It’s a real testament to the strength of the 2018 X-Men Legends series that a new 6” Psylocke figure can be mass-released for the first time EVER by Hasbro, and rather than being the headliner of the wave, she’s just one of several most-wanted figures from the Apocalypse Series. After being absent from retail lineups for a decade (since her Toybiz figure), a new Marvel Legends Psylocke Figure is finally available! Is this the definitive Jim Lee Betsy Braddock?

With Psylocke being one of the X-Men females most commonly merchandised by collectibles manufacturers, it’s a bit of a surprise that Hasbro has never released a new 6” Psylocke action figure in retail stores (though there was a SDCC Exclusive X-Force Psylocke released a couple years ago).

But at long last, Betsy Braddock is getting the mass release treatment once again! And I’m happy to say that while she’s not flawless, she did turn out to be quite nice…

The first thing that pops out at me when looking at this Psylocke action  figure is how very much I like the paint deco on her. The sparkly, metallic dark blue chosen for her costume looks absolutely awesome, and blows away the blue that Toybiz used so many years back. It looks terrific and complements Betsy’s hair and sash marvelously.

I also really like the dark purple picked for the hair. I had the black haired variant and dumped it immediately for this version with no regrets.

The dark red sash ties the all the colors together, although the fact that it flops around uncontrollably and can’t be forced into place is driving me bonkers. I hate add-on costume pieces that won’t stay in place, and this is a huge offender.

While this Psylocke has a face that’s clearly Asian, I think the facial likeness is one of the weakest aspects of this figure. It just doesn’t look like Betsy Braddock to me. It’s passable, but far from a spitting image resemblance.

I also don’t think the body mold for this figure is ideal: Psylocke should be a muscular fighter capable of deadly ninja strikes–not some skinny supermodel waif. She also doesn’t get alternate karate chop hands, which further cuts back on what she can do unarmed. Luckily, she’s not unarmed…

Where this ML Psylocke figure outshines every other figure in the wave is the accessories that she’s packed with. She comes with five total accessories: an Apocalypse Build-A-Figure leg, a psychic katana, psychic effects that can wrap around the sword, a psychic blade and a psychic telepathic effects piece.

All of these accessories add a lot to this figure and massively increase the number of dynamic and fun ways to display her. I didn’t think I’d care for the “butterfly” effect piece that clips onto Psylocke’s head, but it actually add a lot of visual appeal.

Likewise, I thought the spiraling energy effect for the katana might be a bit much, but I actually dig this effects piece a lot just wrapped around Betsy’s hand as pure psychic energy. Very cool and different from anything we’ve had before!

The psyblade and psi-katana both fit firmly on/into Psylocke’s hands, giving her the opportunity to look lethal in a variety of ways.

All these accessories do their job of enhancing the base figure exceptionally—I wouldn’t enjoy this toy close to as much without all the extras.

We’ve all come to expect superb articulation from Marvel Legends figures, and the new Psylocke Legends figure has plenty of it. The degree to her elbow hinge can bend to and also how high her hips allow her to kick are particular highlights.

The full articulation scheme includes:

• Ball-Hinge Head/Shoulders/Elbows
• Swivel-Hinge Wrists
• Swivel Thighs
• Ball-Jointed Hips and Upper Torso
• Double-Hinge Knees
• Hinged Ankles with Rockers

I would absolutely like to see double-jointed elbows, swivel biceps and even butterfly shoulders for female figures someday, but the improved elbows do make this Psylocke’s arm posing possibilities decent enough.

Overall: I think this new ML Psylocke figure is solid, but fails to reach perfection in several areas. She looks too frail to me for a powerful martial artist, and the lack of karate chop hands limits her non weapon-wielding poses. The facial likeness to Betsy Braddock also doesn’t hit the mark for me, and the floppy sash drives me insane.

All that said, Hasbro has done some nice work with this figure overall. She has a level of super-articulation befitting of a ninja, great paint choice colors and several new and fun accessories. If this is the only Psylocke we get for a while it’s “good”, but I think Hasbro could still improve upon this design for Crimson Dawn or X-Force versions.

GRADE: B

The post REVIEW: X-Men Marvel Legends Psylocke Figure Apocalypse Series appeared first on Marvel Toy News.