August 12, 2026

X-Men ’97 – “Survival of the Fittest”

By Joe
Original premiere date August 12, 2026

We have reached the end of season two of X-Men ’97, albeit probably sooner than we would have liked given the nine episode order. Ten already seemed short compared with the 13 the original series used to get so nine is borderline cruel. All that said, before we dig into the review for the season finale I do just want to say how happy this show has made me. It still blows my mind that I’m watching a continuation of something I loved as a child. When that theme song starts up, I get goosebumps all up and down my arms and the feeling that comes over me is something akin to a high. It’s fantastic, and I hate that it’s all over so quickly.

“Survival of the Fittest” is the culmination of the season long arc involving Apocalypse (Ross Marquand). Even though the big guy was somewhat put on ice after the fourth episode, he’s back and ready to go for the finale and caught in the crossfire is Gambit. Last week, Gambit (A.J. LoCascio) made his long telegraphed re-debut as he rose from the grave with an all new look, but an all new mind set as well. Gambit quickly set out to putting together a crew and he turned to his roots for that as he returned to Louisiana to corrupt the assassins and the thieves. Gambit choosing to return home should have been a tell for all who love him because Gambit vowed to never return there and by episode’s end we found out he wasn’t the one calling the shots: Apocalypse was. X-Force had found the withered husk of the mighty Apocalypse in the previous episode and the conclusion everyone seemed to draw was that Gambit had been resurrected as his horseman of Death and he made his maker his first victim. Oh, how foolish for Apocalypse cannot be killed so easily, and especially not by one of his own making. He likely needed a new host body and Gambit was his chosen vessel, but before he could resume his crusade against all he deems weak he needed to visit someone from his past: Candra.

The X-Men have a whole bunch of foes to deal with, but the big one is still Apocalypse.

Candra (Debra Wilson) is who we were introduced to during the second season of the original series as the X-Ternal. She is the apparent deity the thieves and assassins aim to please in exchange for their supernatural powers. We saw Candra make an appearance in the past as part of Rama-Tut’s court, but at the time it wasn’t clear why? It turns out, she and Apocalypse would meet sometime after the events in Egypt and the big guy apparently took a liking to her so much so that he bestowed upon her some of his awesome power. She took it and ran and Apocalypse has been trying to reclaim it ever since. Now, it makes sense why he’d have interest in Gambit. If he knows about Gambit’s connection to her via the thieves (and why would he?) then posing as Gambit could bring her out of wherever it is she goes when she isn’t in that swamp and allow him to reclaim what he once gave up. And that’s exactly what happened and the only challenge Apocalypse faced came from a likely expected source in the X-Men. In particular, Xavier (Marquand) and Rogue (Lenore Zann). Xavier chose to battle Apocalypse in Gambit’s mind in what was nearly a 1:1 recreation of a similar battle for the soul of Jean during The Dark Phoenix Saga. Only this time, Xavier failed and it was Rogue who somehow was able to enter Gambit’s mind and make the save. I say “some how” because she and Gambit have never demonstrated a psychic rapport before, but he also handed over the power he took back from Candra to her. Perhaps that’s doing the heavy lifting here?

Val Cooper’s villain turn has been pretty gradual this season.

Speaking of, why did Apocalypse do that? Does this all go back to that conversation he and Rogue shared in the past regarding love? That’s one of the questions I had going into “Survival of the Fittest” where the X-Men need to free their friend from Apocalypse’s control, but also contend with recently allied X-Factor and the remnants of X-Force. Jubilee (Holly Chou) and Sunspot (Gui Agustini) defected from Cable’s (Chris Potter) team when it became obvious that Cable’s only objective is destroying Apocalypse even if that means killing Gambit in the process. X-Factor has it out for Charles and his X-Men and their choice to get involved on US soil has put them in the crosshairs. Will the supposed good mutants all figure out they have a problem bigger than each other or will everything just fall apart and play into the hands of Apocalypse?

If the X-Men are going to save Remy, then you know Rogue is going to have to play a big part.

For the finale, Storm (Alison Sealy-Smith) is given the honor of stating the “Previously,” line, though if you think that’s a tip for how the episode will go I will say it most certainly is not. Jubilee and Sunspot are back in the roll call this week, though Colossus still remains on the sidelines. Perhaps he’ll be a season three addition? The ending clash has also been changed to feature Xavier’s X-Men on one side and Val Cooper’s (Catherine Disher) X-Factor on the other. The X-Men remained in their Jim Lee era costumes for this clash all season and I wonder if that will be changed next year? Or maybe leaving them in those looks will always be a way to celebrate the original series? I wouldn’t mind a return to those looks, personally. I’ve never been a fan of the black and yellow which, like the original movie suits, seemed to be born out of the idea that the old, colorful, costumes were something to be embarrassed by.

X-Factor being accompanied by Sentinels is a perversion of what they should be standing for.

The episode wastes no time in getting to the conflict. X-Factor, along with Cable, Archangel (Christopher Barger), and Psylocke (Naoko Mori), are knocking on Xavier’s door while Gambit remains unconscious. He’s a ticking time bomb though and about the only answers anyone can come up with rests miles below the water’s surface. There, Beast (George Buza), Rogue, and Nightcrawler (Adrian Hough) have come upon the celestial ship of Apocalypse, last seen in the past as a temple, but last seen in this era back in the episode “Obsession” from the original series. Beast still has a small fragment of the ship’s A.I. and it’s enough to revive it and reactivate the portal to the celestial realm we saw En Sabah Nur enter and emerge from as Apocalypse in “Rise of Apocalypse.” The ship warns the group that entering such a place requires a price, but Rogue is determined to do whatever it takes to save Gambit while Beast and Nightcrawler can do little but watch.

On Genosha, we get to watch as Cooper’s forces storm the X-Corp building in a bid to get Cable close enough to take out Gambit. They are convinced that destroying Gambit is the only way to eliminate Apocalypse and it’s only a matter of time until he takes over Gambit’s mind and body, as he’s done to so many before. There is some good action spots including Jubilee and Havok (Teddy Sears) battling it out in airplanes, Wolverine (Cal Dodd) and Morph (JP Karliak) taking on the duo of Archangel and Psylocke, and a big showdown between parents and son. There’s a lot to pack into 30 minutes (it would have been nice to get an extended ninth episode given they axed the tenth), but the pace felt solid. The action was satisfying and the character moments were also present. I might have preferred to have more character moments to go out on, but I also can’t critique the ending. Without spoiling anything, it was beautiful.

