Tag Archives: X-Men

#3195: White Queen

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

WHITE QUEEN

GENERATION X (TOY BIZ)

“The former White Queen of the sinister Inner Circle, the telepathic Emma Frost, recently re-evaluated her philosophy and alliances. As a result, she has accepted Professor Charles Xavier’s offer to join Banshee in training Generation X, the next class of young mutants enrolled at his school. Shrewd, manipulative, and hardened by her villainous past, Emma Frost will provide the tough guidance necessary for her new students to make it through the turbulent times ahead.”

During the events of the X-Men crossover “Phalanx Covenant”, Marvel formed a new X-team, Generation X.  It was a bunch of younger mutants (essentially the ’90s answer to the New Mutants, who by this point had all been folded into X-Force and X-Factor), under the tutelage of two reformed X-foes: Banshee, who’d been on the main team for years, and the very recently reformed Emma Frost, aka the White Queen.  The reformed White Queen angle wound up sticking, and she’s pretty much been there since.  Her Generation X run wound up getting Emma her first action figure, which is pretty cool, all things considered.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

White Queen was released in Series 2 of Toy Biz’s Generation X line.  After years with more or less the same look, Generation X had placed her in a more toned down outfit.  It’s not classic White Queen, but a solid argument can be made that it’s far more appropriate for a toyline that’s selling at mass retail.  The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall (the Generation X line as a whole was just a touch scaled up), and she has 5 points of articulation.  The articulation on this figure is more or less pointless.  She’s kind of just a statue that you can slightly move the head and arms on.  The hip joints in particular are rather pointless.  Any real change means she can’t stand at all.  So, she just really stands there.  Which, I guess, is what Emma tends to do in the comics.  You know what, I guess it’s the perfect set-up, isn’t it?  The sculpt is a rather stylized one.  Her hands are notably quite large, and the body’s got some definite pre-posed-ness to it.  The proportions are generally just all over the place, and she winds up looking a little bit odd.  I do like how the detailing on the outfit worked out, though.  The paint work on White Queen was the source of a variant for the figure.  The main release has a flesh tone painted on the upper legs, suggesting she’s wearing short shorts, while a rarer version of the release drops the extra paint app, and effectively gives her pants.  Not  huge change, but there it is.  There was also a later variation of the figure in the Marvel Hall of Fame line, dubbed “Black Queen,” which, predictably, swaps black in for all of the white parts, as well as the hair.  Presumably, it’s supposed to be Selene, but it really just winds up looking like Emma’s going through a goth phase.  White Queen’s orignal release was packed with a Psychic Energy Spear, whatever that is, as well as the Generation X display stand.  Black Queen gets the same Spear, but in silver.  Again, no clue what it is, but, you know, there it is.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

There was a long trek to getting all of the variants of this particular figure.  I got the standard release version first, courtesy of Jess, who bought it for me from Power Comics, the comic shop near our apartment when we first moved in together in 2016.  A few years later, I picked up Black Queen loose at a toy show in 2018.  And, I finally wrapped it up with the variant of White Queen, which I snagged from a collection that came into All Time in 2021.  They’re all kind of goofy, and not particularly unique, but there’s a novelty behind how I got them all, which is pretty nice.

#3190: Iceman

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

ICEMAN

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“Iceman has the mutant ability to turn himself into a being of living ice. Once he does that, he can create almost anything he wants: ice slides, ice weapons, ice shields, not to mention icicles and snowballs. And when he really concentrates, he can create a blinding snowstorm even in the middle of July! But most important of all, the X-Men know that no matter how hot the battle, Iceman always keeps his cool.”

