Tag Archives: X-Men

#3491: Wolverine Combat Cave

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

WOLVERINE COMBAT CAVE

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“The Combat Cave is Wolverine’s secret training complex in which he works to improve his formidable fighting abilities. A wide array of weapons and traps challenge Wolverine’s slashing skills to the fullest. Only after completing the combat Cave workout can Wolverine be certain that he is ready for the ongoing struggle against the Evil Mutants.”

Last week, I was discussing the presence of vehicles in ’90s action figure lines, and continuing down that path of figure-adjacent items from those lines, let’s follow up with a look into the wild world of playsets!  I’ve delved into them a little bit here on the site, but not in a terribly in-depth sort of fashion, and not for a good long while.  I’m dipping my toes back in today, starting off on the smaller side of things with the Wolverine Combat Cave!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Wolverine Combat Cave was released in 1991 alongside Series 1 of Toy Biz’s X-Men line.  It was one of two small-scale playsets that accompanied the line’s launch, both clearly meant to emulate portions of the Danger Room.  It would be rendered more or less obsolete by the larger X-Men Headquarters playset, which had a more elaborate set-up, but that wasn’t until 1995, so this set had a decent run of its own.  The Combat Cave measures 7 inches tall, 7 inches wide, and 4 1/2 inches deep.  The set required assembly when new, so you needed to pop the three walls into the base, as well as popping in a few other parts.  It’s a pretty small little area, but with a name that features “cave,” you’re not expecting a huge set-up, I suppose.  The sculpting on it’s notably not very cave-like, though.  It’s pretty basic and geometric, without much in the way of actual detailing.  As far as classic Danger Room designs go, it’s alright, I suppose.  The set has a few spots that are designed for more direct figure interaction.  You plug the figure onto the stand (which works with any figure with standard pegs, but is clearly designed to work directly with the Series 1 Wolverine), and there’s a lever to move the stand back and forth, as well as spin the figure on the stand.  All three walls get some sort of feature as well.  There’s an attack thingy mounted on the first wall with a bunch of different weapons, which you can move in and out towards the figure.  The longest wall gets a printed picture of Magneto that’s affixed to a sliding door, which has a circle in the middle that can be punched out.  On the last wall, there’s a “brick” section, which has a spring-loaded release, which flips the top half down.  The vast majority of this set’s coloring is molded plastic, but there are decals for the obligatory X-Men logo at the top, and the Magneto on the sliding door.  There’s also a small touch of paint for the mount for the logo, which I guess is cool.  Other than that, it’s molded red and blue-grey.  It’s an interesting color choice; certainly not my go-to for a Wolverine theme, but I guess it’s alright.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I came into the game a little late for these particular sets.  I recall seeing them in the booklet that came with my Sentinel, but that was really it, with the Headquarters being my main X-playset as a kid.  I added this particular one to my collection when I came across a sealed one for a remarkably good price at Player’s Choice, one of the two comic shops near where I lived when I was in South Carolina back in 2016.  It was sort of a comfort purchase, given it was my first real time away from home, and I rather vividly recall sitting down and assembling it in my old living room.  It’s a kind of a goofy little set, but it’s a fun little stepping stone towards the more complex stuff from later.

#3486: Wolverine Jeep

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

WOLVERINE JEEP

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“Whether he’s on a top-secret mission with his fellow X-Men or off on his own tacking one of his many adversaries, Wolverine needs a powerful rig to cover any terrain he might encounter! Thus, the creation of this custom-made jeep, designed to operate under the harshest conditions—just about the only conditions Wolverine ever finds himself in!”

In the ’90s, when action figure buying was at a definite high, figures didn’t just function on their own.  Oh, no, they also got stuff to accent.  There were playsets.  There were vehicles.  Oh, how we sang the songs of…something.  Look, it was a different time.  There was a Jeep in every toy line.  Or a Jeep in multiple toy lines, at the very least.  Most importantly (to me, anyway), there was a Jeep in the X-Men line.  And, you know what, I’m gonna look at that today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Wolverine Jeep was added to Toy Biz’s X-Men line in 1995, alongside a similarly scaled Mini-Blackbird vehicle.  For the initial release, it was officially titled “Wolverine Jeep” and sold sans-figure.  It saw three re-releases, all of which changed it to “Wolverine 4×4” (presumably having something to do with Jeep not approving the use of their name), and added a 5-inch Wolverine figure to the mix.  The vehicle measures about 9 inches long by 4 1/2 inches tall by 4 inches wide, and it’s scaled to Toy Biz’s 5-inch line, at least at the earlier end of things.  While Wolverine had driven a number of actual Jeeps in the comics and the cartoon, this particular item wasn’t specifically based on any of them, instead crafting something that is vaguely Jeep like, while also kind of being more toyetic, I suppose.  The later descriptor of 4×4 is honestly a more accurate one, which may have added to the push to re-name it.  The sculpting for this thing was all-new in ’95, but of course it would get the three aforementioned re-releases, and was even repainted for Toy Biz’s Spider-Man line as well.  It’s a pretty decent little set-up.  There’s seating for two standard-sized figures, and even some space for storage in the back, if you wanted to throw some accessories or something back there.  The wheels all can spin just fine, and you can even put the windshield down if you so choose.  In its default configuration, it’s just a pretty sensible car.  But it’s also got an action mode, because it was for a toy line.  All four wheels get adamantium claws that pull out, and pressing the steering wheel pops open the hood of the car, revealing a rotating grinder.  For grinding purposes, I guess?  The box shows Sabretooth getting thrown in there, which feels like it would be pretty messy, but he’s also Sabretooth, so he can probably handle it.  Paint work on this thing is at a minimum; there’s a little bit of base work for the blue and black detailing on the main body, but it’s otherwise just down to decals.  They work pretty well, and I especially like the printing for the headlights.  The Jeep was packed a gripping claw piece that mounts on the back, as well as a missile launcher….which launches a claw missile.  Say, do you suppose they really wanted to theme this thing around claws?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

