Tag Archives: X-Men

#0605: The Brood

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

THE BROOD

X-MEN (TOYBIZ)

Brood1

For the X-Men, simple terrestrial foes just weren’t enough. No, they had to kick off the extraterrestrial bit, starting fairly early in the series, before the original team had even left, when they faced off against the dastardly Lucifer! The aliens continued to show up with a fair bit of regularity, and in the mid-80s, we were introduced to the Brood. They were a bug-like race of creatures that gestated inside other beings and when they hatched, they would take on certain characteristics of the hosts. Sound familiar? Yeah, they weren’t too far removed from the Xenomorphs seen in Alien and Aliens. Not that it was a bad thing! The Brood have made their way into a few X-themed toylines over the years, with their first plastic appearance being in ToyBiz’s massive X-Men line from the 90s.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Brood2The Brood was released in the fifth series of the X-Men line. The figure is about 3 ½ inches tall and 4 inches in length. It features 8 points of articulation, as well as an action feature that flaps the wings and opens the jaw when you press the button on the figure’s back. The Brood are all fairly similar in design, and this figure was meant to be just a generic Brood. That said, if I recall correctly, the presence of wings denotes this as a Brood Queen. But, I could be wrong on that (EDIT: nevermind. I double checked and it looks like some of the drones were winged too). Given the non-human nature of the character, it’s not much of a surprise that the Brood had an all-new sculpt. Overall, it’s a pretty decent translation of the comic design, or at least their appearances in the 80s. It’s not quite as “buggy” as later figures would be, and it’s somewhat on the simpler side when it comes to texture, but it’s not bad, and it certainly fits in with the rest of the line. The muscles at the top of the front arms seem weirdly over-defined, but hey, it was the 90s. Everything had muscles then! I’m surprised the figure didn’t have shoulder pads and pouches. The Brood’s paint is pretty decently handled. The colors are on the drab side, but that’s accurate to the comics, and everything is pretty cleanly defined, if a little on the basic side. The Brood included no accessories, but what the heck would it even come with?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Brood is another Balticon acquisition. It came from the same dealer as Shatterstar and Magneto, though, this one was actually dug out of bin of $5 loose figures. So, a little more expensive, but honestly it feels worth it. The figure is a pretty solid piece and it holds up rather well even twenty years later.

#0601: Magneto II

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

MAGNETO II

X-MEN (TOYBIZ)

The 90s, as wacky as they may have been, are still a rather important decade to me. Obviously, being born in that decade does it some favors, but many of my formative action figure collecting years occurred during that decade as well. Growing up, my favorite toy company was very definitely ToyBiz, who were just killing it with their huge selection of Marvel toys. The line that pulled me in was X-Men, which also happened to be their biggest line. And what kind of an X-Men line would it be without a few versions of their very first foe, Magneto?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

MagnetoII2Magneto (or Magneto II, as he’s officially known) was part of the third series of ToyBiz’s X-Men line. He was the second version of the character to show up in the line, which, you have to admit, is pretty impressive for someone who wasn’t Wolverine. The figure stands roughly 5 inches tall and features 9 points of articulation. The 90s X-Men definitely had a style to it when it came to the figures’ sculpts. Some of them have aged pretty well, some haven’t. Magneto is one of the latter. He’s not too bad, but he definitely has some odd spots. The arms are rather stubby, and the torso is quite short as well. He also has a strange assortment of muscles on his torso. I think they’re meant to represent muscles that exist on actual people, but they seem to have missed the mark. At the very least, they’ve managed to translate his costume pretty well to three dimensions. The figure has a weird action feature, even for the 90s. He has a (rather obtrusive, I might add) lever on his back, which, when pulled, is supposed to activate a sparking effect in the transparent square on the front of the chest. It’s worn out on my figure, which is actually a rather common occurrence. Magneto originally included a cape, to aid in masking the action feature, but, as you can see, my figure no longer has his. The paintwork on Magneto is fairly straightforward. He’s got some pretty basic color work, which is all pretty clean.  There is some bleed over on some of the edges, but nothing too major. He’s lacking in pupils; I’m not sure if that’s purposefully that way, but it seems a little weird. Magneto originally included a blaster, because…I really don’t know. Mine doesn’t have that either, so I guess it doesn’t matter.