Sometimes in the toy world, you discover an issue with an item way too late in the production process, or perhaps even completely after the production has wrapped, leaving you with no way to actually fix the issue.  So, what are you to do?  Well, sometimes you just ignore it.  Other times, you decide to double down on the money train, and do something to fix the issue quickly, all so you can rake in that sweet, sweet cheddar.  Or, ice, as it may be in this case.  This case being the first Toy Biz X-Men Iceman, whose clear plastic and thermochromatic paint caused issues with the intended “stick him in the freezer” gimmick, and meant that the figure just broke.  But it’s okay.  They made another one!  And this time he’s different!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Iceman was released as part of Toy Biz’s first dedicated Repaint series of X-Men, released in late 1993/early 1994, around the main line’s 4th and 5th assortments.  He was perhaps the most sensible of the repaint choices, given the issues with the first release.  The figure stands a little under 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  It’s the same mold as the prior release, which is a respectable classic Iceman sculpt, and fits in quite nicely with the early line figures.  The major difference between this one and the original is now he’s blue.  It’s a nice, consistent, transparent blue, which looks really cool, and makes him immediately different from his Series 2 counterpart.  He includes the same ice sled piece, which can still work with the freezing gimmick, with a little bit less risk of him breaking right away.  That said, you have to be careful with these things, especially given the age of the plastics.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Back when I was a kid, this was the Iceman that my dad had in his collection, so I got to use it with my collection from time to time.  I never had one of my own, but did eventually get the re-release of the clear version from KB a few years later.  I eventually found this guy on his own in a bin of loose figures a few years ago, and, viola, now I have both.  Woo-hoo!

#3180: Sauron

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

SAURON

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“Sauron is the most terrifying Evil Mutant. Sauron loves to silently swoop down and use his mutant power to hypnotize and drain the energy out of his victim! Then in the blink of an eye, he flies away ready to strike again! The more energy he drains, the more powerful he becomes. Because he can drain the energy from anyone, even another Evil Mutant, even Magneto, the leader of the Evil Mutants, fears him!”

Not to be confused with the evil ruler of Mordor, Sauron is one of the X-Men’s older foes, predating quite a few of the team’s more popular members–Wait a minute…didn’t I review this figure already?  well, hypothetical reader, the answer to that question is…not technically.  And, technically is what really matters here.  Why?  Because it’s my site, that’s why.  Okay, maybe I should actually explain what the heck I’m reviewing this guy again.  It’s quite simple:  early in the days of their X-Men line, Toy Biz liked to justify the re-releases of figures they’d already done by doing minor tweaks to their color schemes, in dedicated “Repaint” series, in order to not only keep those figures out, but also freshen up the shelves a bit, but without having to actually produce a whole new figure.  Generally, I like to bundle those repaints into the main review, but, well, I don’t always own them when I review a figure the first time, so I guess I just have to follow them up this way.  How about that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Sauron (the repaint) was added to Toy Biz’s X-Men line in 1993-1994, right around the same time as Series 4 and 5 of the line, alongside a whole assortment of repainted figures.  Of all the figures present amongst the repaints, his was the oddest choice, given how minor the character was, but perhaps they were looking to tie in with the show’s second season, where he actually had a pretty important role to play.  The figure stands about 5 inches tall and he has 10 points of articulation.  He’s 100% the same sculpt as the standard release of Sauron.  It was a decent sculpt for the time, and honestly holds up pretty alright.  Still not sure exactly what he’s wearing, but what are you gonna do?  The change to this one’s paint is honestly pretty subtle; instead of orange pants, his are gold with a little bit of black.  It’s super minor, but I actually quite like it.  It’s nice that they actually added, rather than just doing a straight palette swap.  Interestingly, the card back prototype showed him with red shorts, a figure that, to date, no one has any evidence actually existed.  As with his original release, Sauron was packed with a big ol’ club.  Yay big ol’ club.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wound up going back to the toy show where I’d gotten my standard Sauron the next year, in hopes of finding more Toy Biz stuff.  I discovered it was rather slim pickings that year, but managed to fish a handful of the repaint figures out of a loose figure bin.  Sauron was one of those figures.  He’s not a bad figure, but the two offerings do feel slightly redundant when in the same collection together, I suppose.

