Wattson

Who knew they were still making Apex Legends toys? Not me. Not until now. Natalie "Wattson" Paquette is a familiar face in the Apex Games, though for a different reason than most. Daughter of the Games' lead electrical engineer, she studied his manuals to stay close to him, and discovered her calling at a young age. Though she could be completely distracted one moment and hyper-focused the next, electricity grounded her - its ordered, predictable flow made sense in a way the rest of the world didn't. She devoured every book she could on the subject, and eventually became such a skilled engineer that she was commissioned to build the Apex Games' Modified Containment Ring. Unfortunately, her father died the day it was revealed, leaving her alone. At her lowest moment, a group of competitors invited her to return to the arena with them, assuring her she would always have a home. She now fights alongside her friends in the arena she helped build, destroying incoming missiles, recharging shields, creating fences, and using her pylon to silence fights that get too loud. Nobody knows the arena better than Wattson - anyone who underestimates her is in for a shock. I still haven't played the game, but at least it's famous enough that I've heard of it. While the first series of figures was available at Walmart, apparently there have been ones after that, much to my surprise. This figure, for instance, is seemingly from Series 7, and unless Jakks just skipped over five numbers in the middle there, that's a lot of toys that went completely unnoticed. Not knowing anything about the character, I had to judge her just by her outfit - and what I thought she was was "cosmonaut healer," which is obviously very wrong. I blame the cowl she's wearing, a tight skullcap with padded ears. Makes her look like Daina. A bit of pale blonde hair pokes out on her forehead, and she has scars painted on her left cheek - since she works with electricity, they're meant to be Lichtenberg figures, though the paint isn't quite that clear. The cowl is just part of a full bodysuit, and above that she wears a short jacket with big sleeves and a large hood. You get why I thought "Russian," right? She looks geared up for cold weather. She's got coveralls unzipped to the waist, and wears pretty average sneakers. In early concept arm, her left arm would have been robotic, but the final version wears big runner gloves, so who knows if that's still the case or not? The red "stripes" that come down from her jacket and curve around to her hips are actually meant to be wires, to suggest her electrical powers, but they're sculpted on each of the parts of the toy separately rather than being a single contiguous piece, and so they don't look too good. The articulation is as good on this Series 7 figure as it was back in Series 1: hinged toes, swivel/hinge feet, swivel ankles, double-hinged knees, swivel thighs, balljointed hips, balljointed waist, swivel/hinge wrists, swivel/hinge/swivel elbows, swivel biceps, swivel/hinge shoulders, and a balljointed head. Her hips are better-designed than Wraith's were, because they can't be hidden behind a big belt this time. The ODM gear on her back sits low enough below the waist joint that it doesn't get in the way of the movement. Wattson does not include any guns, but she does get her Interception Pylon. Her Ultimate ability in the game, she puts down one of these contraptions (yes, it's the same thing she wears as a backpack; no, deploying it in the game does not make her backpack go away), and when it spins up, it recharges the shields of nearby players and fries incoming projectiles before they can land. Useful! The two pieces need to be assembled after you open the toy, but they don't seem designed to come apart again. Her other big ability is Perimeter Security, which allows her to place electrified fences. That's what the things hanging from her hips are: basically she tosses one on the ground, it clamps itself in place, then a post telescopes from the center to connect its charge to any other nearby nodes. Those are permanently attched to the figure, just like the backpack is, but it's nice her two main abilities are represented on this figure. Wattson may not be the type of character I assumed her to be, but that just means I got to learn something new. Jakks continues to make really good Apex Legends toys, but things would be better if you could, you know, buy them in stores. So that multiple series don't come and go with no notice. -- 07/31/24