There were some fun pairings in this one, like this confrontation between Psylocke and Wolverine that doesn’t go how Betsy imagined it would.

I went into this episode unsure if X-Men ’97 could stick the landing. The whole season had been building towards this confrontation, but along the way it reminded me that the big spectacles aren’t really the draw with X-Men. It’s the team dynamics, the inter-character conflicts, the soap opera elements that make the show unique among a litany of other options these days. It’s similar to how the draw with Spider-Man is less about Spider-Man and more about Peter Parker which was really on display in Brand New Day which appears on its way to be the most successful film at the box office ever in terms of number of dollars spent. Hopefully there is a lesson in there for Marvel. X-Men ’97 found a way to stick that landing and found it in an unexpected source. Should I have seen it coming? Perhaps, but I was content to just sit back and let the show take me on a ride this week and I never really found myself trying to forecast the end. I was concerned at the onset it would feel too much like the Dark Phoenix Saga because it certainly did the prior week. In a way, it did borrow elements from that this week, but with a different resolution. There was also the elephant in the room that is Apocalypse. I like Apocalypse as a villain, but my problem with him going back to the original series is that they never found satisfying ways to stop him. He would just sort of leave and the one time they really stopped him was at the end of “Beyond Good and Evil” when it was kind of a goofy, unsatisfying ending. One thing they absolutely get right with this finale is that it’s only sort of about Apocalypse, but it never loses sight of the fact that it’s primarily about Rogue and Gambit and the family they’ve acquired who will risk it all to help them. Even when it means, in the case of Cyclops (Ray Chase) and Jean (Jennifer Hale), taking on their actual family.

Cable arrived on Genosha amid literal fireworks and now he returns amid a hail of gun fire.

Like the end of season one, there is a post credits scene setting up season three so do make sure you stick around for that (or use the skip credits option). I’ll likely make a season two wrap-up post to get more into spoilers, but suffice to say I like what they’re setting up for season three. I just hope we don’t have to wait longer than a year this time (they showed a clip at San Diego Comic Con and could conceivably show another this weekend at D23 so that’s a positive sign) as that can really derail momentum. X-Men ’97 is one of the best things Disney and Marvel have going right now so I hope they don’t do anything to stifle that. This finale was terrific. If you felt the season was losing some of its momentum coming into the last episode then rest assured, this one is the payoff you likely hoped for. I do think it will be controversial and it will have some major lasting impacts on the show, but in the moment I found it satisfying even if a bit painful. Sometimes, that’s a mark of good art.

Previously…on X-Men ’97:

X-Men ’97 – “The Dead Man’s Hand”

This was the episode of X-Men ’97 we all knew was coming eventually. I don’t think I need to provide a spoilers warning given the episode title before I say this is the return of Gambit. This was all setup in the closing moments of the first season when Apocalypse (Ross Marquand) found the queen…

by Joe

X-Men ’97 – “Strange Land, Savage Heart”

If you were hoping for a quick follow-up on the closing moments of last week’s episode featuring Apocalypse and a certain resurrected cajun, I’m afraid I have some bad news. The show is going to slow walk that plot as this week we’re dealing with more Genosha fallout. Considering the magnitude of the event, I’m…

by Joe

X-Men ’97 – “Danger.exe”

After last week’s side trip up north to get Wolverine his skeleton back, this week’s episode of X-Men ’97 brings us back to the mansion which we really haven’t seen much of so far this season. The season’s sixth episode is centered on survivor’s guilt and the sins of a parent. For the guilt portion,…

by Joe

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August 11, 2026

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Z Super Saiyan Son Goku – Fighter of Rage

By Joe
He’s a ragin’ saiya-jin.

When you’ve been making figures of a specific property for a long time, there comes a point where there just isn’t much left to turn into plastic. That’s why companies like Bandai, and they have been with Dragon Ball for a very long time, end up resorting to playing the hits with incremental upgrades. And it’s magnified with a property like Dragon Ball Z which stopped producing episodes and manga 30 years ago. When Bandai brought in Tamashii Nations now more than 10 years ago to liven up the DBZ brand, it made a lot of the main cast, but those designs grew long in the tooth. That’s what lead to the 2.0 body for several characters, but even that’s old now so we’re onto 3.0. The 3.0 Goku body debuted last year and the response has been a little tepid. It’s clearly superior to the old one in some obvious ways, but perhaps inferior in others. My experience with that figure, Let the Games Begin Super Saiyan Goku, also were plagued with some minor quality control issues. The kind that are more annoying than deal-breaking (well, the alternate hair piece is basically unusable), but still not up to par with the majority of releases in the line. It gave me pause on future figures on that body and I did end up cancelling a preorder I had for Super Saiyan Blue Goku. One I could not entertain canceling was Super Saiyan Son Goku – Fighter of Rage. That’s because this one was through Premium Bandai, the pay-up-front storefront that doesn’t allow cancellations. Here’s hoping I didn’t get burned again because this one is nearly double the price.

Left to right: Games Begin Goku (3.0 body), Fighter of Rage, and Lowest Born Saiyan (2.0 body)

This version of Super Saiyan Goku is essentially a redo of the Awakening Super Saiyan Goku Bandai released years ago. It depicts Goku right after his initial transformation into a Super Saiyan during his fight with Frieza. His gi is in tatters, the blue undershirt is all that’s left from the upper body portion, and his flesh is marked with battle damage. He’s ripped, but not nearly as bulky as he’ll get during the later stages of the fight which is captured in the Legendary Super Saiyan Goku figure from a couple of years ago. In other words, this is a pretty hyper specific look for Goku and the only reason to get it is if you think that older figure needs an upgrade or you never got it. I never got that one. It was reissued a couple of years ago as a Tamashii Nations pop-up event exclusive and I was surprised it never made it to the website. Had it, I probably would have bought it as it still looked pretty good and I think Bandai upgraded the face-printing on it like it has for other reissues. I think it had translucent hair which I don’t love, but it’s also not a dealbreaker for me. With this one going up, I no longer need that one and my primary motivation for ordering it was just that I didn’t have the old one. It’s a cool look and an iconic moment from both the show and manga. It did cost $65 and Bandai made it more enticing with a free shipping promotion, but $65 for a good figure these days is becoming the norm. And by Premium Bandai standards, it’s on the cheaper side. When it arrived it looked good in the standard window box packaging, but on the lower left corner of the box read a warning: Made in Vietnam.