#3171: Savage Wolverine & Reaper

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SAVAGE WOLVERINE & SAVAGE LAND REAPER

MARVEL MINIMATES

In 2013, Marvel decided to a soft re-branding of their comics, under the banner “Marvel Now!” which would do new and and innovative things with the line.  Like giving Wolverine another book!  Nobody had done that before!  Okay, so Savage Wolverine may not have been the most unique thing, but it did get some decent buzz, thanks to Frank Cho’s name being attached to it. When DST put together some complimentary assortments of Minimates, Savage Wolverine got not one, but two packs dedicated to it.  I looked at the first, which featured Shanna the She-Devil (Wolverine’s co-star in the book) and a Savage Land Reaper, back in January of 2018.  Today, I’m looking at Wolverine proper…and the Reaper again…

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Savage Wolverine and the Savage Land Reaper were released in the 16th TRU-exclusive series of Marvel Minimates, which was TRU’s equivalent to the 51st specialty assortment.  The Reaper was the only cross-over between the two assortments, and is the same figure between both of its pack-outs.

SAVAGE WOLVERINE

Wolverine has had a lot of Minimates.  This particular one was his 48th.  It’s a derivation of the John Cassady Astonishing X-Men design, which had gotten a number of tweaks from several artists at this point.  This one marked his most current at the time, and it remained his most current until his padded number from the “Payback” story.  The figure is based on the standard ‘mate body, so he’s 2 1/2 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation .  Wolverine uses add-ons for his mask and belt, as well as “unique” pieces for the clawed hands.  The mask was the first actual, proper update to the mask we’d gotten since the Series 26 version, and I quite like it.  It’s got a unique shaping to it, and I dig the sculpted seams running along the head.  The belt, which I believe was new to this figure, but it can be hard to tell, is another nice piece, full of lots of fun details.  The hands are the same hands used initially on the Series 47 Wolverine, and they’re my favorite of the clawed hands we’ve gotten.  The paint is my favorite aspect of this figure, because at the surface, it’s just a basic Wolverine paint job, but there’s so much else going on.  The yellow with black in place of blue makes for a figure that’s quite striking, and while there are still some spots of slop on some of the edges, the small detail work is crisp, and very plentiful.  The face gives us a great, intense, Wolverine-style snarl, the hair on the arms is sharp and well defined, the muscles are subtly handled in a fashion that mimics Cho’s artwork pretty well, and they’ve even included all of the laces on his boots.  There’s a ton of attention to detail, and a lot of details that could have easily been overlooked.  Logan is packed with an extra hair piece and a clear display stand.  It’s a shame they stopped giving Wolverines extra, non-clawed hands, but at least in this one’s case, it won’t be hard to find a pair that matches.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t really intending to get this figure when he was shown off, since who really needs the 48th version of Wolverine?  Well, me, apparently.  Once packaged shots surfaced, I found myself really liking the look, and at the time, it was easiest to just order a whole assortment from TRU.com, to make sure you didn’t randomly get the wrong pack in place of what you actually wanted.  Wolverine pairs off well with this same assortment’s version of Captain America.  He’s a variant of an A-lister that no one was necessarily asking for, but DST put in some of their best work here, and the end result is a figure that really rocks.

#3170: Jean Grey

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

JEAN GREY

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Possessing near-limitless psychic potential, Jean Grey is Charles Xavier’s first student, and could someday become the greatest psychic on earth, and beyond.”

