In 2019, two years after the movie's release, Hasbro released a Marvel Legends 2-Pack of Spider-Man and MJ from the first Spider-Man movie Homecoming. The set would be a debut for MJ, while Spider-Man was a variant to the previous Homecoming releases as he is wearing his Yellow Midtown Blazer. The set was exclusive to Target stores in the US, but was available internationally via the Fan Channel.
Packaging 3/5
The box for MJ and Peter is a standard Marvel Legends 2-Pack box with the scooped sides and shaped widow. The Legends logo sits on the top rail, while the movie logo sits underneath the figure window. To either side is a red panel for the character name - Spider-Man on the right and Marvel's MJ on the left.
The side art is interesting and very in tune with the theme of the movie. Rather than the usual character profile, we have a series of images as though taken on the trip with a logo for Midtown and a ticket stub for the Washington Memorial interspersed. Sadly these are the same on both sides with the right hand spine seeing all the images mirrored so they look a bit off.
The back of the box moves away from the usual Legends format and strays into that used by the First Ten Years / 80th Anniversary sets with the use of a Movie Poster. To the side of this are another couple of passport photo type shots of Spider-Man and MJ and under this is a short piece of background text.
"Students at the Midtown School of Science and Technology, Peter Parker and MJ experience the powers of Spider-Man first hand when the web-slinger must suit up to take down the Vulture"
Paint & Sculpt 3/5
Out of the box MJ comes with a very stern looking head with hair flowing around both sides. It uses face print technology but is a bit too angry looking to be a great likeness to Zendaya. I don't recall her being overly angry in the movie, and I think this is an attempt to get that look she gives Peter and Ned when she is listening to them in the library.
Thankfully there is a second head included ad this one is a much better and recogniseable MJ wt the hair tied back and a smile on her face.
The costume is very much a re-use of the Netflix Jessica Jones figure with tweaked jacket, arms and boots. You can even swap heads out with Jessica for an alternative MJ.
The trousers and shirt are cast in their base colour and are reasonably accurate to what MJ wears on screen although when she was wearing this jacket in the first half of the movie she wa wearing a white top. The jacket is an individual cast piece cast in light khaki. It is then painted with black panels down the arms and a gold zip. It should really be a lot darker green colour with black panels.
While the outfit is OK and not noticeably from another figure, considering this set is released 2-years after the movie a bit more screen accuracy would have been appreciated for the colours at least.
Accessories 1/5
MJ comes with 4 hands, but only 1 pair with the other three all being right hands - and that is a bit odd to start with. We have a pair of outstretched hands with very long fingers that have been repurposed from the Netflix Claire Temple figure and that frankly look odd and over sized for MJ. The other two hands are both right hands, one a fist and one an open grip - yet MJ comes with nothing to grip. I would have prefered a pair of open grips or fists so I had a choice to get rid of those giant stretched finger hand on the left arm.
While I appreciate MJ has two heads and these multiple hands, it might have been nice to include something for her to hold and carry - perhaps her notebook she carries in most of the Homecoming scenes?
Articulation 3/5
MJ comes in with an articulation count of 16 points. As a female figure she misses out on the double joint elbows and only gets a torso ball joint with no movement in the waist.
Head : ball joint neck with pivot
Body : torso ball joint
Arms : ball joint shoulder, rotating single elbow joint, wrist pivot
Legs : ball joint hips, thigh swivel, double joint knees, ankle rockers
All of MJ's joints work fine and are pretty secure. There isn't a lot of posing I'd want to do with MJ as she doesn't really warrant action poses - and with that odd left and all she can really do is extreme gesturing.
There is some issues with the ankle rockers that do not go far enough forward. This means to balance MJ you have to sort of push her hips out and ten bend her body back in or sort out a leaning back pose or wider stance for balance. This is quite frustrating.
MJ poses nicely with Spider-Man from the same set, and as per the actor's heights in real life, she does stand a bit taller than Peter which is good accuracy.
Summary
MJ, like a number of secondary characters int he Marvel Legends line, could only be realised in a set like this alongside a re-hashed figure and she is heavily repurposed herself from previous figures. The figure suffers from some minor screen inaccuracies in the colour choices, which is a shame seeing as this figure has been developed after the movie release. She also suffers from stability issues thanks to some blockage at the ankle rocker joint that prevents her standing straight.
In terms of overall look she has one wonderful head sculpt, and one less so with the angry head most certainly the one many collectors will send to the spares box. The hand choices ar ebizarre, and the single biggest issue with the figure is that peculiar left hand. With no other options to swap it out for, I find it really distracting no matter what pose you put MJ into.
I score MJ an average 3 out of 5.
About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...
action figures, reviews, review, articulation, marvel legends, hasbro, spider-man, mj, spider-man homecoming