The Hasbro Marvel Legends X-Men wave is hitting retailers now. Thanks to Hasbro for providing these figures!
The Apocalypse wave is solid, and a bonus considering that some thought that having a couple of Deadpool waves in a non-X-Men movie year would preclude it. Here’s some quick thoughts on each of the figures:
- Wolverine – I’m a fan of this body, which has seen a bunch of re-use for Wolvie in his various looks. He comes with two pairs of fists, with and without claws. The claws are harder plastic so they won’t bend, and they can be individually removed. You’ll need to adjust them to get them straight.
- Sabretooth – I’ll have to dig out the previous releases to compare them. He’s a good-looking figure, but I hope to see other characters as a foil for Wolverine in future X-Men waves. He just comes with a BAF piece.
- Magneto – He comes with a helmeted head and an unmasked one, of which I’m particularly fond. He has both fists and translucent hands to go with purple lightning effects. I don’t think Hasbro has nailed his classic look yet, but since they released one (on an inferior base body) not too long ago I don’t think we’ll see a remake of the classic costume soon.
- Storm – Hasbro nailed her punk mohawk look. I’d have liked a head with painted eyes to represent that period when she had lost her powers, and some fists to go with it. She comes with two yellow lightning bolts.
- Gladiator – He’s a reissue of the figure that came with the SDCC Thanos Imperative set from 2014. I think there are slight changes to the paint deco, but I haven’t dug out the older one to compare. My nitpick with him, and with Magneto to a lesser extent, is that I’d like Hasbro to figure out a way to get the front part of their capes to lay flat against the body. Like Sabes, he just comes with a BAF piece.
- Madrox the Multiple Man – Madrox comes with three different heads, for some variety if you want to army build. My own wishlist would have him in one of his green costumes, either the classic spandex from back in the Claremont / Byrne era or his t-shirt look from recent X-Factor. Seeing his trenchcoat in brown, I’m wondering when we’ll see a Gambit from Hasbro.
- Psylocke – Although I despise ninja Psylocke as horrible fan service, this figure is a great representation of it – this is my favorite figure of the wave. People have been clamoring for her for a long time. I will have to dig out the Psylocke that came in the SDCC X-Force set in 2012 to compare her with Hasbro’s earlier effort, but this is a marked improvement over Toy Biz’s Psylocke from 2006. She comes with some great psychic accessories, including a katana and a power effect that fits around her eyes.
- Apocalypse (BAF) – Toy Biz released Apocalypse as a single-carded figure in 2004 and then as a BAF in 2005. The single-carded figure was a bit broad and ape-like for my taste, and the BAF was too large to really work the Legends line. This figure fixes all of that – it’s got great proportions and the size is just right. I’m not really a fan of the tubing that connects from his back to his arms – they’re too long and unwieldy – but luckily for me those are pieces that can just be tossed in a storage bin.
I’ll have some comparison pictures soon, but for now, I’ve got to get ready to head to San Diego Comic-Con. Excelsior!