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In a world where we have Hasbro X-Men Legends figures of Pretty Boy, Vertigo and Skullbuster, it’s really quite astonishing that one the greatest female X-villains of all time has never had a toy… until now. After fans’ hopes were dashed by the failed Ghost Rider Haslab, Cyclops’ first wife is finally here: the X-Men 97 Wave 2 Marvel Legends Goblin Queen Madelyne Pryor figure is now starting to arrive!
After being taken off the drawing board (so to speak) in the legendary 1989 X-Men Inferno crossover event, Madelyne Pryor spent decades making only occasional comic book appearances. But she returned to the spotlight in a big way during the current Krakoan era of X-Men comic books, and now the Goblin Queen looks primed to become a household name in the X-Men ‘97 cartoon series!
As such, this was the perfect moment for Hasbro to finally bring a 6” Madelyne Pryor figure to market—and the big H is not letting the opportunity pass them by this time. While she didn’t make the cut for the all-star wave 1, Goblin Queen is the villainous headliner of wave 2 (sorry, X-Cutioner—your figure is still awesome, though)!
As with the rest of the X-Men 97 Legends, Goblin Queen comes on a large blister card with unique character art to the left of the bubble. I think it would have been neat if the villains came on purple cardbacks like the olden days of Toybiz, but the packaging looks nice enough and you can clearly see the toy and accessories.
The cardback doesn’t give a character bio (probably because that would be spoilers at this point), but does show off the other figures in the assortment. How fitting is it that Madelyne is in the set with Scott and Jean!
I’ve heard you can cut these figures out of the packaging without destroying it, but I don’t feel like putting in that kind of effort, so it’s off to the recycling bin with this cardboard and plastic bubble.
Madelyne comes with 5 accessories: a reused baby figure (with a fresh paint job), two translucent green magic effects and an alternate pair of swap-out fists. We don’t know how close to 616 continuity this iteration of Maddie will be, but I think we can safely assume that baby will still be rather significant to her. I was surprised I could get Madelyne to stand up holding the baby, which thankfully has enough paint deco on it to not look like an unpainted blob of plastic.
The magic effects look close enough to the Ben Reilly Chasm figure’s to keep me happy, and stay fixed in place well on Goblin Queen’s forearms. I haven’t felt the need to have her throwing any haymakers yet, though, so I haven’t bothered to switch in the fist hands.
The costume for the Goblin Queen is, unsurprisingly for a mass market toy, pretty conservative. Those hoping for a scantily-clad 80s Inferno Pryor are out of luck (likely forever). The outfit here is more reminiscent of school teacher White Queen, and that’s totally fine by me—I’m never comfortable having largely unclothed women dolls lying around in my house.
Goblin Queen’s cape is -really- nice, with a fully smooth black back and a red, textured interior thsts been nicely sculpted. The cape is permanently affixed, so it’s not constantly falling off or getting in the way. The crimson interior complements Maddie’s fiery bright red hair and the cartoony red brooch wonderfully. Along with the painted black fingernails, the cape has some of my favorite details on the whole figure.
As I greatly prefer, Marvel Legends Madelyne Pryor has a fully pin-less articulation scheme. It cannot be overstated how much better a figure looks aesthetically without a bunch of ugly (and sometimes mismatched) colored pins in it.
The articulation set includes:
—Ball-Hinged Head and Shoulders
—Ball-Jointed Hips and Upper Torso
—Swivel Biceps and Thighs
—Double-Hinged Elbows and Knees (Pin-less)
—Swivel-Hinge Wrists
—Hinged Boots with Rockers
The one shortcoming many will find with this figure is the instability in poses due to the high heeled boots. It can be truly difficult and annoying trying to balance Madelyne on the high heels. Even so, with some patience I was still able to get her standing stably in some action poses and even holding the baby (Nathan?), so it can be done.
Overall: This Marvel Legends Madelyne Pryor figure is exceptionally overdue—but it’s also exceptional. The heels making her a challenge to pose stably without a figure stand and perhaps the animated face are the only real drawbacks to what is an otherwise outstanding action figure. The cape, baby, and spell effects are all excellent accessories, and Maddie’s pin-less articulation scheme keeps her looking gorgeous in a panoply of poses. If you’re a fan of the character, make certain to snap up the X-Men 97 Legends Goblin Queen while she’s available for retail price—this gonna be an expensive figure on the aftermarket once she’s sold out.