EDIT 12/25/20 – I have located both the cape and the gun for my figure, so now he’s complete.  Yay!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

For as many of these figures as I owned growing up, this Magneto wasn’t one of them. I ended up finding this guy in a bin of loose figures at this past Balticon. Not quite as great a find as Shatterstar, but, for a dollar, I really can’t complain. I still prefer the first version of the character, but this one’s not bad.

#0598: Shatterstar II

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

SHATTERSTAR II

X-FORCE (TOYBIZ)

Ah, the 90s. What wondrous creations you gave us. The X-Men were super hyped up, so, obviously, it being the 90s, they needed an edgier, x-ier spin-off team. Enter X-Force, a slightly re-worked version of the New Mutants, with several new, more x-treme members. It had art done by Rob Liefeld, who seemed to set out to make it the most 90s thing imaginable. One of his additions was the character Shatterstar, who was either an alien or a mutant who had the amazing ability to…ummm….have swords? Yeah, I don’t know.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Shatterstar here was released as part of Series 3 of ToyBiz’s X-Force, which, like the comic, was a spin-off of the X-Men line. As the name denotes, this is the second figure of Shatterstar that the line offered. Shatterstar stands roughly 5 inches tall and features 9 points of articulation. This figure is actually based on Greg Capullo’s redesign of the character following Liefeld’s departure from the series. It’s…a little better? It’s more symmetrical, that’s for sure.  That being said, he’s still got many of the 90s trademarks. He’s got pouches, shoulder pads, pouches, some weird headband thing, pouches, and that funky sunburst tattoo over just the one eye. Though, I guess you need some of that 90s flare to recognize it as Shatterstar, right? It should also be noted that Shatterstar also appears to have been doing a bit of juicing since his first figure. He looks…I don’t want to say puffy… but, yeah. He’s gotta be at least twice the size of the previous Shatterstar figure. Now, to be fair, that figure did seem a little emaciated, but this one seems to have gone a bit too far the other way. It’s not completely off the mark for Capullo’s rendition of the character, but the size feels a little bit laughable. That being said, the figure has a sculpt that is up to the standards of other ToyBiz Marvel stuff of the time. The details are nice and clean (which is certainly better that the comics) and the figure does a pretty good job of translating the comics design to three dimensions. The paintwork on Shatterstar is generally pretty clean. There’s some bleed over here and there, but nothing too noticeable. The colors are nice and bright, which is always a plus. Shatterstar included a pair of his trademark (and oh so silly looking) twin-bladed swords. Sadly, my figure doesn’t have them. [EDIT 12/05/25 — Now he does!]  He does, however, still have his action feature. His arms can be raised and locked into place, and then released by pressing the button on his pack, resulting in a slashing effect of sorts. So there!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Whilst at Balticon this year, I dug this guy out of a dollar bin of loose figures. I kind of have an addiction to the old 90s ToyBiz stuff, so I obviously had to get him (and several others…). Truth be told, goofy as he is, I kind of like Shatterstar, and this is definitely the best of his 90s figures. Certainly worth the dollar I paid!

#0578: Banshee & Pyro

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

BANSHEE & PYRO

MARVEL MINIMATES

Banshee&Pyro1

In the 90s, the X-Men were just the very biggest thing at Marvel. They were in everything, they had everything. They even had two rather extensive lines of toys running, offering pretty much everyone who showed up even for just a little while. After the 90s ended, that cooled down a bit, and they haven’t had nearly as extensive a hold on the market since. However, Diamond Select Toys, with their extensive Marvel Minimates line, is doing their very best to live up to the 90s X-Men toylines. The most recent round of ‘mates is once again centered around the team, and does its fair share to fill a few X-shaped holes. Let’s kick things off with my favorite set, Banshee vs. Pyro!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This two pack is part of Marvel Minimates Series 60. The series is an even split between the X-Men and their foes the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Each set includes one X-Man and one Brotherhood member, and, as an added bonus, three of the four sets feature parts to turn the X-Man into another member of the team.

