Tag Archives: Psylocke

#3078: Psylocke, Nimrod, & Fantomex

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

PSYLOCKE, NIMROD, & FANTOMEX

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

I wasn’t lying last week about spacing out my Legends reviews.  It’s what I have to do to get by these days, during this crazy drought… Look, they got me hooked on getting new stuff like every other day, and then all of the sudden it was just gone, and I’m not entirely sure what to do with myself anymore.  Thankfully, I still have a few things from last year I never got around to, so it’s like this extra little pocket of surprise snacks for later.  Or something like that.  At the beginning of the year, I looked at an Amazon-exclusive boxed set from 2021.  Now, I guess I’ll jump way back in time, to the far back year of 2020, when their exclusive was an X-Force-themed set.  You know, for reasons.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Psylocke, Nimrod, and Fantomex were released as an Amazon-exclusive Marvel Legends boxed set at the tail end of 2020.  The set was then offered up as a wider Fan Channel release in the back half of 2021.  It wasn’t quite as fast a turn around as the Wolverine boxed set, but it was still a fairly quick one.

PSYLOCKE

Because we couldn’t very well have a Legends boxed set without some dead weight, here’s Psylocke.  Okay, that’s not fair.  Psylocke’s not really the dead weight here, I suppose.  I mean, she’s actually got a unique design, and it’s not like the prior release was exactly easy to come by.  This marks Psylocke’s third time as a Hasbro Legends release, and fourth release in Legends form overall.  It’s also the first to deviate from the “bathing suit” costume design, and I’m okay with that.  This new one is based on her later Uncanny X-Force designs, which keeps a few elements from the more classic look, while also making her look a little more tactical and more battle-ready.  Honestly, I think this is honestly a slightly better look overall.  The figure stands just shy of 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Her sculpt is almost entirely a re-use of the last Psylocke figure.  While I was a touch critical on that one, since she was meant to be a more directly Lee-inspired figure, on this particular design, I actually think the mold works out pretty well.  The only thing to be changed up for this release is her sash piece, which is now tighter fitting and sports an “X” insignia sculpted on the front.  It’s a subtle, but notable improvement over the prior piece, and I like it a lot more.  Beyond the new sash, all of the differences for this figure are paint-based.  It’s a pretty solidly handled application.  The costume’s details are nice and clean, and they’ve actually improved on the hair paint from the prior release a whole lot.  Psylocke includes the same accessories as the last release: a psychic effect, a katana, and a psychic knife, all molded in translucent pink, but now with a little extra purple detailing.  In addition, she also gets a spare left hand, in a grippilng pose, so she can now hold her sword with both hands.

NIMROD

There’s an unquestionable selling point of this set, and it’s Nimrod.  Introduced in 1985, Nimrod is a future Sentinel from the averted “Days of Future Past” timeline, who finds his way to the present day 616 universe.  He’s been a recurring foe in the X-books since then, with a recent resurgence in relevance during the “of X” stuff that’s been going on in the X-books the last few years.  This marks Nimrod’s third ever figure, and his first time as a Legend.  The figure stands about 8 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation.  If there’s one drawback to Nimrod, it’s his movement.  It’s not really the figure’s fault, since the design itself is pretty limiting.  Notably, the neck joint is only there for swapping the heads, and doesn’t really work for actual posing.  Additionally, the range on the shoulders and elbows is rather restricted.  Beyond that, though, he’s decently posable, given the design.  Nimrod is an all-new sculpt, and is an amalgam of a few of his designs, taking elements from his earliest appearances, as well as his more recent look.  It’s not a clean match for anything in particular, but it captures the overall essence of the character well.  It’s a very clean and sleek design, and I definitely dig it.  There are two different head sculpts included, which are actually different, albeit in rather minor ways.  The pink-faced version is more classically inspired, while the silver-faced one follows his “of X” look a little more closely.  They’re internally consistent, and both have a very similar vibe, while still being different enough to justify including the separate pieces.  Nimrod’s paint work is generally more on the basic side, but it’s clean, fairly solid on the application front, and matches well with his usual color scheme.  Nimrod is packed with two sets of hands, one open, one closed, as well as two blast effects, and a removable set of wings to match up with the newer style head.

