Tag Archives: X-Men

X-Men vs Magneto

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

X-MEN VS MAGNETO

WRITTEN & ILLUSTRATED BY ETHAN WILSON (AGE 8)

Hey guys!  What’s this?  Me posting on a Sunday?  What did we do, go back in time two years?  Nah, but I just had something cool to share, and I thought that today being Father’s Day, it might be an appropriate day for such a post.  In the last few months, my son Matty has been getting into creating his own comics and stories with friends at school.  He was mentioning this to my dad, who informed Matty that I had done some similar storytelling when I was younger.  As proof of this, my dad pulled out his copy of my third grade class project, “X-Men vs Magneto”, which he’s been saving for some 22 odd years now.  And, just for the heck of it, I decided to the craziest thing possible:  I updated it.  So, check out the fancy new version (using my verbatim words from the original), as well as the original!

 

#3365: Cyclops

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

CYCLOPS

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“Studying the genetic structure of Scott Summers’ family for many years, Mister Sinister took special care when mutating Cyclops into the one-eyed mutant monster Cyclaw! A bizarre genetic creation, Cyclaw is a one-eyed beast with optic blasts that disintegrate whatever they hit! Completely under the control of Mister Sinister, Cyclaw is Sinister’s chief weapon against the remaining X-Men!”

At the end of the ’90s X-Men toyline from Toy Biz, they got much more experimental with themes.  1997 seemed to hit peak levels of weirdness for that experimentalness, including turning a bunch of the team into monsters.  You know, as you do.  Amongst the X-Men getting all monster-ized was Cyclops.  Big surprise, I have a Cyclops figure to review.  I know.  Crazy.  Anyway, let’s look at the figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyclops is part of the “Monster Armor” series of Toy Biz’s X-Men line, which was the line’s 20th assortment.  He was the line’s sixth version of Cyclops.  The standard portion of the figure is sporting Scott’s Jim Lee costume, which made its second appearance in the scale here, after Cyclops II.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and has 8 points of articulation.  This assortment’s articulation set-up marked a move towards slightly less posable, and slightly more detailed sculpts, as Toy Biz attempted to emulate some of the McFarlane style that had become so popular towards the end of the decade.  Scott made out alright, though he lost elbow and knee movement.  On the flip side, he got universal joints at the shoulders, and a swivel at the waist.  I’ve actually looked at most of this figure’s sculpt before; it was re-used the next year for the X-Men vs Street Fighter version of the character.  The unique piece between the two was the head sculpt.  This one is a far more intense sculpt, with his head back and his expression screaming.  It’s not exactly an all-purpose sort of sculpt, but I guess it’s unique.  It also fits that whole “I’m transforming into a monster” vibe that the whole set was going for.  The figure’s paint work was more on the basic side.  His colors were very bright; arguably too bright for his design, and that’s something the X-Men vs Street Fighter figure would adjust.  Cyclops, like the rest of the series, was packed with a selection of clip-on Monster armor, which turns him into “Cyclaw,” which is kind of a lackluster name.  There’s a mask, “gloves”, and “boots.”  My figure is missing the feet pieces these days, but beyond that, the remaining pieces are appropriately grotesque and horrifying.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Cyclops was, unsurprisingly, the only one of this set that I got when they were new.  Look, I liked Cyclops, okay?  He got some play time as my standard Cyclops, before getting pretty quickly replaced by the Vs version.  Something about the head always seemed a little off to me, but I really liked the monster set-up, so that got a lot of use.  And, honestly, that was kind of the main point, right?

#3358: Avalanche

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

AVALANCHE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Brotherhood of Mutants veteran Avalanche can generate powerful seismic waves from his hands.”