BANSHEE

Banshee&Pyro3Banshee is a figure we’ve been waiting quite some time for. He started popping up on wishlists just a few series into the line, mostly due to his absence from the Giant-Size X-Men #1 boxed set. Then he showed up as one of the choices in the Series 50 poll, but was ultimately not one of the finalists. Now we’ve finally gotten him. Of course, he’s in his 90s Strike Force uniform instead of his traditional green and yellow, but let’s not split hairs here. We got Banshee! Focus on the positive! The figure stands 2 ½ inches tall and features the usual 14 points of articulation. As I noted above, this is Banshee’s Jim Lee design from the 90s. It’s not his longest lasting look, but he did wear it in a few noteworthy appearances. He uses the standard Minimate body, with the addition of a hairpiece, cape, gloves, leg straps, and boot straps. I believe that the gloves are new to this series, though they are used on all of the X-Men in this series. The rest of the pieces are some rather clever re-use. The hair is from the Infinity Gauntlet set’s Adam Warlock, the cape is from the Secret Wars set’s Photon, and the straps are all from Series 34’s 90s Cyclops. All of the pieces are well-sculpted and well-chosen for Banshee’s look. Banshee’s paintwork is generally pretty good. The colors are nice and bold, and the detail lines are all very well Banshee&Pyro2applied. There is a little bit of bleed over here and there on the changes from blue to yellow, and the belt buckle isn’t fully red like it should be. All minor things, but things that it would be nice to see handled just a bit better. Banshee is packed with a piece replicating his sonic scream ability, a flight stand, and a clear display stand. In addition to the Banshee parts, he also includes parts to transform the figure into Gambit. He has a head, hairpiece, set of card throwing hands, and a satchel. All of these pieces are very nice, and they translate the figure to Gambit quite expertly.

PYRO

Banshee&Pyro5Now, the wait for Pyro alone hasn’t quite been as extensive as it was for Banshee, but he and his fellow Brotherhood members have been waiting in the wings for a little while. Like Banshee, Pyro is about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. The collar piece is a little bit restricting of the head movement, but it’s still there, so that’s good. Pyro makes use of add-on pieces for his mask, collar, and gloves. All of these pieces are new to Pyro, and they’re all pretty good adaptations of his comic design. The mask is a little soft on the details, but it’s not too bad. The paintwork on Pyro isn’t quite as good as Banshee, but it’s still not horrid. The biggest issues seem to occur on the mask, where the paint is only in the same general area of where it should be, which is rather distressing. Aside from that, the colors are nicely chosen and the linework is all pretty clean. In particular, I really like the fully detailed face under the mask. It has a lot of personality. Pyro includes two flame constructs and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked this set up all by itself from my local comicbook store. They had three of the four other sets, but this was the only one I felt like I had to get right away. These are two of my favorite X-Men characters, and they turned out quite nicely. I can’t wait to get the rest of the series now!

Banshee&Pyro4

#0549: Quicksilver

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

QUICKSILVER

X-MEN (TOYBIZ)

Countdown to Avengers: Age of Ultron: 7 days remaining.