He should pose well and comes with the usual assortment of hands and expressions.

During COVID, Bandai seemed to shift a lot of their manufacturing from China to Vietnam. I think it started before that because as time goes on labor gets more expensive in China where factory jobs probably aren’t as enticing as they used to be for the general population. Plus, they’re good at it and can charge more. Vietnam is the upstart in this scenario and is thus attractive to companies like Bandai because they do have lower prices. They also have less experience with action figures as intricate as what Bandai puts out. Some releases, like Cooler, have come out of the Vietnam factories and have been stellar. Others, like Trunks, not so much. That 3.0 Goku was out of Vietnam and it felt like a real step back for the factory there. With this figure using some of the same parts, I assume it’s out of the same building. Does the Premium Bandai distinction mean it gets a little more TLC? Maybe. Hopefully. Thankfully, my fears in this instance are largely unfounded. This figure is what I expect of not just a Premium Bandai release (and let’s face it, the “premium” tag isn’t implying better quality), but a Tamashii Nations figure in general. The parts fit as intended, there’s no weird, chewed, up edges on the plastic, and the paint is where it’s supposed to be.

Some effect parts would be nice to have right about now…

Goku stands at approximately 5.25″ to where his face ends. Factoring in the hair, and we’re up to 6.625″ to the tip. He’s pretty much eye-to-eye with the Games Begin Goku. The look and finish is much more premium. That Goku is $35-$40 and looks like a cheaper toy. This one has more elaborate shading on the pants to mimic that Super Saiyan aura. The material also has a softer feel in-hand possibly because the material needed to be thicker to accommodate the additional sculpting. There’s less shine as a result from the plastic even though when it comes to paint there really isn’t a ton here. In terms of parts sharing there’s basically none. I would guess the innards share some parts, but the visible portions of the sculpt are all different. Mind you, they’re the same base mold, but everything here has sculpted battle damage. Even the hands. I’m not sure if that saves them any money, though they’ll likely find other uses for these tools down the road. The shirt is an overlay that’s been glued down and the body beneath has sculpted damage as does the shirt. One of my few complaints is that the top of the shirt was not glued down and it sticks up like a tank top. That may be purposeful to accommodate the articulation, but it is a bit annoying. The belt is a floating piece and the pants are the most elaborate part of the sculpt. There’s lots of little strands of material sticking off and torn parts where flesh is exposed underneath. They also fixed the look of the hips to some degree making that cut-out for the thigh swivel less obvious. I still feel they’re overthinking this part of the sculpt and articulation, but at least it’s better than before.

The alternate hair seems to work best for charging poses, though I think his hair was drawn this way while in flight.

The bigger price point is essentially all tied into the sculpt because Goku doesn’t come with a ton of stuff. He has five portraits he can utilize: neutral, teeth gritting, yelling, a smirk, and an alternate teeth gritting expression where he’s looking down and the shape of his mouth is different from the other one. He also has two hair pieces one of which I’d call neutral and the other is a powering up option. The powering up one is harder to get onto the neck peg, especially because this utilizes that double peg with the hinge in the middle that likes to flop around, but it’s not impossible to get on. The faces fit snug and are less prone to leaving gaps when compared with The Games Begin Goku. Some take more effort than others, but it’s definitely an improvement. They do take more elbow grease with the alternate hair, but I was able to get all fairly snug with some effort. For hands, Goku has fists, his martial arts posed hands, a more relaxed take on the style posed hands, Kamehameha hands, and open hands. There is no effect part included which is a bummer and something that really should be customary with these Premium Bandai offerings. There’s also no flight stand and no extra parts for another figure (something they love doing with their store exclusives) so pretty light by the company’s standards. We’re over due for a new Kamehameha blast effect, though I’m almost relieved that he does not come with yet another charging effect.

Time to throw down.

The articulation is basically the same as The Games Begin Goku. There’s less stuff on the torso so the arms are a bit easier to work with. He has that goofy neck joint, but it doesn’t really let him look up much. Down is fine, and don’t be surprised if the faces work their way off slightly when positioning the head around. Especially with the alternate hair. The arms can get into various charging poses and I like that the battle damage is continued throughout the articulation such as in the butterfly joint caps and in the knee bends. The knee is that single hinge, but it goes beyond 90 degrees. The right knee is a little funky because it’s exposed due to the torn fabric. When you bend it all the way it will leave a gap below the exposed knee cap, but that knee cape is on a hinge itself and can be adjusted to your liking eliminating the gap entirely. The forward and back ab crunch is also a little better and less gappy than before. We also still have that odd pivot point above the boot. I found with the previous Goku it was a touch loose and made standing him more of a chore than it should be, but here it’s not as loose. I still question it’s usefulness. Everything is pretty smooth, but there are places where the figure will pop apart if you push things too far or if it gets hung up on something. Since it’s basically all ball joints, there’s no real risk of breakage, just be mindful if you pop the arm off by mistake that inner pieces may go flying. I do find the shoulder can get hung up at times on the cap pieces meant to close gaps. It might even be a good idea if you run into the same to just pop the arm off and adjust it (or not, I did this and the arm disconnected at the cup-hinge inside the torso and was a pain to get back in, but it did fix the floating piece so your mileage may vary). The cap on my figure’s left shoulder was really jammed in there and wasn’t hiding things as well as the right shoulder. I also popped the figure apart at the waist by mistake and the blue piece covering the abs flew out. I couldn’t tell which was supposed to be the front and back, but thankfully there’s a promo image where it’s very exposed so I was able to figure that out. If you find yourself in a similar situation, the front has a crease that goes all the way across while the back has two creases towards the sides.

The pose most Goku figures are judged on.

This is ultimately a better figure than the previously released The Games Begin Goku. It has a more premium look and feel and everything seems to work as intended. The articulation is good, not the best I’ve ever seen, but a wide variety of Goku poses are available. At $65, it’s an okay value, but since it was a limited Premium Bandai run that means virtually no one will pay $65 from here on out to acquire this one. Had I missed out, I may have been willing to extend myself a little further to add it to my collection, but with how often Bandai re-releases exclusives as variants I’d probably wait. They just announced a new full power Frieza that’s a re-release of the previous exclusive only now they actually painted the battle damage which is arguably better (no, I’m not rebuying it just for that). I don’t know why they don’t paint the battle damage to begin with and it really should have been painted here. Just fill in those sculpted-in lines with black and it would better match the source. There should be a little blood too. The accessories are a tad light, but not egregiously so. I would have loved an energy part, or a portrait of him actually transforming with the whited-out eyes. As is, it’s a good release and I feel much better about it than I did the last SHF Goku I purchased. I have a few more on preorder bought and paid for so hopefully they turn out just as well.

