Monthly Archives: September 2023

Mutant X Re-Read #07: The Rise of The Five?!

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Mutant X Re-Read

THE SEASON OF THE WITCH

MUTANT X #7 (MARVEL COMICS)

“In another place–in another life–Alex Summers led a team of mutants in a battle against oppression. His methods were extreme, his tactics questionable, but–in his soul–he knew that he was fighting for the greater good.

Now that soul has been transferred to another world, and Summers, also known as Havok, has found himself living a lie, allied with a team of mutants who are sinister, parallel versions of his friends and family. It is to this dark, new place that Havok has come, where he stands as a man alone… a mutant alone. Alex Summers is Mutant X.

Fear him. Fear for him.”

25 years ago, Marvel Comics launched Mutant X, a Havok led X-spinoff. I recently came into a complete run of the series, and so now I’m going to re-read the series once a week, and you guys get to come along for the ride!

This week, it’s the last temptation of Orro and Bob, and also Havok and Elektra go road tripping in “The Season of the Witch”.

THE ISSUE ITSELF

Mutant X #7 is cover dated April of 1999, with Howard Mackie as the writer, Cary Nord as the penciller, and Andrew Pepoy as the inker.

Demons attack Bloodstorm’s abode, so she sends Forge and Kitty off to safety as she faces them down. She calls down a storm upon them, before being defeated by an unseen foe. Ice-Man arrives at the remains of Ororo’s castle, and pulls her from the wreckage. Ororo and Bob discuss the unseen foe, when Ororo is drawn into the shadows and returns eager for Bob to join whatever she encountered. Bob flees but is caught by this unseen force. Halfway across the country, Havok, Elektra, and Scotty take a break in their road-trip to get something to eat at a diner. Scotty asks to leave suddenly, so they move on their way. Alex and Elektra discuss why they’re on the road-trip, and Alex recalls Brute’s execution and the trauma that followed, when they are ambushed by the staff of the diner, now mindless slaves, with Brute accompanying them. Brute tries to get Alex and Scotty to come back to see “her” with him, but Alex and Elektra fight off Brute and the mindless staff. In an unknown location, Ice-Man, in control of his powers again, joins the unseen figure, Madelyn, who invites him to join her, as the Five stand together, and declare they will be the Six once more.

Admittedly, this issue is a touch confusing. Last issue ended with everyone at the courthouse and Brute asking for the death penalty. This one throws us into the thick of things, with Brute having already been executed, Alex and Scotty seemingly on the run, and the rest of the team fractured. Why exactly Bloodstorm is evacuating her castle and why Ice-Man came to check in on her are both left a little vague. I honestly thought I’d missed an issue at first, and had to verify I hadn’t. Also, I realize I’ve gotten this far and not addressed Elektra being Scotty’s nanny. It’s a testament to the in-house love of the Daredevil cast that in an X-series, Matt, Elektra, and Bullseye have all gotten notable (if perhaps random and forced) roles. If nothing else, this issue finally gives Ice-Man something to do, which is a definite plus, since he’d been the least utilized at this point in the series. Unfortunately, Warren is back to being a non-entity again this issue. But, we’re definitely moving the plot forward.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This is honestly one of my least favorite issues thus far. It’s not bad, but it was definitely confusing, even to someone who knows where everything is headed. Still, it does point things in a pretty good direction.

I snagged this whole run from my usual comics stop, Cosmic Comix, so I want to give them a shout out here, because it was a pretty great find.

