.

The packaging features the Marvel Universe logo rather than the more obvious Spider-Man logo. In a change from the normal chase figure packaging, there is no “VARIANT ENCLOSED” banner on the corner of the box front. I don’t know if this is intentional or not, however wave 11’s chase figure also doesn’t have the banner. It’ll be interesting to see if they are doing away with clearly marking the variant. 

The figures are packed in a bubble tray, and have no twist-ties holding them in. Instead, a second clear tray piece fits over the top and then locks in, meaning that these figures are held in well and can be seen from each side.

The back of the packaging is new and only shows waves 10 and 11. 

Each set in wave 10 also has a two-sided poster, featuring all of the Marvel Minimates released so far, excluding wave 10 & 11 but including the SDCC Dark Phoenix/Cyclops exclusive. 

The poster is a nice little addition and does show how far the Marvel line has progressed in 2 years.

Here we have a very unique chase figure. Unlike the 9 previous wave’s chase figures, this figure is NOT simply a variant of the existing figure. It’s a completely different character in Julia Carpenter, the second Spider-Woman. This is a different angle for chase figures to take, and will annoy some people that a distinctly new character is only available in small numbers. It’s back to normal with wave 11’s chase of Ice-Man, so whether this experiment is a one-off is hard to say.

The head is an interesting merging of Spider-Man’s big eyes and Spider-Woman’s mask, complete with the triangle on the forehead and the open mouth, revealing large (slightly too large, truth be told) full lips. The hair is, yet again, a reuse of New X-Men Jean Grey’s. Hey, if all the others are using it, why not the variant. At first glance, I thought it was a simple reuse, with no recolouring, but it is a more orange colour than the red of Jean Grey, and also the ear has been painted over. This means that there is still no peg holes in the hairpiece.

The costume is similar to the black costume Spider-Man had. In fact this costume predates his, with it probably being the inspiration for the large white spider on the front. The detailing is simple but works well, with the more contoured female form suggested by dark blue shades around the bust and sides of the torso block, this last effect being similar to the detailing on the Black Cat. The paint job is OK, with no bleeding between the white and black colour bands, however the front of the spider-logo is slightly scratched on my Minimate.

As with the original Spider-Woman set, this set comes with a web-line, although it’s more likely to be meant to be used with Spider-Carnage.

Overall, this is a very intriguing variant, because it is a separate and new character rather than a simple costume change or unmasked version, I think that makes her well worth trying to get hold of.

MMC Score – 7 out of 10

Review and pictures by Danny Mills

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