Author Archives: Ethan Wilson

#3416: Rocket

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

ROCKET

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“As Rocket takes on more leadership duties within the Guardians of the Galaxy, his past actions have consequences that come back to haunt him.”

Though certainly a character that was always in the focus in the movies, Guardians of the Galaxy‘s Rocket was typically more of a quirky supporting player than an outright lead for most of his appearances.  In Guardians Vol. 3, Rocket takes on a far more central role, and one that grants the character a lot more nuance than we’ve seen out of him previously.  Resting the emotional core of your story on a CGI talking raccoon is an iffy prospect at best, but Vol. 3 makes it work.  It makes it work very well.  And Rocket gets to really shine because of it, which is honestly pretty awesome.  You know what else is awesome?  Toys.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Rocket is figure 4 in the Cosmo Series of Marvel Legends, which, as noted previously, is the tie-in assortment for Guardians Vol. 3.  The whole team is present, and Rocket’s also Rocket, so his inclusion makes perfect sense.  Curiously, this marks the first time that a Legends MCU Rocket has been released without any sort of Groot packed alongside him (though that was technically flipped this time, since the deluxe Groot included a baby Rocket).  Like the rest of the team, he’s seen here in his swanky new uniform, which is definitely a good look.  The figure stands 3 inches tall and he has 28 points of articulation.  Like his last go-round, Rocket is still a fully articulated figure, and he’s even a little bit better this time around, since his ankles are rocker joints and the wrists are universals, rather than the straight swivels that we got the last time around.  If nothing else, it certainly makes him a bit easier to stand.  Rocket is sporting an all-new sculpt, courtesy of Rene Aldrete, which is certainly a respectable recreation of Rocket’s on-screen model.  He’s not the drastic step-up in quality we saw with the last release, but that’s largely because the last one was really, really good already.  This one largely sticks to that, just giving him the new uniform, and working in the articulation just a tad bit better.  Rocket’s color work generally matches with the rest of the team suits; the red is still a little sloppy, but it otherwise works okay.  There’s some more intensive work on the head and tail, which captures the detailing of the fur pretty well.  There’s something about the eyes on this one that, much like Mantis, just seem a bit off to me, however.  I’m not sure exactly what it is, but it’s the only thing that I prefer on the older version.  Rocket is packed with the same large blaster rifle as the Vol 1 version, which, I’ll be honest, I was never much of a fan of.  It was awkward and hard to hold the first time around, and it remains so this time around.  Rocket is also packed with the head and main body of the Cosmo Build-A-Figure, which is by far the largest section, since he’s by far the smallest figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The original Rocket figure was honestly one of the worst the line ever put out.  The second, on the other hand, was one of the best.  There wasn’t a ton of room to improve, but this figure found some, and it went for it.  I’m not big on the eyes or the backpedalling to the weird bulky gun, but I do like the core figure a lot, and I also really like having a cohesive set of Guardians.

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.

#3415: Gamma 1 & Gamma 2

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

GAMMA 1 & GAMMA 2

DRAGON STARS (BANDAI)

