WARPATH
X-FORCE (TOY BIZ)
“He’s super-strong and super loyal! He’s the Native American known as Warpath! The X-Force team loves him for his rock-steady calm in even the most dangerous situations. Because he’s so big and so strong, Evil Mutants often attack him first, thinking that “the bigger they are, the harder they fall”. But in Warpath’s case, it’s the Evil Mutants who fall!”
The X-Men were really big in the ’90s, and the best way to capitalize on that is spin-offs! Previous X-book The New Mutants was made more x-friendly with its own x-themed title, X-Force, and, with X-Force itself becoming a pretty big deal, it got its own spin-off of Toy Biz’s own X-Men toyline. They got right to work filling in the team’s roster, in an assortment that, in a form of dramatic irony, didn’t actually feature any of the New Mutants members who had transferred over. It did, however, feature Warpath, brother to X-Man proper Thunderbird, getting a figure years before his brother did. How about that?
THE FIGURE ITSELF
Warpath was released in the first series of Toy Biz’s X-Force toyline. He was one of three actual team members in the set. The X-Force line was a bit slower on getting out actual team members than the X-Men line, but then again, the actual book was far more focused on side characters most of the time too. The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation. Warpath lacks elbows and knees, which were still kind of phasing in and out at this point. Presumably, the lack of them here was somehow linked to his slightly larger stature. Not much larger, mind you; he’s actually surprisingly small for Warpath, who is classically a quite large and imposing guy, especially in the ’90s. The sculpt is also kind of soft in terms of detailing, and sort of pre-posed, but also really stiff? It’s an odd mix. His muscles are also just kind of odd lumps. I mean, aside from the very definite presence of feet, he’s not a bad match for a Liefeld drawing. Perhaps not in terms of actual look, but certainly in terms of vibe. The paint work on the figure is honestly not bad. It’s bright and colorful, and the application is pretty sharp and clean. Warpath is packed with…a red bazooka? Not really sure why. Not exactly true to the character, but, well, there it is. He also featured a “Thunder Punch Action,” which just means his arms swing opposite directions when he’s twisted at the waist.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
This is another one of those figures that I looked at a lot growing up, but never actually wound up buying until I was an adult. I snagged him sealed in the summer of 2017, alongside a bunch of other ’90s Toy Biz stuff. He’s…not a terribly impressive figure. I mean, he’s not awful either, I guess, but that’s not exactly a lot to write home about.
The Figure In Question 