Alright, we just took a look at Scarlet Witch and Hawkeye, two of the most important Avengers in my books. They both joined the team back in Avengers #16, along with the subject of today’s review, Quicksilver. They were led by Captain America and dubbed “Cap’s Kooky Quartet.” Yeah, it was the 60s. Anyway, Quicksilver is an Avenger of moderate importance, though he’s not quite on the same level as the other two. Still, he’s an important guy, and seeing as he’s Scarlet Witch’s twin brother, it’s a little difficult to have one without the other. Plus he had that fantastic scene in X-Men: Days of Future Past, so he’s going places. Let’s look at one of his action figures!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Quicksilver was released in ToyBiz’s 90s X-Men line as part of their infamous “Muntant Armor” series. The figure was available in two possible decos: his classic blue and white and his current (at the time) white and grey. This one, in case you hadn’t already noted, is the white and grey, which, for those interested, was designed by legendary artist George Perez when he helped re-launch The Avengers in the 90s. The figure is 5 inches tall and has 11 points of articulation. Quicksilver was built on one of ToyBiz’s recurring male bodies of their 5 inch lines, which first popped up in the sixth series of ToyBiz’s Spider-Man line. It’s a pretty decent sculpt, with a nice, lean look, and a decent amount of movement. The only real downside is the left hand, which was hastily retooled from a web-shooting pose, resulting in a rather strange looking fist. In addition to the base body, Quicksilver features a head that is sort of new. The facial structure is the same as that of the “Battle Brigade” series Archangel, but the hair is completely new, giving us Pietro’s signature ‘do. The face is actually a lot better for Quicksilver than it was for Archangel, and the hair is very nicely handled, so it works very well. The figure’s paintwork is generally pretty well-done, though mine has taken its fair share of wear and tear. The lines are a bit fuzzy in some places, but overall the figure is pretty decent. The semi-metallic sheen on the dark grey parts is actually pretty cool, so there’s that. Quicksilver was packed with a stands shaped like a dust cloud and some sort of strange machine gun thing. Most intriguing about this is that he doesn’t actually have any armor, not even of the “Muntant” variety.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Quicksilver at a local toyshow, which my dad took me to, probably about 15 years ago. I remember that I was never able to find either of the Quicksilver figures when they were at retail. My dad had the blue and white version, but my collection was sadly Quicksilver-less. So, when I found this guy, I was pretty excited. I didn’t have a choice in deco, but I actually like this one, so it worked out. This figure’s still a pretty strong figure, even after almost 20 years. I’m certainly glad I found one!

#0520: The Beast

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

THE BEAST

AVENGERS INFINITE

GreyBeast1

So, here’s a fact a few people reading probably don’t know: though he debuted and has been a prominent member of the X-Men, the first real bit of notoriety gained by Hank McCoy, aka the Beast, was his admission into the Avengers in Avengers #137. Since then, he’s kind of pin-balled back and forth between the two teams. Due to licensing and such with Fox, he’s generally paired up with the X-Men for merchandising, so most people think of him with them. I myself actually prefer him with the Avengers, but that’s just me. Anyway, Beast just wound up with not one but two new figures in Hasbro’s Avengers Infinite line, and I picked one of them up. Let’s see how he turned out.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

