Tag Archives: X-Men 97

#3599: Nightcrawler

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

NIGHTCRAWLER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0078: Nightcrawler’s creation predates the All New, All Different X-Men, and in fact predates his creator Dave Cockrum’s time at Marvel; he was originally intended to be part of Legion of Super Heroes spin-off book from Cockrum’s time at DC.  When Dave left DC, he took Nightcrawler with him.

Though certainly a popular X-Man, it feels like we never get enough Nightcrawler figures.  He’s always just a little sparser than you might expect.  Since the introduction of Marvel Legends, he’s gotten two, now three figures.  That’s not a lot.  They’re always pretty good, though, and after the last one, it felt like there wasn’t much room for improvement.  Well, about that…

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nightcrawler is part of the second X-Men ’97-tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends.  He was notable for being the only figure in the line-up *not* featured in the first three episodes of the show.  He finally made his return last week, and boy was that an episode of…like…things.  Just…okay?  Now he’s in the opening credits, and it’s a whole thing.  Look, new figure.  That’s the point.  The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and he has 33 points of articulation.  Sculpturally, this figure uses a handful of parts from the prior Nightcrawler, namely the torso, pelvis, and tail.  Those were solid parts, and are hard to beat for a standard Nightcrawler set-up, so it’s worth a re-use.  He replaces the Pizza Spidey arms and legs with new, albeit similarly built ones.  Now, they have no visible pins, and the glove and boot details are etched in, rather than just simply painted.  He also gets new hands and feet, which are *slightly* different from the prior versions, but not drastically so.  It’s all topped off with two new heads based on Nightcrawler’s updated show design.  One is calm and slightly friendly, while the other is gritting his teeth.  Both have the same swooshy hair, which is a lot of fun.  I very much dig them.  His color work is a lot of molded colors, but there’s some paint work in there too.  Some of the base work, especially on the gloves and boots, is a touch uneven, but the detailing on both heads is incredibly sharp.  Nightcrawler is packed with two sets of hands, one set open, the other set in fists.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t gonna buy this one.  Honest.  I saw him with the rest of the set and I was all set to say “I don’t need that.”  I’ve got my Wendigo Series one, and he’s fantastic, and just can’t be topped.  He’s the Nightcrawler I always wanted, and I have no need to replace him.  And I won’t be.  Because I’ve just decided I’m gonna *also* have this one.  Look, if I can do it with Cyclops, I can also do it with Nightcrawler.  And you can’t stop me.  I mean, I guess you could, if you really tried.  But why?  Why would you do that?  Anyway, I saw this one in person, and I resisted for a bit, but only for a bit.  He’s not drastically different from the last one, but he’s different enough that I see him as an alternative, not a replacement.

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.

#3597: Goblin Queen

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

GOBLIN QUEEN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0076: Though she’s existed since 1983, Madelyn Pryor has had, to date, only two action figures, more than 20 years apart from each other.