Okay, not gonna lie, I’m starting to get just a touch burned out on Marvel Legends, so I’m gonna do my best to mix in a few non-Legends reviews here, just for my own sanity. So, let’s talk about a thing I don’t talk about here too often: Dragon Ball. My primary association with the franchise is Z, specifically the Android and Cell Sagas, and I haven’t really had much interaction with its current iteration, Super. That said, last year Super did a sort of continuation of those two sagas for their latest movie, Super Hero (which, for those playing at home, makes the official title the somewhat redundant sounding Dragon Ball Super Super Hero), a Piccolo and Gohan-centered story that brings back the Red Ribbon army. Our two new androids for the movie are the super hero-inspired Gamma 1 and Gamma 2, who I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Gamma 1 and Gamma 2 are plot across the two Super Hero tie-in assortments of Dragon Stars, with 1 being in the first and 2 in the second. The first set hit just before the film’s US release, and the second just at the beginning of the summer. Both figures stand about — inches tall and have — points of articulation. I’d only handled one Dragon Stars figure before these two, and wasn’t exactly thrilled with the movement on that one, so I was iffy on these ones. Obviously, they’re not sporting Figuarts level articulation, but it was better than I was expecting, especially on the upper half. The lower half is less practical, in part because of the “skirt” piece blocking the hip movement, in part because of the difficulty getting the ankles to turn on both axises, and in part because of the tendency for the waist on both figures to pop apart if you push them too far. All that said, I did find the tolerances on Gamma 2’s joints to be just a touch better than Gamma 1’s. In terms of construction, these two are largely the same. The body sculpt does a good job of capturing their retro super hero-style attire from the movie, with plenty of sharp detailing on the outfits. The capes are both made from a softer rubber, which I think works pretty well. They hang flat, rather than going for anything dynamic, but I think it works out okay. The difference between the two figures lies in their heads, which get differing numbers of fins, corresponding to their own respective unit numbers. Additionally, they also get slightly tweaked expressions, with 1 being a bit more stoic, while 2 is slightly more jovial. It’s minor, but it works well for their respective characteristics. The paint work between the two is again pretty similar, swapping reds for blues between the two. Application is clean on both figures for the most part. Both figures are packed with two sets of hands and a blaster designed to match their respective head design. I found the hands a bit tricky to swap the first time around, but on Gamma 2, they seem to swap just a little bit easier.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I really only care about the Android and Cell Sagas of DBZ, so I haven’t kept up with everything since. That said, I was immediately intrigued by the designs for these two, which made me kinda want the figures. Once Gamma 2 hit it was even harder to resist, so on Jason’s recommendation, I sat down and watched the movie, and about 20 minutes in, I knew there was no way I was passing on these. I was a little hesitant to go back to Stars after being disappointed in the only other figure I’d gotten from the line, but I actually really like how these two turned out.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with these figures to review.  If you’d like to see a video of these guys 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.

#3414: Fang

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

FANG

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Wolverine takes advantage of his likeness to Imperial Guard Fang and impersonates him to infiltrate the Shi’ar.”

Okay, so, like, that’s….that’s not right. Like at all. Ignoring the very obvious issue that the bio above is talking about Wolverine, and not the actual character this figure is meant to represent, there’s also the fact that while Wolverine and Fang do sport similar characteristics, they certainly don’t look enough like each other for one to impersonate the other. Also, Wolverine didn’t impersonate him to infiltrate the Shi’ar. What actually happened was that Wolverine, in need of a new costume after his was destroyed in battle, stole a replacement from Imperial Guardsman Fang, an expy of the Legion of Superheroes’ Timber Wolf, who was himself something of an inspiration to Wolverine. It gave Wolverine a new look for a few issues, and gave Fang’s design a little extra highlight, which serves as a decent justification for making a Fang figure. I’ll take it!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Fang is figure 2 in the Ch’od Series of Marvel Legends. He’s one of the three Phoenix Saga related figures in the set, as well as the second Guard in the line (after Gladiator), and Fang’s first actual figure. The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. He’s using the cleaned up version of the Spider-UK body that was previously used for Strucker, which is decent enough, but in a perfect world, I think it might have made more sense to put him on the Wolverine body, since they’re depicted as being similarly sized and all. But, they opted for this one, so here we are. He gets a new head sculpt, courtesy of Paul Harding, as well as new add-on pieces for the necklace, belt, and boot and glove cuffs.  The new head is a mix of a few of Fang’s looks from over the years, but it captures the general feel of the character pretty well.  The new add-ons have a little difficulty staying in place, but we’re not quite at the level of 90s Cyclops’s leg bands, so it’s not awful.  The whole thing winds up as a solid recreation of his comics design.  Aiding in that is the color work; it’s basic, but it’s clean, and the color scheme looks like it should.  Fang is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and open claws, as well as the head for the Ch’od Build-A-Figure, and his little animal companion.  He does *not* include any Wolverine parts, which feels like a missed opportunity, and also like it might have been a slight change of plans, especially given the character bio he received.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Honestly, this figure surprised me.  I mean, I thought a Fang Wolverine was a longshot, so just a Fang figure, with no Wolverine connection at all, seemed downright impossible.  But, I guess not so much.  Fang is overall fairly by the numbers.  I’m admittedly a little bummed by the lack of Wolverine parts, but he stands out well enough on his own, and I’m certainly not upset about getting another Imperial Guard member.  Here’s to hoping we see some more of them!

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.