GreyBeast2Beast (or “Marvel’s Beast” as he’s listed on the package) was released in the 5th Series of Hasbro’s Avengers Infinite line. The packaging seems to be exclusively referring to this line as “Marvel Infinite” and the character selection is actually pretty sparse on true Avengers figures, but Hasbro seems pretty dead set that the actual name of the line is Avengers Infinite. They know best, so I’m just gonna trust them. The figure is roughly 4 inches tall, with 19 points of articulation. The figure lacks wrist and waist articulation, with is rather annoying, especially for a character like Beast. It seems Hasbro is trying to cut down articulation on the smaller line to save costs. Beast was available in two versions: Blue and Grey. At first it may seem like just a paint swap, but the figures are actually pretty different. If you couldn’t tell from the pictures, the one I’m looking at is the Grey Beast figure, which is the rarer of the two. The look is based upon Beast’s initial furry appearance, during his short solo series. By the time he appeared in Avengers, his fur color had been changed to blue, and he stuck with that. Over the years, Beast has become bulkier and more feral, but this sculpt takes him back to the basics. The sculpt is all-new to this figure (though many of the pieces are shared with his blue counterpart) and it’s quite well done. Beast is bigger than others in the line, but not gargantuan; he has the stocky strongman look that the character sported into the 80s or so. The proportions are all pretty much what they should be, something AI and its predecessor Marvel Universe have been known to struggle with in the past. The figure is coated almost from head to toe in a furry texture that is really well rendered and sells the characters beastly nature quite nicely. All of this is topped off by a head sculpt that is a near perfect translation of the “Classic Beast” style head. For all the expert work that was done on the sculpt, the paint is a bit sparse. The figure mostly relies on the molded grey, with some flat blue for the shorts, and a few black and dark grey details. Most of the paint is on the head; the eyes and mouth are pretty good, and the hair’s not bad. There’s a random spot of black on the chin, which I feel certain isn’t supposed to be there. The only other paint is on the forearms, where his hair is painted black. There isn’t really any transition work, so he just has the big black spots on his arms, with looks weird. Overall, the paint’s not atrocious, but it could definitely be better. Beast includes no accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up Beast from Target. I was actually looking for some of the new Marvel Legends at the time, but I came across this guy and the rest of his series. I’ve been working on a MU Avengers display for a while, and being able to replace the existing Cat Beast with this guy was definitely nice. The figure really has some issues with paint, however the underlying sculpt is strong enough that it ends up saving the figure. And now I’m gonna sit here and wait for Hasbro to release this guy painted blue so that I can have a proper Classic Beast.

#0452: Future Wolverine

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

FUTURE WOLVERINE

MARVEL MINIMATES

Alright, the Christmas reviews appear to be done (though, as last year showed, looks can be deceiving on that front), so now it’s time to get to the glut of pre-Christmas purchases still awaiting review! That ends up being a fair number of Minimates (and other mini-figures). Bear with me. Up first is another figure from the ever plentiful Marvel Minimates line. There were quite a few releases in that line this past summer, so I had to do some picking and choosing. Fortunately, end of the year sales are good for allowing some catch-up. Today, I’ll be taking a look at one of the Wolverines released to tie-in with last year’s X-Men: Days of Future Past.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wolverine was released in Marvel Minimates Series 58, which was based on the Days of Future Past movie. He was originally packed with Storm, but I don’t have her. What’s more, he was originally slated to be released with Rogue, but then she was cut out of the movie. Not that any of that matters for this review. Wolverine is one of two versions of the character released in Series 58. This one, as the name at the top of the review implies, is based on the version of the character from the future timeline. The costume is a variation the black uniforms sported by the X-Men in all but First Class, though this time around it’s more practical than the previous leather costumes, and it has a bit more color. The figure is roughly 2 ½ inches in height and he sports the standard 14 points of articulation. He’s built on the usual Minimate body, with a set of clawed hands in place of the normal ones and an add-on for the hair. Both the hands and the hair are re-use from the Wolverines in Series 52. Your Super Awesome Girlfriend loves you very much. They’re a good approximation of the look from the movies, and the fact that they’re the same as the ones from the movie-based Series 52 figures adds a nice bit of continuity. The rest of the figure comes down to paint. Fortunately, the figure has some very nice paintwork. This is a design that could have been phoned in, but DST really did well here. All of the armor is outlined by highlights, and all of the color accents are in the right places. Wolverine has his DOFP-trademarked white sideburns, which, while perhaps a bit too bold, are cleanly done. To top it all off, the face is one of the better Hugh Jackman likenesses we’ve seen on the many Minimate incarnations. Wolverine included a clear display stand and nothing else. It would have been nice to get a spare set of hands, but it’s not like black hands are a rarity.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I passed on Future Wolverine when he was first offered for a few reasons, though none really related to him. First of all, he was packed with the movie version of Storm, who I don’t have a real desire to own, and second, my local comicbook store didn’t have the set, preventing me from any pesky impulse buys. Recently, I’ve gotten into the habit of buying one loose Minimate at random from Luke’s Toy Store, just for the novelty. So, when I ordered a few things during his Cyber Monday sale, this was the random Minimate that arrived. I actually really like this figure. It’s simple, but very effective.