In 1995, I was only just discovering my love of Jeeps, so I didn’t jump on this one the way you might assume.  I was more invested in the Blackbird, I suppose.  It was actually a good long while before I got this one.  I snagged it from a store in my family’s usual vacationing spot, back in the fall of 2019.  It was still sealed, and it was pretty cheap, so it’s kind of hard to pass-up that sort of thing.  It’s a fun, if perhaps gimmicky, little vehicle.  Now, I just have to find all the variants on it, I suppose.

#3419: Ch’od Series Wrap-Up

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

EMMA FROST, KID OMEGA, & CHO’D

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

I’ve done most of this X-wave as single reviews, but it’s safe to say I’ve taken things as far as I possibly can on that front.  There’s only so much prolonged discussion I can have about X-Men history, especially as we move towards the more recent stuff.  So, let’s get one more assortment out of the way, shall we?  Onto the remainder of the Ch’od Series!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Emma Frost and Kid Omega are figures 1 and 5, respectively, in the Ch’od Series of Marvel Legends, and are the last two figures neccessary to assemble to the set’s Build-A-Figure, wrapping up what appears to be this year’s only BaF assortment for X-Men.  Ch’od is the assortment’s titular Build-A-Figure, assembled by purchasing six of the seven figures in the assortment.

EMMA FROST

“The former Hellfire Club White Queen must grapple with her teammates’ misgivings about her joining the X-Men, as well as her own.”

During Grant Morrison’s run on X-Men, Cyclops and Emma Frost, formerly the White Queen, began a…slightly more than platonic relationship, born out of her assisting him with overcoming being possessed by Apocalypse and then dying and coming back…look, early ’00s X-Men isn’t a great time, guys.  When Jean Grey died at the end of Morrison’s run, Marvel tried real hard to push Scott and Emma as a proper couple, which included placing them both in central spots for the Astonishing X-Men line-up.  Yep, we’re going back to that time that Marvel really wanted up to make proper heroic Emma a thing.  Oh goody.  This is our fifth Emma in Legends form, all of them under Hasbro’s tenure.  This one’s notable for being a proper update to Hasbro’s very first version of the character.  Boy, was that a bad figure.  This one doesn’t have a hard bar to clear to be better.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Her articulation scheme is very restricted, both by the long hair and the cape, which render the shoulder articulation largely useless.  It’s part of the trick of working with this particular design, I suppose.  The sculpt does at least look pretty decent, especially in contrast to other attempts at the character, even just limiting to this look.  She looks quite a bit like Cassidy’s artwork from the book, while still fitting the overall aesthetic of the line as well.  Emma’s color work is basic, but honestly better than I’d expected.  The hair and face get some really strong accent work, which brings a nice degree of life to the figure.  Emma is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and open gesture, as well as the right leg of Ch’od.

KID OMEGA

“Omega-level telepath Quentin Quire, inspired by the attempt of Professor Xavier’s life, joins the mutant nation Krakoa’s new secret defense team, X-Force, as Kid Omega.”

Quentin Quire hails from Morrison and Quitely’s New X-Men run, and, if I’m honest, he’s not a character that’s ever really clicked with me.  He’s just so emphatically symbolic of the sort of self-assured, really insufferable sorts of characters that Morrison really likes to write.  Later writers haven’t really done much to change my opinion.  But, who am I to stop other people from getting a Quentin Quire figure if they want one?  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Quire is built on the Amazing Fantasy Spidey base, which is a fantastic starting point for any figure, really.  It’s a more modern Quire, so he’s in a jumpsuit, which works with the base body set-up.  He gets a new head sculpt, which is fine.  It’s not amazing or terribly unique or thrilling, but it looks enough like the character to get the idea across.  The “glasses” are a soft plastic, and prone to warping, which does wind up looking a little bit silly, but that comes with the territory.  The paint work on Kid Omega is decent enough; the pink detailing is sharp and pretty eye-catching, which is cool.  The fingers are painted for the fingerless gloves, and that’s a little sloppy on the edges.  Kid Omega is packed with two sets of hands in fists and gripping poses, as well as a recolor of the Doomlands Vagabond-patterned gun that came with Cable.  Unfortunately, he doesn’t have trigger fingers on either gripping hand, so he can’t really hold the gun properly.  He’s also packed with the torso of Ch’od.