If you like Goku, I have no shortage of Goku figure reviews:

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Z Super Saiyan Goku – The Games Begin

It was around 8 years ago that Bandai released an update to their Goku body. Dubbed the 2.0 mold, the company has since created many action figures of the legendary hero since then. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the sculpt, but some aspects of it have become dated. When Bandai wanted to do an update…

Keep reading
by Joe

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Daima Super Saiyan 4 Son Goku (Mini)

It’s no great secret that the black sheep of the Dragon Ball universe is the anime Dragon Ball GT. Created in-house by Toei animation, Dragon Ball GT was a continuation of Dragon Ball Z without creator Akira Toriyama. While Toriyama had to grant approval to many aspects of the series, he wasn’t directly involved with…

Keep reading
by Joe

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Son Goku & Dragon 40th Anniversary Edition

It was last year that Bandai and Tamashii Nations announced a selection of special releases in the S.H.Figuarts line of action figures celebrating the 40th anniversary of Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball. Among those announced was a brand new version of kid Goku and Shenron from the cover of the very first volume of manga for…

Keep reading
by Joe

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August 7, 2026

Longbox Heroes Prestige – The Tick and Vacation Tick

By Joe
Justice has a new name and it’s The Tick!

Coming at you from the mind of Ben Edlund and the folks at Big Bad Work Shop, it’s the pride of Pembroke, Massachusetts – The Tick! When I think back on the 90s properties that unjustly faded away, The Tick is always near the top of the list. Created in the 80s, The Tick was one of the many characters from indie comics to get a shot at stardom thanks to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (for a terrific overview, check out the Secret Galaxy video on the subject). Further inroads into pop culture by Batman and the X-Men also contributed to The Tick getting an animated series on Fox Kids, an accompanying toy line, and other tie-in merch. And while it seems like The Tick did all right for Fox and produced 36 episodes, it’s been left behind a bit in the ensuing years. Disney came to own it and only released the first two seasons on DVD in the US, a fate that befell many shows in the DVD era (in other regions, the entire series did see release). And while it was streaming for a time on Hulu, it has since been dropped and is only available to rent in some places, though you can find the show on YouTube for free without much issue.

He should fit in fine with any 1:12 scale line.

That animated series was my main touchpoint with The Tick. A pair of live-action shows followed in the wake of the cartoon’s cancellation and I need to give them another chance as my initial viewings didn’t land. There’s also the comic that I should revisit as well for that is what the new Longbox Heroes line is based on. This new toyline is a combination of a trio of companies: Fresh Monkey Fiction, Toy Otter, and Big Bad Toy Store. Through them comes Big Bad Work Shop which has sought to acquire a license for a number of independent comic book characters as well as other public domain characters, original creations, and more. The Longbox Heroes Prestige line is an offshoot of the previous Longbox Heroes line which was a series of 3.75″ action figures with limited articulation. The Tick was featured in that line, but I never went for it as I just don’t have a ton of interest in that particular style of toy. The Prestige line though, that’s a modern, 1:12 scale line and when this Tick went up for preorder back in March of 2025 it was an instant purchase. The Tick, for me, is something I didn’t appreciate enough in the moment. It came on after X-Men and I think it needed a buffer going from the very dramatic, soap opera, show to this goofy, satirical, one. I still watched it, but I wasn’t always engaged. As an adult, I’ve gone back to the show and absolutely loved it. It holds up as well as anything from the 90s and probably better than most would expect. The Tick was ahead of its time as I think the show would land even better in our current era where superheroes are as mainstream as they’ve ever been.

Duty calls.

For the launch of the Prestige line, we get not one, but two versions of The Tick. There’s the standard version and the vacation variant which went up for preorder in time with San Diego Comic Con 2025. At first, it looked like that version would deliver earlier than the standard one, but both didn’t make it out until July 2026. Both figures are essentially the same with different accessories (and some shared ones), though the vacation variant runs ten dollars more expensive. The packaging for both is a pretty standard window box adorned with artwork from the comics. There’s a brief bio on the back which is the same for both figures and they are numbered on the spine 1 and 2 with 1 being the standard Tick. It’s an attractive box for in-package collectors and it’s also friendly for those who wish to use them as storage for either the figures or the accessories. There’s also no tie-downs which is fantastic and the figure and accessories are just held in place by a clamshell – the way it should be.

“Gee, and I thought the turtles had a bad disguise.”

Out of the box, The Tick stands at approximately 6.875″ to the top of his head with the antennae bringing him to just under 7.5″. He has a lot of heft to him as well with broad shoulders and a barrel chest. The torso tapers inward nicely and conforms to the Tick design. His arms are well-muscled and so are his legs, but perhaps less so than one would think of a man with an upper body like The Tick’s. He has his massive chin intact as well as the asymmetrical eye shapes. While they probably could have exaggerated his upper body proportions even more than they did, this definitely looks quite good as-is and almost better fits the animated look than the comic one which is fine by me. The body is cast in blue plastic, as one would expect, but’s also painted over in blue to give it a nice, matte, finish. The eyes and the visible skin of the face are the only other areas requiring paint and it’s applied reasonably well. Not perfect, but nothing I’d classify as an eyesore. It’s an overall great looking take on The Tick and everyone involved made a good call where it comes to making the sculpt work with the articulation.

“Come, Arthur! Justice never takes a day off!” “I keep telling you I’m not Arthur!”
“That’s my name, don’t ware it out.”