When the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants was reformed under Mystique’s leadership in the ’80s, they got a roster of characters with well-established traits, personalities, and arcs…and they also got Avalanche.  You know, the guy who was only ever really compelling on X-Men: Evolution, where the approach was essentially rebuilding him entirely from the ground up.  The guy whose backstory before joining the Brotherhood could be best summed up as “wasn’t in the Brotherhood yet.”  Essentially, he’s really just a glorified accessory for Pyro, a Brotherhood member who actually does things of note and whom people actually care about.  Honestly, he largely only gets figures to accent Pyro figures, too.  We got an updated Legends Pyro in 2020, so I guess we might as well get a proper Legends Avalanche.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Avalanche is part of the latest retro-inspired X-Men series of Marvel Legends.  This is his first time getting an official Legends figure, though he was previously offered up in the scale in Toy Biz’s X-Men off-shoot line.  Like most of the assortment, he’s got a vintage 5-inch counterpart, with the caveat that Avalanche was in the X-Force line, not the main X-Men one.  The figure stands just shy of 7 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Avalanche uses the Reaper base body as a starting point.  It’s alright for the build, since he’s usually a little stockier, but the articulation’s rather stiff compared to more recent figures, and it’s still got the visible pins in the elbows and knees.  But, it’s just Avalanche we’re talking about here, so it’s not like it’s the end of the world.  Avalanche gets a new head, torso, forearms, and boots.  The head sculpt isn’t really doing it for me, honestly.  It’s a more recent take on his helmet design, with visible eyes, rather than the pupil-less look, and I just don’t think it works as well for the character.  Furthermore, the expression seems too neutral for what little characterization Avalanche has, which tends to see him as being rather brutish.  The body sculpt is alright.  I’ve seen complaints about how the shoulder pads stick out, but they don’t bug me.  The color work on the figure is almost entirely molded plastic, which works fine enough.  He gets a little bit of paint on the face, and I’m not crazy about the darker lips, but it’s other wise alright.  Avalanche is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and open gesture.  That seems rather light; it would have been nice to at least get an unmasked head, or possibly an alternate style of helmet.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I can’t say I was incredibly compelled to get Avalanche, but I did already have Pyro, and he could do with a guy to stand behind him and make him look cooler by comparison.  Also, we’re getting close to wrapping up this incarnation of the Brotherhood, so team building and all that.  This figure isn’t bad, but he’s not terribly exciting either.  I’m not big on the choices with the head sculpt, and he feels kind of bland.  But he’s alright, I guess.

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.

#3355: Cyclops

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

CYCLOPS

X-MEN: SECRET WEAPON FORCE (TOY BIZ)

“In an alternate universe very different from the one the X-Men come from, Cyclops acts on his own. Friend or foe, do not get in the way of Cyclops’ powerful optic blasts. With but the blink of an eye, Cyclops can punch a hole through the thickest walls or blast an opponent from the sky. Cyclops’ War Tank Battle Blaster is always at his side ready to unleash its secret weapon on any unsuspecting foes. Cyclops seems to be united against the evil mutant Apocalypse, but has yet to join forces with Wolverine and Jean Grey. Only time will tell if the three heroic X-Men will reunite for one final, ultimate battle.”