CH’OD

“An alien from the Shi’ar galaxy, Ch’od’s monstrous, reptillian form belittles his keen intellect and heroic heart. Once a slave, he has regained his freedom, and now travels the spaceways in the company of the Starjammers, always on the lookout for other victims of tyranny in need of his aid!”

Hey!  It’s Ch’od!  This guy’s awesome!  A creation of Dave Cockrum and one of the most consistent members of the space pirate team the Starjammers, Ch’od’s the big lizard guy at Marvel who’s *not* Abomination.  I swear, he’s much nicer.  This marks Ch’od’s second figure ever, with his only other release being the one from the Toy Biz 5-inch line.  It’s been quite a while.  The figure stands about 7 3/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  Remember what I said above about Ch’od *not* being Abomination.  Well, let’s take that and admit there’s some similarity of design elements between the two.  Hasbro’s taken advantage of said similarities for this figure, as he re-using all but the head, forearms, and hands of the Abomination Build-A-Figure from 2016.  It’s not a pitch-perfect match for Ch’od’s design, but it’s very close, and certainly as close as we can expect for a Ch’od figure in this day and age, honestly.  He gets a new head, forearms, hands, and belt.  The head is absolutely fantastic; it’s a good likeness of Ch’od, and is clearly unique from Abomination.  I especially like the articulated jaw; it adds a lot of character to the figure.  The arms and hands are fairly basic, with only minor changes to the prior pieces for just a touch more accuracy.  His color work is basic, with largely molded plastics, but that works well for the character, and the colors are nice and bright.  What paint work is present is pretty clean, so that’s definitely nice.  Ch’od actually gets an accessory: his furry companion Cr’eee!  It’s an all-new sculpt, with an articulated head and everything.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set is admittedly one that I was more actively invested in than the other two I’ve done these wrap-ups on.  In fact, I think this one is a pretty strong line-up, all things considered.  There’s a pretty solid flow of character choices, and it’s got a pretty killer Build-A-Figure.  Ultimately, it’s Ch’od that’s really the star piece.  He’s just one of those figures I honestly wasn’t expecting to see, and he does well with the parts re-use.  Corsair’s a pretty strong solo contender, being just a very clean and well-implemented release.  Cyclops is a solid figure in his own right, even if he’s ultimately in a slightly less definitive costume.  Fang and Chamber are both a lot of fun, and hampered only ever so slightly by some iffy parts re-use choices.  Monet’s not much to write home about on her own, but serves as a decent set-up for other characters.  Emma is honestly the best version of this costume out there and is only held back by the same design issues that hold back literally every version of this costume.  And Quire’s not really exciting either, but he’s not a character I was invested in in the first place, so that’s hardly surprising.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with these figures to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3414: Fang

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

FANG

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Wolverine takes advantage of his likeness to Imperial Guard Fang and impersonates him to infiltrate the Shi’ar.”

Okay, so, like, that’s….that’s not right. Like at all. Ignoring the very obvious issue that the bio above is talking about Wolverine, and not the actual character this figure is meant to represent, there’s also the fact that while Wolverine and Fang do sport similar characteristics, they certainly don’t look enough like each other for one to impersonate the other. Also, Wolverine didn’t impersonate him to infiltrate the Shi’ar. What actually happened was that Wolverine, in need of a new costume after his was destroyed in battle, stole a replacement from Imperial Guardsman Fang, an expy of the Legion of Superheroes’ Timber Wolf, who was himself something of an inspiration to Wolverine. It gave Wolverine a new look for a few issues, and gave Fang’s design a little extra highlight, which serves as a decent justification for making a Fang figure. I’ll take it!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Fang is figure 2 in the Ch’od Series of Marvel Legends. He’s one of the three Phoenix Saga related figures in the set, as well as the second Guard in the line (after Gladiator), and Fang’s first actual figure. The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. He’s using the cleaned up version of the Spider-UK body that was previously used for Strucker, which is decent enough, but in a perfect world, I think it might have made more sense to put him on the Wolverine body, since they’re depicted as being similarly sized and all. But, they opted for this one, so here we are. He gets a new head sculpt, courtesy of Paul Harding, as well as new add-on pieces for the necklace, belt, and boot and glove cuffs.  The new head is a mix of a few of Fang’s looks from over the years, but it captures the general feel of the character pretty well.  The new add-ons have a little difficulty staying in place, but we’re not quite at the level of 90s Cyclops’s leg bands, so it’s not awful.  The whole thing winds up as a solid recreation of his comics design.  Aiding in that is the color work; it’s basic, but it’s clean, and the color scheme looks like it should.  Fang is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and open claws, as well as the head for the Ch’od Build-A-Figure, and his little animal companion.  He does *not* include any Wolverine parts, which feels like a missed opportunity, and also like it might have been a slight change of plans, especially given the character bio he received.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Honestly, this figure surprised me.  I mean, I thought a Fang Wolverine was a longshot, so just a Fang figure, with no Wolverine connection at all, seemed downright impossible.  But, I guess not so much.  Fang is overall fairly by the numbers.  I’m admittedly a little bummed by the lack of Wolverine parts, but he stands out well enough on his own, and I’m certainly not upset about getting another Imperial Guard member.  Here’s to hoping we see some more of them!