Mutant X Re-Read #02: Overpowered…by the Swarms of Moot!

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Mutant X Re-Read

NO WAY OUT

MUTANT X #2 (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, Havok encounters the Fantastic Four of another world, in “No Way Out!”

THE ISSUE ITSELF

Mutant X #2 is cover dated November 1998 and its story and art were handled by Howard Mackie, Tom Raney, and Andrew Pepoy.

The Six answer a distress call from the Fantastic Four, who are battling Moot and his insectoids. The Six make quick work of the insectoids, allowing Reed Richards to take out Moot. When Alex tries to talk to Reed about being stranded in an alternate dimension, he discovers there is history between the other Alex and this world’s Reed and Sue. After returning to Bannerman’s Castle, Alex talks with Scotty about Scotty’s knowledge of the alternate dimension situation. Alex promises to bring Scotty’s real dad back, and goes back to Reed to ask for his assistance in returning home. Alex reveals his predicament to Reed, who attempts to dissect Alex, revealing that Reed has been taken over by Moot. Moot offers to help Alex return home if Alex will become his ally. With the help of Sue, Johnny, and Ben, Alex defeats Moot and restores Reed to normal. Alex talks with the real Reed about his inter-dimensional nature. Reed runs some tests and comes to a conclusion: Alex is suffering from brain damage, caused by the Sentinel blast last issue. Reed calls Madelyn and informs her of this news, and leaves Alex in her custody.

This issue is clearly aiming to fill out the universe a bit more, especially after the first issue’s heavier X-focus. It’s refreshing to see more than just X-characters in play, and the hints at history between Sue and Alex are fun, as is having the FF be powerless adventurers. The twist at the end where Reed thinks Alex is just crazy is an interesting misdirection, but it’s ultimately not executed in an all that thrilling fashion, making the final panel of the issue a rather mundane shot of Alex and Maddie flying home. Unfortunately, the focus is largely just on Alex and Reed this issue, with the rest of the FF and the Six being just bit players. The Six get a fight scene at the beginning and a short character scene when they return to the castle, but it’s still not much to go on. We do at least get a solid scene with Scotty this time around, which helps to set the stage for how central the Alex/Scotty relationship will be to the series.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This issue is the first of many that I’m reading for the first time on this read through. It’s cool to see the ground work for things I know are coming later, but I don’t know how well it works as an issue on its own.

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.

#3413: Astonishing Ant-Man

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

ASTONSIHING ANT-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Attempting to save his daughter’s life, ex-criminal Scott Lang steals technology imbued with Pym Particles. Gaining the ability to shrink to the size of an insect, Scott becomes an unexpected Super Hero as Ant-Man”