By the late ’90s, Toy Biz’s long-running 5-inch Marvel imprint had moved away from purely comics and cartoon adaptations, with their main lines based on Spider-Man and X-Men both getting a more toyetic flair.  In 1998, the X-Men line got the subtitle “Secret Weapon Force,” which meant plenty of wacky variants for the main characters.  The first assortment under this banner placed Wolverine, Cyclops, and Jean Grey in a *very* loosely AoA-inspired setting, with Cyclops in particular taking the “loosely” part of that to heart.  But hey, cool Cyclops is cool Cyclops.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyclops was released in the “Battle Blaster” series of Toy Biz’s X-Men: Secret Weapon Force line.  Where Jean was a straight-forward AoA Jean (with the slight irony of the package backstory saying she was actually the main universe Jean transported), the other three figures in the set differed a bit in their own ways.  Cyclops was perhaps the most different, since his design had little to nothing in common with the AoA look for the character, instead being more closely linked to the standard Cyclops look.  That being said, this figure sports a design that has no direct comics or cartoon source; he’s instead a toy unique look.  It’s honestly not a bad one, and it’s a little surprising that it never got worked in anywhere over the years.  The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  The entire Battle Blaster assortment was largely based around what Toy Biz could do with minimal new parts.  For Cyclops’ part, it means he’s almost entirely a re-use of the 2099 line’s Meanstreak figure.  The only difference between the two is the presence of a new visor, sculpted over Meanstreak’s face.  It’s a change that works surprisingly well.  It helps that the Meanstreak sculpt is honestly a pretty good one, meaning that he’s just a very playable figure.  The character specific elements are really kept to a minimum, with only the boots and gauntlets feeling very unique; even then, they read more generically ’90s X-Men anyway, so they still work fine for Scott.  His paint scheme goes for a rather different look for Scott.  There’s notably no blue, which is interesting, but also keeps him further from the Meanstreak origins of the mold, so it makes a degree of sense.  My figure’s paint has taken a beating over the years, as you can see, but he still looks pretty good all things considered.  Cyclops, like the rest of the assortment, was packed with his “Secret Weapon Force” weapon, which is dubbed a “War Tank Battle Blaster.”  It’s big and goofy, and curiously not color coordinated with the figure at all.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was a very big Cyclops fan as a kid, and jumped at any chance for a new version of him in toy form, so I made a point of getting this figure early after his release, during a trip to the nearest KB Toys with my Grandmother.  I remember being very excited for him, and he spent a good while as my default version of Scott, even with the non-standard costume.  He’s a fun figure.  Just a good, fun figure.  And still one of my favorite Cyclopses, honestly.

#3353: Multiple Man

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

MULTIPLE MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Jamie Madrox, the Multiple Man, possesses the unique ability to duplicate himself at will.”

My first Multiple Man review, back in 2018, started off with a James Franco joke.  Boy, has *that* not aged well.  That’s what I get for trying to be topical.  Nowadays, I just stick to more timeless and tried things.  How about this up and comer, Madrox the Multiple Man?  His appearance in Fantastic Four sure shows a lot of promise, doesn’t it?  It sure would be cool if he bounced around as a minor supporting player in the X-Books for a decade, and then got promoted to one of the actual teams.  And also if he got five action figures.  You know what?  Let’s actually make that six.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Multiple Man is the third figure from the latest retro-inspired X-Men assortment of Marvel Legends.  Multiple Man is unique in this assortment, as he’s the only figure whose design has no direct equivalent in the Toy Biz run, since his only 5-inch figure (which was a ToyFare exclusive) was in a variation of his X-Factor costume.  This one is based on Jaime’s original suit, which has, up until now, been without toy coverage.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Multiple Man is built on the ANAD 2099 body, which is a slight change-up from his last figure, who was based on the Bucky Cap body. Interestingly, Havok did the same jump on his most recent figure.  This body is more posable and honestly a slightly better match in build, especially for a younger Jaime.  The figure gets two new head sculpts.  One has a more neutral expression, while the other is angry and teeth gritty.  They’re both internally consistent, and also consistent with the three heads included with the last figure, so they all look convincingly like the same guy.  Curiously, while the last figure used separate pieces for the cowl and faces, these ones are both solid construction.  It doesn’t really change up the look, but it’s different.  Jaime’s paint work is actually quite intricate, with all of the gold lines and circles.  They wrap all the way around the body, with nothing being cut for costs like on the last one, and the coverage is actually pretty consistent (always tricky with gold pain, especially when it’s going over a darker base color).  The work is also quite sharp, again improving on the fuzzy edges seen on the last figure.  Multiple Man does alright on the extras, with the previously mentioned second head, as well as two sets of hands in fists and relaxed posing.  It’s not anything fancy, but it allows for some mixing it up for the purposes of army building.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I quite like Multiple Man, so I’m always happy to get more figures.  I liked the X-Factor version that we got in 2018 a fair bit, but I’ve honestly been hoping to see the green costume in some form for a good long while.  This figure is simple, but very effective.  I never got to actually army build the last one, but I can see that being more likely this time around.

