When I was little, before I had money and entered a comic book store, I didn’t have a lot of comics, so I took the ones that I read hundreds of times. One of the issues is Secret Wars #3, the debut of Titania, so Titania has been on my wanted list for a while. The fact that she’s featured on a retro card that pays homage to one of my favorite childhood toy lines is just the icing on the cake.
This card matches my vague childhood memories of the old Secret Wars characters, which is good enough for me, so I don’t really know how close it actually is, and honestly, it’s not something I want to spend my time on things to do. It was fun to see that old sign again, but that didn’t stop me from opening it as soon as possible.
Titania comes with two hands and a shield that features a raster photo of Titania in the style of an old toy and a 40th anniversary insert. The hands are pretty standard Legends, with fists and loose grips, and they look perfect for the character.
The Lensed Shield gets nostalgia pumping through my veins, so I really like this thing, but can also understand why younger people wouldn’t use it because it doesn’t make sense in the world of Marvel Legends. It has a clip that can be switched to a grip, like many of the old Captain America shields from Legends.
Titania is very well sculpted, with a solid build and a suitably surly expression. I think the hair could be a little bigger, but it works. The peaks may be sharper, but that’s to be expected. Titania’s costume varies from issue to issue, she was wearing gloves when she first appeared, and when she wasn’t wearing the gloves the spikes went all the way to the back of her hands, so I felt like that was missing.
Another weird thing is that they sculpted her low-cut top but decided to paint a light purple undershirt to cover her up a bit. I thought this might be a version of the costume I haven’t seen, but it’s weird and I can’t help but think that at some point late in development they thought the design might be too sexy for a toy rack and decided to hedge it Their bet is to prevent backlash. I don’t know if that makes sense though. I think someone who was upset by Titania’s cleavage might also be upset by this edited version. I would certainly prefer a more accurate look, so for whatever reason it’s disappointing. I was wondering if I could remove it with acetone, but I’m not sure it would bother me enough to customize it.
The articulation is legendary standard and moves well for the most part, but the hair is large and stiff and the plastic hinders head movement so she can’t really look up. She looked like she was missing a thigh swivel, but it was well hidden in the high-boot cut.
The paint is solid and in keeping with the typical Marvel Legends aesthetic, with many of the characters cast in proper plastic. The cleats have a nice metallic paint finish, although some of mine had slight spillage onto the body.
Overall, I’m very happy with this character, even with the odd costume edit. Great character in the face, powerful physique, and the overall look is very effective even with the unforced costume errors.