Alright, I may have wrapped up the Cassie Lang Series of Marvel Legends last week, but that doesn’t mean I’m done with the cool Ant-Man goodness *just* yet!  In 1979, with the Ant-Man identity three names back for Hank Pym, the guise was assumed by Scott Lang, who used it to save his daughter Cassie’s life.  Scott would take on the title officially until his demise during “Avengers Disassembled” in 2004, and would reclaim it following his 2012 resurrection in Avengers: Children’s Crusade, allowing him to again be the main Ant-Man when it came time for the MCU incarnation to make his debut.  Obviously, Scott’s gotten quite a bit of toy love in the last few years, but classic Scott Lang figures are still something of a rarity, which makes today’s offering extra cool!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Astonishing Ant-Man is a Target-exclusive Marvel Legends release.  He hit roughly around the same time as the Cassie Lang Series, which had him timed out to loosely coincide with the home media release of Quantumania.  This is our second classic style Ant-Man under Hasbro, and our third Legends version overall, counting the old Toy Biz release.  Technically, it’s also a one and one for Scott Lang sporting the gear, since the Retro Card Ant-Man Hasbro put out was actually Hank, going by the eye color.  Yes, I brought up the eye color.  Deal with it.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  He’s using the ANAD 2099 body as his base this time around.  It means he’s still got visible pins on the elbows and knees, which is a bit of a bummer, but I do feel like the build is a much better fit for both Scott and Hank than the Pizza Spidey body was.  Ant-Man gets a new head and belt piece to finish off the look.  The head is just a beautiful piece of work, through and through.  The helmet is a separate, non-removable piece, and it’s honestly never looked better in Legends form.  They always get something slightly off, but not this time.  It’s clean, it’s sleek, and it’s sharp.  The only downside is how the antenna are easily bent out of shape, but a little bit of heating, straightening, and cooling does wonders for him.  Under the helmet, we get a new facial sculpt, which can honestly work alright for either of the two Ant-Men, but is ever so slightly leaning towards Scott, as it should be.  His new belt is very similar to the one used on Retro Ant-Man and Black Ant, but it’s sized correctly to the new base body, and is also much more sharply detailed.  Ant-Man’s color work is very bright, very bold, and very clean.  The paint work on this one is especially sharp, and it really sells the overall look.  They’ve also made sure to give Scott his proper blue eyes, so that you know who’s who.  Ant-Man is packed with two sets of hands, one open, one in fists.  It’s light.  I won’t lie.  But, honestly, Ant-Man’s always light when it comes to Legends.  I think maybe an unmasked head, or even yet another release of that same pack-in mini Ant-Man might make me feel better, but the hands aren’t terrible.  At least he’s not just stuck with fists again.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Retro Ant-Man was, at best, always just kind of a placeholder for a better figure.  Black Ant as fine on his own, but he’s not classic Ant-Man, and repainting him in classic Ant-Man colors doesn’t magically fix that.  So, he was fine, but he was never really a star piece for me.  That said, this figure, much like his Toy Biz Walmart-exclusive counterpart, is a figure I didn’t realize I needed as much as I did.  Thankfully, Max was able to hook me up with one without much fuss, allowing me to get him in hand and realize that he is, in fact, the best classic Ant-Man figure out there by a very large margin.

#3412: Bombastic Bag-Man

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

BOMBASTIC BAG-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Left without a costume, a desperate Peter Parker dons a spare Fantastic 4 uniform and a brown paper bag. And so the Bombastic Bag-Man was born!”

We live in a crazy era for Marvel Legends.  Like, I just can’t be clear enough about that.  It’s an era of getting, serious, actual, fully planned out figures of gag concepts.  Case in point: Bombastic Bag-Man.  After discovering that his black costume was an alien symbiote with its own agenda, Peter Parker enlisted the help of Reed Richards to remove the symbiote.  Left without a suit, he borrowed an older FF suit and a paper bag.  In true Spider-Man fashion, Peter has to stop a crime on his way home, still sporting his makeshift costume, and introducing himself as “The Bombastic Bag-Man.”  It’s silly, and really not a marketable Spidey look, but it’s also a fan-favorite.  It’s come close to figure form a few times, never quite making it to the finish line.  Hasbro, however, has finally made it actually happen.  Crazy.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Bombastic Bag-Man is a Target-exclusive Marvel Legends release.  He’s a one-off on the Marvel Super Heroes style retro card, and he was part of Hasbro’s overall celebration of Spidey’s 60th Anniversary.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Bag-Man is built on the Reed Richards modification of the Pizza Spidey body.  Why they didn’t just use the Pizza Spidey body straight is anybody’s guess; perhaps they just thought this one was more Fantastic Four-y.  I’m a little bummed that it means he loses the butterfly shoulder, but it’s still a decent body.  He also re-uses the feet from Shang-Chi, made evident by their lack of peg-holes.  The figure’s topped off by a new head sculpt, for the full Bag-Man effect.  The bag and the actual head are separate parts; the bag isn’t removable, and the head beneath only actually gets eye and chin detailing, but it gives everything the appropriate depth.  The actual bag sculpt is also just really good; it honestly looks just a real paper bag that’s been shoved over his head, down to the mis-shaping for his nose.  The color work on Bag-Man is largely meant to mimic the colors on the Walgreens FF releases.  It’s appropriate, since it’s supposed to be one of the same uniforms, and all.  That said, it’s not an exact match.  The blue is a slightly brighter shade, and the exact sizing of the “4” logo is a bit larger.  Granted, for true accuracy, he’s meant of pair off with the Byrne-era costumes anyways, so it doesn’t truly have to match, I guess.  Bag-Man is packed with two sets of hands (fists and open gesture) as well as the “Kick Me” sign Johnny stuck on his back.  That piece is gonna get a lot of use for sure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I’ve gotten into a few times here, I’ve given up on the exclusives game for the most part.  But, somehow most of it ends up in front of me, just the same.  I dig Bag-Man as a silly concept, so I was glad to get a chance at one when he came into All Time.  He’s not perfect, but he’s certainly fun.  And we live in a time where there’s a freaking Bag-Man figure.  Crazy.