FANTOMEX

Remember before, when I was talking about dead weight?  Well, here we are, back at that point.  Behold, Fantomex.  Introduced during Grant Morrison’s New X-Men run, Fantomex is an X-themed pastiche of Italian comic character Diabolik, a masked master thief.  The name Fantomex is itself patterned on the French character “Fantomas,” whom Diabolik himself was also patterned on.  Fantomex has been one of those oddball characters floating around the Marvel universe and popping in and out as X-Men stories deem they need him.  He was part of X-Force for a while, and it was that era which netted him two prior action figures, one of them being his first Legends treatment, back during the Return of Marvel Legends line.  It’s been a decade since that figure’s release, so an update’s not an unreasonable prospect.  The trouble this figure runs into is how much “updating” was actually done.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  He’s built on the Bucky Cap body, with US Agent’s flared gloves, Nick Fury’s trenchcoat (amusingly, the exact same coat piece used on the first Fantomex), Cyclops’ boot cuffs, and an all-new head and belt.  The real trouble that this figure’s assembly runs into isn’t so much that it’s a bad stock of parts, but more that most of the parts are kind of on their way out, and, in fact, most of them are just as old as the prior figure.  The Bucky Cap body was introduced in that very same series, even, the flared gloves are from one series later, and the coat is even older.  The new parts are perfectly fine additions, though not drastically different themselves.  So, generally, yes he’s made from new parts, but he doesn’t feel particularly different.  Adding to that is the deco choice, which is identical to the last one, despite there being two different Fantomex decos available, both of which are arguably more demanded than this one.  This one’s not a terrible look, mind you, and the application is solidly handled.  It just feels like a little bit of a missed opportunity.  Fantomex is packed with two guns, which are similar to, but different from the prior figure’s guns, as well as the blast and smoke effects from War Machine.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was interested in Nimrod when he was first shown off, but bundling him with two extra figures, and then making the whole thing an exclusive kind of backburnered the whole thing for me.  When it made its way to a wider release, it became easier for me to snag through work, and therefore more appealing, though still on the backburner a bit, as you can tell from the lateness of this review.  Nimrod’s a very fun figure, and I like that he can pull double duty as modern and classic.  It helps add to the set’s pull.  I didn’t think much of Psylocke at first, but after getting her in hand, I like her a lot more than I thought I would, and honestly like her more than the standard Lee version.  Fantomex is a character I only have a passing interest in, and this particular figure does very little for me.  He’s just sort of there.  But, hey, two out of three ain’t bad.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this set to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.

#1768: Psylocke

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

PSYLOCKE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Betsy Braddock adopts the identity Psylocke, combining mastery of the martial arts with enhanced abilities in telekinesis and telepathy.”

