My final June pre-order reviews are for S.H. Figuarts' Black Widow and Taskmaster from the 2020 (as yet to be released) film. This was to be Black Widow's long awaited solo debut, but Covid-19 set it back (as well as every other theatrical release), so we'll have to wait longer to see it (unless Marvel/Disney decides to stream it/offer it on demand). Anyway, on with the figures.
This is the 4th Black Widow Tamashii Nations have released (and the 3rd one I've purchased). As far as articulation, it's pretty much the same as the Endgame release. The sculpted body suit, of course, is different, this one being a darker grey with gold highlights on the belt and wrist gauntlets. Also, her hair is in a ponytail, which is on a peg and articulates. I'll admit that the promo shots for this figure made the face seem a bit nicer. The biggest difference is the hair color, which is a darker shade of red. The promo shots had her with a softer brown color. The promo shots also showed a bit more shading on the face, which seems to be lacking here. Still, it looks like Scarlett Johansson, it's just the color they painted her hair makes it look like a bad dye job.
The accessories that Black Widow comes with are 2 guns, 2 gun holsters, 2 empty holsters, 2 long batons, 2 short batons that can be pegged into her back, a baton with a hook, and 6 pairs of hands (fists, baton holding, trigger finger, relaxed, open, and shooting her blasts). The batons are different than the previous releases, having silver handles and a bit more sculpting. The hooked baton is a cool weapon (can't wait to see her use it in the film). The blasting hands are also very nice, with a translucent blue effect piece attached to the top of the fists. Her articulation is pretty much the same as the Endgame version, with head and neck on ball joints, ball jointed upper torso and waist, ball jointed shoulders that hinge, ball jointed thighs, double jointed elbows and knees, toe hinge, ankle pivots, wrist pivots and her ponytail that's on a peg and can move a bit when posing the head (although her short batons get in the way when inserted into her back). The sculpting work on her new suit is really detailed, I like it a lot.
As for Taskmaster, his MCU look is very different from the comic book character. However, I really like his outfit. It's grey, black, with orange and different shades of blue. The sculpt work present through his body and accessories are nicely detailed; you can tell they put a lot of effort into making Taskmaster look as nice as possible. His face resembles a skull, with the silver metal "mouth" and his goggles. In addition to looking really nice, he comes with a LOT of good stuff. 4 pairs of hands (fists, shield and sword holding, relaxed and open with claws), as well as 2 extra right hands, a trigger finger and the other to hold the end of his arrow. His bow and arrow with a sculpted hand in it, his shield with the Taskmaster symbol on it, his sword, a gun, an empty gun holster, a loaded gun holster, a pouch on his other side, an extra hood that can be positioned down, and an extra pair of goggles. His head can pop off and his soft hood can be removed and replaced by the "down" one. I like that he can be posed with or without his hood. All of his accessories are very nice and quite easy to put on, and even his hands peg into the wrists easily. He is fully loaded with everything he could possibly need.
His goggles are easily removed by pulling off the front part of his face, pushing them out through the inside and replacing them. The extra one is a black with orange patterns, and that one can be worn by itself, or have the clear pair of goggles go over it. As for the one issue that Taskmaster does have, the gun holster and the pouch peg into holes on the sides of his legs, but they can pop off easily when moving the legs. That tends to be an annoyance, as you have to be extra careful to not rub them the wrong way, or to twist them so that they don't rub on the thigh.
His articulation is pretty good, with a head and neck on a ball joint, both of his hoods are loose pieces that don't impede the head movement, ball jointed shoulders and thighs, both of which drop down, shoulder hinges, butterfly joints on the shoulders, double jointed elbows and knees, upper arm cut, slight upper thigh cut, ankle and toe hinges. His waist and torso are on ball joints, but they don't have much range, just a bit to the side, some back, not much ab crunch, and twist side to side. They could've given his torso a bit more range, but what he has is good enough to get him into lots of actions poses. And with all the accessories he comes with, he is a lot of fun to pose.
Taskmaster is definitely the more fun of the 2 releases, though I do love Black Widow as she's one of my favorite Avengers. Since Taskmaster copies and masters every opponent's moves, he seems like a combination of Hawkeye (bow and arrow), Captain America (shield), Black Panther (claws), and obviously Black Widow, as he's the villain in her movie. I hope this Covid-19 situation gets better soon so I can finally watch the film in a theatre, and if not, then I'd be equally as happy to rent it on demand. I'm really looking forward to its eventual release and can't wait to see Natasha's solo adventure against Taskmaster. Both of these figures are great, though, if you already have the Endgame Black Widow and are happy with it, then you can skip out on this one. Taskmaster, however, is absolutely worth getting. He looks great, can pose pretty good, has lots of fun extras. I'm happy that Tamashii went all out with him, as they sometimes tend to give us some bare bones releases. Taskmaster got the "everything but the kitchen sink" treatment, and I really can't complain.
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