I’ve been doubling down on the last couple of Marvel Mondays, trying to tear my way through the backlog of Marvel Legends figures clogging up my home, but this week I’m pressed for time, so I’m back to just one. And that’s cool, because I want to be able to give Gamora, “The Most Dangerous Woman in the Universe,” her proper due. I thought Hasbro did a pretty average job on the Gamora from the first film, but from what I’m seeing in the package, I think this one from Guardians Vol. 2 is going to blow me away. “Hey you, with the pretty face… welcome to the human race!”

Gamora shares a slot with her sister Nebula as the “Daughters of Thanos” which is as solid a grouping as you can get in these shared packages. This wave I’ve been doing a lot of comparisons between the Vol. 2 figures with the ones from the original film, and I’ll certainly be doing some of that here as well. In fact, let’s just start out with a quick comparison shot…

Wow. I said it with Star-Lord, I said it with Rocket, and I’ll say it again here: What a difference a couple of years makes! It’s always a treat to see a company work hard to show improvements, and that’s certainly what Hasbro has been doing with Legends. Sure, it’s an entirely new costume and basically the same articulation, but besides that, everything about this figure is an improvement over the original. Just in the body types alone, the new Gamora is far more realistically proportioned. She doesn’t have those stick-thin legs and lanky arms, and the skin tone also looks much improved. It’s warmer and richer, and less plastic-y.

Now, I’ll confess, I prefer Gamora’s costume in the first movie to this one. The jacket she’s wearing here makes her look like she’s trying to be a Femme-Star-Lord and with Yondu along for the ride, there’s just too many people wearing dusters. That having been said, it still looks great, and Hasbro did a wonderful job recreating it here. You get some lovely detail to her arm wraps, textured panels on her jacket, and I really dig how they were able to do the cut-outs in the heels of her boots. The paint is also very solid. From the silver hits on her rings and the fixtures on her belt, to the blue liner of her jacket, it all looks so good. So, personal preferences about the costume aside, I think Hasbro done great here.

And let’s be honest, this portrait is the biggest improvement. The last figure’s head sculpt would have worked for a comic-based Gamora, but there wasn’t much of a likeness to Zoe Saldana. This time, Hasbro nailed it beautifully. The sculpt, the paint, the hair, it all looks spot on to me. When I look at this likeness and the Chris Pratt likeness on Star-Lord, it’s hard to believe this is the same company turning out those Star Wars Black figures.

The articulation holds no surprises, as it’s about the same as last time and pretty standard for most Marvel Legends ladies. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have swivels in the thighs and lower legs, there are double hinges in the knees, and the ankles have both hinges and lateral rockers. The torso has a ball joint under the chest and the neck is both ball jointed and hinged.

And check this out… Hasbro included the collapsed sword and a place on her belt for her to wear it. Last time she just came with the extended sword.

And this figure includes the extended sword accessory as well. In fact, I think it’s exactly the same, which works fine. It’s cast in a gray plastic and covered with sculpted markings on the blade.

Gamora also comes with a pretty cool rifle, showing that she’s not just all about the swords this time. I really dig the gun designs in the Guardians movies and this one is no exception It’s an absolutely beautiful sculpt, packed with detail and features some pretty convincing metallic paint. I should also note that Gamora’s hands are each specifically designed to work with each weapon. The right includes a trigger finger for holding the gun, but it can also work with the sword for a looser grip. The left hand holds the sword a lot tighter, and it will work with the gun, but not as well.

Whatever team over at Hasbro has been working on these Guardians figures really needs to spread their love and knowledge over to the Star Wars Black side of the fence. Looking at these figures, I refuse to believe the same team is involved in both because the quality is so different. All I have to do is compare this Gamora to Hasbro’s own 6-inch Jyn Erso or Rey and wonder what the hell is going on over there and why they can’t do better. We’re dealing with the same scale, the same price point, and the same company. Anyway, Gamora rounds out the core team of my Vol. 2 Guardians quite nicely. Indeed, with the exception of Drax, each and every one of these figures have been a huge improvement over their predecessors. Next week, I’ll take a look at the other half of the “Daughters of Thanos,” Nebula!