I have reviewed a surprising amount of Psylocke figures for this site.  I mean, more than one would suffice really, but this one will mark the fifth.  How about that?  Interestingly, one of the few Psylocke figures in my collection I *haven’t* yet reviewed is her first Marvel Legends figure.  It’s interesting; she was part of one of my favorite assortments from that line, and is genuinely one of the better female figures Toy Biz released.  Despite all that, she’s never been a favorite of mine, or anyone’s for that matter.  Since the license transferred over to Hasbro, there’s only been one Psylocke figure under the Legends banner, and that was in an SDCC-exclusive pack from 2012.  Fortunately, Hasbro’s offering another take on the character, which I’m looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Psylocke is the seventh and final figure in the Apocalypse Series of Marvel Legends.  Like her very first Legends release, this one is based on Psylocke’s Jim Lee-designed, post body swap appearance.  While I myself am partial to Betsy’s armored look from the ’80s, there’s no denying that this particular look is the definitive Psylocke, so Hasbro’s choice was certainly a sensible one.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Psylocke marks the debut of a new female base body.  A slight surprise, given a lot of people were just expecting her to be on the Moonstone body, which seems like a decent match for Lee’s take on Betsy.  This new body is comparatively a little slimmer, but as a trade off seems to have a better overall range of motion on the joints, and is perhaps a more realistic portrayal of Psylocke than Lee’s.  In particular, I quite like the elbow, which, though only single joints, can get a surprisingly deep bend to them.  Psylocke’s character-specific parts are her head and sash, both of which are decent, but not without flaw.  The head is certainly a respectable offering, but it’s a touch on the generic side.  Also, her hair is parted the opposite direction of the how Psylocke’s usually goes, which is a little odd.  Was this head perhaps initially meant for someone else?  Likewise, the sash is an alright piece, but isn’t really sculpted to flow with the contours of the body the was prior pieces have.  As such, it’s just a very floaty piece, and never really stays in place.  Psylocke’s paint was another area of contention amongst the fan base, though my personal figure wasn’t affected.  Early shipments of this figure had black hair in place of her proper purple locks, which is a pretty major issue.  Fortunately, it seems Hasbro was right on top of it, and Betsy’s correct hair color has been applied for more recent figures.  Beyond the hair snafu, the rest of the paint is actually pretty decent.  The metallic blue used for her costume is definitely a lot of fun, and the overall application is very clean.  Psylocke is packed with a psychic effect that clips onto her face, one of her psychic knives for her left hand, and a psychic Katana with removable psychic energy effects.  It’s all a bit psychic, really.  She also includes the left leg of the Build-A-Figure Apocalypse, which is the final piece to that particular figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve never been super, super into Psylocke, but she was prominent in the ’90s, and I was certainly happy to have another go at the character.  In a series full of some serious hits, Psylocke is, admittedly, one of the weaker figures, at least for me.  She’s certainly not a bad figure, and a definite improvement on her Toy Biz variant.  In another assortment, she might have stood out better.  Still, I’m happy to add her to my collection, and I like her more in person than I’d have expected to.

Psylocke was purchased from my friends at All Time Toys.  If you’re interested in purchasing other Legends figures, or are looking for other cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay Store.

#1627: Psylocke

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

PSYLOCKE

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“A master of martial arts, Psylocke is also one of the most powerful telepaths on Earth! Focusing her mental power, Psylocke can create what she calls her “psychic knife”. Using this weapon, Psylocke is able to incapacitate her opponents without any physical injury! As beautiful as she is powerful, Psylocke is a key member of the X-Men team!”

Today’s review subject is brought to you in part by Tim, who ran through about five potential review subjects, before we both agreed to a Psylocke figure.  Sometimes that’s just how things work here at the FiQ offices (okay, it’s not so much an office as it is the Jeep Cherokee that we both happened to be riding in at the time).  So, without further ado, here’s Psylocke.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Psylocke was part of the “Light-Up Weapons” Series of Toy Biz’s X-Men toyline.  This was Psylocke’s first action figure, and is based on her Jim Lee-inspired post-mind swap look.  While it’s not my personal favorite, it’s the look that she was sporting for a decade or so and it’s how most people know her.  The figure stands about 4 3/4 inches tall and she has 9 points of artiuculation.  As with all of the figures in this particular assortment, she looses movement in her arms in order to facilitate the light-up feature, so her posablity is a bit down.  She’s also got the dreaded v-hips, so sitting isn’t much of an option.  Essentially, she’s only good for a basic standing pose.  ….Which is odd when you take into account the sculpt’s decision to give her very dynamically flowing hair.  That just ends up looking weird, like she’s standing sideways in a wind tunnel or something.  I mean, the rest of the sculpt is decent enough, though, and for all of her restricted posing, the figure has a natural sort of posture to her, so she doesn’t look too unreal.  The paintwork on her is alright, but has some notable flaws.  The straps on her arms and legs are really showing some slop, which is a bit frustrating.  Also, the coloring of her hair is a bit off, since it shouldn’t really be so much a straight purple color as a black with purple dye.  Psylocke was packed with her psychic knife (which is the basis of her light-up feature), as well as a more standard katana.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Psylocke is a recent addition to my collection.  I feel like I’ve been saying that a lot recently.  I swear, I had a lot of these figures growing up, I just happen to be reviewing the more recent ones.  Anyway, I picked her up back in December from Time Warp Toys, during Ellicott City’s Midnight Madness event.  She’s an alright figure, but, admittedly, not one of the stronger Toy Biz X-Men or even one of the stronger figures just in this series alone.

