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Mafex Mera (from Aquaman)


After what seemed like an eternity, with multiple delays, Mafex has finally released their Mera figure from the Aquaman film. Mafex has a tendency to delay releases (I believe their Infinity War Captain America has been delayed twice already), so if you pre-order something from them, it may be a whole year until it finally reaches you. 






The figure comes with two heads (one with hair flowing to the side and the other wearing a crown), 5 pairs of hands (fists, holding, and 3 different open palm variants), an extra pair of hands shooting water, 6 wine spears, a stand for the wine spears, a stand to hold the shooting water, a stand for the figure, and the cannister thing (I forgot the name of it) that she and Aquaman used to unlock a holographic message that leads them to find the trident of Atlan. Mera is dressed in a bluish/turqoise body suit, with long red hair and the symbol of Atlantis on her torso. The body suit is quite detailed, with scale-like patterns all throughout. As for the face sculpts, they're not entirely accurate to the actress. At certain angles she resembles Amy Adams, which is just fine by me, now that Amber Heard has been exposed as a liar (see her divorce drama with Johnny Depp). It's because of this issue with the actress that I wondered if that's why this figure got delayed so many times. I found it quite funny that the clamshell case was placed backwards in the box, so you couldn't see the figure's face. I like the character of Mera. The actress? Not so much. But anyway....




The stands for the wine spears were easy to put together, though one of the clip-on pegs was missing the ball at the end that pops into an opening inside the spear. I think it snapped off when I was putting it together. Also, the holes in the spear are hard to see since they're a solid translucent red. I don't plan on displaying her like this anyway, so I could always use those stands for something else. The other ones, for her water effects, are decent. There are 2 tall holders and 2 shorter holders, so you can adjust them as you please.








As for articulation, she comes with ball jointed head and neck, swiveled ball jointed elbows with butterfly joint, double jointed elbows and knees, ball jointed thighs, hands on ball peg, upper torso and waist on ball joints, and ball jointed ankles. Her arms and legs can spread out quite far, making for a good range of action poses. Even though her feet end in narrow heels, she can still stand quite well on her own. Also, her hair is a soft plastic, so it doesn't get in the way of moving the head.







I don't own the Mafex Aquaman from his solo film. While it's a decent figure, something about the arms looked off to me. I only own a Mattel version, which doesn't have great articulation but is decent enough. And Mera is in scale with that figure, as well as my other 1:12 figures. The color of her body suit really stands out among the others in my collection, much brighter than her Justice League look (though I did like that outfit as well).






Overall I'd say that Mafex Mera is a good figure. She has great articulation, a great sculpt, nice colors and lots of accessories. I've heard rumblings that many collectors are choosing to skip out on this figure because of the Amber Heard drama, though she was first announced and up for pre-order before any of that came to light. I can't fault anyone for not wanting this figure. But I do like the character of Mera, I think her ability to manipulate water is unique. And honestly, this is the one rare occasion where I don't mind that the face sculpt isn't totally accurate. I'll just pretend my Mera is played by Amy Adams. LOL!


 

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