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

#3405: The Blob

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

THE BLOB

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Fred J. Dukes has long used the massive bulk and near-impervious skin granted by his mutant powers to combat the X-Men alongside the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants proving time and again that nothing moves the Blob!”

The Blob is a shockingly early addition to the X-Men universe when you really delve into it.  He’s only their third antagonist as a team, beaten only by Magneto and the Vanisher.  He was also pretty quickly worked in as a recurring foe, working for both the alien Lucifer and Factor Three, before finally being added to the Brotherhood roster in an issue of Defenders of all things.  He’s surprisingly absent for the formative years of Claremont’s run on the book, before finally returning with the new and improved Brotherhood in “Days of Future Past.”  From that point forward, he stuck around in a more recurrent capacity, though he’s never really been at the forefront of the stories being told.  But hey, it does get him some decent action figure coverage, I guess.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Blob is a deluxe standalone Marvel Legends release, timed to hit during the 60th anniversary of the X-Men, with all of the associated tie-in stuff for that.  This is Blob’s second time getting the Legends treatment, following up on the Build-A-Figure version released in Hasbro’s second ever Legends assortment.  It’s been a long 16 years waiting for an update.  The figure stands about 8 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation.  Blob’s articulation scheme works surprisingly well given his bulk.  I especially like the range on the neck joint; the ball-joint is very well placed there.  The range on the elbows is also pretty solid, but the slight offset to that is that they break the flow a bit when posed.  Not that it’s the end of the world, or anything.  Also, the weight distribution on this guy works out quite nicely, allowing for some really fun posing options, with running poses and the like.  Blob is sporting an all-new sculpt; the Build-A-Figure had a rather stylized look to him, angling for a more grotesque appearance, in line with some of the more monstrous additions from Toy Biz’s tenure (which makes sense, since Toy Biz’s team actually sculpted the original Blob).  This one’s a bit more all-purpose, going for a more classic comics styling.  It downplays things like the excessive fat rolls, and I think it’s ultimately for the better, especially when it comes to him fitting in with the rest of the Brotherhood.  There are two different heads included; one calm, and one screaming.  The two heads also have slightly differing hairstyles, with the screaming version getting a look that’s all on the top, versus the visible sides on the calmer head.  I appreciate the options, though I definitely lean a bit more towards the screaming one myself.  The paint work on this guy is sort of a mixed bag, with some of the base work being rather sloppy, especially for the yellows.  On mine, there’s a lot of slop on the edges, and the application’s also kind of thin, so there’s a change of color visible where applications overlap.  Also, despite the prototype shots not showing it, he’s got the same spotting on the arms and legs that the BaF had.  I can only guess it’s got something to do with making the large swathes of unpainted plastic look less plasticky. Blob is packed with two sets of hands, one in fists, and the other in open gesture, which makes for some nice variety in posing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had the Build-A-Figure back in the day, but I was never really that enamored with him.  Admittedly, I’m a bit hot and cold with the Blob in general, so I wasn’t dying for an update, or anything.  That said, with so many of the Brotherhood accounted for recently, he was a notable omission.  I wasn’t sure what to expect from this one, but I was actually pleasantly surprised by him, especially when it comes to posing.  Also, while we’re still a Destiny figure shy of the full DoFP Brotherhood, this guy does at least let me wrap up my “Pryde of the X-Men” Brotherhood of Mutant Terrorists line-up, so my X-Men have someone to face off against.  And that makes me very happy.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’d like to see a video of this guy in action, I helped out with one for their YouTube channel, so check that out.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3404: Chamber

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

CHAMBER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“At the Massachusetts Academy and as a member of Generation X, Chamber learns to manage his biokinetic flame which covers his chest and face”