#0648: Strike Force Storm & Avalanche

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

STORM – STRIKE FORCE & AVALANCHE

MARVEL MINIMATES

Storm&Avalanche1

Man, I’ve sure gotten a lot of new stuff lately. So much that certain things have gotten pushed to the side, sometimes for a lot longer than I intended. Case in point, Marvel Minimates Series 60. I’ve had them for two whole months, and I’ve still only reviewed half of the series. Sorry everybody! In an effort to fix that, I’ll be taking a look at Storm and Avalanche today.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of Series 60 of Marvel Minimates, which was designed as an X-Men vs the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants set-up. As an added bonus, three of the four X-Men included an extra head to let them double as a second character.

STORM – STRIKE FORCE (PLUS PSYLOCKE)

Storm&Avalanche2Storm’s definitely one of the better known X-Men, so it’s no surprise to see her show up for another turn in the Minimate form. Like the rest of the X-Men in this particular series, Storm is presented here in her Strike Force uniform from the 90s. Like Wolverine before her, she didn’t wear it for very long, but she did wear it long enough to make it a valid variant. The figure is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. Storm has sculpted parts for her hair, gloves, and the two sets of straps on her legs. Everything is re-use, but this is an example of just how well it can work. The uniform pieces are the same as the rest of this series’ X-Men, and the hair is a traditionally male hairpiece, first used in the Platoon boxed set for Pvt Gator Lerner. Storm’s paintwork is decent, if not without issue. Storm&Avalanche3The colors are nice and bold and the detail lines are nice and sharp, so that’s good. She also has my personal favorite Storm face we’ve seen so far. That said, she still shares the same thin yellow paint on the shoulders and missing bit of red on the belt buckle with the rest of this set’s X-Men. It’s not really surprising, but it is a little annoying. Storm gets two distinctive sets of accessories: those for Storm and those for the alt character Psylocke. Storm includes a pair of electricity attachments and a flight stand, allowing for a nice representation of her abilities. Psylocke gets her extra head, which features a hairpiece first seen on the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 line’s Jill Valentine, as well as a Psi-Knife attachment and a basic clear display stand.

AVALANCHE

Storm&Avalanche4Avalanche is a longstanding member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, but he always seems to get overlooked. He’s gotten a few toys before (but no Minimates), but he always seems to fade into the background. My only real exposure to the guy was on X-Men: Evolution, where he was merged with Rictor and played as something of an anti-villain, who was conflicted about being a bad guy. That was a cool take on the character, but the comics have always just played him as a rather generic thug. But, he’s important to the team, so here he is. The figure has 7 sculpted parts, for his helmet, chest piece, gloves, belt, and boots. All of these are parts we’ve seen before, but they’re all pretty good matches for the character’s design from the comics. The torso is just a basic powerhouse piece painted to match his armor, which is a little bit Storm&Avalanche5jarring next to the more highly sculpted parts elsewhere, but it looks okay in person. Avalanche’s paintwork is pretty decently handled. The colors are nice and bold, and the detail lines are pretty sharp. His face is a more extreme expression than a lot of others, which is nice to see for a change. Under his chest armor, there’s a fully detailed torso, with a big ol A on his chest, which makes for a neat alt look. For Accessories, Avalanche includes two chunks of road, which are a lot of fun, as well as a set of shoulder pads, should you want to display the giant A look, and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set was part of the full series 60 set I got via Big Bad Toy Store. Storm/Psylocke doesn’t really represent a standard look for either character, but it’s a well-made figure, and it offers those who missed out on the first Jim Lee Psylocke another chance at the character. Avalanche is an important, if somewhat overlooked and underdeveloped part of the Brotherhood. He’s necessary to round out the team, and he’s a pretty well made figure to boot. This set is probably my least favorite of the four sets available, but it’s not a bad set by any means.

