Action Figure Review: Lady Deathstrike from Marvel Legends Series: Super Villains by Hasbro

 

   I'm still slowly making my way through the Super Villains series of Marvel Legends figures and now we've finally made it to Lady Deathstrike! Lady Deathstrike was one of the first figures from this series that I knew I wanted as I'm a big fan of the 1980s and early 1990s X-Men. Yeah, she first appeared in Daredevil, but over the years Lady Deathstrike (Yuriko Oyama) has been mostly known as an X-Men villains. Primarily, she's got it in for Wolverine. The animated series from the early 1990s even conflated her character with Mariko Yashida, further strengthening her ties to Logan. Anyways, this is Lady Deathstrike's second costume and her most well known as it represents her after she was turned into a cyborg by Mojo's Body Shop. What's her most recognizable feature? Her long, adamantium nails. She can scratch through almost anything! There hasn't been a Lady Deathstrike Legends figure since Toy Biz so she was definitely due for a remake. Let's take a look at this lethal lass after the break...

The Facts:

Height: 5 7/8ths inches

Articulation: Swivel/ hinge ankles, double hinged knees, swivel thighs, ball jointed hips, balljointed waist, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, swivel/hinge elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, hinged neck, and a balljointed head.

Accessories: Torso of the Xemnu build-a-figure.

Non-Scalper Price: $20 dollars

The Positives:

* As far as I can tell Lady Deathstrike is a completely new figure. She has a very unqiue look with lots of sculpting that seems like it doesn't have a lot of reuse potential so Hasbro really went all out on her. Her massive shoulder pads are a separate piece over her torso and what can be seen of her cleavage shows off some of the cybernetic details on her body. Her outfit is really odd but since I've been familiar with it for so long it's definitely very memorable. Who else dressed like this? Considering Yuriko Oyama is Japanese I'm guessing that the intention is that her outfit is styled after Japanese fashion. It looks that way although I couldn't pinpoint the exact influences upon it.

 

* Her face is fantastic. This is a huge improvement over the Toy Biz figure which was just incredibly odd looking. She's quite stern looking though with lovely features and nice work on her...hair? It looks accurate but I don't know if it's hair or part of her hat. The way it's sculpted to look like it's flowing is quite nice, though.

 

* Lady Deathstrike's clawed hands look fantastic and I love the grotesque look of her fingers. The cybernetic details covering her forearms and poking out of her sleeves are quite sharp, too. Toy Biz's figure had fully cybernetic arms but Hasbro's is a bit more subdued.

 

* Lady Deathstrike's articulation isn't much different than most other female Marvel Legends figures. Overall she's durable, poseable, and just fun to mess around with. Most joints have a great range of motion and the only problem I've noticed is her elbows, but I'll get to those in a minute.

* Six of the seven figures in this series come with parts for the Xemnu build-a-figure (Dr. Doom is the figure without a piece) and Lady Deathstrike comes with the torso. After realizing I really wanted four of the figures in the set and was interested in Xemnu I decided to pick up everyone except Doom and complete him. If you're buying them all the BAF is a nice extra incentive. Otherwise, you can sell it and probably make a good percentage of your money back or trade it for something you need.

The Negatives:

* Lady Deathstrike has single swivel/hinged elbows and they really seem a but flimsy. They're the newer styled hinged elbows and they tend to require some force to move them which seems like it puts too much pressure on the joint. Be careful!

 

* There's some weird stuff on the back of my figure. It's kind of bubbly looking and I'm not sure if it's a plastic defect or some errant glue or something. Weird.

   I really like this figure but it feels kind of underdone. The weird elbows and the QC issue definitely mar the figure a bit but there's also the issue of the figure just feeling a bit lacking. I'm guessing that since she comes with the biggest piece of Xemnu Hasbro decided to opt for some extras like alternate hands (which would have been super cool on Lady Deathstrike) but their absence is felt strongly here. She's a Good figure and a well deserved update but she might be the weakest figure in the series which is a shame. Not bad but just not as cool of a figure as Lady Deathstrike deserves.

 

This is the first figure of Lady Deathstrike I've reviewed on the site. For more Marvel Legends Series figures check out the following:

 

Marvel Legends Series by Hasbro (2016)
Enchantress (Mystic Rivals)

Firestar

M.O.D.O.K. 
Nico Minoru (Mystic Rivals) 
The Punisher

Marvel Legends Series: Avengers by Hasbro
Taskmaster

Marvel Legends Series: Black Panther by Hasbro (2017)
Black Panther 

Marvel Legends Series: Black Widow by Hasbro (2020)
Black Widow: Deadly Origin
 
Marvel Legends Series: Captain America by Hasbro (2016)
Black Panther
Demolition Man (Mercenaries of Mayhem)
Nick Fury 
Nuke 

Marvel Legends Series: Captain Marvel by Hasbro (2019)
Captain Marvel

Marvel Legends Series: Deadpool by Hasbro (2018)
Cable
Deadpool (Boxers)
Deadpool (X-Force)
Deathlok
Domino
Lady Deadpool 
X-23 (X-Force)

 

Marvel Legends Series: The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021)

Baron Zemo

Marvel Legends Series: Fantastic Four (2017)
Mr. Fantastic
Thing  

 

Marvel Legends Series: Gamerverse

Civil Warrior

Marvel Legends Series: Guardians of the Galaxy by Hasbro (2017)
Angela
Groot Evolution

Marvel Legends Series: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 by Hasbro (2017)
Drax
Gamora (Daughters of Thanos)
Nebula (Daughters of Thanos)
Rocket Raccoon & Groot
Star-Lord 
Yondu 

 

Marvel Legends Series: The Infinity Gauntlet by Hasbro (2021)

Thanos

 

Marvel Legends Series: Iron Man by Hasbro 

Tony Stark (A.I.)

Marvel Legends Series: The Punisher by Hasbro (2019)
The Punisher 
Punisher: War Machine

Marvel Legends Series: Silver Surfer by Hasbro (2018)
Silver Surfer

Marvel Legends Series: Super Villains by Hasbro (2021)

A.I.M. Scientist Supreme

Arcade

Dormammu

The Hood

Marvel Legends Series: The Unbelievable Gwenpool by Hasbro (2018)
Gwenpool

Marvel Legends Series: Typhoid Mary by Hasbro (2018)
Typhoid Mary

Marvel Legends Series: Venom by Hasbro (2018)
Carnage  

 

Marvel Legends Series: WandaVision by Hasbro (2021)

Scarlet Witch

Marvel Legends Series: X-Men by Hasbro (2016)
Cable
Havok
Iceman
Juggernaut
Kitty Pryde
Magik

Marvel Girl  

Omega Sentinel
Phoenix 
Rogue 
Wolverine