ROGUE

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“Super strong and virtually indestructible, Rogue is a one-woman fighting force! But when there are too many enemies for even Rogue to handle at once, she relies on her Double-Barrel cannon slammer. Flying in above the clouds, Rogue faces the forces of Master Molds Sentinel squadrons and is overwhelmed by their number. But with the help of her cannon slammer and her fellow X-Men, the Sentinels don’t last long enough to realize what hit them. With a mutant power matched only by her southern charms, Rogue is one mutant to be reckoned with!”

Hey, look, it’s time for more Toy Biz X-Men!  The things that keep me happy.  And taking them away would make me unhappy.  You certainly wouldn’t want to make me unhappy, would you?  Good.  Glad we’re all on the same page there.  As Toy Biz moved later into the run of their 5-inch line, they had run out of standard versions of the main characters, so they had to start doing some good old fashioned wacky-varianting.  They went heavier on gimmicks, with their “Secret Weapon Force” branding in particular standing out as a notable push.  New designs, even comics-based ones, were filtered through these gimmicks.  Here’s a gimmicky Rogue.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Rogue was released in the “Power Slammers” assortment, which was released under the Secret Weapon Force heading in Toy Biz’s 1998 X-Men line-up.  This marked Rogue’s fourth figure in the 5-inch line, and was based on her Shi’ar mining uniform, which she sported for a stretch of less than a year.  It debuted in 1997, so it was pretty quick turnaround for such a thing.  It’s a pretty notable departure from her traditional designs, and was fairly short-lived, but it’s nothing if not unique.  The figure stands just shy of 5 inches tall and she has 12 points of articulation.  On my figure, the joints are exceptionally loose, to the point of making it difficult to keep her standing, which is frustrating to say the least.  I am also, as always, not really a fan of the v-hips, but it is what it is.  Rogue’s sculpt was new at the time, though most of it would be re-used two years later for the movie line’s team suit Rogue.  It’s rather on the stylized front, but a decent match for the art from within the books at the time.  There’s a touch of pre-posing, but generally to a minor degree, and the level of detailing honestly is pretty solid.  The head’s particularly unique, and the hair in front of her face is certainly a neat touch.  Rogue’s color work is generally solid.  It’s an odd color scheme (the Shi’ar outfits were generally off-model in their coloring), but it’s accurate.  The’s a bit of fuzz at the edges of some of the painted elements, but the overall appearance is decent.  Rogue was packed with a big giant gun thing, which serves as the titular “power slammer.”  When the bit at the top is slammed down, there are small yellow ball projectiles that fly out.  It’s super silly and super goofy, but it does at least go totally apart from the core figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Rogue comes from the era of the line where I missed more than I got when they were new.  There were a lot of repeats on characters, and I had most of my core cast, Rogue included, so I didn’t double up on most of them.  Since jumping back in, though, they’ve been some of my focuses.  I managed to snag Rogue from Yesterday’s Fun while vacationing a couple of summers ago.  She’s alright.  The look’s certainly unique, but the figure has some issues, especially the loose joints, which hold it back.