And since both figures feature the same articulation, I’ll jump right to that. This action figure is a great blueprint (no pun intended) for how I want most action figures to be engineered. I don’t love every choice, like the ball-hinged neck joint, but for the most part it’s pretty great. The neck joint does let Tick look up, but his head is so oddly shaped that he looks pretty weird when looking up so I question the usefulness here. His chin is so big that he can’t look down so you will mostly just use this spot for rotation. A double-ball would have allowed for some tilt. The shoulders are connected via ball pegs so it gets some play in all directions which is done at the expense of a true butterfly joint. Given the simple design, I think this is the right call as cutting further into the sculpt might be too busy. Rotation at the shoulder is fine and we get a bicep swivel, double-jointed elbows, and wrist articulation. The torso has a double ball peg diaphragm joint plus a ball-jointed waist. There may be a hinge hidden in that waist, but I’m too afraid to pull the figure apart to find out. He’ll rotate and tilt at both spots and there’s a solid amount of crunch. The hips are ball-sockets and splits are achievable. He kicks forward, not back due to his sculpted butt cheeks, and there’s a thigh swivel, double-jointed knees, ankles that hinge and rock, and a toe hinge. Everything is pretty smooth and nothing is bordering on loose. Tick can stand on one foot or be posed in walking and running stances. Apart from that neck, I wouldn’t change a thing here. Some characters need a butterfly joint to hit certain poses, but not all of them. The ball peg setup here lets The Tick rear back with his punches and that’s good enough.

“Remember kids, don’t forget to bring a towel!”
“Even heroes need to recharge sometime!”

The accessories for the standard Tick are perhaps a touch light, but not too bad for a $40 figure. For portraits, we get three: grinning, angry, and an open mouth smile. Swapping is pretty easy and the heads are a touch softer probably to help keep the antennae from breaking. And all three expressions are worth displaying. For hands, there’s just two sets: fists and gripping. The gripping hands make use of a vertical hinge which works well with Tick’s Secret Crime Viewfinder. He can hold it with one or both hands and has no problem bringing it to his eyes. The sculpt is nice and clean and the paint is as well. It’s even stamped with “Crime Finder” on the front. His other accessory is his red necktie, aka his secret identity disguise of limited effectiveness. There’s also a stand which features The Tick logo on it and it’s fine for what it is

“This is what it’s all about, fellas. Heroes enjoying some waves and catching some rays!”
“Spoon!”

Vacation Tick comes with some of the same stuff as well as new ones to fit his theme. He shares the open mouth head, fists, and gripping hands with standard Tick while also adding one new portrait and one new hand. The new portrait is his default one which is a grinning head with sunglasses and his antennae standing up straight. The sunglasses are black and pinned into the side of Tick’s head. He does have eyes underneath it, but I don’t think the sunglasses are intended to be removed. He has an additional right hand in a “hang loose” gesture and it also features the superior vertical hinge. He comes sporting soft goods swim trunks with a pink and purple floral pattern on it that is pulled from the episode “The Tick vs Pineapple Pokopo.” Since this is a comic line, I’m guessing he had this look elsewhere, but I only know it from the show. To also fit the beach theme is a beach ball which is a squishy, multi-colored, ball which is more fun than a plastic one. There’s also a soft goods towel that’s yellow with a blue spoon pattern referencing The Tick’s famous battle cry. Completing the theme is a yellow surfboard with a large blue spoon decal on it. The decal is a little cheap compared with a printed image, but it looks fine. There are two pegs on the board to make it easy to place Tick on it and it looks like the board is yellow plastic that’s been painted over which helps to make it “pop.” The decal did lead to a little blue mixing in with the paint along the edge, but it’s only noticeable in-hand. There’s no fin on the board, but I don’t think there was in the episode either where he had a yellow board, but no spoon decal. Vacation Tick also has the same stand as the standard version.

“Do I know you from somewhere, dude? You sound kind of familiar.”

Regular Tick retails for $40 while the vacation variant will set you back $50. Both are only sold at Big Bad Toy Store since this is their in-house brand. Considering the figures are the same, one could just get the vacation version and probably feel content if you’re not married to the extra portraits and accessories unique to the standard version. Then you can dress Tick up as you see fit if it feels like a beach day. Or you could be like me and get both because you feel starved of Tick merch. I suspect the standard version will also please most. I obviously like both, but I do wish we got more hand options. Tick is crying out for a finger-pointing gesture and a thumb’s up. Apart from that though, I don’t think he needs to come with anything else. Little Wooden Boy would have been awesome, but I bet he’s exclusive to the cartoon which unfortunately means that he’s off-limits. A lot of the secondary characters and villains from the cartoon are their own license which is why they’ve never shown up anywhere else. There is also a new version of The Tick for this year’s comic con season and it’s a translucent green version of this same sculpt. He’s referred to as radioactive Tick, but I think that’s just a way around some copywrite issues as it seems to really be a mucus Tick from the cartoon. I don’t know if I’ll get that one, but I’m interested in the characters to come. We’ve seen Arthur, Chairface, The Terror, and even Multiple Santa (which utilizes the Fresh Monky Fiction Naught or Nice Santa buck) which are all begging for my dollar. If you’ve been waiting years for a Tick figure then this one from Big Bad Work Shop is worth the wait.

For more Tick or toy-related fun, check these out:

NECA TMNT Toon SDCC 2025 Exclusive Bodacious Beach Bro Turtles

2025 was almost an end of an era for me. After being a regular buyer of NECA’s convention exclusive Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures since 2017, I found myself passing on such a set. If you’re new to the exclusive game, each year for San Diego Comic Con NECA makes an exclusive set of…

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by Joe

Dec. 2 – The Tick Loves Santa!

The Tick arrived on the Fox Network’s Saturday morning programming block in 1994 after a wave of successful super hero cartoons. With the success of Batman, X-Men, and Spider-Man it meant the timing was right for a parody hero like The Tick to get a shot at finding an audience. Often the last cartoon aired…

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by Joe

Naughty or Nice Classic Santa and Cyborg Santa

It was looking like we were in for a photo finish this year. Last year, toymaker Fresh Monkey Fiction partnered with online retailer Big Bad Toy Store to launch the Naughty or Nice collection. Structured similar to a Kickstarter campaign, FMF posted several action figures for preorder with a minimum order quantity needed for the…

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by Joe

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August 6, 2026

X-Men ’97 – “The Dead Man’s Hand”

By Joe
Original premiere date August 5, 2026.

This was the episode of X-Men ’97 we all knew was coming eventually. I don’t think I need to provide a spoilers warning given the episode title before I say this is the return of Gambit. This was all setup in the closing moments of the first season when Apocalypse (Ross Marquand) found the queen of hearts in the ruins of Genosha. To make it even more obvious, the script even called for him to say “…death” just to drive it home further. Gambit taking a turn as Death, the most prominent member of Apocalypse’s horsemen, is also a plotline ripped straight from the comic only for that the circumstances were quite different. As is always the case with television and movies, being able to see where the story is going is not a hindrance in and of itself, it’s how you present it.