Okay, but you know that the flame doesn’t *cover* his chest and face, right? It’s important to me that you know it doesn’t *cover* his chest and face. Because, like, his powers actually blew away is jaw and the upper portion of his torso when they manifested. Like, they’re just gone. Anyway, let’s talk about Generation X. Generation X is the generation between the baby boomers and the millennials. No, that’s not right. Generation X is an English rock band fronted by Billy Idol. No, still not it. Generation X is an X-Men spin-off, launched out of “The Phalanx Covenant” crossover in 1994. While most of the initial team was formed from the group of young mutants gathered by the Phalanx during the event, one of their most distinctive members didn’t join until their series proper launched later that year. But join he did, and no one can deny that Chamber was worry the wait.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Chamber is figure 6 in the Ch’od Series of Marvel Legends. He’s one of the two debut Generation X figures in the line-up, and he’s also Chamber’s first figure since his old Toy Biz figure.  While he would eventually get a variation on the team uniform look, during his initial run, Chamber had his own look, which was really just civilian garb.  That’s what this one goes with.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Chamber’s mobility is a little more on the restricted, partially due to design (it’s hard to get good neck movement with this look), and partially due to the parts he’s re-using.  He’s making use of the lower-half of the Coulson body, which isn’t the most charming selection of parts.  The movement is very limited, especially on the hips and ankles, and the sculpt is also broken up quite a bit by posing the figure, which isn’t very fun.  It also means that he’s wearing dress shoes, which seems a bit off for Chamber.  Thankfully, the rest of him looks to be all-new.  The head’s the real star piece here.  It’s the work of sculptor Paul Harding, who seems to be Hasbro’s go-to for cool fire sculpts right now.  It’s very dynamic, which is truly the best way to handle Chamber’s appearance.  It’s largely meant to be viewed from the front, but it still works from other angles as well.  Chamber also gets a new torso and arms, which aren’t as flashy as the head sculpt, but still pretty solid pieces.  I’m particularly impressed by the texturing on the sweater, because that’s where I am with my life, I guess.  The figure’s color work is largely black, which is expected.  The variation on the head keeps with the dynamic nature of the sculpt, which I certainly enjoy.  Chamber is packed with two sets of hands, as well as the left arm for the Ch’od Build-A-Figure.  Since the head is on a ball-joint, I would have liked to see an alternate head with his collar pulled up over his energy, like he did a lot in the comics.  But, I guess that’s a lot to ask.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Chamber’s another one of those characters that I just have this sort of attachment to.  I don’t know exactly why.  He’s just really cool looking, I guess.  I really liked the ’90s figure back in the day, and I’ve been waiting for an update.  This one was very high on my list in a wave that has other very high on my list figures.  I’m not super thrilled about the leg re-use; it seems rather limiting and backwards, honestly.  Beyond that, though, I do really like him, and he’s certainly a step-up from the original 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 and their eBay storefront.

#3400: X-Men Villains

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

STRYFE, PRETTY BOY, ZERO, VERTIGO, & RANDOM

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Heroes are only as good as their adversaries and in their 60-year history, the X-Men have faced some of the fiercest foes in comics.”

That bio is definitely some poor Hasbro copy-writer’s way of saying “I’m not looking up info on all of these low tier X-villains.” And who can blame them, really? The X-Men have had a lot of villains, but, admittedly, only a handful have really stuck. Starting in the mid-80s or so, there were more and more space fillers, as every evil mutant gained their own team. And, in honor of those space fillers, Hasbro’s done a whole box set of them, seemingly chosen at random. And also with Random. Get it? Because Random is in the….and his name is…yeah, I’ll see myself out. Or I’ll just jump into the actual review.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Stryfe, Pretty Boy, Zero, Vertigo, and Random make up the Marvel Legends X-Men Villains set, which is a Fan Channel set. There’s not really a strict theme to this one beyond being villains from a roughly overlapping period of time in the late ’80s/early ’90s.

STRYFE

If there’s a solid selling point to this set, it’s this guy. He’s certainly the most notable of the characters included here. He’s also the only one to have a prior Legend. That said, the figure was part of the Jubilee Series, which is one of the most difficult modern assortments to get, leading to a hefty aftermarket value for Stryfe. The figure stands about 7 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. Stryfe has a good number of parts in common with his last release, with the bulk of the body being shared between the two. The legs have been modified to remove the pins at the knees, and he’s got a new head and arms, as well as what looks like a new cape. The new head is definitely doing most of the heavy lifting for this figure; the last one wasn’t bad, but it didn’t have a lot of depth. This one’s using a multi-part construction, which makes it far sharper in terms of detailing, and really sells the absurdity of “Wolverine’s mask but more so” that Stryfe’s mask always had. This Stryfe figure’s color work errs a little closer to his earlier appearances than his last figure, going for a brighter shade of silver, as well as some blue accenting. It’s a lot of molded colors, but there’s paint for the face, as well as those blue accents. The face gets the printing, which adds some life to the sculpt. The accent work for the blue is a touch on the sloppier side, but not awful. Stryfe is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and open gesture.

PRETTY BOY

Pretty Boy’s honestly a pretty decent selling point for this set, too. The Reavers have been kind of a slow build in the line, going back to 2019’s Caliban Series, and with Pretty Boy, we’ve got the original core group. So, of course he’s in a big boxed set. Ah well. Over the years, just how much of Pretty Boy is cybernetic has ebbed and flowed, but this one goes towards the heavier side. The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation. Pretty Boy gets an all-new sculpt, featuring a head courtesy of Paul Harding. It’s a good mix of aesthetics, as you’d hope to see for the character. I quite like the head, which captures the early depictions of the guy quite nicely. The body sculpt gets a lot of fun technical details, and I’m curious to see if it gets pulled again for future uses. It’s certainly a good, solid robot body. Pretty Boy uses a lot of molded plastic for his coloring, but still gets true face printing, as well as a little bit of wire detailing on the midsection. Pretty Boy makes out the best of any this set’s figures for accessories, with two sets of hands, a pair of guns (from Flashback Winter Soldier), two blast effects, and two smoke effects. The effects are in a funky green and I really dig it.

