CYCLOPS

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Cyclops helps prisoners escape from Apocalypse’s prison camps in an attempt to be a force for good in a harsh dystopian future.”

To quote Jimmy Woo: “It’s an oversimplification of events, but yes.”  While the Cyclops of the “Age of Apocalypse” universe ultimately joins the side of good and aids in helping the victims of Apocalypse, that’s not where he spends most of the story.  While AoA saw a lot of previously villainous characters on the side of good, it also saw Cyclops, a character previously very straight-laced and noble, pretty firmly in the villains camp, at least at the start.  Sure, his in-grained noble streak kept him from being truly villainous, but he’s also very far from a force for good.  But, here I am critiquing the bios again, when I could be reviewing a new Cyclops figure.  What am I even doing with my life?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyclops is figure 2 in the Colossus Series of Marvel Legends.  Though far from the first Legends Cyclops, it’s still the first Legends release for AoA, and the third figure for the AoA design overall.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Cyclops is built on the Bucky Cap base body, which has been the consistent choice of base for Cyclops since the Puck Series version.  The AoA version has at times been depicted as a little larger in build, but that can be chalked up to artistic license, and thus far all of the other AoA variants have maintained consistency with their main counterparts in terms of body choices.  I mean, that’s gonna sort of fall apart as we make it further into the assortment, but we’ll stand by it here.  Ultimately, I really don’t mind it.  He gets a new head, arms, and an overlay piece for his belt/shoulder strap.  The head’s not quite as extreme and 90s-tastic as some of the illustrations made him out to be, but the important elements of the design are all present, and his features are also internally consistent with the other Cyclops figures from the line.  His new arms bulk him up a little bit more compared to the standard Bucky Cap pieces, as well as transitioning him to the pinless construction on the elbows.  Some of his articulation is lost on said elbows, which can really only make it about 90 degrees.  It’s understandable given the nature of the design.  Cyclops’ paint is generally very basic.  Much of the color work is just molded plastic, and it’s honestly a pretty basic layout of colors for the costume anyway.  Kudos to Hasbro, though, they did actually do some weathering and wear on the gold armored parts, which looks pretty solid.  Cyclops includes no accessories of his own, which is kind of a shame.  A blast effect, or an alternate head, maybe with the hair swept back to better show off the missing eye and scarring, would have been pretty cool.  All he winds up getting is the left leg for Colossus, which definitely feels light compared to pretty much everyone else.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I do really like Cyclops, and I even kind of like some of the stuff they did with him within the AoA story, the actual AoA design for the character isn’t necessarily one of my favorites for him.  It’s kind of overkill on the worst of the ’90s tropes for character design, really.  That being said, if you’re gonna have an AoA set-up, it feels wrong to not have him.  He’s another figure I felt was really missing from the first go-round, and I’m glad he showed up here.  He’s light on extras, and perhaps a little skinny, but overall I do rather like him, and hey, it’s another Cyclops, right?

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.