Ms.Marvel. Now this figure, or pair of figures was a real challenge. Sure, the paintjob that you see here really isn’t anything special, but getting it complete was a real challenge to me for multiple reasons. As so often happens, I see a nicely painted version of a figure over on Argentbadger’s blog and decide to do my own, thinking I can get them done quickly. I apparently started this pair of figures in September 2023 and only just got them finished in February.
The problems were that the figures just …aren’t very good. I’d also seen an action figure of Ms.Marvel where her costume was made of metallic fabric, and it looked pretty good, so I decided to go with that. Then, my “Contrast over pre-shaded metallic base” didn’t quite work out as well as I’d hoped, particularly on the larger model, resulting in the need for quite a bit of faffing about. Add to that the requirement to do more than one while doing my best to match the outfit and the fact that Kamala Khan just isn’t a compelling character to me and her show was quite mediocre, despite the actresss doing a solid job. The result was that these figures just sat on the desk while I painted other models instead until the combination of Dave Stone’s Paint What You Got Challenge 24-25, Alex’s mostly-lapsed “Fembruary” challenge and just wanting to get these fucking models finished and off my painting desk (along with a few others that have been there for far too long) motivated me to just push through and get them done.
Blending the flesh tones on the “embiggened” hands weren’t a lot of fun. The figure is very smooth and lacking details. I painted Kamala with a medium toned skin. Most Pakistani people I know don’t have especially dark skin, and neither does Iman Vellani – the actress who portrays Kamala in the MCU, so I was happy enough with where I ended up. As I often write on this blog after completing “difficult” figures, I’m happy to have the models done and behind me. Now perhaps if I play with them in the future, I can potentially develop some fondness for them in the future instead of resentment! Hurrah!
Azazel's Bitz Box. 
I think they’ve come out well and the two different size figures match up nicely! 🙂 I’m not familiar with this character but that’s not a particularly inspiring outfit (although your rendition of it is)!
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Thanks John. The origin of this character is a bit convoluted – they turned the previous Ms.Marvel into the new Captain Marvel in 2012. (The previous, male Captain Marvel was killed off in 1982).
This left the name “Ms.Marvel” available, so with the success of the Marvel films and wanting to expand their appeal beyond the traditional superhero genre fans, the new Ms.Marvel is the first Pakistani female Muslim hero because current Disney likes to check as many “diversity” boxes as they can.
All this explains why her costume is as it is and you can really only see her hands, face and hair, and she’s completely covered up elsewhere, and is also probably the origin of the scarf as well.
Not that she’s a terrible character inherently, but the show was pretty badly written cringe with a silly ending that broke realism even for a “superhero” series.
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Quite a concise summary there – that’s much appreciated! 🙂 I’m still busy working through a Star Wars backlog on Disney and haven’t got to Marvel stuff yet!
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I suffered through Obi-Wan, but it was painful enough that I haven’t yet watched Ashoka – which is apparently both ok and not so good at different times. The Acolyte is apparently the absoloyte bottom of the barrel, and the snippets I’ve seen don’t say otherwise. On the brighter side, apparently Skeleton Crew is decent.
I think I’m out of Star Wars until Andor S2 comes out – that at least was a very good show!
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I watched Obi-Wan and liked where the story fitted in to the whole timeline. The Acolyte I thought was a too long for the story but at least I can say I’ve watched it. Ahsoka I liked but, after watching Clone Wars, she’s one of my favourite Star Wars characters anyway. Next on my list is Andor Series 1!
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We’ll have to agree to disagree on Obi-Wan. Aside from lots of specific problems (often logic problems) I have with specific scenes that pulled me out of my immersion, I kinda found that unlike Rogue One (and Andor) that made the original film better to me, Obi-Wan worked against it. 😮
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Fantastic work mate, especially when you find the character uninspiring, it’s the only Marvel series I didn’t fully watch, got two episodes in, got bored and left it ! LOL The metallic sheen looks great, and I think you nailed the skin tone perfectly.
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Thanks Dave – you’re too kind as always. I forced myself to watch the whole thing as I did with Black Panther 2, Hawkeye, Moon Knight and even She-Hulk. I’ve now pretty much lost interest and noped out of anything Marvel, so I’ve skipped Secret War (which fucks tons of established Canon, apparently), Echo (did that get released? if it did, I skipped it) and even haven’t bothered watching Guardians 3 and Deadpool/Wolverine which are supposed to be pretty good.
Kind of how I feel about Star Wars these days!
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Echo did get released, and wasn’t your normal superhero story, did enjoy Guardians 3 and Deadpool/Wolverine.
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Yeah, those are both on my “to watch” list, which is more than I can say for anything else with the Marvel name on it these days!
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Nice work on Ms. Marvel, mate! I think you nailed her outfit/costume which is not easy to do. I’ve only tried to read the comic book that launched the character and I felt like it wasn’t for me so she’s a character I don’t have any real fondness for. Her superhero abilities aren’t the most original either but I suppose that she’s hardly the first character to be in that boat. I’m looking forward to seeing how else you painted her very soon 🙂
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Thanks Kuribo! Yeah, at this point I can’t see myself consuming any more Ms.Marvel-related media. I skipped the movie as well and didn’t bother to even sail the high seas to aquire it!
As you say, we already have a Mister Fantastic (and even Sandman), which does make her powers a bit redundant, but I guess that’s pretty pat for the course when you really look at a lot of Supes and their abilities!
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Oh my, she looks so good! I love the way you’ve really pushed the highlights here to give her a shiny look, like she’s under the lights of a convention.
I’m kinda with you on the show – the actress was by far the best thing in it while the story was somewhat uninspired. But you should get Ms Marvel on the table in MCP, she loves playing under Black Bolt or any of the various Captain Americas and is a very dynamic, entertaining piece.
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Thanks mate – I’m just glad to have her finished and the model behind me at this point. I’ll have to get my arse into gear and get some MCP games happening. I’ve got a bit of time over Easter so I’ll be able to go through the new rules and figure it all out – hopefully!
I thought her Dad was also kinda cool, but yeah the show was definitely part of the slide towards indifference that Marvel/Disney created for me (and apparently a lot of others!)
I’ve got Bolt, but not painted or assembled, though I do have the OG Cap painted. 🙂
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