ZERO

The only other Mutant Liberation Front figure in the set besides Stryfe, and also by far the most minor of the bunch, Zero is honestly the best choice for this sort of set. Zero only has a few appearances, so just the one look, but it’s kind of fun in its simplicity. The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and has 32 points of articulation. Zero is built on the Spider-UK base body, which is honestly a pretty good match for how he tended to be depicted. It’s still got all the visible pins, but I’ll take what I can get. He gets a new head, which is all blank. It’s basic but it sits very well on the body, and it gets the job done. Zero is largely just molded white plastic. He does get a little bit of paint for the face and torso for the zeroes, and that’s pretty sharp. Zero is packed with two sets of hands, as well as the portal effect from the Defender Strange figure from last year.

VERTIGO

Vertigo is a character that’s kind of done the rounds in the X-verse, first serving as one of Magneto’s Savage Land Mutates, and then joining Mr. Sinister’s Marauders, and yet she’s still never had a figure. First time for everything. The figure stands about 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation. While all of the other figures in this set have some degree of new parts, Vertigo is a total re-use figure. The head is the modern Invisible Woman, and the body is Psylocke.  While I’m not generally big on direct head re-uses for separate characters, especially for unmasked heads, this one honestly works out okay.  It helps that it’s on the Psylocke body, which is genuinely still a pretty solid one.  The big change-up here is the paint, which gives her the proper white and green set-up, which is pretty distinct.  Vertigo is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and open gesture.  It’s a bit light, given her status as a total re-use, and it’s a shame we couldn’t get any sort of effects pieces for her powers or something.

RANDOM

And now we get to Random.  As random an inclusion here as his name suggests.  Also, very much toeing the line on fitting the set’s whole “villains” theme, since he’s never really been worse than a hired gun, with no real villainous tendencies, and he’s frequently been actively in the heroic camp, notably his time with X-Factor.  But, I’m not gonna turn my nose up at a Random figure, however I get him.  The figure stands about 7 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Random makes use of a good number of parts from the Thanos Series Hercules figure, with the vest from Rage, plus a new head, boots, and left forearm.  The whole thing winds up as a pretty impressive recreation of Random’s main ’90s look. I’m especially a fan of the head sculpt, with its multi-part construction for the head, bandana, and sunglasses.  There’s just a lot going on there, and it really works.  Random’s color work is actually pretty impressively handled.  The head again gets a lot of really in depth work, with printing for his stubble, and even slightly transparent lenses for the glasses.  I also really dig the tattoos on the arms; they add a lot of character.  Random doesn’t get any accessories, but honestly, he makes out alright without them.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set’s announcement filled me with mixed emotions.  They’d shown off Pretty Boy first, and I was excited about rounding our my Reavers, but then they showed off the whole set of them together and I was suddenly less sure.  I mean, it’s a lot to spend, and how attached was I to the whole set?  Well, okay, it was really just Stryfe I wasn’t sold on, as it turned out.  But, wouldn’t you know it, at the same time, Max was frustrated that the Stryfe he wanted was bundled with other figures.  So, we struck up a deal, and he got his Stryfe, and I got my….rest of the set.  Random and Pretty Boy are the real stars here for me, thanks to rounding out two sets I’ve been working on.  But, the real underdog for me is Zero.  He’s basic, but where else are you gonna get a Zero?

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

#3399: Starjammer Corsair

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

STARJAMMER CORSAIR

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Cyclops’ world is forever changed when Starjammer Captain and cavalier space pirate Corsair reveals he’s Christopher Summers, Scott’s long-lost father.”

Man, spoilers much?  I mean, seriously, what if I’m not up on my reading from the ’70s?  Or my viewing from the ’90s?  Won’t you think of the people that live under rocks, and yet still inexplicably buy toys?  No?  Well, that’s probably fair.  Since we already know his big secret, I guess, here’s Corsair!  Corsair, the assiumed name of Christopher Summers.  Which is just one name.  Like Madonna.  Or Beyonce.  It’s certainly not “Corsair Summers,” I’ll tell you that much.  Why bring this up?  Personal trauma, that’s why.  But let’s not get into that.  There’s an awesome Corsair figure to be looked at!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Corsair is figure 4 in the Ch’od Series of Marvel Legends.  This assortment has an interesting flow to it, all sort of headed by Cyclops, so it’s rather appropriate that Scott’s father would be a part of the set.  This is Corsair’s first time as a Legend, and only his third time as a figure, following his Toy Biz and Minimate counterparts.  He’s based on his original, sans shoulder pads design, which makes sense, since that’s the one he’s spent most of his carreer wearing.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Corsair makes use of the Vulcan body, which is a sensible choice, seeing as it’s the one used by two of his three sons, and he’s typically depicted as about the same build as them.  He gets a new head and belt piece, as well as a modified upper torso (adding the collar) and forearms (adding the gloves).  I love the new head sculpt.  It really captures that feel of Corsair, and he’s even got that flowy hair!  Plus the dynamic flow on his headband looks really cool, too.  The new torso piece is somewhat baffling, not because it’s bad or anything, but because it’s a different piece than the nearly identical piece that was just used for Banshee, who is also built on the same base body.  Sure, the collars are a little different, but different enough for there to need to be two distinct and different pieces?  I don’t really feel so.  I’m not complaining, or anything, but it’s certainly odd.  Corsair’s paint work is clean, bright, and bold, which are really all of the things that I’d want out of it.  There’s a little extra detailing to help bring some more life to the face, which is very nice, and it’s otherwise just very clean.  Corsair is packed with two sets of hands (in gripping and fists), his pistol, his sword (re-used from Citizen V), and the right arm for the Ch’od Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

