Tag Archives: X-Men

#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

#3157: Siryn

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

SIRYN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Inheriting her mutant sonic scream from her father Banshee and raised by her criminal uncle, Black Tom Cassidy, Theresa Cassidy forges her own heroic path with X-Factor as Siryn!”

Hey, do you know what it’s time for?  Well, another review, obviously, but, more specifically, it’s time for more Marvel Legends.  You know, because there’s new Marvel Legends. So, I gotta review them.  That’s how it goes, guys.  The latest round of figures is X-themed, and its an assortment of veritable oddballs.  I’m all about that.  The first of the oddballs up to bat is our second member of the Cassidy family in recent years, Theresa Cassidy, aka Siryn.  Daughter to Banshee, and long-time X-Force member, Siryn is surprisingly short on toy coverage, with only a single Minimate release to date.  Now, she adds a Legend to that list, adding to the ever-growing X-Force team within the line.  Let’s see how she turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Siryn is figure 1 in the Bonebreaker Series of Marvel Legends, which looks to be this year’s only proper X-assortment.  She’s sporting her classic Banshee-inspired X-Force look from the ’90s, which is probably her most distinctive design, making it a pretty logical choice of costume.  The figure stands a little over 6 inches tall and she has 30 points of articulation.  Her parts are a combination of the prior mid-sized body, with the pinless arms and legs first showcased on Shriek.  She also gets re-used cuff pieces on the wrists and ankles, as well as an all-new head sculpt.  The new head is pretty decent.  There’s a nice dynamic flow to the hair, and the face generally matches the look of the character as she tends to be depicted in the comics.  Notably, unlike a lot of Banshee figures, the head isn’t permanently screaming, which is generally for the best.  It’s certainly less limiting in terms of posing.  Topping things off is her “cape,” which much like Storm, is made from a very thin, almost paper-like cloth.  It’s only printed on one side, and it’s generally kind of cheap looking, but it’s pretty much what I’ve come to expect at this point.  It at least gets the point across, but I’d appreciate at the very least two-sided printing.  The color work on this figure is generally alright; the application on the yellow is a little sloppy, but not terrible.  The face, especially the freckles, is quite nicely rendered, with a very lifelike quality.  It’s definitely the strongest aspect of the figure.  Siryn is packed with two sets of hands (in fists and open gesture poses), as well as half of Bonebreaker’s tank-body.  I’d have liked to have gotten an extra head with the screaming expression, but otherwise, I guess it’s not terrible.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Siryn wound up being the first of these figures that I got a hold of, despite perhaps not being the highest on my list.  That being said, that’s less about her, and more about what else was in the set.  I’m glad to finally have a proper Siryn figure, and this one is a good one.  She’s generally by the numbers, and not without some small set-backs, but I like her.  Now, can we finally get a Banshee update to round out the Cassidy family?  Because it’s getting a little silly at this point.

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

#3156: Street Fight Wolverine & Shingen

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

STREET FIGHT WOLVERINE & SHINGEN YASHIDA

MARVEL MINIMATES

In a line-up that was actually pretty focused and on-point, there was one pack from the tie-in assortment for 2013’s The Wolverine that just seemed…non-essential?  Redundant?  I don’t know exactly.  Though a far cry from the over saturation of the Wolverine: Origins days, today’s pairing of Street Fight Wolverine and Shingen Yashida is a reminder that not every set needs the title character and not every character in the film was strong enough to warrant their own ‘mate.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were part of Marvel Minimates Series 52’s The Wolverine tie-in, as well as being the carried over set in the TRU assortment…for…reasons?  I don’t know why this set was carried over, but, well, I think I might be getting ahead of myself.

STREET FIGHT WOLVERINE

Here’s a design that is a definite “points for effort” on the part of the costume designers.  In the original miniseries on which The Wolverine was based, Logan spent most of his time in his then-current brown costume.  The film’s never put Wolverine in anything remotely close to any of his proper costumes, preferring to more often stick him in his civilian gear.  For the climactic battle of The Wolverine, they actually tried to put him into something that recalled his distinctive brown costume, without actually being a “costume.”  So, we get a jacket that kind of mimics the patterns of his uniform.  Not a terrible choice, though perhaps a little too subtle if you ask me.  Wolverine uses add-ons for his hair and jacket, as well as having a set of clawed hands.  The hair and hands are shared with his fellow Wolverines from the movie, but the jacket was actually an all-new piece to this particular figure.  In an assortment with a lot of re-used parts, this one being new was a little bit surprising.  Regardless, it’s a pretty nice piece, and its understandably seen some subsequent re-use since its introduction here.  Wolverine’s paintwork is okay, but not super eye-catching, since it’s just a lot of brown.  We get a more intense facial expression here, which is actually pretty nice, albeit more limited in application than the suited version.  There’s a lot of nice detail work under the jacket, which is always good to see.  He’s also got some detailing on the knees, but I can’t for the life of me figure out what it’s meant to be.  Wolverine is packed with a set of normal hands, alternate bare arms for a look sans-jacket, and a clear display stand.