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.

#3348: Spiral

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

SPIRAL

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Spiral, Mojo’s deadly enforcer, possesses additional cybernetic limbs, powerful mystic abilities, and a deep enmity for her former flame, Longshot.”

The residents of Mojo World have an interesting relationship with time travel, especially when it comes to recursiveness and stable time loops.  Obviously, the tip of that particular iceberg is certainly the Longshot/Shatterstar “I’m my own Grandpa” loop, but Spiral’s got her own crazy loop of events too, and one that’s especially intricate and involved for a character that’s as minor in the grand scheme of things as Spiral.  She sure looks cool, though.  Makes for a good toy as well.  Those are important factors around these parts.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spiral is another figure in the latest series of retro-inspired X-Men Marvel Legends.  Technically, while Spiral was included in the vintage ToyBiz line which the packaging is homaging, she was after the switch-over to the generic Wolverine header style card, so there’s not a direct equivalent in this set-up.  This is Spiral’s second time as a Legend, following up on the one from early in Hasbro’s run.  It’s been a good 15 years since that one, though, and that’s a lot of time for some progress.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and has a quite astounding 56 points of articulation.  Previous figures with additional arms, going as recent as the Six-Armed Spidey mold, have had some sort of trade-off on the movement to offset the extra appendages, but Spiral bucks that trend by getting all of the articulation that would be top of the line for a standard figure, and then getting four fully articulated arms on top of that.  And it’s all in a standard retail package.  So, clearly to offset all of this articulation, she’s got a lot of parts re-use, right?  In fact, she doesn’t appear to have any re-used parts at all.  And, she’s sporting a pretty darn good sculpt at that.  The last Legends Spiral struggled a bit with how to work in the two extra arms on each side, resulting in a rather notable hunch to her back.  This one still has the tiniest bit of that, but it’s far less pronounced, and the arms just fit much closer together.  The new head sculpt foregoes the last one’s removable helmet feature, which is honestly just a better choice.  She’s rarely seen helmetless in the comics, and this allows the helmet to be better scaled to the head, and it also prevents it from falling off all of the time, which was a common issue with the last one.  Spiral’s outfit is a pretty simple one in a broader sense, made more interesting here thanks to the smaller details; the seams running down the sides of the legs in particular stand out as a detail that helps to add a grounding feel to a design that’s otherwise a rather absurd concept.  A lot of Spiral’s color work relies on molded plastic, presumably to help offset the costs just a touch.  She does get a little bit of paint work, and apart from some slightly inconsistent coverage on her belt buckle, it’s all pretty cleanly handled.  Spiral makes out pretty well on the accessories front, which is another pleasant surprise.  She gets four of the Deadpool-style long katanas, plus Angela’s broadsword and axe-thingy.  She also gets two extra hands…which feels a bit silly, if I’m honest.  Like, I’m not knocking getting spares, since all six arms just get gripping hands.  That said, one is for her metal arm, which is on the left, and the other is a non-metal one…which is also a left.  I feel that at least doing one right and one left would be more sensible, or, quite frankly, leaving out the extra hands all together, since it’s hardly like she’s hurting for accessories or perceived value without them.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve always liked Spiral as a concept, but her figures have never really done anything to wow me.  This one was a different case from the start.  She just looked really cool, and was definitely high on my want list for this round.  Wow, is this an impressive figure.  Hasbro really pulled out all the stops, making unquestionably the definitive Spiral, as well as one of their best Legends in general.

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.

#3343: Longshot

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

LONGSHOT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“The alien performer and hero Longshot uses his probability-manipulating powers to turn any odds in his favor.”