#0238: Gambit & Psylocke

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

PSYLOCKE & GAMBIT

MARVEL MINIMATES

Gambit&Psylock

When in doubt, I always turn to Minimates. I find the reviews to generally be a bit easier to write and I can be a little more enthusiastic about them, so they make for better writing in general (at least I sure hope so…). Today marks another Marvel Minimates review. This time around, I’m pulling from the great big world of X-Men with loveable rogue (who is coincidentally loved by Rogue) Gambit, and psychic fighter Psylocke!

THE FIGURES THMSELVES

Psylocke and Gambit were released in series 28 of Marvel Minimates. Originally, this was meant to be series 26 and it would have served as a loose tie-in to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but it was pushed back to 28 when Diamond picked up the license to do Minimates directly from the movie.

PSYLOCKE

Psylocke is built on the basic Minimate body, which, means she stands about 2 ½ inches tall and she has 14 points of articulation. She’s based on Psylocke’s Jim Lee designed look from the early 90s, right around the time that she became Japanese (just go with it). She features two sculpted add-ons: a hair piece and a sash. The hair was originally sculpted for one of the BSG Starbucks, but it was actually released on Psylocke first. The sash may be a re-use, but I don’t know for sure. The paint work is pretty good overall, no slop or bleed over to speak of. One issue is the face seems a bit too narrow, like the paint mask wasn’t applied properly. Psylocke includes a katana, previously seen with Blade, and a “psy knife” which slips over her hand peg.

GAMBIT

Like Psylocke, Gambit is also built on the basic Minimate body. He’s based on Gambit’s default look through much of the 80s and 90s, which is the look most people associate with the character. The figure features a brand new trench coat piece, an all-new hair/headband piece, and a set of new boots. Lots of new stuff.  I do kind of wish that the bib wasn’t a part of the coat, but it looks pretty good. I do love how well they captured Gambit’s mop of unruly hair. The paint work is passable. There’s a bit of slop on the hands, and his face seems a tad too high on the head, but the torso detailing and the pink squares on the legs look great. Gambit included two spate hands with different charged cards and his fighting staff.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This is another set of Minimates I picked up from Cosmic Comix when it was first released. I had eagerly been awaiting series 28, especially after taking part in and winning several prizes in a contest to guess this and series 25’s lineups. This isn’t my favorite version of Psylocke, but it’s not too bad, and Gambit is a character I’ve had an attachment to ever since the 90s animated series.

#0024: Betsy Braddock

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

BETSY BRADDOCK

MARVEL MINIMATES

Today, we’re looking at another Minimate.  Once again, this one if from the extensive Marvel line.  The character in question is Betsy Braddock, sister to Captain Britain, and future X-Man(well X-Woman) Psylocke.

For those of you unaware of who Betsy is:  She’s a telepathic mutant.  There, you’re caught up.  Okay, actually there’s a lot more, but I’ll cover all that on the next Psylocke Minimate…

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Betsy is depicted here in her first “Psylocke” outfit.  She’s obviously meant to be a mid-80s Psylocke, from before she started joining in on the fighting.   She’s built on the basic Minimate body, so she stands about 2 inches tall, and has 14 points of articulation.  She has sculpted hair, though I do believe it is reused from an earlier ‘mate, and a set of unique upper arms to depict the poofy sleeves of her early look.  She’s painted in mostly variations of purple and pink.  She’s a fairly decent interpretation of the character, though she does end up looking a bit dull.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Not much to report here.  This is admittedly my favorite look for Psylocke, but it’s not like there’s a large number of them to choose from.  I guess I like that this one kinda treads the line between her other two most prominent looks, not too covered up(the armored look) and not too skimpy(whatever the hell that was that Jim Lee put her in).  So, yeah…