SHINGEN YASHIDA

Ah, yes, Shingen Yashida.  Who could forget Shingen Yashida?  Me.  I could.  Because I totally had to look this guy up to figure out which guy he was.  For clarification, Shingen is Mariko’s father, played by veteran actor Hiroyuki Sanada in perhaps one of the least forgiving roles in the movie.  The most distinctive thing the character does is suit up in Samurai armor and try to kill Logan.  So, naturally, DST decided to release him in a business suit.  Yeah… Anyway, Shingen has three add-on pieces for his hair, jacket, and tie.  All three pieces are re-used.  The hair is from Civilian Thor, the jacket from “World of the Psychic” Peter Venkman, and the tie from The Spirit.  The suit and tie are perfectly fine generic pieces, but the hair is just flat out wrong for Shingen, whose hair is nowhere near this length or style in the movie.  I understand the need to re-use parts, but certainly there was a more accurate piece available.  The paint on Shingen is alright, but far from thrilling, since he’s mostly shades of grey.  The face has an okay likeness of Hiroyuki Sanada, but not so much of Sanada *as* Shingen, since he’s got facial hair, which Shingen very definitely doesn’t have in the movie.  This only further adds to the confusion of who the heck this guy is supposed to be.  Shingen is packed with a katana and a clear display stand.  The sword, it should be noted, is only used by Shingen during his battle with Wolverine, when he’s wearing the armor, and therefore makes little sense with this version of the character.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Wolverine’s an okay figure, but there’s not much that sets him apart from the plethora of other Wolverine variants we’ve gotten.  Shingen is at best a minor character in The Wolverine, and is really only notable because of the scene where he armors up.  This figure’s choice not to use that design robs him of pretty much all play value and recognizability, and makes the figure a real wasted slot in this assortment.  And, to add insult to injury, he was the only non-Wolverine character to be shared between specialty and TRU, so he was freaking everywhere, just rubbing in how pointless he really was.  I do not like this figure.

#3154: Storm

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

STORM

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“With her weather manipulation powers Storm can summon lightning across the sky, or gentle rain over a parched land.”

Back in June, I looked at the first two figures in Hasbro’s X-Men: The Animated Series-inspired sub-line of Marvel Legends.  They’ve been rather steadily putting up pre-orders for additional figures, and, thanks to the onslaught of everything that was supposed to show up over the course of the next year showing up exactly now, I’ve got another one of them to look at!  Today’s focus is the mistress of weather herself, Storm!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Storm is the fourth figure in Hasbro’s X-Men: The Animated Series sub-line of Marvel Legends.  Between her and the previously released Jubilee, there was also a Mr. Sinister, but I opted to pass on that one in order to focus on just the team.  This marks the fourth of the ’90s-ispired Storms under the Legends branding, spanning both Toy Biz and Hasbro.  As with the prior figures, Storm ships in a VHS-inspired package, to really sell the animation angle.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Storm’s construction is largely the same as the prior ’90s Storm figure, meaning she’s on the medium female base body, with the unique torso and upper arms.  She gets an all-new, more animation accurate head sculpt, which is a pretty nice piece.  Seeing as Jubilee was completely without new parts, at least getting the one here is cool.  I was bummed to see that the cape is still that really thin paper-like material, and it’s still rather creased out of the package.  It’s not like it’s worse, or anything, and I guess I wasn’t really expecting it to be better, but a part of me still hoped.  One other thing I noticed about this particular release that bugs me is that the mold appears to be suffering from some degradation, resulting in some serious difficulties keeping the figure standing.  She fell about 10 times during the photo session for the review.  I’m not a huge fan of that.  The paint work on Storm is on par with the other two.  They’ve given her that simulated cel-shading, which still manages to work from most angles.  Also, as a rarity for a Storm figure, she actually gets pupils, which is a fun change.  Storm is packed with an alternate set of hands with electricity effects (re-used from the GSXM Storm).  It’s a bit light compared to the others, I feel; I’d have liked to at least get one extra head, even if it were the same one, just with the pupils whited out.  But, I guess it’s nice to at least get something, right?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I must confess, I didn’t jump on Storm right away.  The first two figures in the line really got me invested, but Sinsiter cooled things down, so I kind of slept on getting this one.  Adding to that is the fact that I was actually pretty happy with the Retro Storm from a few years back, so I didn’t really need the upgrade in the same way that I did with Wolverine and Jubilee.  That said, once Jean went up for pre-order, I doubled back for Storm, realizing that I would probably want the whole team in a more cohesive style.  I’m glad I went for it.  She’s not as showy as the others, but I like the changes, and I’m looking forward to getting the whole team assembled.

