The paintwork is fairly straight-forward since she’s mostly cast in dark blue. The paint on the sculpted details is well done as the paint on the face. The arm details are relegated to paint only. They do stand out a tad as a result, but it could just be that they draw attention to the already weak forearms.
Articulation is also pretty well the same as we’re used to for the line. Ball-joints at the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, mid-torso, hips, & inverted ankles; swivels at the biceps & thighs, double-hinge knees. Everything things works pretty well, but since we’re using older buck parts there are a few issues. The neck is limited since it’s one-piece instead of a true ball-joint, but the real issue is the hips. These use the old style where the peg goes up into the torso instead of laterally into the hips. This type of joint just doesn’t work that well as it causes a lot more fiddling to get deep bends at the hips. I’d be happy if Hasbro would stop using it.
Valkyrie includes one accessory, her sword Dragonfang. While I’m not a fan of the costume and there are a little bits like the hairline or the hips pegs that bother me, it’s really the sword that doesn’t quite work. It’s because it’s the same one that came with her first figure – the one that’s nearly an inch shorter. It’s not a bad sculpt, but it’s sized for the original and it just doesn’t look big enough for this Valkyrie. The articulation allows for two-handed poses, but both her hands won’t fit on the hilt. I see it as a cost saving measure, they already had Dragonfang done, but it would’ve been nice to see it upscaled.
Overall, I think this one is probably a keeper. My only real disappointment is that we didn’t get a bigger, better Dragonfang. The things I don’t like visually are probably more because I don’t like this iteration of the costume. I know pants are in, but Valkyrie did appear in Secret Avengers in more classic-inspired looks based on the artist and I would’ve like to see that. The same goes for the cape. I miss that too. But neither of that is on the figure and I do like this one better than the previous one even if it’s more on model than this one.
I haven’t even seen this wave hit yet. Really Antman just hit, stillbworking on Odin, HobbyUrich, and just startedbthanks.(that wave came and went here) I’ve been christmas shopping early thanks to Combner wars as wantvto get Superion and Menasor completed for a Transfan, MarvelFan and TMNT fan. Can see the pickle I’m in there.
On to Val, know only from the Hulk vs. and a few random books I have. I dig the earlier look and woud’ve dug that but think FemThor may be part of this though yet, wonder reaction if was Ultimate Valkyrie (now theres a barely costume look if ever) She looks good and do like the height on Asgards being towers high over norm though feelbHulk should still dwarf em. When see know will buy if got the $$$$$ (hoping not at Target as weird oddball prices have turned me away from them. 20.59 a legend thats not Spidey, hogwash)
Still haven’t seen her in the wild yet, but Valkyrie may be the only character I get out of this line. You’re right that Dragonfang doesn’t look quite right, but I’ve got plenty of extra swords for her to use.
I like the idea of a big brawler lady, but her arms look too short, almost like chubby baby arms. It may be my eyes playing tricks, but it looks like the short Valkyrie has arms at least as long as tall Valkyrie.
You’re right. They just used normal height arms and hoped it would work out haha
The old one Valkyrie is the best!
I’ve never seen the previous version. When and in what wave was this released?
She was in a TRU exclusive two-pack with the Ed McGuinness Hulk, came out in 2010.
The head is an improvement, but Valkyrie’s modern costume is just so bland.
The blade on Dragonfang should also be gold since the whole sword is carved from a dragon’s fang.
I don’t understand why Thundra & Valkyrie and Dr. Strange & Vision are being treated like variant swaps on the packaging (shared names & extra vague bios) even though you need all of them for the Hulkbuster Veronica BAF.
The only reason I can think of is that each pair can then share one packaging layout. Their graphic design company must charge a fortune for each layout they do lol
@clark Thanks for the info! Next to her white outfit with blue trim, I like that version much more than the one just released.
This is actually not Valkyrie’s most recent costume. After Secret Avengers, she was a member of the Fearless Defenders, and got a Mark Brooks redesign. It has a little more visual flair than the Secret Avengers suit, and blends better with the more modern (Coipel and beyond) Asgardians than the Kirby-era guys.
Here’s a link to a pic of the most recent Valkyrie (I think it’s still the newest, anyway. Once the crossovers, especially Secret Wars, starting running rampant, I stopped reading a lot of Marvel books):
http://24.media.tumblr.com/686a860e6d6a2d2dc0954cbca9ff3dcd/tumblr_mlxvgdERVW1qzvqf7o1_500.jpg
Her hair throws off what would otherwise be a great figure. not sure if it’s supposed to be 80s Big Hair or what (the MIA Dani Moonstar’s hair mold?), but for such a minimally detailed and dark costume, the big blonde hair stands out more.
If any of these needed a running change/variant, it would be Val and SIF!
then again, that SCC poll was pretty Asgardian heavy…could SIF already be in the works for next year?
y’know, I was looking at this figure today and my finger found a, for lack of better term, “crease line” across her buttocks. I can only imagine it was sculpted with that for another figure, but it wasn’t Thundra, who I checked it for.
hair still bugs me. too tall in back. not sure if it’s sitting wrong, but not according to the pics I’ve seen of her.
Personally I actually like the Secret Avengers outfit, though I was a bit iffy about the new Valkyrie figure at first, there were a couple things I didn’t like, the skinny wrists paired with the muscular biceps makes the arms look out of whack, and I didn’t really like the loose strands of hair on the right side, though I really have no issue with the rest of the hair sculpt. Having the wrist and arm bands just painted on strikes me as lazy and a cost cutting measure, but I addressed that by trimming and painting up the wrist bands from the Rocket Raccoon Jean Grey figure and using pieces of heat shrink tubing over the upper arm bands, definitely makes a world of difference. The one other thing that bothered me is how plain they made her, since in the comics a lot of the time this costume is depicted with additional belts and straps to break up the monotony of a mostly all black leotard. So again I added some bits and pieces (the belt from the Marvel Universe Infinite Valkyrie fits snugly around the thigh) and she’s looking quite a bit better with just some simple additions. Again, must have been a cost cutting move on Hasbro’s part since they could have easily spruced her up a bit likely with pieces they already have on hand. I’m still happy getting a decent Legends (or slightly bigger) scale Valkyrie, though kind of wondering why it’s taking so long to get a comic Sif.