I find Madelyn Pryor a generally tedious character.  The concept’s not awful, I guess.  I can certainly understand Claremont’s initial desire to give Scott Summers his planned “happily ever after” even with the adjustments to the end of “The Dark Phoenix Saga” resulting in Jean’s demise.  But, it does put Madelyn in an unfortunate spot of being nothing more than a placeholder, which isn’t ideal.  The whole dissolution of her marriage to Scott is sloppy at best, and “Inferno” is making the best of a bad situation.  So, X-Men ’97‘s take on the entire thing is, honestly, a refreshing reinvention of the set-up, which I actually quite enjoyed.  And it got her a second figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Goblin Queen is the third figure in Series 2 of Hasbro’s X-Men ’97-tie-in sub-line of Marvel Legends.  I suppose you could get technical and say she’s *actually* the second of two Madelyns in the set, depending on how you treat the second head with the Jean Grey figure.  But, you know, let’s not focus on that for now.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Her articulation scheme is generally what we’ve come to expect for this line at this point, at least in terms of set-up.  In terms of range, Madelyn is rather restricted.  It comes with the territory, at least as far as the design is concerned.  She’s good for standing around, provided you can get her balanced, which is admittedly a little tricky, but not impossible.  Madelyn’s sculpt is largely new; the arms appear to be the standard double-jointed female arms, but everything else looks new.  It’s a solid piece of work, though on mine the upper part of her chest doesn’t slot quite right into the rest of it, so there’s an odd shelf and the edge of her skin…which is odd.  Beyond that, though, I do generally like the sculpt.  The head in particular manages to stay consistent with Jean’s sculpt, while still having its own flair of character.  Madelyn’s color work is decent enough, if not 100% accurate to the show.  I don’t know if there was a change to the design during production, but in the final product, the leggings on her thighs are much closer to regular skin tone than what we see here.  It throws the vibe of the look off a touch, but it’s ultimately not the end of the world, I guess.  The rest of the paint is pretty nice, and I do quite like the slight variations in the colors on her outfit.  Madelyn is packed with two sets of hands (fists and open gesture), a pair of energy effects, and, most importantly, baby Nathan Summers.  Nathan is using the body of the baby Hulk/baby Nightcrawler, but gets a new head, and even gets the special x-printing on the blanket, which is extra fun.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I may find Madelyn’s storyline’s questionable at times, but I don’t hate the character or anything, and I’m not opposed to a figure.  This was certainly high on my list when these figures were shown off.  I do like her, though I can’t say she quite shines for me the same way as Cyclops and Jean.  It could certainly be worse, though, and I especially like the baby Nathan.

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.

#3507: Magneto

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

MAGNETO

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

As the “mind’s eye” take on the characters for a very large portion of the fanbase, X-Men: The Animated Series holds a pretty special place for the X-franchise as a whole.  The show got 5 seasons in its original run, but there’s always room for more, right?  Right.  We got our first continuation in comic form, which was honestly pretty fun.  However, three decades after the fact, we’re getting a proper follow-up, X-Men ’97, which will see a return to the show’s universe to animation, as well as the return of most of the original show’s cast.  With the show’s original release set for the end of 2023 (before it got delayed to next year), there’s already plenty of merchandising out there, including a whole set of Marvel Legends.  Today, I’m taking a look at the updated version of Magneto!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Magneto is part of the six-figure line-up for the X-Men ’97 tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends.  Though they’re not directly referencing any older figures, this set is nevertheless using the retro card layout for their packaging.  Magneto is based on his appearance in the new show, which looks to be more or less the same as his appearance in the original.  That makes him a pretty standard classic Magneto, which is honestly pretty cool, since we haven’t gotten a standard release classic Magneto in Legends since the Toy Biz days.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. The last four Legends Magnetos have all been built on the Spider-UK body, which remains a solid choice for the character. This one is definitely a derivative of that one, using modified versions of the arms and legs (which are now pinless at the elbows and knees), plus the Magneto-specific forearms and boots from the Family Matters set. It’s all topped off with a new head, torso, and cape, all courtesy of sculptor Dennis Chan. The Family Matters set-up wasn’t bad, but the new pieces clean it up just a touch, and the new head/helmet combo is just so nice. Easily the best classic Magneto sculpt at this scale. Magneto’s color work is decent enough. The 97 figures aren’t doing cel-shading like the Animated figures did, but they’re certainly still keeping the general coloring vibe going, so they can all still fit together. This guy definitely leans into his animation colors, and does so rather nicely. I quite like the shading around the eyes. Magneto is packed with two sets of hands, in open gesture and fists. It feels a little light. An alternate head, sans helmet would have been really cool, as would some effects pieces of some sort.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was pretty happy with the Family Matters Magneto, so I wasn’t much looking for a new classic Magneto.  That said, there were a few minor things on the last one that I was up for seeing some improvement on, most notably the head/helmet.  This new one really hit the spot, and he’s just overall a nice improvement on every front to the last one.  He’s a definite upgrade.

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.