Tag Archives: Angel (Warren Worthington III)

#0055: Angel – Savage Land

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

ANGEL – SAVAGE LAND

X-MEN (TOYBIZ)

The 90s X-Men line!  Now there was a line.  I haven’t really looked at this line yet on the site, aside from the Original Members Boxed Set, which wasn’t actually part of the line.  But in the 90s, the X-Men were the big thing.  They had a TV show, their comics sold millions, and they had one of the most comprehensive toy lines to date.  There was a Cho’d action figure for God’s sake!  Towards the end of the line, they began to run out of new characters to release, so they started doing these theme waves with rereleases of the main characters.  One of those theme waves was a set of figures based on the X-Men’s many trips to the Savage Land.  It featured figures of the X-Men in tattered “Savage Land” uniforms.  Today, I’ll be looking at the Angel figure from that line.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

So, as I said above, Angel here hails from the Savage Land series of Toybiz’s 5-inch X-Men line.  He stands roughly 5 inches tall and has 11 points of articulation.  If you read the review of the Fallen, you’ve seen a lot of this figure before.   He shares all but his head, arms and feet with that figure.  The head was actually one that saw frequent reuse over at Toybiz, and I know this wasn’t the first figure to use it, but I honestly don’t know what was.   Anyway, it works fine here, though it might be a bit scowly for a pre-Archangel Warren Worthington.  The figure’s look is mostly done through paint, which depicts a tattered version of Angel’s blue and white costume from the silver age*.   It’s cool to see this costume here, but a bit disappointing that the costume never got a proper release.  Angel at one point featured a pair of (very small) wings, a gray vest with an X-logo, and some weird claw thing that attached to his wrist, but I lost most of those pieces many years ago.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this figure on one of my many trips the KB Toys outlet in Rehobeth Beach.  I was very excited to get it because Angel figures were a bit of a rarity in the 90s.  I know I really liked this guy, and for reasons I can’t fathom at this point, I know he spent a lot of time in my Ghostbusters Ecto-1.

*In super hero -comics, the first 40 years or so are divided into three “ages”:  The Golden Age, The Silver Age, and the Bronze Age.  The Sliver age, at Marvel any way, is believed to start with Fantastic Four #1, and end somewhere around Giant Size X-Men #1.

Read the Flashback Friday Figure Addendum here!

And there’s a second one here!

#0030: The Fallen

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

THE FALLEN

MUTANT X (TOY BIZ)

Ah, Mutant X.  Man, that was such a 90s comicbook.  One that I enjoyed immensely!  Diamond Comics’ catalogue Previews offered figures of four members of the books main team “The Six”(No, I don’t really know why they didn’t offer all six.  Seems a little odd, doesn’t it.  It’s like only releasing  three of the Fantastic Four!).  Being a fan of the comic and a fan of action figures, particularly 90s Marvel figures, I of course wound up with a set.  Today, I’ll be looking at The Fallen, who was an alternate universe version of Warren Worthington III, aka Archangel.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Fallen stands about 5 inches tall, and has 13 points of articulation.  He also had his signature wings, which could be snapped onto his back, and were made of a soft translucent green material, with wire running through to allow them to be posed.  The wires honestly didn’t offer much poseability, but it’s the thought that counts, I suppose.  Fallen also included an X-Logo shaped stand, which is good, because he can’t stand without it due to his top heavy nature.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Fallen, along with the other figures from the Mutant X line, was a Christmas gift from my parents.  I recall being fairly excited to open him, as he was my favorite character from the series.  Yay!

#0007: X-Men Original Members Boxed Set

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

CYCLOPS, MARVEL GIRL, BEAST, ICEMAN, & ANGEL

X-MEN ORIGINAL MEMBERS BOXED SET

Today we look at another of Toybiz’s First Appearance boxed sets.  This one’s not quite as colorful as the Avengers set, but it’s still pretty fun.  The set is of course based on the founding members of the X-Men in their original uniforms, straight from X-Men #1.

CYCLOPS

THE FIGURE ITSELF

What better place to start than leader-man himself: Scott Summers, aka Cyclops!  He, like all the others in the set is depicted here in his black and yellow uniform from the early issues of X-Men.  He’s got 12 points of articulation.  The sculpt is pretty good, especially the head, which does a good job of capturing a nice determined look.  The facial expression is very Kirby, which is appropriate.  The body is another story.  It’s not terrible mind you, but it could be a little better.  His shoulders are a bit on the broad side, and his waist is too thin.  The torso is also a rather flat in general, which is a bit odd.  The best part of the figure, I think, is the hinged visor.  It showcases the very nice sculpt below, and highlights the light-piped eyes, simulating his optic blasts.  I also love that his right hand is specially molded to allow you to pose him holding his visor.

MARVEL GIRL

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Next up is Scott’s girlfriend,  the marvelous Jean Grey, aka Marvel Girl.  She shown in her early costume, before they tweaked her design to set her apart more from the boys.  And that’s unfortunate, because it makes for a somewhat ugly figure.  Her proportions are really off.  She’s got long arms, huge hands and feet, and what looks like no ears.  Not to mention that her torso looks way to short.  Throw in the odd choice of rooted hair for the pony tail, and you’ve got yourself quite the funky looking figure.  She’s not the most hideous figure that Toybiz ever put out (That honor goes to the Marvel Legends Scarlet Witch.  Euggghh…), but she‘s far from the best.  She looks okay with the team, but not really anywhere else.

BEAST

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Next up is the resident brains AND brawn, Hank McCoy, aka The Beast.  This is a pre-blue and furry beast, which is quite the rarity in the toy world.  It’s a pretty good representation of that too, though the face sculpt focuses a bit too much on the “brawn” side of things in my opinion.  The huge hands and feet are well done, and make him really easy to balance, which is quite nice.  He’s a solid addition to the set.

ICEMAN

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Next is the hot-headed but cool Bobby Drake, aka Iceman.  He’s probably the figure in the set that stands out the most, because he’s the only one not in the standard black and yellow uniform.  They’ve chosen to show him in is snowy form, from before he learned to actually turn into ice.  The figure’s  molded in clear plastic, with very light blue accents painted generously to make him more opaque.  It’s a great effect, and really makes him look nice and icy.  The sculpt is pretty strong.  He suffers from some of the same wonky proportions as Cyclops, but once again the face sculpt is spot on, depicting an nice cocky grin beneath his snowy exterior.  One minor complaint I have is that the ice blasts are permanently affixed to his hands, which does ruin his play factor a bit.

ANGEL

THE FIGURE ITSELF

And, saving the best for last, it’s everybody’s favorite angelic millionaire, Warren Worthington, aka Angel.  Angel is, in my opinion, the best this set has to offer.  He doesn’t suffer from the wonky proportions that seem to plague this set.  He’s got a perfect expression for that “I’ve got so much more money than you” millionaire look.  Plus those wings!  Those awesome articulated wings!  The figure also is somewhat of a rarity in that it depicts a pre-archangel Warren, which is always a nice change.  If I had one complaint, it would be that the figure is a bit difficult to keep standing, mostly due to the wings, but it’s nothing that I can’t deal with.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This is another set I remember being quite excited about, though not as excited as I was for the Avengers set.  I think it was probably because I had most of these characters already from Toybiz’s extensive X-Men line.  I believe that this set was a Christmas gift, though I don’t remember who it was from (probably my parents).

I also have spare set of this one, thanks to my Angel figure going missing not long after I got the set.  Having gone without him for so long probably just makes me appreciate him more now (That sounded weird…).