#0427: DOFP Wolverine & Colossus

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

DAYS OF FUTURE PAST WOLVERINE & COLOSSUS

MARVEL MINIMATES

Marvel Minimates has pretty consistently been the flagship of the Minimates brand, but it hasn’t been without its dark periods. Every fan has their own personal preferences, which means that where exactly the low points of the line lie can vary from person to person, but pretty much everyone agrees that Series 12 and 13 are probably the worst the line ever got. It’s no coincidence that immediately after those two series, the line started taking quick strides in innovation. The line looked like it was on its last legs (Series 15, set to be released not long after, is the only specialty assortment in the history of the line to be cancelled), and something had to change. Fortunately, the line did change, and it has continued for almost another 50 series, but man, somewhere there’s an alternate universe where these were the last Minimates we ever saw.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of Series 13 of Marvel Minimates. The series was based around the then current Astonishing X-Men. This is the variant set, which swapped out a “Days of Future Past” styled Wolverine in place of the regular Astonishing one.

DAYS OF FUTURE PAST WOLVERINE

Or, as he’s known on the box “DOFP Wolverine.” I mean, I know what that stands for, but you’ve got to imagine that somebody stood there looking at the box wondering what the heck a “Dofp” was. I just recently looked at the new and improved take on this design from earlier this year, which I quite liked. This one is….different. The figure is about 2 ½ inches tall and he features 14 points of articulation. He made use of the standard Minimate body, with the then standard Wolverine claws in place of the normal hands, as well as an add-on piece for the hair. The piece, like every piece in this series, is a re-use, in this case from the Series 6 New Wolverine. What’s interesting is that the box actually shows the figure with the hair from the Series 3 Logan figure, which is a superior piece. Not sure why they made the change. Paint-wise, this is a pretty drab figure. I know the design isn’t the most vibrant to begin with, but there’s just no pop with this figure. The choice to make the jacket painted on robs the figure of a lot of dimension, and the jacket’s detailing is sub-par at best. I’m not exactly sure what the deal is with the face, either. He looks like he’s been… smooshed or something. And that’s not even starting on the whole double chin thing he’s got going. DOFP Wolverine had no accessories.

COLOSSUS

Colossus’s return to life was an important part of the early Astonishing X-Men, so his place in this series isn’t too surprising. Plus, his history with Wolverine and his decent sized role in the original “Days of Future Past” make this pairing a pretty great one too. Colossus is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation. He’s based on Colossus’s look in Astonishing, which is just a slight tweak on his classic design, so it’s a reasonable look. The figure uses the basic body, with an add-on for the hair. The hair is a re-use from the Giant-Size X-Men boxed Set Colossus. It’s a pretty cut and dry case of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” so it works nicely for the character. The lack of any other add-ons means that he’s a rather scrawny looking version of the character, which other versions have avoided. Colossus’s paint is at least a bit better than Wolverine. His colors are pretty good, though the red might be a touch too bright for this look. The detail lines are pretty nice, though not as sharp as they could be in a few areas. The choice to put the belt on the torso makes the waist seem too long, but at least it’s nicely rendered. Colossus included no accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up this set from a friend’s local comicbook store during a black Friday sale. I’m pretty sure I got it for slightly less than retail, which is probably a good thing. It was actually the first variant set I was able to track down, which is unfortunate to say the least. All in all, it’s not the worst set ever, but it’s one that’s seriously lacking. It’s fortunate that the line was able to move past this series and become better and more successful.