You know who’s a bit of a rarity around these parts? Longshot.  Admittedly, that’s because there aren’t a ton of figures of him.  I mean, I’ve looked at half of them.  Sure, that’s only two, but the point stands.  Well, there’s been two more since my last review, so to keep my metrics going, I guess I need to get up to three.  So, let’s look at a brand-new Longshot figure!  Wooo!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Longshot is the first figure in the lastest Retro X-Men assortment of Marvel Legends.  He’s a slight tweak on the figure from the Mojo World three-pack that hit late last year.  Longshot is also one of the two figures in this assortment who actually has an equivalent vintage figure in the same retro packaging being homaged here (the other being Wolverine).  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 33 points of articulation.  Longshot is using an articulation set-up that’s become rather standard for Legends; there’s a lot of mobility and he’s using the fancy pinless set-up.  Longshot’s sculpt is shared in its entirety with the Mojo World release, but between the two figures it’s totally new.  A totally new sculpt for Longshot is something we haven’t seen since the ToyBiz Legends days, and that wasn’t a very good sculpt, either.  This one, a joint effort by sculptors Rene Aldrete and Eddie Mosqueda, on the other hand, is much better.  He manages to be lanky and skinny, without winding up looking gangly, and there’s generally a pretty nice flow to how all of the parts mesh together.  The outfit gets some decent work on the folds and creases, which helps to make it feel a bit more real.  The hands, it should be noted, get the three-fingered thing down pretty convincingly, going for properly bulking up the fingers just a little bit, rather than making it look like he’s got normal hands with a finger lopped off of each of them.  Longshot’s headsculpt does quite an impressive job of making the character’s Limahl-inspired hair style work in figure form.  The actual face, however, is giving me a bit of a Sting vibe, which works pretty well with his whole ’80s rock star feel.  Longshot’s color work is largely handled through molded plastic, but he gets a bit of silver accent paint on his jumpsuit and gear.  His eyes both use the face printing, and differentiating this release from the three-pack, this one has his wonky “luck” effect on his left eye.  Longshot is packed with four different hands (right gripping and fist, left open gesture and knife holding), a knife, and satchel (re-used from Green Goblin).

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve got a soft spot for Longshot, and it’s always been a bummer that his figures are so frequently lackluster.  When the Mojo World set was announced and it looked like this not-lackluster Longshot would be an exclusive, I was admittedly a little bummed again.  Thankfully, the announcement of the solo release came pretty quickly.  I like this guy a lot.  He’s honestly what I was hoping for when I got the TB Longshot back in the day.  He just works so much better.  And now we don’t need another one for a while.

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.

#3341: Age of Apocalypse Nemesis & Age of Apocalypse Morph

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AGE OF APOCALYPSE NEMESIS & AGE OF APOCALYPSE MORPH

MARVEL MINIMATES

2010 marked the 15th anniversary of the “Age of Apocalypse” storyline, and since 15 is not nearly as cool an anniversary as 25, there wasn’t a *ton* done for it.  There was a little, though, and that included two boxed sets in Diamond’s Marvel Minimates line, which covered eight of the story’s bigger players.  DST followed up on those two sets early the following year with a couple more characters packed in a pair of two-packs.  Some of the story’s real breakout characters got their coverage there, which was the case for today’s focus pair, Nemesis and Morph!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Age of Apocalypse Nemesis and Age of Apocalypse Morph (as they are both decidedly billed on the packaging) were released in the 10th TRU-exclusive assortment of Marvel Minimates.  Though a slightly odd pairing at first glance, they aren’t the weirdest pair, given that Morph does masquerade as Nemesis briefly during the original crossover, and they are part of the same portion of the crossover.  That said, they, more than anyone, are a pair the spares set-up.  I’m not complaining, though.

NEMESIS

“Nemesis was sent to destroy as many of Magneto’s young students as he could while the X-Men where off fighting Apocalypse’s Horsemen. He was defeated in battle by the Scarlet Witch, although he was able to destroy her. He left before the X-Men returned and was embraced by Apocalypse as his newest Horseman.”

