Tag Archives: X-Men

#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.

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.