At the beginning of the month, I continued my look into Hasbro’s X-Men: The Animated Series-inspired sub-line of Marvel Legends with a look at the updated version of Storm, who got reviewed all on her lonesome because I didn’t really need another Mr. Sinister, and the figure that I ordered alongside hadn’t shipped out yet.  Well, as luck would have it, I got that other figure, and I’m going to be looking at it today!  Which figure is it?  Why, it’s Jean Grey!  Yes, founding member of the X-Men, and central piece to a bunch of the show’s storylines, to say nothing of her spot in the show’s main love triangle, Jean is finally getting her due in the line, especially given that she didn’t really even get her due in the line that was running when the show was on the air.  It’s just overdue, really.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Jean Grey is the fifth figure in the X-Men: The Animated Series sub-line of Marvel Legends.  Unlike the last two rounds, Jean was shown off on her own, which has been the trend since.  It was a little odd at the time, since it kind of felt like Cyclops would be her natural pairing figure, but as of yet we’re still waiting on him to be added to the line.  Oh well.  Guess I’ll just make do.  This is the third time we’ve gotten a ’90s-based Jean Grey in Legends, with all three of them being under the Hasbro banner, and the most recent one being under this same incarnation of Legends, even.  As with the rest of the line, she ships in a VHS-inspired box, and I’m continuing to love these, guys.  They just look so fun and nostalgic.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Structurally, this Jean Grey is the same as the last ’90s Jean Grey, making use of all of the same parts.  For the most part, that’s okay.  The body in particular gets the point across, and there are a lot of really solid unique pieces just for this design.  The only real issue is that the hands don’t have the proper sculpting for how the gauntlets looked in animation, but that’s quite minor.  The heads are…well, they’re a bit of a different story.  While they’re certainly not bad, especially from a comics perspective, they don’t quite match up with the animation models as well.  Wolverine and Storm both got new heads, and even Jubilee got a slightly better alternate head that was a little more accurate.  I’d have really liked to see them throw us a more animation accurate Jean head.  Honestly, they could have even done that and cut the extra head with the longer hair, since she only had that look in the final season of the show, and by that point, the model was already far different.  As it stands, the ponytail head is workable, but it’s not quite as good as it could be.  The paint work for Jean is cel-shaded, like the rest of them in the line.  There are some fuzzy edges, but it’s generally a good set-up, and I prefer the brighter palette of this release to the prior one.  Jean is packed with two sets of hands (open gesture and fists), as well as the two heads.  Again, this feels a bit lacking for the animation angle.  An extra head with her psychic effect, or even a Cerebro piece would have been really cool.  As it stands, it just really feels like bare minimum, especially with no new sculpting on the main figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was really excited about Jean initially.  Excited enough to actually get me to go back and order the Storm, who I had skipped at that point.  That said, getting her in hand, I’m a little letdown.  The complete lack of any new parts, and the barebones nature of the accessories is rather upsetting, especially after Wolverine kicked us off with such a good set-up of new parts and extras.  I’m worried that this line is already kind of losing its focus of animation accuracy, a mere five figures in.  I hope that’s not the case.  Perhaps Morph will change the tide of things a little bit.  As it stands, I do like the Jean more than the three pack release, and I’m glad that there’s another version of her available.

#3163: Bonebreaker

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

BONEBREAKER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“The villainous cyborg known only as Bonebreaker desires nothing more than the chance to wreak havoc. Employing his robotic abilities first as a mercenary and then as a member of the nefarious Reavers, Bonebreaker leaves a trail of destruction wherever his travels lead him!”

Back in 2019, Hasbro knocked out their first member of the cybernetically-enhanced X-Men foes the Reavers with Skullbuster, an admittedly soft opening for the line-up.  But, that’s what you get when you really don’t have the name recognition to justify much new tooling right out of the gate.  We also got the team’s two different leaders, Donald Pierce and Lady Deathstrike, though the actual ranks are still rather small.  And hey, now we’re getting arguably the most quickly recognizable member of the group, by nature of being half-man-half-tank.  Let’s check out Bonebreaker!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Bonebreaker is the Build-A-Figure for the titular series of Marvel Legends, assembled from the parts included with six of the seven figures in the assortment.  This is Bonebreaker’s second time in figure form, following up on the original Toy Biz one.  Hey, it’s better than all of the rest of his team, so that certainly counts for something.  The figure is about 6 1/2 inches tall and has 18 points of articulation, as well as a moving cannon and back-flap on the tank portion of the figure.  The proper articulation is confined to the upper half, which is making use of the upper portion of the Spider-UK body.  He also gets the bands from Captain Marvel, as well as a new head, overlay for the web gear and collar piece, and, of course, the tank half.  The new pieces are actually pretty impressive.  The head’s got a ton of character, between both the hair style and the crazy look on his face.  I especially like the hinged sunglasses, which add a lot of options for the character’s expressions.  The tank section is generally pretty solid as well.  The detailing is sharp and well-handled technically, and I really dig the dings and scratches.  The assembly is also pretty solid, considering how its got to be disassembled for the purposes of the Build-A-Figure set-up.  Bonebreaker’s color work is on the drab side, as expected, but there’s a lot going on, which keeps it interesting.  Bonebreaker is packed with two sets of hands (fists and gripping), as well as an assault rifle.  It covers everything he could need, and then some, so that’s a plus.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Back in the ’90s, I remember seeing Bonebreaker’s original figure everywhere, which sort of wound up deterring me from actually getting it, until I finally broke back in 2019 and finally got him.  Over the years, I’ve grown to like Bonebreaker a little bit more, and I was certainly intrigued by the prospect of him in Legends form, and this Build-A-Figure release looked pretty awesome when it was shown off.  In-hand, he turned out really well.  Clearly, a lot of fun was had with this one.  I’d love to see them tackle more of the Reavers to fill things out a bit, because they did really well with this one.

