Fearful that Sersi is going mad because of her immortality, the Eternals bond her with her fellow Avenger Dane Whitman, the Black Knight, forging a mental union to make them soulmates.
So, silly as it may seem, we're really getting into "my" Avengers now. Everybody has what they consider their "default" version of any team, usually based on when they started reading or when they were
exposed to the book, and for me the Avengers' "bomber jacket" era is totally that. Captain America, Iron Man, Thor? No, Black Widow, Hercules, and Vision! Plus obviously, per this set, Black Knight and Sersei.
Most of this Black Knight is the same as the Infinity War figure - at least, as much of it as can be. The arms have been changed, obviously, because no matter how you paint it, chainmail is never going to look like the sleeves of a windbreaker. We've had plenty of characters with baggy cloth sleeves like this before (ones this thick often have a single swivel/hinge elbow, but these are a double-hinge), but the jacket itself is new. And the boots, too! They're still folded over, but now have a split in the front. He's also lost the loincloth he had before, which means he'll be the first Dane Whitman who can adequately ride that old Atomic Steed piece!
'90s Black Knight was not using the Ebony Blade (its bloodlust curse had become too much for him at the time), so the figure doesn't include that accessory. Instead, he's using the Photon Sword. It's called a "Photon Sword" because Disney wouldn't buy Marvel for another 18 years,
and wouldn't buy Star Wars for another three years after that, so calling it a "lightsaber" would have gotten them sued. Impressively, he designed and built it himself - considering he hangs out with geniuses like Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, and Reed Richards, you'd be forgiven for not realizing he's a very skilled physicist himself; he just gets overshadowed by them. We can, however, assume that the impetus for building his own lightsaber is that he's a giant nerd: he's twice been gifted a flying horse; the first one he named Aragorn, and the second he named Strider. Dork. The sword's hilt is grey, and the blade translucent yellow with orange on one side of the flare at its base. The blade's not removable, because no one on the Marvel team at Hasbro walked down the hallway to consult with anyone on the Star Wars team and learn how to do that. The sword, like the new parts of the figure, are sculpted by Dan Mitchell.
It would have been nice if we could have gotten a different head for Dane. This is the same used for the previous figure, which is fine, but how
about a version who's removed his helmet? Or even just giving this one a different expression, so he's not constantly grimmacing? I know this was the '90s, and grimmacing was what comicbook characters did back then, but the guy did smile sometimes, right? After all, he was living out the giant dweeb's dreams: he had a lightsaber, a magic horse he named after his favorite book, and was given a free girlfriend! His hair was slightly longer at this point, too, so it should be sticking out the back of his helmet.
You remember that thing in Eternals where Gilgamesh was taking care of Angelina Jolie because she was doomed to go crazy? That's what was happening with Sersi. (At least, that's what everybody thought at the time.) Needing a tether to keep her from drifting away, she picked Black Knight to be her Fonfon Ru Gann Josin, basically making them instant soulmates.
Sersi's wearing her jacket, of course, and it's the same mold as Black Widow wore. That obviously originally came from Rogue, and while the body this figure is built on was used for a different Rogue, the coat obviously wasn't sculpted for a torso this tall: there are gaps around the shoulders that reveal flashes of her pink skin inside. She gets a new pair of crossed belts hanging around her waist, and pads sticking up from the knees of her boots. The knees and shins are rubbery, which doesn't mesh well with her stiff feet.
Sersei was a member of the Avengers in the '90s, so she wasn't Asian yet - yes, the comics eventually revamped her to be more like the movie version, which honestly just meant her eyes were drawn slightly differently. That's a lot less than some of the other Eternals got. This toy is sculpted very much in the style of Steve Epting, who was drawing the book at the time, meaning she's got big "90s soap opera lady" hair.
Just as Ares' job on the Avengers was to be the replacement for both Wolverine and Thor, Sersi was brought on as a stand-in for both She-Hulk and Scarlet Witch: power and magic. To show her powers, she gets a big pair of translucent red and orange energy balls to fit over her hands, which is honestly about the only thing they could have given her. She punched things, and she energy blasted things, she didn't use weapons or create shapes or anything.
This set is part of the Avengers 60th Anniversary "Beyond Earth's Mightiest" line, though it wasn't one of the ones that showed up at Target and was clearanced out in less than a month (much to my chagrin). It's an Amazon exclusive, and I had to order it three times before I got one that actually had both figures in it. It's always interesting to see what things swappers are willing to get rid of in order to steal new figures. For example, White Panther with Martin Freeman's head. Like, what was going on there? In what scenario does someone need a Hatut Zeraze mask and a scrawny suit body? So many questions! I knew the set wasn't worth $50, so I held out for a good enough sale before I bought it, but I'm glad I got it when I did, and I'm glad it exists. And since I can't see Hasbro making a figure of Hercules in the costume he was wearing at this point any time soon, it's fair to say we only need a figure of the Inhumans' Crystal to complete the team.
-- 01/15/24
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