Hey everybody, thanks for checking out another Dan's ToyBox retro review. I know that this figure has been out for quite some time, and I recently decided to pull the trigger. I missed out on the Legends Psylocke a number of years ago and finally talked myself into getting the Medicom Mafex version.
Though I've read many stories including Psylocke, I really don't know a whole lot about her character, other than the basics. So, I figured I'd hit up Wiki for some help.
"Created by writer Chris Claremont, Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock first appeared in Captain Britain #8 (Dec. 1976), with Captain Britain #10 (Dec. 1976) as her first cover appearance, published by the Marvel Comics' British imprint Marvel UK. In New Mutants Annual #2 (1986), Claremont integrated Betsy Braddock into the X-Men franchise. After being rescued by the New Mutants and taking up residence at their mutant-training academy, Braddock is formally invited to join the X-Men and officially adopts the codename Psylocke, becoming an enduring fixture of the team over the next three decades.
In a 1989 story, an amnesiac Betsy is kidnapped by The Hand, who brainwash her and physically alter her to take on an East Asian appearance. Under the name Lady Mandarin, she briefly becomes the Hand’s supreme assassin. While her memories return, she retains her new appearance and skills, including the ability to manifest the focused totality of her telepathic power in the form of a “psychic knife.” A 1993 story by Fabian Nicieza would retroactively establish that Braddock’s changed appearance was the product of a body swap between Braddock and the assassin Kwannon."
Courtesy Wikipedia
Let's take a look at Medicom Mafex #141 Psylocke!
Accessories: 9/10
As per the norm, Medicom Mafex packs a lot of great accessories with Psylocke. There are a few questions I have but overall, I'm pleased with everything she comes with. Out of the gate, there are two head sculpts, one with straight hair and a neutral expression, one with flowing hair and gritted teeth. Psylocke comes with five pairs of hands: one pair of fists, one pair of weapon holding hands, one pair of relaxed hands, one pair of open palmed hands, and on pair of psionic power projecting hands. The last pair of hands have pegs in the palms to port onto two of her psychic power effects. I'm also happy to share that the hands are all on the small pegs, which helps to keep the wrist holes from shrinking. In addition to those two round effects, she has a pair of psychic punch effects, and a pair of her psychic knife effects. What I particularly enjoy is that the blade and punch effects are designed to plug onto her wrists with hands inside of them. Granted, the hands aren't removeable, but if you look inside, you'll see the flesh toned base and the blue piece of cloth on the back of her hand. I found this to be exceptional attention to detail. Mafex could have taken the easy way and just drilled the port hole right into the effect pieces. Adding hands inside them gives a more realistic look to her power manifestation. Psylocke comes with a plain belt/sash, and an alternate with two scabbards. She has a pair of Katana swords, and a pair of katana scabbards, with detachable sword handles. These handles can also be plugged into the scabbards on her alternate sash/belt. My question though has always been... why not just make the swords fit in the scabbards? The smaller hilts and handles are easy to lose, in spite of fitting rather snugly in the scabbards. Extra plastic means higher price? Maybe? I think Mafex would see even more sales if they ever saved on all the plastic and were able to lower their price. Either way, they are a nice pair of pieces for the character. Lastly, Psylocke comes with the traditional Mafex flight stand.
Appearance: 9/10
Mafex did an exceptional job putting this figure together. Psylocke has always been a very exotic looking character and the figure bears an amazing likeness. That being said, the paint apps on her head sculpts look incredible and the attention to detail for the small straps that fit around her finger for her sleeve pieces are done very well. Both of the head sculpts have a very nice black wash in the hair, which helps give it depth and actually makes the purple stand out even better. Unfortunately, I did have some poor applications on the bands around her right leg. There appears to be some bleed onto the flesh tone, which is disappointing. Granted it is very small but still, now that I know it's there... my eyes travel to it whenever I'm posing her. That's really my only issue with the appearance though. Everything else looks incredible. The detail on her sword handles is very small, and painstakingly applied. I used a magnifying lens to look at those and was impressed with the amount of detail on them, both on the swords and on the smaller scabbard handles. As far as aesthetics are concerned, Psylocke is a very well-done figure in terms of character accuracy. When you start posing her though, there are some gappy areas that can look odd, so care should be taken to conceal those areas if you are using this figure for toy photography. The psychic power effects are a translucent pink, but the blades and punches have areas of white on them at the core of the power manifestation.
Articulation: 8/10
If you've been reading Dan's ToyBox for any period of time, you'll know that Mafex is one of, if not, my favorite manufacturer. I'm impressed with their engineering and have been very lucky to not have any figures with major QC issues. Unfortunately, while Psylocke's articulation is solid, I do have some gripes to share. Her head is on the typical bent ball peg, which allows for (normally) very solid range of motion. Unfortunately, her hair sculpts tend to restrict some of the movement. She can look down very well, but looking up and side to side head turning is limited because of the hair. Her shoulder butterflies are decent, but the right one on mine sticks pretty badly. I can generally get Mafex arms to a T pose or better, but Psylocke's arms will raise to just below the T. I tried to push them a bit higher but am concerned about damaging the joint. The arms will rotate 360 though. There is a bicep swivel which works fine, but the elbows will not bend any deeper than 90 degrees, which is surprising to me. All of the wrists swivel and hinge with ease. Her upper torso joint works very nicely, allowing for good forward crunch, decent back bend (hindered by her hair) and both rotation and side to side tilt. She also has a waist joint which increases the crunch range, her back bend depth, side tilt, and rotation. Plus, to change the belts, you'll pop her waist joint off the peg, swap the belts, and pop it back on. Her legs are a bit awkward. They will split rather nicely but there doesn't seem to be a true drop down at the hip. She can kick forward very well, but when doing so, the inner joint workings become visible, which is also a problem when you use the waist crunch at its biggest range. Her knees have excellent range and can bend in very well. The ankles, again generally a solid staple of Mafex engineering, are a bit wonky on mine. I can get them to rotate but hinging and pivot is somewhat limited as the foot actually seems to not be lined up properly on the peg. I've fooled around with them and finally seem to have them in the right place, but still aren't getting as much range as I'm used to with Mafex. Her toe pivot works fine and is sturdy enough to not flex on you when you're posing her.
Affordability: 8/10
I snagged my Medicom Mafex #141 Psylocke at BBTS for $89.99. I was surprised to see her at a lower price than the other Marvel Mafex figures and wasn't about to complain. Typically, Mafex through BBTS can be $99 and up, so anytime you can find one under that price, is a bargain. I know that I could pay less if I ordered from overseas shops, but then the shipping would be monumental. I'd rather pay more to support domestic companies, to be frank with you.
Overall, in spite of a few complaints, I really like this figure. she looks good posed with my X-Men '97 Marvel Legends, actually fitting in very well with them. Adding another great character to your X-Men shelf is never a bad idea and you can still get Psylocke online. With all of that in mind, I'm happy to give the Medicom Mafex #141 Psylocke Action Figure a stout:
8.5 out of 10 ToyBoxes
She's an outstanding figure that was put together quite well and really makes the X-Men display pop! If you enjoyed this retro review, drop a like. Subscribe to receive new articles via email when we post them and as always... until next time... GEEK OUT!!!