This assortment is really oddball, and generally pretty obscure, but boy do I like it.  Obviously, Havok’s the main star for me, because it’s Havok, and he’s great.  That said, Maggot and Bonebreaker are both really well handled figures of low-tier characters, who are just a ton of fun.  Darwin, Siryn, and Sabretooth are all rather by the numbers, but they do what they need to, and they do it well.  And you don’t even need to buy the Wolverine variant to finish the set!  Oh, right, there’s also Vulcan.  I mean, I guess he’s alright.

#3162: Sabretooth

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

SABRETOOTH

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“With keen senses, a mutant healing factor, and zero moral restraint, Sabretooth is a dark reflection of his archnemesis, the mutant hero Wolverine.”

I fully intended to begin today’s review of a Sabretooth figure by bringing up the fact that he didn’t actually start out as an X-Men or Wolverine antagonist, and was instead an Iron Fist villain, but in doing some back-reading of old reviews in preparation, I have discovered that I’ve actually mentioned that fact in almost all of my Sabretooth reviews here on the site.  I…I should probably double check old intros a little more often, shouldn’t I?  Eh, I probably won’t.  Look forward to hearing about the Iron Fist thing in my next Sabretooth review, after I’ve completely forgotten the lesson I learned in this one’s intro.  Just try to pretend its new and exciting information when you hear it then.  And give me a break, because I’ll be older and more tired by that point.  Just keep me comfortable, is what I’m getting at here.  Man, this intro’s getting really meta and really bleak, really fast.  Well, onto the toy, I guess.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Sabretooth is figure 6 in the Bonebreaker Series of Marvel Legends, and is the final figure needed to assemble the Bonebreaker Build-A-Figure.  There’s also a Wolverine variant, but I’ve honestly got enough Wolverine variants, so I passed on that one.  This Sabretooth is based on his first appearance costume…more or less.  It marks the first time Hasbro’s done the design, and its second time in Legends form, following the Toy Biz Face Off release.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  While the last two standard universe Sabretooths have been based on the Hyperion body, this one is on the slightly slimmer Reaper body.  It makes sense, since the earlier Sabretooth design was always depicted as being a little slimmer anyway.  It’s also a body that’s not super over-used, so that’s a plus.  The figure gets a new head, forearms, shins, hands, and feet, as well as an add-on for his fur collar.  The new parts mesh well with the old, and the whole thing’s a rather cohesive looking take on the original design.  The head in particular is quite nice; rather than the more frequent screaming expression, he’s got Creed’s evil grin, which is frequently overlooked for such figures.  The figure’s paint work is generally pretty decently handled.  He does have a bit of a departure from the proper 1st Appearance look, with fingerless gloves and…toe-less boots?  They don’t appear to be based on any particular version of the costume, but I do kinda dig how they look.  Sabretooth has no accessories of his own, but he includes three separate pieces for Bonebreaker, all meant to connect to the lower tank-portion of the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was very happy with the Jim Lee style Sabretooth from the Apocalypse Series, so I didn’t need another.  That said, I get the desire to update this look, since it’s been a while since it got toy coverage.  This one turned out pretty well.  He’s not going to be my go-to Sabretooth or anything, but he’s certainly a cool figure.