 

#3438: Lady Jaye

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

LADY JAYE

G.I. JOE ULTIMATES (SUPER 7)

While I’ve been largely left cold by Hasbro’s in-house G.I. Joe: Classified Series releases in the last year or so, I’ve not managed to kick my Joe habits in their entirety.  Super 7’s had their hands on the license for ReAction purposes for a little while, but earlier this year, they officially launched a line under their Ultimates banner.  The follow-up to that initial four figure assortment has just hit recently, featuring amongst its line-up one of the cartoon’s most featured characters, Lady Jaye.  I’m taking a look at her figure today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Lady Jaye is the first figure in the second series of Super 7’s G.I. Joe Ultimates line.  She’s one of the the two Joes this time around.  The figure stands about 6 3/4 inches tall and she has 31 points of articulation.  The first series if the line showcased a pretty solid upgrade on the articulation front, and Series 2 appears to be stepping that up even further.  While the neck is still a bit restricted, her knees and elbows both get deeper than 90 degree bends, which is always a win when it comes to Super 7.  Lady Jaye sports an all-new sculpt. As with the rest of the line, Jaye is based specifically on her Sunbow animation model.  In Lady Jaye’s case, since she showed up in the cartoon prior to the toyline, there were actually some notable differences in terms of design work, making her an even more specifically cartoon-figure than the others.  The sculpt does a very nice job of capturing the model from the show in three-dimensions, as well as fitting in nicely with the rest of the line thus far.  Like Duke, Lady Jaye’s sporting three different head sculpts, and they’re honestly pretty similar in their layout, too.  She comes wearing a fairly standard one, and then there’s one with a headset (my personal favorite), and one that’s nearly identical to the first, only with the mouth slightly open.  The last one’s not quite as cool as the shouting head that came with Duke, but I really like the other two.  Where I felt the body sculpt on Duke wasn’t *quite* on the same level as the heads, on Lady Jaye, I think it all matches up much more closely.  The detailing is just a little sharper, and there’s just a little bit more going on.  Lady Jaye’s color work is pretty solid.  It matches pretty closely to the colors from the show, albeit in a more consistent sense, since they tended to fluctuate a little on-screen.  Things are largely molded colors, including the skin tone on the heads, in contrast with the first series.  It’s a slight change-up, but it looks okay, and it means the sculpted details aren’t at risk of getting lost.  The rouge is a little heavy on the cheeks, and the eyebrows don’t look *quite* right on the two heads without the headset, but that head with the headset still looks really good.  Lady Jaye is packed with the three heads, as well as four sets of hands (in fists, open, tight grip, and loose grip), three different styles of javelin (standard, with deployed hooks, and with removable head), nine different javelin heads, a standard issue blaster rifle (re-used from series 1), a canteen the mounts on her belt, and a small knife for the sheath on her chest strap.  She also gets some toy-based extras, which includes a toy-style javelin launcher and camera.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Due to her prominence on the cartoons, and the fact that they were in such constant re-run into the early ’00s, I have a fondness for Lady Jaye, especially her cartoon-style look.  Until now, however, I haven’t been able to get any of the figures based specifically on that look.  While Series 1 of the line definitely had me excited from the start, it was her confirmation in Series 2 that really, truly sold me on the line.  This figure really turned out nicely.  Her Classified figure being so good set a high bar, but this one still manages to top it, at least for me.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’d like to see a video of this figure in action, I helped out with one for their YouTube channel, so check that out. If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3437: Captain Marvel

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , ,

CAPTAIN MARVEL

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“No amount of problem punching can repair the broken promises Carol Danvers has made. Captain Marvel is a powerful solo act, but now has a real shot at redemption as team member of The Marvels!”