#3151: Wolverine & Mariko

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

WOLVERINE  & MARIKO

MARVEL MINIMATES

The Wolverine’s adaptation of the character’s original solo miniseries brought with it that story’s cast of characters.  Chief among them was Marikio Yashida, who paired off with Logan as one of the film’s chief protagonists.  Naturally, she was paired off with Logan’s main look from the film when it came time for the Minimates.  I’ll be looking at those two today.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This pair was part of the Marvel Minimates specialty Series 52 assortment.  Mariko was only available this way, but Logan was also available as part of the TRU assortment alongside the ninja.

WOLVERINE

The previous Wolverine movie didn’t exactly have a lot of variety to Logan’s looks, but The Wolverine tried to mix things up a little bit by going for a cleaner, more formal appearance for most of the movie.  What begins as his funeral attire turns into his main look for about an hour of the film’s runtime, due to its “on the run” plot.  While the all-black appearance itself isn’t new for super hero films, it still ended up being a pretty unique look for Logan himself.  Logan features sculpted add-ons for his hair, jacket, and tie, as well as a set of clawed hands.  The hair and claws are shared with the other Wolverines in the assortment, the tie comes from The Spirit, and the jacket is Doc Brown’s.  No new pieces for this figure, and yet he’s still pretty much a pitch-perfect match for the movie design.  As far as paint goes, there’s not a ton going on with this guy, since he’s predominantly one color.  There are a few accent likes on his pelvis, indicating the detailing of his waist band.  He’s also got a pretty serviceable Hugh Jackman likeness on his face.  Of the many attempts at Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, I think this one has my favorite face.  Wolverine is packed with an extra set of standard hands for a non-clawed appearance, as well as a clear display stand.  Not super accessory heavy or anything, but it covers the basics.

MARIKO YASHIDA

Unlike a lot of movie-based civilian figures, this is actually not the first Minimate we’ve gotten of Mariko.  A comic version of the character was offered alongside a brown-costumed Wolverine in an SDCC-exclusive pack in 2004. That one was…not great.  This one’s a bit better.  Like Wolverine, Mariko is also wearing her attire from the funeral, meaning she matches up with a large subset of the ‘mates based on the movie.  Mariko is built using add-ons for her hair and skirt, as well as a unique set of forearms.  The hair and skirt were unique to this figure (though the skirt has seen its fair share of subsequent re-use), while the sleeve pieces were shared with Ninja Yukio from the accompanying TRU assortment. All of the parts mesh well together, and the two-pieced nature of her kimono is certainly an improvement on the bulky one-piece thing of the prior Mariko.  The paintwork on Mariko is a little more involved than Logan’s.  She has a decent likeness of actress Tao Okamoto, and I quite like the subtle line-work denoting the details of her torso, as well as the fully detailed feet that you can only just barely see.  Mariko’s only accessory is a clear display stand.  Not terribly exciting, but I’m not sure what else could have been given to her.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set was actually one of the ones I most wanted from this assortment, since I really dug that main look for Logan.  I ended up grabbing a full assortment from Luke’s Toy Store back when they were new to make sure I got this one.  As the standard Wolverine of the film, this one was the most sensible variant in the set.  He’s actually a pretty solid little figure, and a different enough take on the character that he won’t feel any where near as redundant as some Wolverines do.  Mariko is a decent civilian addition, and an important enough character in the mythos that I’m glad we got a second go at her.  She may not be the most exciting ‘mate, but she’s still not as bland as some others we’ve seen.