Review of Madame Masque (Hydra variant), Arnim Zola
Marvel Legends action figures

Introduction

It's certainly taken awhile for me to come up with the last of the most recent Marvel Legends, but she's finally in my grasp - tonight I'm looking at the Madame and the Zola, the final two I need to review. There are seven figures in the wave plus the BAF, plus several variants.

You only need six figures out of the seven to put Zola together - Captain America, Fantomex, Wrecking Ball, Dark Wolverine, Drax, and Madame Masque.

The seventh figure is Spider-Man, and I covered his alternate version (black and white) in a previous review.  There's also the 'standard' release, called the Big Time Spider-Man. 

Wrecking Ball also has a variant of sorts, since it's really a team, not a single character. There's both Piledriver and Thunderball out there.

If that's not enough, there's two versions of the 'Madame' as well - Hydra (the variant) and Masque.

Finally, there's a fourth variant floating round out there - masked Dark Wolverine!

That's four variants for the wave, something that DCUC has tended away from in more recent series. Clearly, Hasbro doesn't feel the same way.

These are popping up online of course, but you can also find them at stores like Toys R Us and Meijers. Be prepared for some potential sticker shock though - they cost me $20 each at my local TRU.

EDIT: A helpful reader that knows far more about Mr. Zola than I pointed out that the figure in this review is actually ANOTHER variant - the regular Zola torso comes with the Zola face in the center, while this variant has Red Skull. It's actually a distinctly different character - and you thought this wave already had too many variants? I have to say this is the first time I remember a variant of a BAF.

Packaging - ***1/2
Once again, it's the same two features of these packages that give them the extra boost. There's the somewhat collector friendly nature (slit the tape on the tabs in back, cut the bottom of the bubble, and you can slip the figure out and put it back without further damage), and the character personalization on the card backs.

This time around, that personalization goes even further - the top of the card back shows both the regular Madame Masque figure (in the white) and the Hydra variant (green costume). That's a very nice touch for the collector wondering about variants.

Sculpting - Zola ***; Madame **1/2
Zola is an unusual character. If you're a big Hydra fan, you'll probably know more about him than I do - don't worry, I'm not envious.

He reminds me of a big evil Teletubby, which means I can't really take him all that seriously. It's a good sculpt, but goofy in a bad way.

He's also a tiny BAF. At just 6 1/2" tall, he's even on the small side for a regular Marvel Legends figure.

It's not the body that's so small though - it's that itty bitty head that makes him short.  A normal sized noggin' and he'd be taller than Madame at least.

She's the usual gangly female, but with smaller breasts this time around. The face sculpt is deceiving - at first, I thought she was somewhat pretty. On closer inspection, I realized it was one of those situations where you aren't quite sure if she's a dude or not. Part of this issue is due to the paint work, and she'll get a hit for that in the next category, but it's also partly due to the horsey face sculpt.

A positive is the soft rubber hair. It allows for the neck to work much better than you'd expect with such long hair, but the strands are thick with little definition.

Paint - Zola ***1/2; Madame **1/2
The paint work on Zola is very good, with sharp lines and very, very little slop. I love the Red Skull face on the chest, and who wouldn't love a funky emblem on their crotch?

Sadly, Madame isn't as good. I think that the masculine appearance of the sculpt could have been saved with a better paint job, but the sharply defined eyebrows look painted on (duh), and the lips are too dark and thick. Even the sleepy eyes look odd and out of place.

Articulation - ***1/2
Both figures have most of the usual Marvel Legends articulation for their respective sexes.

Madame's ball jointed neck works better than usual for a long haired lady, thanks to the soft rubber hair.

The rest of her joints are tight, but a bit spindly. I've never been a fan of these ball hips on the ladies, since they don't really allow for any attractive stances.

She stands fine on her own though, and the joints are all solid. She can also hold the rifle properly in both hands, something not always possible.

There are a couple slightly different joints on Zola, like the obviously missing ab-crunch. However, the majority of the joints work great and again are very sturdy.

Accessories - ***
The Madame comes with two weapons - a handgun that fits in both her hands AND in a hip holster just great, and an automatic rifle complete with scope. Both guns can be held in her hands easily in several natural poses, and the paint and sculpt are quite good.

Of course, she also comes with a piece of Zola, the large torso.

It's rare for a BAF to get an accessory of his own - they're accessories themselves - but Zola gets his funky remote control doohicky.

Fun Factor - ***
The articulation and accessories make up for the lack of fame for either of these figures. Neither would be a central character for modern kids, but both can be good backup villains.

Value - **
I paid about $17 for this figure, and that's still at least $2 - $3 more than she should be.

Things to Watch Out For -
When connecting the legs on Zola, be careful not to twist them at the knees. The fit is VERY tight, and the knee discs are fairly soft, so it would be easy to over twist the lower leg when assembling the figure.

Overall - Zola ***; Madam **1/2
Zola is okay, as BAF's go. The general sculpt and paint are good, although he's damn tiny as a Build A Figure. If you're a big Hydra fan, I suppose he'll be a decent add, and since you end up with him if you buy the whole wave, he's sort of a freebie. If you don't plan on buying all the figures though, I don't think he's good enough to drive you to do so.

Madame Masque (even this Hydra version) is a bit too ugly. Add in the weak face paint and standard skinny female body, and you have my least favorite figure of the wave.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpting -  Zola ***; Madame **1/2
Paint - Zola ***1/2; Madame **1/2
Articulation - ***1/2
Accessories - ***
Fun Factor - ***
Value - **
Overall - Zola ***; Madame **1/2

Where to Buy 
Your first best is the local Toys R Us, Target or Meijers store, where these run $16 - $20, depending on the retailer. I found them at Toys R Us myself, and they were a whopping $20 each. Online options include:

Related Links -
Other Marvel Legends reviews include:

- not too long ago, I covered part 1 and part 2 of this wave.

- I recently covered the Terrax BAF wave, in part 1 and part 2.

- prior to that, the last series I remember reviewing was the Red Hulk set, in part 1 and part 2.

- Then there was the last wave of 'icons', the larger scale Legends.

- before that, there was the Foom/Hulk wave, broken into one review here and another here.

- I never did look at the third wave of Hasbro ML's, but I did cover wave 2 and series 1, first at MROTW and then at QSE.

- you’ll want to check out my review of the other four figures.

- Hasbro released several of the 12″ Marvel Legends Icons, including Punisher and Doom, and my favorite, Thor.

And if you still pine for the days Toybiz -

- in the 12″ Icons line, there’s Spider-man and Beast, Wolverine and Venom.

- The Face Offs series 1 (with Hulk/Leader in one review and the other two sets in another) and series 2 both had guest reviews.

- there’s the guest review of the Fearsome Foes of Spider-man boxed set, Urban Legends box set, X-men Legends boxed set, and the Fantastic Four boxed set, along with my review of the Monsters boxed set.

- The previous Sentinel BAF was guest reviewed.

- prior to that there was Wal-mart series, series 13, series 12, series 9 (including Galactus), series 8 Captain Marvel and Doc Ock, series 7 Vision, series 6 Juggernaut, Wolverine and Deadpool, series 5 Blade, Nick Fury, Sabertooth and Colossus, along with series 5 Red Skull, Silver Surfer and Mr. Fantastic, series 4 Goliath, Punisher, Beast, Gambit, and Elektra, series 3 Daredevil and then the rest of the series, series 2 Thing and Namor, and finally, from three and a half years ago, the series 1 review.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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