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.

#3411: Nebula

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

NEBULA

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Since helping the Avengers defeat her adoptive father, Nebula has become a full-fledged member of the Guardians of the Galaxy who show her the true meaning of family.”

Of all the characters within the Guardians movies, Nebula gets perhaps the most compelling arc. She begins as a wholly antagonistic force towards the Guardians, an angry, violent, and jealous character, focused purely on getting what’s hers. By the final chapter, she’s faced down her genocidal maniac of a father, as well as confronting her former self (literally) and become a central member of the team, deeply concerned with the care of the rest of the group. She’s just a cuddly blue ball of cybernetics. And who doesn’t love that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nebula is figure 3 in the Cosmo Series of Marvel Legends. Like the rest of the team, Nebula is seen here in her full uniform set-up, which puts her into something other that sort of maroonish color for the first time. The figure stands about 6 inches tall and has 31 points of articulation. Nebula is built from a lot of the same bank of parts as Mantis, which was honestly kind of expected. It seems like the sculpt was slightly more tailored to Nebula and then also used for Mantis, as the height is more in line with the slightly taller Karen Gillan, who portrays Nebula. As Nebula has had some of her cybernetic implants removed since we last saw her, the figure gets a new head showing off her updated look, as well as a new left arm, which highlights her new nano-tech appendage. To my eyes, the head seems a touch too large for the body, but only slightly so. It does sport a respectable Gillan likeness, however, and makes the proper adjustments to the older head. The new arm looks the part of the one seen in the movie, and again is distinctly different from the previous version.  I like all of the smaller nanite details that they’ve worked into it.  The color work on Nebula is largely similar to Mantis, which make sense.  Same body, same uniform, same colors.  The application is pretty clean for the most part.  There’s a little bit of slop on the red, but otherwise the lines are clean.  The face gets the now standard printing, which is suitably lifelike…I mean, as lifelike as a blue alien cyborg lady is going to be.  Nebula is packed with a swap-out blade attachment for her cyborg arm, a blaster rifle (re-used from the Vol 2 Gamora), a pistol (re-used from the prior Nebula), and one of Cosmo’s left legs.  I was a little bit bummed that there’s not extra right hand with any sort of grip to it, as well as the fact that the rifle’s lost all of its accent paint.  Ultimately, those are both pretty minor.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Nebula’s a character that I’ve liked more and more with each of her MCU appearances, which is saying something, because I honestly really liked her a lot the first time around.  Vol 3 was a great close to her arc, and I really liked seeing her fully integrated into the team.  This may well be her best figure yet, honestly.  It’s not a lot of flash or flair, but it’s just a well-put-together figure of a well put together character.

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.

#3410: Cyborg Spider-Woman

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

CYBORG SPIDER-WOMAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Cyborg Spider-Woman is part Spider-Woman, part machine. She doesn’t have regular powers like everyone else but with years of experience and a cannon for an arm, she’s seen it all and can fight with the best of them!”

Across the Spider-Verse sure did have a lot of Spider-people in it. And with that many, it’s hard to focus on all of them. Despite getting a noticeable marketing push, the big, hulking, Cyborg Spider-Woman is relegated to a blink and you’ll miss it sized role in the final product. But, hey, there’s still good toys to be had from the design, right? Right. Let’s look at one of those.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyborg Spider-Woman is a standalone deluxe Marvel Legends release, timed to tie-in with the main Across the Spider-Verse assortment. In fact, the nature of her construction and size points to the initial plan being to make this the Build-A-Figure for that assortment, before that was scrapped to keep the main figures a bit more standalone themselves. Nothing has been confirmed, but this figure notably pops apart at the neck, shoulders, and hips, much like a BaF would, and she lacks any re-used parts from prior BaFs to explain this. The figure stands about 8 inches tall and she has 25 points of articulation. Obviously, with the big cannon arm, she takes a slight hit on posability on that side, but given her size, she gets an okay range of motion. Some of the joints definitely needed to be worked in a bit on my copy, after which their range definitely improved. As touched on above, Spider-Woman gets an all-new sculpt, based on her very brief appearance in the movie, which is, in turn, very clearly inspired by the 616 Spidey’s brief cyborg appearance from Spider-Man #21, albeit supremely bulked up. Also gender-swapped, but that’s not as immediately apparent from the design proper.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve got a soft spot for the Cyborg Spidey look, so I got a kick out of it being referenced for this design in the new movie, especially when we got that first glimpse of the basic toyline figure. The Legend prices enough to win me over on buying her, even before the movie hit. Then the movie hit, and she’s not really in it, but I can’t be mad about getting a cool toy out of the whole thing. And maybe she’ll get a bigger part in the next one?

