Tag Archives: Mutant X

#3722: Blood Storm

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

BLOOD STORM

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“A mutant and proficient thief, Ororo Munro was targeted by Dracula and transformed into a vampire known as Bloodstorm.”

Hey!  It’s Halloween!  I swore to myself that I would start this review with some variation of “it’s Halloween, oooooo, scary” over my own dead body.  My own, cold, dead, blood-sucking body.  Speaking of cold, dead, blood-sucking things, you guys remember when I talked about Mutant X?  Man, that sure was a thing.  Well, I finished my read-through of the series back in July, and here in October, we’ve gotten our first Mutant X-themed figure in over 20 years.  Riiiiiiight after I finished my read-through.  Look, I’m not saying it’s all thanks to me, but I’m okay if you guys want to.  So, after that very long wait for another figure, who do we get?  ….It’s Bloodstorm…of course it’s Bloodstorm.  It would be Bloodstorm.  Well, let’s review Bloodstorm.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Bloodstorm is figure 2 in the Blackheart Series of Marvel Legends, which is a Fan Channel exclusive set.  The assortment is officially titled “Strange Tales” and generally themed around the supernatural side of Marvel.  Bloodstorm’s certainly an offbeat choice, but not the weirdest, I suppose.  She gets a leg-up by being a Storm variant in a year when everyone wants X-related stuff.  She officially debuts Mutant X as a theme in Legends, and is the second Bloodstorm figure we’ve gotten, the first being Toy Biz’s 5-inch figure from 2001.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and she has 28 points of articulation.  She’s a mix of old and new parts.  She’s using the legs and feet from the mohawk Storm from the Apocalypse Series, and the arms from Jessica Jones.  It’s an okay selection of parts, but certainly ones that are showing their age.  The legs in particular are kind of warping, and the exposed joints are especially obvious.  The arms look fine, but they’re definitely restricted at the elbows.  The rest of the parts are new, sculpted by Paul Harding.  The new parts are definitely very strong additions, and do a lot to carry the older parts when viewed as a whole.  There are two different heads, one calm, and one more dynamic.  The dynamic one is certainly my favorite of the two, and it makes for good posing.  Bloodstorm’s color work is decent enough.  Obviously, very dark and monochromatic, which is the part.  The heads both get some pretty solid accent work on the faces and hair, which really sells the already pretty solid sculpts.  Bloodstorm is packed with two sets of hands, one in open gesture, the other more a claw pose.  No fists is a bit of a bummer, since the two included pairs are rather along the same lines.  She’s also packed with the torso and tail of the Blackheart Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Look, guys, a Mutant X assortment of Legends has been my dream set for a good long while, so *any* Mutant X Legends is a pretty big deal.  But, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t buy this figure out of obligation more than actual desire to own it.  Bloodstorm’s definitely not my favorite part of the book, and after finishing it, I still do not get the hype behind her.  But, I really, really want more Mutant X figures, so I have to buy her.  She’s alright.  I find her a bit hampered by the old parts, but the new ones are at least pretty strong.  Can I please get more Mutant X figures now?

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.

Would you like to own an official piece of The Figure in Question history…or something like that?  Well, the figure reviewed here isn’t available, but I’m selling the Blackheart Build-A-Figure piece, as well as some other items from the official Figure in Question collection, over on my eBay page, so check it out.  Or don’t.  I have no control over you outside the confines of the review.

#1299: Bloodstorm

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

BLOODSTORM

MUTANT X (TOY BIZ)

“Ororo Munroe was once the X-Man code-named Storm for her ability to control the weather.  After a horrific encounter with Dracula, she died and returned as a vampire.  Soon thereafter, she left the X-Men, seeking answers about her self and her new state-of-being.  She later returned to join Havok’s mutant superteazm, The Six, calling herself Bloodstorm.  Ororo retained her mutant power of weather control but now has the preternatural gifts of the living dead at her disposal making her an even more formidable opponent.  Bloodstorm can transform her body into mist, summon and control the myriad of creatures of the night and on occasion use a “hypnotic stare” to hold humans in her thrall.  Her vampiric nature amplifies her control of the forces of nature but makes her unpredictable in battle.”

Well, I don’t think I can get any more in-depth than that there bio, now can I?  So, this particular variant of Storm hails from Mutant X, an alternate reality-based X-Men series from the ‘90s.  I only have a handful of issues from the series, but I always enjoyed it (having Havok as the main character probably helped a lot).  There were a handful of action figures released, and I had to whole set.  Today, I’ll be looking at the alternate version of Storm, dubbed “Bloodstorm” because it was the ‘90s.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Bloodstorm is one of the four figures in the Previews-exclusive Mutant X series, put out by Toy Biz in 1998.  You’d think that with the main team being called “The Six” and all, they might try to, you know, release *six* figures and finish out the whole team, but this was the same company that on more than one occasion neglected to release all four of the Fantastic Four in a given style, so I guess it wasn’t a huge shock.  Storm stands about 5 inches tall and has 10 points of articulation.  While much of Storm’s mold was technically new to her, she was largely built on top of the Alpha Flight Guardian body, with the extra details sculpted on where needed.  In the end, only the arms are truly identical between the two figures.  The body is decent enough for how Bloodstorm tended to be drawn in the comics, and I like the extra details, but I did always feel she was a little on the short side for Storm (this was a common issue with the Toy Biz Storm figures).  She got an all-new head sculpt, which is really good, almost too good for the body it’s been placed on.  There’s a ton of detail work, and it’s really sharply handled.  I really love the intensity of the facial expression.  About the only issue I have with it is the pony tail, which is made from a soft rubber material and can be rather easily torn off if you aren’t careful.  Her coat is a soft goods piece, which looks alright, I guess.  It was supposed to be actually sculpted on, going by the prototype, but I guess it didn’t cost out.  At least this way you get the extra look.  The paintwork on this figure is generally pretty good, apart from a few oddities here and there.  I’m really not sure what’s going on with her abdomen; it looks like they tried to airbrush it or something, but it just didn’t work out right.  On the flip side, the work on the head is fantastic, and does a wonderful job of showing off the already great head sculpt.  Her one accessory is a metallic green “X” stand, which is the same stand included with all of the Generation X figure, just in a different color.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like the previously reviewed The Fallen figure (sorry about that review in advance; it’s not one of my better ones), Bloodstorm was Christmas gift from my parents.  I recall not having much of an opinion one way or the other about her when I got her (Bloodstorm wasn’t really one of my favorite characters from the series), but I have to say, after taking her back out to review her, I was pleasantly surprised by this figure.

#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!