“The Phoenix Saga” is hands down my favorite portion of the X-Men books (and also the animated series), so I’m down for anything related to it in toy form.  I’ve held onto my old Toy Biz figure since he was new, but I’ve been hoping to see some Legends love for a while.  Hasbro definitely didn’t disappoint with this one.  He does what he needs to, and he does it well, and he’s just a lot of fun, as a good space pirate should be.

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

#3395: Banshee, Gambit, & Psylocke

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

BANSHEE, GAMBIT, & PSYLOCKE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Intrigue over the throne of the Shi’ar Empire has drawn Banshee and his sonic scream to space fighting alongside fellow X-Men…or possibly against them. New recruit Gambit leaps and blasts his way through the Starjammers and Imperial Guard with his kinetically-charged deck of cards and bo staff. Telepath Betsy Braddock cuts through secret plots that lurk on Shi’ar homeworld Chandilar with her psychic blades.”

At the tail end of the ’80s going into the ’90s, eventual superstar artist Jim Lee became Uncanny X-Men‘s regular penciller.  He would eventually pay a major role in a revamp the entire line, but before that, he did some slightly more minor re-working in Uncanny.  Since the founding five were still over in X-Factor, and Nightcrawler and Kitty had moved over to Excalibur, Uncanny placed its focus on some of the more minor characters, who were at that point still bouncing around Muir Island.  This more eclectic (at the time) cast of characters were given an updated version of the original matching X-uniforms and rebranded as the “Strike Force Team.”  While the looks were generally short-lived, they serve as a great excuse for a toy companies to put out a whole set of popular X-Men with one consistent look, utilizing very similar tooling for the figures.  As part of the 60th Anniversary of the X-Men, Hasbro’s decided to jump on that particular band-wagon, putting out the whole team at once.  Today, I’m looking at three of those figures.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Banshee, Gambit, and Psylocke are one of the pair of Marvel Legends three-packs (the other one featuring Storm, Forge, and Jubilee) that, in conjunction with the single-release Wolverine from the last retro card assortment, give us the whole seven-member line-up of the Strike Force.  All of them are based on their designs from Uncanny X-Men #275, where the team debuted.

BANSHEE

Okay, let’s all be clear on the real selling point of this set: it’s Banshee.  Banshee was one of the very first Marvel Legends from Hasbro….and it wasn’t exactly a high point for the line.  It was also 16 years ago, and sporting his classic green and yellow, rather than the blue and gold.  Banshee was one of two characters to keep the Strike Force uniform as his main look into the larger ’90s relaunch, which gives this one a little extra range, adding to the hook of him selling the set.  Gotta have him for that X-Men #1 line-up.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Banshee is built on the Vulcan base body, with the Lee-strap-bearing legs from Morph, as well as a new set of forearms, a modified upper torso with a collar, and two new head sculpts, all supplied by sculptor Paul Harding. The last Banshee was built on the Bullseye body, which was still new at the time. The Vulcan is a replacement for the Bucky Cap, which was itself the effective replacement for the Bullseye, which makes this a solid choice for Banshee. The new pieces are definitely fun. The two heads give us options for screaming or not, as well as offering up two different hair styles. The calm head gets his muttonchops and is decidedly very ’70s, so it’s definitely my favorite of the two. I’m sure it’s also already tapped for reuse on the inevitable green Banshee. Banshee’s wings are cloth pieces, which is pretty standard. I’m not super keen on the big tabs sticking off of the body to attach them, but at least they don’t constantly fall off the way the original did. Like Syrin, they’re only printed on one side, but at least the way they hang, you won’t really see that. Banshee’s color work is nice and bold. A lot of it’s molded colors, which keeps it very clean. The faces get the printing, which looks lifelike, and what paint is there is cleanly applied. Banshee gets two sets of hands, in fists and open gesture.