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.

#3409: Monet St. Croix

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with ,

MONET ST. CROIX

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Monet St. Croix studies to become the next generation of X-Men at the Massachusetts Academy while unraveling her mysterious connection to some of the team’s greatest enemies.”

Boy, is that just the tip of the iceberg.  Monet St. Croix, sometimes codenamed “M”, is either the first of three sisters, or the combination of the two youngest of three sisters (while the eldest is off being trapped as Penance), or perhaps even a combination of the eldest and one of the two younger ones, or possibly even all three. Her powers are pretty much whatever the writers decide she can do at any given moment, which is both convenient and confusing. She is, however, notable for being a rare Muslim super hero, which was especially notable in the ’90s when she first appeared. And she’s also one of the few Generation X members that the writers cared about after their book ended. Good for her? Up to now, she’s not actually had any action figures, but that’s officially changed!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Monet St Croix is figure 3 in the Ch’od Series of Marvel Legends, and is the second member of Generation X in this set, following up on the Chamber figure.  She’s sporting her classic team suit, which is by far the most logical choice, especially if Hasbro’s looking to properly build up the team.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Monet is making use of a good chunk of parts from the Shriek mold, which is becoming a go-to starting point for any female figure in this post-pinned joints era of the line.  It’s a pretty decent sculpt all around.  She’s tall and slender, which seems about right for the character.  She gets a new head and upper torso, as well as add-on pieces for the gauntlets, belt, and boots.  The head definitely looks the part, even if that part may be just a tad non-distinct.  At the very least, she does look to be the correct ethnicity, which has classically been troublesome with depictions of Monet.  The suit details are definitely on the mark, and will surely see some re-use as Hasbro gets further into the rest of the team.  If nothing else, she’s a quick head swap away from just being a Husk figure, so she’s got that going for her.  The color work on Monet is decently handled.  She definitely gets the colors of the uniform down the way they were depicted in the comics.  Her skin tone was always all over the place, but I think they arrived at a good spot for her on this release, and the face printing is nice and sharp on this one.  The only thing I’m not crazy about is how lopsided the X is on the belt buckle.  That’s definitely something that should be more consistent.  Monet is packed with two sets of hands, one in fists, the other in open gesture, as well as Ch’od’s left leg.  She feels a bit light to me, especially given how “meh” the alternate hands wind up being.  Given the uniformed look, an alternate Husk head would have been cool, but if they didn’t want to do multiple characters at once, at least a different expression for Monet herself, or even one that could work as one of her sisters might have been cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t have a ton of attachment to Monet as a character, thanks largely to her not getting a figure in the vintage run, and then not really appearing in much that I followed after that.  All that said, I can appreciate that she’s been in need of a figure for a while.  Since I was getting Chamber, and was therefore going down the Generation X rabbit hole already, she was a pretty easy sell.  She’s not a bad figure.  Not sure about the longevity of me sticking with the team, but hey, we’ll see.

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.

Mutant X Re-Read #01: Fear Him. Fear For Him

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Mutant X Re-Read

IN THE END…AS IN THE BEGINNING

MUTANT X #1 (MARVEL COMICS)

Hello dear readers and welcome to a new thing that I’ve decided I’m apparently doing! I’ve been reviewing action figures for over a decade, but I’ve also been known to review the occasional non-figure thing. Never in a recurring capacity or anything, but hey, there’s a first time for everything. Action figures and comics have been connected for a good long while, so it’s not a crazy stretch to go from one to the other, so that’s a thing I’m gonna at the very least attempt. And why? Havok, that’s why. At the tail end of the ’90s, Havok was granted his own Havok-centric X-spin-off, Mutant X, which saw the main universe’s Alex Summers, in a near death state, shifted into the body of an alternate universe version of himself. And, aside from the general Havok focus, what’s that got to do with me? Well, I just came into a complete run of the whole of Mutant X, which I’d been looking to re-read. And if I’m doing a re-read, I thought I might just drag the rest of you along with me. So, let’s jump back 25 years, to the fall of 1998, and take a look at Mutant X #1, titled “In the end…as in the beginning!”

