot Toy stepped up their game and actually tried to get a female body that had more curves, people would be more likely to actually keep their purchases, as opposed to letting them liquidate on the free market.
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