GAMBIT

The Strike Force set-up was an important one for Gambit, who wasn’t yet a proper member of the team prior to that sequence of events, but wound up a series regular for quite a while afterwards. He’s had a couple of figures with this look in the past, though no Legends. He was actually amongst the possible candidates for the Fan Poll figure in 2007, but lost out to AoA Sunfire, who actually managed to get two whole figures before this guy got one. The 2007 figure would have gotten a sculpted jacket, though, while this one goes sans-jacket instead. The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and has 34 points of articulation. His construction is a lot of the same parts used for Banshee, but without the wings, and with a different collar piece. He gets a brand new sculpt, also from Paul Harding. I think that the Retro card release still has my favorite sculpt for the character, but this one’s absolutely no slouch, and certainly a close second. His color work is similar to Banshee, as expected. It’s bold and clean. The face is printed, which does the sculpt a lot of favors. The headgear on mine has a couple of noticeable paint chips, which aren’t awful, but are a little annoying. Gambit is packed with standard gripping hands for both sides, as well as two alternate lefts, one for holding a single card, the other throwing three of them. He also gets his single charged card, his staff, and a satchel (re-used from Green Goblin).

PSYLOCKE

Is it really an X-Men three-pack without a Psylocke?  I mean, okay, sure, it is sometimes, but also there’s been three separate instances where she’s been part of one, so, like, that’s kind of crazy, right?  I mean, seriously, we’ve had four Psylocke Legends under Hasbro, and three of them were in three-packs.  It’s an interesting metric.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and she has 31 points of articulation.  Psylocke is sporting the body that’s been designed to be the female equivalent of the base body Banshee and Gambit are sporting, and it’s also shared with Storm from the other pack.  It seems maybe a touch squat and short for Betsy at this period in the comics, but overall it works reasonably well-enough.  She gets an all-new head sculpt, which gives us Psylocke with a ponytail, which is at least a more unique set-up.  Her color work matches up with what we saw on the other two in the set; it’s bright and colorful, and the application on the paint is fairly crisp and clean.  Psylocke is packed with two sets of hands, one set in gripping, one in a flat/fist combo, as well as her assortment of psychic weapons (the psychic knife, katana, and effect piece) from the last two releases.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been waiting for an update to Banshee since…well, shortly after the release of the last Banshee, really.  With Black Tom and Siryn getting updates, the lack of an updated Sean was getting really notable.  This one isn’t the look I wanted the most, but it’s still a good one, and it’s a key look for the Lee X-Men line-up.  He’s also a pretty strong figure in general, and definitely feels worth the wait.  Oh, and there’s the other two figures, too.  They’re fine, I guess.  They’re not Banshee, though.  So.  You know.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with these figures to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3394: Cyclops

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

CYCLOPS

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“With the loss of Jean Grey still weighing on the team, Cyclops must rally the X-Men to face unprecedented new threats.”

At the turn of the millennium, the X-Men were in a rather creatively bankrupt spot, having burned out exactly all of the momentum they had built up at the beginning of the prior decade.  In order to rejuvenate things, as well as bring things more in line with the first live action film, Marvel hired JLA scribe Grant Morrison, who did a hefty re-work on the team.  And, at the end of Morrison’s run, which was admittedly a rather self-contained story, they needed to re-work things again to keep them rolling forward.  So, they brought in another big-name writer, Joss Whedon, and paired him with a big-name artist, John Cassidy, and they launched Astonishing X-Men.  The results were admittedly pretty mixed, and ultimately, the book kind of thrashed around without purpose for another good while.  But Cassidy did at least come up with some pretty cool costume designs for the team, and that included a cool Cyclops who also makes for a cool figure.  Neat.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyclops is the one unnumbered figure in the Ch’od Series of Marvel Legends, which is the second X-Men assortment of the year, and the first to get a Build-A-Figure.  Cyclops himself is the non-Build-A-Figure-piece-bearing double-pack figure for the assortment.  He’s based specifically on Cassidy’s revamped costume for the character, and marks the second time the look has been adapted to Legends, following one waaaaaay back in Hasbro’s first year with the license. The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation. His articulation scheme is pretty much the same as the Vulcan body, which is a pretty good set-up for Scott. That being said, his actual sculpt doesn’t appear to be borrowing any parts from the Vulcan body, instead being and all-new offering, courtesy of Rene Aldrete. It matches the build of the Vulcan base, which is a good fit for Scott, but adds all of the specific elements for this particular design, with all of the piping, seams, and buckles being 3D elements. It works quite well. I’m not a fan of how the wrist pieces sit, but beyond that, I do like it. The head in particular is rather fun; the little bit of stray energy trailing from his visor is a unique touch.  Though not advertised anywhere, like, at all, the energy effect can be removed, if you so choose.  It leaves quite an indent on the head, and you can’t swap it for other blast effects, which is a slight bummer, but the options are nice. Cyclops’s color work is pretty solid. Not a ton going on, but what’s there is very clean, and gets the job done. Cyclops is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and a relaxed/visor operating combo. It’s a bit light, given he’s got no Build-A-Figure piece, but he’s also a totally new sculpt, so it’s offset.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Astonishing X-Men was the first X-book I actively read while it was coming out, so I have a bit of a nostalgic kick for it. Admittedly, it doesn’t really hold up in the end, but there’s no denying that Cassidy’s art was its strongest suit. And I’m always a sucker for a new Cyclops. This one is quite nice. Is he VHS Cyclops? No, but he’s still very nice, and it’s clear a lot of care went into him.

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