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.