Tag Archives: Corsair

#3399: Starjammer Corsair

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

STARJAMMER CORSAIR

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Cyclops’ world is forever changed when Starjammer Captain and cavalier space pirate Corsair reveals he’s Christopher Summers, Scott’s long-lost father.”

Man, spoilers much?  I mean, seriously, what if I’m not up on my reading from the ’70s?  Or my viewing from the ’90s?  Won’t you think of the people that live under rocks, and yet still inexplicably buy toys?  No?  Well, that’s probably fair.  Since we already know his big secret, I guess, here’s Corsair!  Corsair, the assiumed name of Christopher Summers.  Which is just one name.  Like Madonna.  Or Beyonce.  It’s certainly not “Corsair Summers,” I’ll tell you that much.  Why bring this up?  Personal trauma, that’s why.  But let’s not get into that.  There’s an awesome Corsair figure to be looked at!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Corsair is figure 4 in the Ch’od Series of Marvel Legends.  This assortment has an interesting flow to it, all sort of headed by Cyclops, so it’s rather appropriate that Scott’s father would be a part of the set.  This is Corsair’s first time as a Legend, and only his third time as a figure, following his Toy Biz and Minimate counterparts.  He’s based on his original, sans shoulder pads design, which makes sense, since that’s the one he’s spent most of his carreer wearing.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Corsair makes use of the Vulcan body, which is a sensible choice, seeing as it’s the one used by two of his three sons, and he’s typically depicted as about the same build as them.  He gets a new head and belt piece, as well as a modified upper torso (adding the collar) and forearms (adding the gloves).  I love the new head sculpt.  It really captures that feel of Corsair, and he’s even got that flowy hair!  Plus the dynamic flow on his headband looks really cool, too.  The new torso piece is somewhat baffling, not because it’s bad or anything, but because it’s a different piece than the nearly identical piece that was just used for Banshee, who is also built on the same base body.  Sure, the collars are a little different, but different enough for there to need to be two distinct and different pieces?  I don’t really feel so.  I’m not complaining, or anything, but it’s certainly odd.  Corsair’s paint work is clean, bright, and bold, which are really all of the things that I’d want out of it.  There’s a little extra detailing to help bring some more life to the face, which is very nice, and it’s otherwise just very clean.  Corsair is packed with two sets of hands (in gripping and fists), his pistol, his sword (re-used from Citizen V), and the right arm for the Ch’od Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

“The Phoenix Saga” is hands down my favorite portion of the X-Men books (and also the animated series), so I’m down for anything related to it in toy form.  I’ve held onto my old Toy Biz figure since he was new, but I’ve been hoping to see some Legends love for a while.  Hasbro definitely didn’t disappoint with this one.  He does what he needs to, and he does it well, and he’s just a lot of fun, as a good space pirate should be.

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.

#2483: Corsair

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

CORSAIR

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“Snatched from the Earth by a passing Shi’ar spacecraft, Christopher Summers was pressed into service as a slave of that galactic empire. But Summers burst the bonds of his captivity, and now in the company of his fellow Starjammers, he roams the cosmos as the free booting space pirate known as Corsair!”

“The Phoenix Saga” opened up a lot of new avenues for the X-Men.  I guess going into space will do that for you.  In addition to contending with the whole Shi’ar Empire, they also came upon a band of space pirates, the Starjammers.  Originally pitched by artist Dave Cockrum as a standalone set of characters, they were reworked into the crew of a displaced Christopher Summers, the man eventually revealed to be the father of X-Men Cyclops and Havok (and Vulcan, too, but I don’t wanna talk about it).  As the bio above notes, Christopher took on the name “Corsair” and even managed to get himself an action figure, which I’m looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Corsair was released in the 8th Series of Toy Biz’s X-Men series, officially dubbed the “Phoenix Saga” Series, and designed to tie-in with the storyline’s adaptation on the cartoon.  Corsair played a large role in that adaptation, so his presence in the tie-in made quite a bit of sense.  Interestingly, Corsair was actually the third Starjammer to grace the line, following Ch’od and Raza’s inclusion in Series 7.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  He’s a pretty standard offering for the line in terms of mobility and construction, being hampered by no odd lack of joints or the addition of any weird action features.  He’s just a nice, basic sculpt.  The details are all pretty cleanly handled, and he’s got a nicely balanced set of proportions.  He’s perhaps a touch exaggerated, but certainly no where near as badly as later figures in the line.  He does go for Corsair’s slightly updated shoulder pad-bearing design, introduced in the early ’90s (because everyone had to have shoulder pads in the ’90s, of course).  It’s the one used on the cartoon, and it really wasn’t much of a change from the original design, so it ended up working out okay.  If there was one change I’d like to see on this figure, I wouldn’t have minded if his hair had a little bit more of a dynamic flair to it; it was usually pretty fabulous, and it seems a little tame here.  It’s not the end of the world, though; I’ll learn to live, I’m sure.  Corsair’s paint work is overall pretty cleanly handled. It’s basic, but it’s also bright and eye-catching, as Corsair should be.  Corsair was originally packed with a sword, gun, and grapple.  My figure’s only got the sword left, but that’s honestly the best part, so I’m okay with it.  Interestingly, Corsair is one of only two figures in the Phoenix Saga Series not to gain extra accessories when the assortment was moved over to the larger-style cards.  I guess they felt like he had enough already.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Corsair as gift from my Nana back when he was new.  I don’t remember exactly the occasion, but I know it wasn’t a birthday, because my cousin Rusty also got one at the same time.  Maybe it was an end of school thing?  Or possibly an Easter thing?  I don’t know.  I do know that Rusty had no clue who Corsair was and definitely didn’t appreciate getting him as much as I did.  He’s a pretty solid figure, so I definitely am glad he was one I held onto.