Minn-Erva

Today is International Women's Day, so let's extend "Captain Marvel Week" to eight days! Using her intensive training from her days in the Air Force, Carol Danvers boldly leads an intergalactic fleet as Captain Marvel. Yes, that's nice and all, but nobody cares. We've already got two Carols in this line, both in her jacket and out of it. Nobody's breathlessly hitting "ship to store" on Target's website to get a third one. No, like Dirk Anger and Capwolf, this figure is about the alternate pieces. A different head, different hands, a few accessories, and you've got yourself a new character! In the comics, Dr. Minerva wanted to jumpstart Kree evolution by dicking down with Captain Marvel (the boy one); in the movie, it looks like she's going to be the only other female member of Starforce, and will probably not get along with the Earth girl. (We'd say "jealous," but we're kind of giving Marvel the benefit of the doubt that we're a bit beyond the "two female characters have to be jealous of each other" trope at this point.) Minn-Erva has always been a blue-skinned Kree, and the movie is not changing that now. She does get a jaunty new haircut, buzzed on one side and flopping down to chin length on the other. She has a black and metallic blue mask around her eyes, and a frame running down along her chin. There's not much of a likeness of actress Gemma Chan to speak of, but the blue skin does the heavy lifting. The figure's body is not new. Being that this toy is a repaint of Captain Marvel, the body is a repaint of Captain Marvel's. Shock! Instead of the comic-inspired red and blue, this one is painted in Starforce's team colors: green and black with silver accents. Starforce is a real team in the comics (sort of a Kree version of the Avengers), but they all just dress however they want (again, just like the Avengers). Dr. Minerva usually dresses in a costume similar to the first Ms. Marvel outfit, but this is pretty dang stylish! The uniform is sculpted with lines that make it look like some sort of super-advanced body armor, with distinct pads on the shoulders, knees, and the sides of the waist. Of course, a lot of the detail will be hard to see due to Minn's accessories. Apparently the team's sniper, Minn-Erva is armed with a long rifle. But beyond that, she also wears a holster the gun can collapse down into (only in the movie, not in real life) and a scarf. The scarf is already covering a lot of area, but the satchel has a strap that slings all the way up over her shoulder and features six... cartridges? Batteries? It's not like this space-gun is going to explosively throw little lumps of metal, is it? Anyway, there are a bunch of things on the strap, like a bandolier, so between that and the scarf (and the fact that she'll hold the gun across her body), a lot of the chest details get obscured. (If you want this to be Carol and not Minn-Erva, the set has both the masked and unmasked heads, plus fists with pink skin. Buy two, and display them both!) This figure is a lot more interesting to us as Minn-Erva than as Starforce Captain Marvel, but we understand why Hasbro had to sell it this way. Still, it does make us realize that if they wanted to do a "retro" Ms. Marvel and include a Dr. Minerva head as an accessory, that would work pretty well! -- 03/08/19

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