Since launching as a solo act in 2019’s Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers has actually been in the role of team player for all of her subsequent roles. She’s back to headlining her own film in this fall’s The Marvels, but now with Kamala Khan and Monica Rambeau as her co-stars. New movie means new look, which means new toys. And that? Means new review. Let’s jump on into that!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain Marvel is figure 1 in the Totally Awesome Hulk series of Marvel Legends, which serves as the tie-in assortment for The Marvels. While she had reversed her colors and gotten a drastically different hair cut when we saw her in Endgame, by the time of her reappearance in Ms Marvel’s teaser scene, she’d gone back to a look more similar to her solo movie design, and that’s what we see here. It’s a bit more dressed down, with a less armored appearance and rolled up sleeves which suggest a more relaxed fit. In a way, it almost feels like Carol’s equivalent look to Steve’s Nomad design from Infinity War.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Her articulation scheme is pretty basic, especially for an MCU figure.  The joints are pinless, and the range is fair.  She’s an improvement to the mold they used for the last few versions of Carol, so that’s a plus.  The sculpt itself is all-new, and I actually quite like it.  It’s a bit cleaner than the last one, and the head seems to have a closer likeness of Larson, especially for her longer haired look; I’m still partial to the Endgame version, but this is very close too.  The build on this body also feels a bit more accurate to Larson; the last one was really skinny, which didn’t seem *quite* right.  In terms of color work, Carol is pretty basic for the most part.  She does get the printed face, which looks pretty nice, as does the slight accenting to the hair.  The body work is decent if not the most exciting.  The painted skintone on the forearms doesn’t quite match with the face and neck, but there’s enough distance between them that it doesn’t become a major issue.  Carol is packed with two sets of hands (in fists and gripping/gesture), two effects pieces, and the left leg to Totally Awesome Hulk.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Endgame Captain Marvel is kind of my end-all version of the character, for a good number of reasons, but I was intrigued by this look when it first cropped up in Ms. Marvel, and I liked the look of the figure.  She turned out pretty well, and I definitely dig this secondary design for her.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.   If you’d like to see a video of this figure (and the rest of the series) in action, I helped out with one for their YouTube channel, so check that out.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3436: Spider-Girl

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

SPIDER-GIRL

MARVEL COMICS 2 1ST APPEARANCES (TOY BIZ)

“May ‘Mayday’ Parker is the daughter of Peter Parker, the one true Spider-Man. Like her famous father, she has the proportionate strength, speed, agility, and early warning danger sense of a spider and she can crawl up walls. May first became a costumed crime fighter in order to save her parents from an attack by the Green Goblin and now uses her powers to continue her retired father’s battle against the forces of evil, while still trying to maintain a normal life as a teenager.”

During the continuity dumpster fire that was “The Clone Saga,” one of the story elements introduced to give the “real” Peter Parker a reason to pass the role to Ben Reilly involved Peter and Mary Jane having a child. By the end of the story, the child seemingly died, leaving Peter and MJ childless and carefree(ish) once more. The whole angle was rather quickly revisited in the pages of What If…?, and proved popular enough to launch a whole line of alternate universe stories, dubbed “MC2.” Central to the whole thing was Peter and MJ’s daughter, now a teenager, going by Spider-Girl. While the rest of the universe did well enough, Spider-Girl was a break away hit. Her series ran 100 issues, and she’s even made return appearances in crossovers such as “Spider-Verse” and “Spider-Geddon”. She’s had a few figures over the years, including he debut figure during Toy Biz’s 5-inch days, which I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Girl was part of the four figure Marvel Comics 2 First Appearances line, offered up in 1999 as a Previews-exclusive.  She’s by far the star piece of the set, and is one of two Spider-Girl figures offered that year (and one of three Mayday Parker figures, if you count the Earth X Venom), with the other being the similarly PX-exclusive Famous Covers figure.  The figure stands about 5 inches tall and she has 13 points of articulation.  She represents Toy Biz experimenting a bit with articulation, before going totally crazy with Spider-Man Classics and Marvel Legends, so she’s a bit more mobile than the average 5-incher, albeit with the v-hips that I don’t generally dig.  At least everything else distracts from them, I suppose.  Spider-Girl was a mix of old, new, and shared parts.  The beginnings of her sculpt come from the Alpha Flight line’s Snowbird, from whom she borrows her arms and most of her legs.  She gets a tweaked torso piece, which she shared with the Greatest Moments Dark Phoenix figure from the same year.  She also gets her own head and feet, as well as add-ons for the web-shooters.  The head is basic, but different from the Spidey heads, which is cool, and the feet are flat-footed, rather than high-heeled, making her a far more stable figure than the others built from similar parts.  It’s all a pretty solid recreation of her comics design, and a pretty balanced looking figure overall.  Her paint work is actually rather decently handled; the webline detailing is all sharply applied, and the base colors don’t have any notable issues with slop or bleed over.  There’s a little bit of wonkiness on how her spider-emblem is placed, but it generally works.  In terms of coloring, there were two different color set-ups for the Ben Reilly costume at this point, so this figure sort of splits the difference between the two, which is honestly the best of the three choices, really.  Spider-Girl was packed with a large web piece, as well as a trading card.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I very much recall when these figures were released, but I didn’t read any of the comics at the time, so I didn’t know any of the characters, and as such I passed on the whole lot.  I’ve come to regret that a bit over the years.  Thankfully, I’ve been able to slowly piece together a full set.  Spider-Girl was the second of them I got, grabbed from a comic store that was doing a clearance on a bunch of 5-inch Marvel figures, in fact.  She’s honestly a pretty great figure, especially for the time.  Also, fun fact: I shot these photos with the assistance of my daughter Aubrey, who was absolutely fascinated with her the whole time!