As with all toy versions of the character, Apocalypse’s son uses his pre-body destruction moniker of “Nemesis,” due to an overall desire not to trivialize the real world event with which he shares his other name.  It’s kind of a heavy subject matter for a line of little block figures, so I can definitely dig that.  This marked the character’s one and only time in Minimates form, which certainly makes sense.  Counting his original Toy Biz figure and his Hasbro Legends release, that places him at three figures.  Not a bad spread.  This one remains his most recent.  The figure is just shy of 3 inches tall and has 11 actual working points of articulation (his neck and ankle joints being rendered static by the construction of the figure).  He’s still using the core ‘mate body, with add-ons for his helmet/chest, hands, thighs, and boots.  The thighs and boots were shared with the Hulkbuster, while the chest and hands were new.  The chest was re-used down the line for the Mandroid, but the hands would remain unique to this one.  The general look is pretty far removed from the ‘mate aesthetic, but it does at the very least look the part for Nemesis.  His paint work is mostly rather simple, with the vast majority of the figure just being molded in translucent yellow.  His head and torso get his signature red skeleton remains, which looks pretty sweet, and he also gets a little bit of red on his left hand, presumably meant to simulate his energy effect.  Nemesis was packed with no accessories.

MORPH

“Morph joined Rogue’s team of X-Men in Chicago to evacuate as many humans as possible and stop Nemesis. Sneaking into the Inifinite processing plant, Morph and the rest of the X-Men managed to rescue some prisoners and destroy the plant, saving lives.”

Quite possibly my favorite piece of the whole AoA crossover is its distinctive take on Morph, who I actually first encountered because of his old Toy Biz figure.  I’ve had a love for the character’s design since, and he was at the top of my list for the ‘mates.  This guy uses the standard base body, with add-ons for his cape and boots.  The cape is re-used from the AoA Magneto, which makes sense, since they had the same style of cape in the crossover and all.  The boots are the standard Marvel-style flared boots, which I never liked quite as much as the DC ones, but are still more more than serviceable.  The rest of the work is handled via paint, which the figure handles respectably well.  The face showcases the best work, capturing Morph’s more carefree attitude.  The base body also details his costume pretty well.  The yellow on the knees is a little thin, and the edges of the gloves are a little sloppy, but it otherwise works okay.  Like Nemesis, Morph is without accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My interest in AoA is just so-so, but my interest in Morph and Blink from the Exiles time is pretty high, and Morph in particular was a real draw for me.  I snagged this set, plus the Blink and Sabretooth, and the Thor, Captain America, and First Class tie-ins all at the same time, while on a road trip with my family, back when these were all new.  Morph is my favorite of the AoA subset, and just a fun little figure in general.  Nemesis is decent, though I admittedly have less ties to the character.

#3320: Jean Grey

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JEAN GREY

X-MEN: SECRET WEAPON FORCE (TOY BIZ)

“Trapped in an alternate universe, Jean Grey wages a battle against Omega, one of Apocalypse’s minions. One of the most powerful mutant telepaths on the planet, Jean Grey has teamed up with Wolverine to put an end to Apocalypse’s diabolical plans once and for all. With her transforming Catapult Tank Blaster, Jean has a secret weapon that can send any opponent down for the count!”