Everyone can relax, Gambit has returned.

When last we saw the members of X-Force, they were stumbling upon the apparent corpse of Apocalypse as well as that same playing card so we really didn’t have to waste time getting into things. The episode begins with X-Corp enjoying a friendly game of poker, because of course they are, which also allows Beast (George Buza) to explain what The Dead Man’s Hand refers to (aces over eights, if you’re curious). X-Force comes storming in to share their find and Jubilee (Holly Chou) has the responsibility of handing over the playing card to Rogue (Lenore Zann). They all know what this means and the episode quickly pivots to a search and rescue as they need to locate Gambit (A.J. LoCascio) and free him from the darkness Apocalypse likely imbued within him. Remember that little comment Archangel (Christopher Barger) dropped back in the second episode about Rogue saving him from Apocalypse’s control? Yeah, that was to setup this moment as everyone instantly assumes Rogue can do the same for Gambit, provided they can get her close enough to do so. The only thing they don’t know is what state Gambit is in and how on Earth did he manage to kill Apocalypse? Did he?

They even have their own X-branded poker chips.

There is a bit of impetus to the rescue mission because it’s going to take X-Corp back to the States since that’s where Gambit has gone. And if X-Corp is operating in the U.S. then they are bound to attract the attention of Val Cooper’s (Catherine Disher) X-Factor. Worse, if X-Factor were to get involved or locate Gambit first there’s no telling which way that confrontation could go. As a result, this episode moves at a pretty brisk pace which is mostly fine where the main plot is concerned, but it’s a bit of a bummer because we have some pretty big reunions that don’t get much time to breath. Cable (Chris Potter) is reunited with his parents for the first time since their emotional parting at the end of last season. Cyclops (Ray Chase) is quite eager to become a happy, healthy, family, but Cable seems pretty cool to the idea. Or he’s just a man too devoted to his mission of eradicating Apocalypse to spend time being happy. This is also Jubilee’s first time seeing her mutant family since the events of the first season and that little detail gets absolutely no time. We couldn’t even spend thirty seconds on it? Another character from earlier in the season is also brought back into the fold. I expected it, because it was so weird to see them appear earlier, but I don’t know that I care for the direction it took. I’m content to see if it goes anywhere next week before rendering a final verdict.

I love Cable’s eye roll.

What isn’t short-changed is the impact Gambit’s death and return has on Rogue. Not only is she likely wracked with survivor’s guilt stemming from the events on Genosha, but she’s also burdened with the guilt of not telling Gambit she chose him over Magneto before he died. This is her chance to set things right, but she’s hesitant. Gambit died. She held his lifeless corpse in her arms and now he’s suddenly alive? What does that do to a man? I guess she could always ask Morph (and if we don’t get to hear Morph’s opinion at some point that will be a real miss). That dynamic understandably takes center stage for much of the episode and it’s handled pretty well.

You know, most people just bring a bottle of wine or something when they show up at a friend’s new house for the first time.

There is some great action to be found in this one. In particular, one character really gets to shine in a way that might make some wonder if they’re the most dangerous member of the team. It’s awesome and I will say no more as I don’t want to spoil it. Visually, the episode is pretty interesting for its mix of costumes. Some characters are wearing threads from the 70s while others are sporting their looks from the 2000s. Every decade except for the 60s might be on display here. I do have to say though, I was a little disappointed in Gambit’s new look. He’s basically just gray scale Gambit. They added a strap across his abdomen, but I think that’s it. He does have a unique looking power set now which seems to focus on Tarot cards as well as a sick, new, ride he may have stolen from Lobo. I suppose a cynic might roll their eyes at such, but it’s fine. These are comic book stories, they’re allowed to be cool for the sake of being cool.

I don’t mind the mish-mash of costumes on display, but I do kind of hate that we’re bringing in the movie looks for things like Cerebro (or Cerebra).

The episode moves fast and ends somewhat abruptly. It has what I’d call a soft resolution, but the bigger battle is still to come. In that, it feels more like the first part of this season finale that’s on the way. The episode moves some pieces around so that everyone can get involved. The only X-Men left out of this episode entirely are Forge, Polaris, Bishop, and the newly added Colossus (who did not get added to the opening title – what gives?). I was a little surprised to see Polaris and Bishop left out since it seems like the show is building something there, but I would be even more surprised if we don’t see them next week. Maybe some team members needed to be left out so they can swoop in at just the right time next week? I will say, for a penultimate episode it didn’t leave me as excited as I would have expected it to. It’s certainly not on par with last season’s where Wolverine got his skeleton ripped apart by Magneto. I’m also still wondering if some of my predictions come true before the season ends. It seems like we have a pretty straight-forward finale coming up, but there’s also certainly some curves ahead. I both look forward to it and dread it because nine episodes is just too short for a season and then we return to our X-Men ’97-less existence.

Previously…on X-Men ’97:

X-Men ’97 – “Strange Land, Savage Heart”

If you were hoping for a quick follow-up on the closing moments of last week’s episode featuring Apocalypse and a certain resurrected cajun, I’m afraid I have some bad news. The show is going to slow walk that plot as this week we’re dealing with more Genosha fallout. Considering the magnitude of the event, I’m…

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by Joe

X-Men ’97 – “Danger.exe”

After last week’s side trip up north to get Wolverine his skeleton back, this week’s episode of X-Men ’97 brings us back to the mansion which we really haven’t seen much of so far this season. The season’s sixth episode is centered on survivor’s guilt and the sins of a parent. For the guilt portion,…

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by Joe

X-Men ’97 – “Weapon X, Lies, and DVDs”

When X-Men went into development for the Fox Kids Network, it didn’t take the writing staff (who was unfamiliar with the property going in) long to figure out that Wolverine was their ticket to television royalty. The character really took off in the 1980s and helped the X-Men storm into the 1990s as the most…

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by Joe

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Comics, Television

August 4, 2026

Jakks Pacific The Simpsons Wave 4 Carl Carlson and Bumblebee Man

By Joe
Two guys not known for sharing screen time, but they do help fill out the collection.