THE ISSUE ITSELF

Mutant X #1 is cover dated October 1998, and its story and art were handled by Howard Mackie, Tom Raney, and Andrew Pepoy.

Having seemingly died in the pages of X-Factor, Alex Summers floats in limbo. On another Earth, a different Alex leads The Six in a battle against a group of Sentinels. This Alex takes a blast to the chest and falls into the river, also seemingly dead. The mainstream Havok goes into to body of his alternate counterpart and is pulled from the waters by the Brute, thus universe’s version of Hank McCoy. A confused Alex, who believes this whole outing to be some sort of trick, becomes hostile towards the Six, and he’s knocked unconscious by The Fallen (Warren Worthington III). Alex awakens in Bannerman’s Castle, home of The Six, and is greeted by the Brute, who demonstrates his lack of McCoy’s usual intellect. Alex is claims memory loss from his injury and is introduced to Marvel Woman (Madelyn Pryor, Alex’s wife in the universe), The Fallen, Ice-Man (Bob Drake, who after a run0in with Loki is unable to fully control his powers and cannot touch others), and Bloodstorm (Orro Munro turned vampire).  Maddie also reveals to Alex the existence of their son, Scotty. When SHIELD, an anti-mutant terrorist organization in this universe, sets out to attack Liberty Island, The Six must intervene in order to save Scotty, who is visiting the island on a day trip. Alex is initially reluctant to help, but when an emotionally distressed Maddie shows signs of her Goblin Queen persona, Alex intervenes and assists the Six in taking down Nick Fury and his Mandroid-armored SHIELD agents. Back at Bannerman’s Castle, Alex goes to check on Scotty, who reveals that he knows that this Alex isn’t his father…

This issue has a lot of ground to cover, which is aided by the fact that it’s a whopping 56 pager. We get only the slightest bit of recap of what happened to main Alex before jumping into the whole alternate universe thing, at which point, Alex is essentially just there to walk the reader through this new universe. There’s quite a bit to exposit, but the story actually handles it alright, keeping most things from being too dry or clunky. There are a few spots where it’s a little choppy, with Scotty’s trip to Liberty Island in particular being a slightly awkward beat. The whole SHIELD change up is also a little off, with little explanation offered as to why Fury is just straight evil in this universe. Of the main team, Brute definitely gets the best showing in this first outing, actually getting his backstory worked into the story, as well as getting an immediately different characterization, and a more clearly defined deviation from his main universe counterpart. It’s also kind of refreshing to see an alternate universe take on Hank that doesn’t jump right to “evil scientist” the way so many Hank variants do. Maddie definitely shows a lot of potential for where they’re going to go with the character, but isn’t quite a full fledged character on her own just yet. Ice-Man has a fairly interesting change-up, even if it is just a slight recycle on Rogue’s usual schtick. Bloodstorm and Fallen, however, are both pretty slim on characterization at this point, both relying on being like the normal versions, but edgier. The smaller role for Scotty is also noticeable, especially with the mislead at the end where it looks like he’s distrustful of Alex.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I recall a lot of Mutant X‘s existence when it was new, and I picked up the odd issue here and there.  It was one of my go-tos when I just wanted to pick out a comic for myself, honestly.  This was one of the issues I had as a kid (though I believe I had a copy from a later print-run), and I remember re-reading it a lot at the time.  I honestly didn’t recall the whole SHIELD sub-plot, which probably speaks to how it’s the weaker portion of this inaugural story.  In general, though, I was pleasantly surprised by how well this first issue held up, and it’s made me very excited to read the rest of the run.

I snagged this whole run (and in fact my first copy of this issue as well) from my usual comics stop, Cosmic Comix, so I want to give them a shout out here, because it was a pretty great find.