By 1997, Toy Biz’s X-Men line had firmly moved away from purely comics-based figures, and was fully venturing into the “wacky variants” territory.  Assortments moved to a generally themed nature, with that theme usually being some sort of gimmick.  Both X-Men and Spider-Man took on an underlying line rebranding in ’98, with the X-Men one being
“Secret Weapon Force.”  Though the main purpose of these assortments was have an excuse for wacky variants, Toy Biz did at least throw peopled a bit of a bone, and tried to make some of those variants line-up with something actually from the comics.  In the case of today’s figure, Jean Grey, it allowed them to give her “Age of Apocalypse” look some coverage, after it had been left out of the proper tie-in assortment for the storyline.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Jean Grey was released in the “Battle Blaster” series of Toy Biz’s re-branded X-Men: Secret Weapon Force line.  The four figures in the assortment were all loosely AoA-themed, with the pretense of this being our Jean trapped in an alternate universe.  Jean was the most straight forward of the bunch, at least in terms of design.  The figure stands about 5 inches tall and she has 5 points of articulation.  Jean marked the second use of the Monster Armor Mystique body, which would become one of Toy Biz’s favorites in the later 5-inch run.  She uses the main body, sans the skirt, with a new head sculpt (though the prototype on the back of the box was just a straight repaint).  The new head is a decent match to her AoA look in the comics, so that’s pretty decent.  The body’s not terrible, though I’m not a huge fan of the enormous right hand, or its general lack of posing.  Also, this release kept the etched-in lines from Mystique’s gloves and boots, which don’t line up with Jean’s costume details.  Jean’s paint work was generally okay.  It follows her look from the comics fairly closely.  Some of the details are a little fuzzy, especially on the costume.  I do like the tattoo on the face, though.  She’s also got a “Secret Weapon Force” insignia on her leg, which isn’t true to the original design, but is still a little cool, honestly.  Jean was packed with her “Secret Weapon Force” secret weapon, which was a Catapult Tank Blaster.  Given the sheer size of this thing, I’m not clear on just how she manages to keep it “secret,” but she *is* a telepath, I suppose.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Despite being a main character for the franchise, by this point in the X-Men line, Jean Grey figures were still rather rare.  If you saw one, you got it.  That’s just how it was.  I wanted a non-Phoenix Jean, and this was my only real option at the time, so you know I went out there and got one…with my Grandmother’s money, most likely.  I know I got the Cyclops from this set first because, well, Cyclops, but Jean was a fairly close second.  Gotta have those two together, right?  She’s not a bad figure, I guess.  I mean, not great, but also not bad.  It was a nice way for Toy Biz to get this variant of Jean out there and continue the AoA line-up just a little bit more.

#3315: Quicksilver

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

QUICKSILVER

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“The speedster known as Quicksilver belongs to a family of strong mutants, his sister is the Scarlet Witch and his father is Magneto! Quicksilver spend the early part of his career as a member of Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, before realizing his powers would best be put to use for the good of all Mankind. Since that time, Quicksilver has been a member of several super-teams, including X-Factor and the Avengers!”

Though he hasn’t quite made the lasting impressing that his twin sister has in recent years, Quicksilver is still certainly in a better spot than he was back before 2014.  Nowadays, he’s almost a household name…well, one of him is, anyway.  Not sure which.  Probably not the comics one, but that’s the one I’m looking at anyway, so let’s just stick with that.  Anyway, here’s a Quicksilver, I guess.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Quicksilver was released in the infamous “Muntant Armor” series of Toy Biz’s X-Men line.  There were two variants of Quicksilver available, one in his classic blue and white costume and one in his his then-current white and grey one.  Back in 2015, I looked at the white and grey, so today’s review focusses on the blue and white.  The figure stands about 5 inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation.  As noted in the prior review, Quicksilver was built on the smaller male base body, which Toy Biz got quite a few uses out of around this time.  He shares his mostly new head sculpt (retooled from the Battle Brigade Archangel) with his variant, and it’s still a pretty good take on the character.  His paint work was obviously the main selling point.  It’s a pretty solid recreation of his classic design.  For true accuracy, it should have the black shorts, but this isn’t horribly inaccurate or anything.  Application is pretty clean for the most part, with minimal slop or bleed over.  Both versions of Quicksilver got the same accessories, a weird machine gun thing (missing from both of mine) and a dust cloud running effect stand, which was re-used from Meanstreak, but was now in a fun translucent grey, which was generally just a little more effective for the appearance of a dust cloud.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My dad had this version of Quicksilver, while I had the other one when I was growing up.  I was always a fan of this one too, but I liked having my own distinct version.  Over the years, though, I’ve been slowly working at getting a full run of the Toy Biz Marvel, and I was able to snag this guy at a toy show, in order to help me towards that goal.  It’s intriguing that Toy Biz did Pietro with both costumes, seeing as he’s exactly the sort of character that you don’t really need multiple figures for, but now, well, now I have both, and I guess that’s kinda cool, right?