#0392: Professor X

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

PROFESSOR X

MARVEL 10-INCH (TOYBIZ)

Frickin’ Professor X! Dude just keeps showing up on the list of figures to review! I swear I’m not doing this on purpose. Anyway, when Toybiz had the Marvel license in the 90s (when Marvel was at the height of their 90s comic boom), they were milking the license for all they could. They had huge success with their 5-inch figures, and they decided to use the same molds, sized up, to create a line of 10-inch figures. Through use of a number of set parts, they were able to create a lot of characters at a low price. However, this meant some characters had to be tweaked to find their way into the line. Professor X was one such character.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Professor X was part of the KB exclusive line of 10-inch figures. The line never really had any wave or series structure; figures were just sort of stocked wherever they showed up. Professor X is about 10 inches tall, and he features 9 points of articulation, which was pretty much standard for the line. Obviously, due to the constraints of the line, he’s not a typical Professor X. He’s decidedly more toy-etic. The design’s not totally made up, though; it’s similar to the look he had during the 90s “Fatal Atrractions” story, minus the goofy headgear. The figure makes use of an up-scaled version of the body of Tony Stark from the Iron Man line, with a larger version of the same Professor X head used on the regular and astral projection variants of the character. The body is a pretty decent sculpt, even if it is in the goofy “techno underwear.” The head is rotocast (meaning it’s hollow), which ends up doing the sculpt some serious favors. It just looks a lot cleaner and sharper. Professor X’s paint work is pretty good, especially for the time. The body had a few spots where there is some bleed over, but it’s mostly good. The eyes and eyebrows are surprisingly clean, and they look very nice. Professor X included a recolored version of the helmet included with Weapon X Wolverine, presumably as a stand in for Cerebro.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t actually have a whole lot of memories about this one. I think my Dad got it for me, but other than that, it’s kind of a blank. It’s a nice enough figure, and it’s certainly a unique way of handling the limited tooling options available. The 10-Inch line really did a lot to boost Toybiz’s creativity!

#0387: Professor X

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

PROFESSOR X

X-MEN

I feel like I’ve been writing a lot of X-Men reviews recently. In particular, I feel like I’ve been reviewing a lot of figures of their founder, Professor Charles Xavier. I think I own most of the figures of this character, which is a decent number, but he seems to have shown up more than characters like Cyclops and Wolverine, who I have literally dozens of. Perhaps my Xavier figures are influencing me a bit… ALL HAIL THE HYPNOTOAD… wait, sorry, that’s not right. Anyway, today I’ll be looking at Xavier’s very first action figure, which didn’t see release until almost 30 years into his career. Guess there wasn’t a huge market for a bald guy in a wheelchair.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Professor X was released as part of the fourth series of Toybiz’s X-Men line. The figure is about 4 inches in height (due to his seated nature) and he features 8 points of articulation (thanks to the hinged arm-rests on the chair). Xavier is depicted here in his then-current look from the early 90s, which depicts him in his hover chair instead of the traditional wheelchair. It’s admittedly a more toy-etic look, and it was the look he had at the time, so it’s not a bad choice. The figure’s sculpt was previously used for the X-Men Hall of Fame 10-pack, but that was more of a display item, and Xavier was permanently affixed to the stand, making this release a necessity. It’s a pretty good sculpt overall. It’s in keeping with the work of the time, which is good. The right hand is sculpted to hold something, but I’m not sure what it would be, so that’s annoying. Also, the front of his chair has an odd latchkey piece, which I assume was used to affix the original Xavier to the stand. It would have been nice for it to have been removed for this release. Oh well. Xavier’s paint is pretty good for the time. Everything is pretty clean, but some of the details, like the eyes aren’t quite as sharp as they could be. Xavier included no accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Xavier was a later addition to my X-Men collection. I got into the line after the figure’s release, and he never saw a re-release like others. I remember my Dad getting one for himself in the early days of ebay, as a part of a lot. I got the other figures and he got Xavier, which honestly didn’t bug me. Professor X wasn’t really in on the action, so I didn’t feel like I needed one. Several years later, I got Xavier along with a bunch of other figures from a friend who was getting rid of his old toys. I was glad to finally have the figure, and he’s been a pretty cool part of my collection since. The figure actually snapped in half at the waist thanks to a fall from the shelf during the minor earthquake we got here on the east coast a few years ago!