BLOOD STORM

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“A mutant and proficient thief, Ororo Munro was targeted by Dracula and transformed into a vampire known as Bloodstorm.”

Hey!  It’s Halloween!  I swore to myself that I would start this review with some variation of “it’s Halloween, oooooo, scary” over my own dead body.  My own, cold, dead, blood-sucking body.  Speaking of cold, dead, blood-sucking things, you guys remember when I talked about Mutant X?  Man, that sure was a thing.  Well, I finished my read-through of the series back in July, and here in October, we’ve gotten our first Mutant X-themed figure in over 20 years.  Riiiiiiight after I finished my read-through.  Look, I’m not saying it’s all thanks to me, but I’m okay if you guys want to.  So, after that very long wait for another figure, who do we get?  ….It’s Bloodstorm…of course it’s Bloodstorm.  It would be Bloodstorm.  Well, let’s review Bloodstorm.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Bloodstorm is figure 2 in the Blackheart Series of Marvel Legends, which is a Fan Channel exclusive set.  The assortment is officially titled “Strange Tales” and generally themed around the supernatural side of Marvel.  Bloodstorm’s certainly an offbeat choice, but not the weirdest, I suppose.  She gets a leg-up by being a Storm variant in a year when everyone wants X-related stuff.  She officially debuts Mutant X as a theme in Legends, and is the second Bloodstorm figure we’ve gotten, the first being Toy Biz’s 5-inch figure from 2001.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and she has 28 points of articulation.  She’s a mix of old and new parts.  She’s using the legs and feet from the mohawk Storm from the Apocalypse Series, and the arms from Jessica Jones.  It’s an okay selection of parts, but certainly ones that are showing their age.  The legs in particular are kind of warping, and the exposed joints are especially obvious.  The arms look fine, but they’re definitely restricted at the elbows.  The rest of the parts are new, sculpted by Paul Harding.  The new parts are definitely very strong additions, and do a lot to carry the older parts when viewed as a whole.  There are two different heads, one calm, and one more dynamic.  The dynamic one is certainly my favorite of the two, and it makes for good posing.  Bloodstorm’s color work is decent enough.  Obviously, very dark and monochromatic, which is the part.  The heads both get some pretty solid accent work on the faces and hair, which really sells the already pretty solid sculpts.  Bloodstorm is packed with two sets of hands, one in open gesture, the other more a claw pose.  No fists is a bit of a bummer, since the two included pairs are rather along the same lines.  She’s also packed with the torso and tail of the Blackheart Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Look, guys, a Mutant X assortment of Legends has been my dream set for a good long while, so *any* Mutant X Legends is a pretty big deal.  But, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t buy this figure out of obligation more than actual desire to own it.  Bloodstorm’s definitely not my favorite part of the book, and after finishing it, I still do not get the hype behind her.  But, I really, really want more Mutant X figures, so I have to buy her.  She’s alright.  I find her a bit hampered by the old parts, but the new ones are at least pretty strong.  Can I please get more Mutant X figures now?

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.

Would you like to own an official piece of The Figure in Question history…or something like that?  Well, the figure reviewed here isn’t available, but I’m selling the Blackheart Build-A-Figure piece, as well as some other items from the official Figure in Question collection, over on my eBay page, so check it out.  Or don’t.  I have no control over you outside the confines of the review.