An incredibly strong woman who's not afraid of starting legal proceedings? It's JK Rowling's TERFy worst nightmare!
With incredible strength and a passion for justice, Jennifer Walters fights evil as both a lawyer and the Gamma-powered Super Hero [sic], She-Hulk.
I'm not really sure why She-Hulk is in the Iron Man Retro Collection line - she did have a vintage figure in 1996, but that was in the Incredible Hulk cartoon line, not Iron Man. She may have appeared on the Iron Man show (it had lots of guest apperances in an attempt to make audiences care about its existence), but that's as far as it goes. Of course, it's not like Hasbro is ever going to do a Hulk-themed Retro Collection line (the cards would have to be massive), so this may be their only shot at her. Change approved!
First off, this figure is towering. You know how big the Retro Collection packaging is, but She-Hulk is so tall (more than 7⅜") they had to make her squat to fit in the bubble, and tuck her feet into the little dips at the bottom. Dang! That's equivalent to the size of Hasbro's first She-Hulk from 2007, with this one getting the edge thanks to her big '80s hair. This one's a lot buffer and thicker, too, so this fine cheesesteak is the most She-Hulky-lookin' She-Hulk we've had yet.
Past the hands, there are no reused sculpts on this figure, though we'll surely be seeing it again in the future - if nothing else, it's a lock they'll do her in her Fantastic Four uniform before too long. The facial sculpt is outstanding, giving her a big, Byrne-influenced smile. The character's always at her best when she's having fun, so this is the perfect look for the toy to display.
The toy is painted (not even a little bit sculpted) wearing Shulkie's most iconic costume, a purple swimsuit with a white belt, white wristbands, and white stripes at the top of her purple boots. This (or one of its derivatives) is probably the #1 thing people think of when they picture She-Hulk's suit,
and yet she didn't start wearing it until after she'd been a member of the Fantastic Four, something that was pretty far into her superhero career. The colors link her to her cousin without directly dressing her like him, and are way better than the oranges and blues they tended to put her in before. Though if Hasbro isn't afraid to get silly, it'd be kind of fun to get her super-1980s costume, which was basically a tank top, hotpants, and leg warmers, like she was on her way to the jazzercise class when some superheroing needing doing. The toy's hair is molded in black plastic, then given green highlights to accentuate the sculpt and complement her bright skin.
She-Hulk has a barbell head, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, double-hinged elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, a balljointed chest, balljoint hips, swivel thighs, double-hinged knees, swivel shins, and swivel/hinge ankles. Do the shin swivels mean that this body was sculpted before Hasbro started (greedily) cheaping out on those joints, or do they (hopefully) signal that Hasbro's not going to be skipping them anymore? We still like a hinge/ball head better than a barbell, but the size of her hair means the head isn't moving much of anywhere anyway. Short of doing articulated hair, like some Japanese figures get, how could they have dealt with that?
Surprise of surprises, Jen's got an accessory! If you don't want her punching things with her closed fists, you can instead give her
hands that are open to grip the rifle she comes with. And before you ask "why is She-Hulk using a gun," note that we didn't say she was firing it: she's breaking it in half. This is a gun that's been sculpted with a bend in it and the pieces all shattering apart! How fun! It's not quite the SHIELD rifle from that famous panel (it's a much more realistic model), but it's still a top-tier thing to give her.
Even if she doesn't have anything to do with Iron Man and thus doesn't really belong in this Retro series, She-Hulk is a huge figure, with not a single reused mold, and a character-specific accessory that probably doesn't have a lot of re-use potential. This is one that might actually be worth the $25 Hasbro wants you to believe it is, even without a Build-A-Figure piece to help. I wasn't very interested in this figure when she was announced, but I'm really glad I decided to pick her up.
-- 09/09/24
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