#3435: Hera Syndulla & Stormtrooper Commander

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

HERA SYNDULLA & STORMTROOPER COMMANDER

STAR WARS: REBELS (HASBRO)

“Hera supports any mission that undermines the authority of the Empire’s Stormtrooper commanders.”

Wow, it’s already September. And, contrary to how I’ve been running things for a bit the last few years, I say this from only about a week ago, rather than way back in the past. Well, with a new month under my belt, I’m going to try at least a little bit to get back into some more back catalog stuff. So, let’s do some Star Wars stuff. Ahsoka launched last week, which has put the Rebels cast back into focus for a bit. Let’s check out some of that, I guess!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Hera Syndulla and the Stormtrooper Commander were released in 2015 as part of the Star Wars: Rebels line’s third assortment of Mission Series two-packs.

HERA SYNDULLA

Hera was the final member of the core Ghost crew to get released.  This would mark the first of her two figures from during the show’s run, the other coming packed with an A-Wing during the Rogue One product line.  The figure stands about 3 1/2 inches tall and she has 5 points of articulation.  All of the Rebels figures were at the reduced articulation, so it’s not like it’s a shock or anything.  To Hera’s credit, as a pilot figure, she’s does a great job of sitting, and I mean that in a totally not sarcastic way.  With the 3 3/4 inch line, it can be very easy to overcomplicate figures to the point of them not actually being able to sit in the vehicles they’re meant to go with.  Her sculpt was totally new to this release, though everything below the neck would be re-used for her later figure.  It’s a pretty stiff sculpt in terms of posing, which was pretty common for the early Rebels offerings.  She winds up looking a touch silly, especially next to the updated versions of the other characters.  Still, it’s far from the worst thing the line put out, and she does at least look pretty on-model for the character.  Her paint work is decent enough.  It’s a mix of basic and perhaps just a little bit sloppy around the edges.  Hera was packed with her small blaster pistol, which she can hold in either hand.  She notably can’t use the sculpted ankle holster for it, due to the relative scaling.

STORMTROOPER COMMANDER

There weren’t a *ton* of trooper variants for Rebels, but it’s still a Star Wars tie-in, so it’s not totally avoidable.  This one gets a new pauldron.  Woooooooo.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He’s largely the same figure as the standard Rebels trooper.  The only difference is the new pauldron, denoting his rank.  It’s non-removable, which is a bit limiting, but not the end of the world.  I still quite like the sculpt.  It’s a good recreation of the animation design, and it’s got a fun and goofy flow to it.  The color work on this figure is pretty similar to the standard.  The exact shades are a little different, and the eyes are closer to the head band, but it looks pretty good for the most part.  The Stormtrooper Commander is packed with his blaster pistol, which, like the standard, he can hold in either hand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was unfortunately not on the up-and-up with Rebels during its early run, so I missed out on the earlier toys.   By the time I got into things, Hera had gotten a bit pricier on the after market.  I wound up getting this pair loose, waaaaaaaaaay back in early 2019, when they got traded into All Time.  They’re pretty basic and rudimentary figures, but they fit the style, and I definitely dig that.

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 and their eBay storefront.