Well Happy February everyone.. yes it's halfway through, but life's been busy and all that, with Lunar New Year and other things. While I did get some photography out of the way, some things need a little more prep time.
One such thing is the Morstorm x Eastern Model Black Widow model kit. Took me a few hours to get it put together and sanded. I didn't even paint or do the water decals, and as with every time I do a kit, I managed to lose or damage something, in this case the former. I've done a few kits over these past few years and come to realize that kits really aren't for me. There's the cost of the kit, then there's the cost of the shipping and the time, only to end up with a figure that still needs more work, work that I'm pretty much not equipped to do. I probably would have completely skipped this one, but not only was it the only Black Widow model kit I saw, but it's also officially licensed under the Avengers: Endgame movie. Can't say I've seen too many of these running around.
I've actually got a few kits sitting here that need to be put together. Hopefully by the end of 2024 I can finish them all and move on from this part of my life.
So if you've done any model kit, you probably know that overall, packaging looks pretty but isn't particularly complicated as volume is king, so the simpler the better. Content wise, well it's a bunch of plastic on sprues, which isn't particularly exciting so I skipped that part of the photography. It should be readily apparent, however, that this kit looks nothing like Scarlet Johansson.
In addition to parts for the body, there's other accessories. You get four premade faces and some blank templates, hands, lighting effects, and of course weapons to assemble. Not pictured is the Grappling Hook, as I somehow managed to lose the actual hook part of the thing. There's also a pair of Pistols and Baton Handles that were already on the figure when I took these photos.
Here's the finished figure. A neat thing about the kit is that the gold pieces actually came prepainted, but unfortunately they were still on their tree, so once you separate the piece you now have an ugly spot. Other kits I've seen this done in have those parts off, ready for assembly.
I don't have an extensive amount of experience, but I've noticed that Chinese kits tend to be a little coarser in their plastic blends, parts a bit thicker, and more importantly, more cuts and sanding required. Having said that, I will commend this set for going that extra mile in terms of its body. So on a typical kit, you might have lower leg that's like maybe four pieces. Here, every piece of what looks like armour plating is actually an individual piece that is snapped on. If I were actually painting this thing, it would be relatively easy as I wouldn't even need to consider masking.
Here's the other two faces - also, you'll notice that there's two different hair styles. The both come in Red and Blonde, so the kit gives you options. Having said that, the hair styles are about the only thing I can find that ties this model kit into the Avengers world, and even then it's not even the right movie.
In terms of size, Widow is a bit taller than the other 1/12 ish scale figures in my collection. From what I can recall she's probably about the same height as the typical Eastern Model female body, which isn't surprising given the nature of the beast.
Articulation on this kit is pretty typical for these kits, which includes double jointed knees and single jointed elbows. Slight pull down hips and slight butterfly joint style shoulders present, but there's no waist joint. Wrists are pretty typical as are the ankles, though ankle tilt is a bit more annoying to access than usual. Minor amounts of neck tilt and head tilt. Pauldrons can get knocked off during shoulder articulation, but are easy to snap back on.
No real point discussing Paint and Build Quality wise, as mentioned, it's a decent kit but more work than equivalent Japanese kits, and I'm not talking the number of parts, but rather the effort per part.
Overall, it's an OK kit in terms of the final product. I guess if this is your thing, then Black Widow is a neat addition. But from an action figure perspective, it isn't like this kit offers anything extraordinary, nor does it look particularly good - it's just kind of there.
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