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.

#3161: Darwin

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

DARWIN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“True to his name, Darwin has the power to adapt against any threat, be it searing volcanic heat or the cold vacuum of space!”

Hey, remember when I was talking about retcons?  And, more specifically, the retcon that introduced Vulcan, the third Summers brother?  And, how terribly handled it was?  Well, for the sake of argument, how about a retcon character that I actually don’t hate, who is in fact from that exact same story?  Yes, today, I’m talking about Armando Munoz, aka Darwin, one of the other three members of Vulcan’s ill-fated team, and the only other one to survive to the present day.  Darwin has the ability to adapt to the threats around him, and has generally been a pretty low-key sort of character, whose unique (and actually decently defined) abilities and lack of connection to pre-existing characters make for a far less obtrusive inclusion within X-history, even if it was added after the fact.  And, he’s even gotten to be in a movie, which was pretty cool.  And now, he’s got a Marvel Legend.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Darwin is figure 5 in the Bonebreaker Series of Marvel Legends.  He fits well with the overall oddball-theme of the assortment, as well as having the added benefit of being in the same assortment as his former teammate Vulcan, which I suppose is a pretty nice little tie.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Darwin is built on the Pizza Spidey body, which is a reasonable choice for the character, who is usually portrayed as being more on the slender side.   He gets a new head, belt, and hands, which capture his look respectably well.  The new head is suitably alien in its appearance, matching the character’s earlier appearances, as well as the costume choice that they’ve gone with, which is his original “Deadly Genesis” design.  He winds up looking a little bit like John Lithgow, if I’m honest, which I don’t really hate.  The paint work on Darwin matches up with his comics design; I really dig the purple, and the skin tone is appropriately pale and washed out.  I like the slight accenting on the head, in order to bring out more of the sculpted details.  Darwin is packed with two sets of hands (open gesture and fists), as well as half of the tank treads for the Bonebreaker Build-A-Figure.  It might have been nice to get a few parts showing off his adaptive skills, but this figure is pretty clearly the assortment’s low-cost figure, so I get why they stuck with what we got.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My first exposure to Darwin was actually in X-Men: First Class, where I quite liked him, despite his relatively small role.  I haven’t been actively following him in the comics, but I’ve always enjoyed the stories I’ve read with him, and, like I mentioned in the intro, I find his retcon status to be far less frustrating than Vulcan’s, so I just generally like him more.  While I didn’t *need* a figure of him, it’s one I can appreciate, and, for as basic as this one is, he’s honestly pretty fun.

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.

#3160: Maggott

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

MAGGOTT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Maggott’s mutant power is his two giant slugs, Eanie and Meanie, that serve as his digestive system.”

At the height of the their popularity in the ’90s, the X-Men were in desperate need of new characters to fill up the many, many books that were being published.  You can’t just fill every roster with Wolverine, right?  As they progressed, the characters seemed to be trying to top each other in terms of both weirdness and general X-Tremeness.  Things had gotten pretty absurd by 1997, which is when we got today’s character, Maggott, frequently touted as one of the strangest X-Men.  He was crazy, and ridiculous, and honestly kind of awesome.  So, of course, he had to be killed in a horrible fashion once the ’00s came along, to prove that we were far more serious.  Super serious you guys.  But it’s okay, because none of the X-Men stay dead anymore, so he’s back!  Yeah!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Maggott is figure four in the Bonebreaker Series of Marvel Legends.  This is Maggott’s first action figure release, though he was actually slated for one back in the ’90s, as part of a cancelled follow-up assortment to Toy Biz’s “Missile Flyers” theme.  Crazy it took this long, but here we finally are.  The figure stands 6 3/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Maggott’s sculpt is an all-new affair, patterned on his primary design from the ’90s, in all of its crazy ’90s-ness.  The sculpt does a pretty great job of capturing the essence of his ’90s appearances, while still filtering it through to something that could fit in a bit better with the overall stylings of the other figures in the line.  If I have one complaint, it’s that the head seems perhaps a touch too large, but beyond that, I think it really works.  I especially appreciate the extra texture work on the jacket, as well as the more jovial expression on the face.  The color work on Maggot matches well with his in-book color scheme.  It was pretty gaudy, even for the time, but they’ve kept it true, and haven’t dulled it down, as tends to happen with such designs.  The paint application is all generally clean and well-handled, and there’s no notable slop or bleed over.  Maggott is packed with his two maggots, Eanie and Meanie, which can be placed on him (though they don’t really secure or anything), as well as the head and weapon for the Bonebreaker Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The cancelled Toy Biz figure was my introduction to the character, but since then, I’ve always had this sort of built-up need to own a Maggott figure.  And, up until now, there’s not been one, which is kind of a bummer.  When this guy was teased, and then confirmed, I was actually pretty excited.  Sure, he’s not Havok, but he was still quite high on my list.  He’s a fun, rather unique figure, and, after 20 years, I’m just glad to finally have a Maggott in my collection.