My least favorite toyline to collect has become the Jakks Pacific 5″ line of action figures based on The Simpsons. When Jakks wrestled the license away from Super7 (or Super7 fumbled it away) I felt it could be a good thing. The Super7 approach was never the best fit as The Simpsons never needed to be in a 7″ or 1:10 scale. The ReAction figures were kind of my preference when all was said and done, though I did like some of the Ultimates. With Jakks getting the license it meant that The Simpsons would be able to come to mass market retail at a smaller scale and a far more affordable price. Some sacrifices would be made since Jakks isn’t exactly a collector brand, but a lot of Simpsons fans still love The World of Springfield by Playmates Toys so Jakks seemed like a good fit.

“Hey Barney, how’d you get that drink?” “Gee, ahh, I can’t remember…”

Until it wasn’t. I don’t know what’s going on with this line, but it has become a pain to collect. The first wave seemed to be available in decent supply at mass market retail around me. Yes, Homer and Bart seemed to dominate the pegs, but I did eventually find both Otto and Willie in-store. Waves 2 and 3 followed a similar path and during shipment of those Jakks would also supply stores with more of Homers and Barts likely in a bid to keep the main characters readily available to build a consumer base. Unfortunately, this may have backfired for Jakks as it started to become an issue where those characters were the only ones I could find in stores. Gradually, the figures started to fade away and I have not seen any Jakks Pacific Simpsons in my local Targets or Walmarts in months. The only figure I sometimes comes across is the deluxe raging Homer which gets stocked in the collectibles section.

You can’t have a Lenny without a Carl.

Since the line isn’t anything amazing, I’m not that upset if it’s dying an early death. I have a pretty sizable display as it is, but there was one hole that was really bothing me. In the third wave of the line, we got a Lenny. Wave four brought Carl, only I could never find Carl. Wave 4 never appeared at retail near me that I ever saw. I was able to snag Barney off of Target’s website in a blink and you’ll miss it moment. I stalked online retailers hoping they would eventually get the wave in, but it never happened. Big Bad and other retailers got the fifth wave, but I never saw the fourth one. Also included in that wave was Bumblebee Man, and even though he’s far from an essential character, the figure looked like one of the better ones so I was hoping to get a chance to buy it. As the weeks and months dragged on though, it started to look bad for the Jakks line. I don’t know if it’s been cancelled or what, but I felt like if I didn’t get Carl and Bumblebee Man now the price would only go up. To eBay I went where I did find both from the same seller for about $18 a piece. I hate paying over MSRP on what is a pretty basic line, but I at least didn’t have to go well beyond it in this case.

Krusty is the only one who really pairs with Bumblebee Man.

The long preamble here is to cover for the fact that with both figures there isn’t much to talk about. These are very basic figures with just a few accessories between the two. Carl stands at about 5″ to the tip of his hair while Bumblebee Man is about 4.5″ to the top of his head. Both figures are comprised almost entirely of colored plastic. Even Bumblebee Man’s torso is alternating black and yellow strips of plastic to create his iconic outfit. The only paint is reserved for Bumblebee Man’s antenna tips, the little circles on his inner shoe and the eyeballs and eyebrows. Carl doesn’t have eyebrows so it’s just eyeballs for him. The end result is you have figures that are very durable and won’t have any paint transfer issues, but they are quite shiny and have that plasticky look to them. I’d love to know if anyone has tried hitting these with a matte coat as Carl’s face is pretty bad. I could try it myself, though I also don’t want them to end up looking worse. Since there’s no paint on the plastic, the matte finish could wash them out a bit. Apart from that though, they do look pretty on-model. Carl is perhaps the lesser of the two (even though I wanted him more) just because his design isn’t as 3D friendly. He looks better from the side or a 3/4 angle, but it’s definitely not perfect. Bumblebee Man, being more of a rounder design, translates quite well and he’s one of the most on-model figures in the line. He also has transparent wings which look great and I like his slightly depressed facial expression.

“Hola my amigos!”
“Hey! A camera! Out of my, fly boy!” “Aye, no me gusta!”

Accessories are minimal, but Carl has two and Bumblebee Man one. For Carl, he has a cup of coffee with a red stirrer in it. It fits in his right hand and looks fine. His left hand is a tighter grip and it’s for his lunchbox. Since Jakks probably wanted to stay away from beer references, it would appear the approach to both Lenny and Carl (and Barney too) was to make them Homer’s lunch buddies. It’s fine and I can’t think of a better accessory than the lunchbox that isn’t a beer so why not? As for Bumblebee Man, he comes with a video camera which is on a tripod. It looks great, but sadly features zero articulation. I was a little surprised by this as there are places where it’s keyed in that could have been ball sockets, but oh well. At least it won’t lose its shape. A giant mouse trap would have also been acceptable, provided it could have got a secure grip on Bumblebee Man’s ass.

“How ’bout I show you my enchanted jock strap!”

Articulation for these two is what you would expect of the line: head swivel, shoulder ball hinge, bicep swivel, elbow hinge, wrist hinge and swivel, waist ball, ball socket hips, hinged knee, ankle swivel. The ankles feel like ball pegs so they basically wiggle a bit in all directions, but it’s not a substitute for a proper hinge and rocker setup. Bumblebee Man also gets a thigh swivel where his legs meet his shorts and his wings are attached via ball pegs so they get some decent range, but nothing extravagant. The figures have a bit of a loose feel to them, especially in the legs, but they’re so light that they don’t have trouble standing. The articulation isn’t going to allow for a ton of poses and the figures are further limited by the one facial expression they’re stuck with. It’s fine especially for the price (which should have been 12-15 bucks) and certainly better than the old Playmates line.

“Hey, what happened to all the donuts?” “Ah, Homer took them all into the bathroom again.”

Carl and Bumblebee Man are not flashy, but they raise the profile of the line slightly. Carl via his importance to Homer, Lenny, Barney, and Moe and Bumblebee Man just for how faithful he looks compared with the character in the show. If the line were to continue, I don’t know if Homer’s group really needs any of the other bar flies. Maybe a Grimey? Bumblebee Man pairs with Krusty and a Sideshow Mel or Kent Brockman would fit well into the Channel 6 crew. Will any of that see the light of day in the 5″ line? I don’t know. The smaller 2.5″ line seems to be going somewhat strong and there is a Mel included in it. Perhaps Jakks has found that form factor is more popular (it lends itself well to play sets and vehicles) and intends to focus its resources on that. There is a Bart as The Fly coming out soon in the deluxe line as yet another Treehouse of Horror representative, but I’m not as interested in those (they tend to have annoying gimmicks built in). I guess we’ll see what the future holds, but for now, my Simpsons collection from Jakks is pretty solid. It’s not a figure line that I love, but it’s an affordable way to get a pretty large collection of the many characters who populate Springfield. And given how big that cast is, just existing and being affordable is a pretty big deal.

