Hasbro: Marvel Legends Emma Frost (Diamond Form)

Diamond girl! You sure do shine! Glad I found you! Glad you’re mine!

Ah, Emma Frost. You have such a strange comics history, and a rollercoaster of a past in action figure form. A lot of has been great, some of it hasn’t, a bit has been weird, but it all has been talked about. Obviously, we will be focusing on her life in plastic here, and frankly, I could go on and on about figures past. Emma has the dubious distinction of having one of the absolute worst Marvel Legends figures, but in recent times, she has had some great ones.

This one fits into that latter category, and it helps that she is in my favorite look for her, from one of my favorite X-Men runs ever: Astonishing X-Men. Oh, we are so close to finishing that core team in ML, but I will get to that later. This Target-exclusive (in the US) Diamond Form version is a companion piece to the standard version released a few years ago, and it does have some new features. Aside from, you know, being cast in clear plastic to replicate her diamond look.

So, if you have the previous AXM figure, you will know what to expect for a lot this. The figure has a great sculpt, and the costume details and likeness (even in clear) are right on. The articulation is limited due to the cape, and the heels make a lot of poses difficult, but those are trade-offs here. I personally don’t need Emma to hit the typical action poses, but if you do, you might start looking into soft goods mods for the cape.

There are two portraits – the iconic AXM look that was included with the previous figure, and a second with a raised eyebrow and hair behind the shoulder. For hands, you get a right fist, a left grip, and two of the ubiquitous ML female splayed hands, too. There is also the Danger Room manual and Mutant Pathogen Research notebook, so feel free to keep it nerdy.

For an alternate form, I really like this figure. It accomplishes the diamond look nicely, and it is package on the slick retro card back. The timing is great, too, because the Colossus and Kitty set is getting ready to ship, so the X-Men are going to taking over your shelves, just like they should be. Because they are awesome.