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.

#3158: Havok

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

HAVOK

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Alex Summers aka Havok fires super-heated plasma from his hands to devastating effect. A veteran hero and leader, he longs to step out of his older brother Cyclops’ shadow.”

What’s that?  A new Marvel Legends Havok?  Well, don’t mind if I do.  When Havok was first added to Legends under Toy Biz’s tenure in 2006, they opted to put him in his original Neal Adams-designed outfit.  Since then, Hasbro’s given him two additional figures in the line, both covering different designs than the Toy Biz release.  Now, they’re going back to the beginning, with their own go at the original Havok, and, quite frankly, I couldn’t be happier.  Because, you know, Havok.  So, let’s wreak review some Havok!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Havok is figure 2 in the Bonebreaker Series of Marvel Legends.  Obviously, the assortment’s still got a Wolverine and all, but Havok does feel a bit like the headliner…but I’m probably biased on that.  I always feel like Havok’s the headliner.  I mean, he’s Havok.  Top shelf stuff.  This is Havok’s fourth time in Legends form, and his third under the Hasbro banner.  As addressed up above, this Havok is based on the character’s first costume, which he sported for about two decades, before the whole X-line got rebranded and he got his Jim Lee design.  It’s a classic look, and one that many of his designs since have referenced.  Moreover, he’s more or less wearing this costume again in the current run of the X-books.  Yay for relevance!  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Hasbro’s last two Havoks were built on the Bucky Cap body, but with that body officially being retired, this guy gets moved to a different base.  While there’s an intended replacement in this assortment, it’s not used for Alex.  Instead, he’s built on the 2099 body.  It’s a little smaller than the last base, but as a younger incarnation of the character, it doesn’t feel too out of place.  This also feels like the most direct replacement for the old Bullseye body, which served as the basis of the original Havok Legends figure*.  So, in that respect, it works out pretty well.  He gets an all-new head sculpt and it’s a very strong piece.  It’s a slightly calmer expression than the original Toy Biz release, but it still feels very on-brand for the character, retaining a number of traits from the ’90s Havok head sculpt, even.  The paintwork on this figure is largely pretty basic, but what’s there is really good.  In particular, the energy effect on his “symbol” on his chest is quite believable, and manages to convincingly look like it’s glowing.  I definitely dig it.  Havok is packed with three separate energy effects, all three of them new.  There are two for the wrists, like with the last ones, as well as one that clips into his back.  The wrist ones are a little loose, but I otherwise really like the new pieces, and I’m very seriously tempted to buy so many of this figure just for the effects for my other Havoks.  He’s also packed with two drum pieces for the Bonebreaker Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Have I mentioned that I like Havok?  I feel like that may be important.  Unsurprisingly, this figure was my most wanted of the assortment, because I’m always down for a good Havok.  This is a good Havok.  A very good one.  There’s a simplicity to the core figure, in contrast to the complexity of the last Havok, and it works very well.

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.

*It was so direct a replacement, that it was actually used for the most recent Bullseye figure from Hasbro