For more Simpsons from Jakks Pacific, check out these:

Jakks Pacific The Simpsons Stupid Sexy Flanders

There’s some mild debate about the “Golden Era” of The Simpsons, but most seem to narrow it down to seasons three through eight. A lot of that period saw the show do well and get mined for talent on the writing staff. It also coincided with the show becoming eligible for syndication and the daily…

by Joe

Jakks Pacific The Simpsons Deluxe King Homer

These days, The Simpsons is as synonymous with Halloween as candy and costumes. Via its annual Treehouse of Horror installment, which returns October 19th this year, The Simpsons has contributed more to Halloween pop culture than any other entity in my lifetime. Other shows have had memorable Halloween offerings, but none have taken over the…

by Joe

Jakks Pacific The Simpsons Waves 3, a bit of 4, and most of 5

One thing I wasn’t expecting for 2025 was that the hardest line to collect would be The Simpsons by Jakks Pacific. It’s a mass retail release so, if anything, I thought it would be pretty easy. My assumption has been proven wrong and I think it’s because this is a line that is trying to…

by Joe

Leave a comment | posted in Uncategorized

July 31, 2026

The TMNT Collector Landscape is About to Change

By Joe
The sign says it all.

Last week brought with it the annual event with massive reverberations throughout the collecting community known as San Diego Comic Con. The once humble convention held in a hotel basement to celebrate comic books has become a pop culture bonanza. Comics still play a pretty central role thanks to their proliferation outside the venerable medium, but it’s also a chance for other forms of “geeky” media to play a big role. And by that I mean action figure collecting. San Diego Comic Con is probably the annual event where more action figures are revealed to the public for the very first time than any other. Even New York Toy Fair seems to pale in comparison these days. And as expected, all of the big names in the toy world were on hand and for many of them the subject of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was impossible to ignore.

Late last year, word came out that Playmates Toys was no longer going to be the master license holder for TMNT toys. The news was huge because up until now that license had never changed hands. Playmates entered into an agreement with co-creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird way back in the 80s to bring the turtles to plastic. As part of the roll out, an animated series was commissioned which debuted in late 1987 ahead of the big toy roll out in 1988. And from there it’s been a rock solid relationship that has even survived a transfer of ownership from Laird to Nickelodeon via parent company Paramount. Last year, Paramount was sold to Skydance and that relationship was suddenly in jeopardy and come New York Toy Fair this year we knew who the new license holder would be for TMNT: Mattel.

Hey! At least Tempestra is coming! Image taken from Pixel Dan’s walkthrough video with NECA’s Trevor Zammit.

Despite Playmates being the master license holder all these years, it didn’t stop other companies from getting a piece of the action. NECA was among the first to try back in 2008 with its line of figures based on the original Mirage Studios comics. It apparently didn’t go over well with Playmates, but at the time the license was still owned outright by Peter Laird. Perhaps Laird, not wanting to really get into it with Playmates, didn’t put up much of a fight and that line didn’t continue past its first non-turtle with the release of April O’Neil. Post the sale to Paramount, perhaps lawyers were at the ready to pick apart that licensing agreement and carve out new ways to extract value. NECA, again, was among the first to test these waters with quarter scale offerings of the turtles based on their appearance in the 1990 live-action movie. It progressed to SDCC exclusive figures and eventually the turtles made their way into Target stores across the country. More lines would spring up and more companies added with Playmates basically only in control of whatever version of the turtles was presently airing on television or appearing in movies. They also supplemented those releases with the occasional stab at something more collector friendly or reissues of vintage toys and vehicles.

When the license was announced to be changing hands, it meant change was on the way. Not just for Playmates, but everyone involved. You see, when a master license expires in a market such as toys and merchandise, it tends to expire for everyone. To likely make the master license as attractive as possible to new buyers, everyone gets set back to square one. The mere fact that it was announced Mattel had acquired it meant that the current license for Playmates and everyone else was expiring at the end of 2026. Everyone would have to head back to the negotiating table and since Skydance had just paid a lot of money for Paramount it was likely that it would look to get more out of the licenses it now owned. While some in the collecting community were initially elated at the idea of Playmates and its glacial pace when it comes to adapting with the times would no longer be making TMNT toys, those who were content with the output of other companies remained skeptical that this news was good. When Toy Fair arrived early this year with comparatively fewer TMNT reveals than years past, speculation only grew that a lot of companies would be exiting the TMNT space.

These three figures represent the last for NECA’s line of TMNT figures based on the 2012 series. Image taken from Pixel Dan’s walkthrough video with NECA’s Trevor Zammit.

In an interview on preview night at San Diego Comic Con with Pixel Dan, NECA’s Trevor Zammit confirmed what most had feared: the line was over. Initially, it was phrased in regards to NECA’s very popular line of action figures based on the ’87 cartoon series, but it would be clarified over the weekend that the statement applied to all things TMNT. What was on display was essentially all that was left. Perhaps there is a surprise or two waiting in the wings that NECA did not want to disclose just yet, but for now I’m taking the company at its word. Super7’s Brian Flynn in another interview with Pixel Dan basically confirmed the same, though in the case of Super7 there was still some stuff to be revealed at a later date. Basically the only company with plans to offer TMNT product beyond 2026 is Mondo via its line of sixth scale figures. Billed as a spiritual successor to The Secret of the Ooze, Mondo’s offerings are both much bigger than the typical toy and also a whole lot more expensive. In all likelihood, there’s nothing Mattel is prepping that would compete with what Mondo is doing making it fairly safe. Even so, on a recent appearance on the Toy Anxiety YouTube channel, Peter Santa-Maria of Mondo did elaborate on the relationship with Paramount saying they presented a series of figures which was greenlit, but beyond that nothing has been presented to Paramount. He further speculated that Mattel will likely want a lengthy onramp to get its own TMNT product out the door and into consumer hands which may impact Mondo as well should it wish to go beyond the current plans.

It will be interesting to see if Super7 is allowed to continue with its more niche offerings of ReAction TMNT figures. Image taken from Pixel Dan’s walkthrough video with Super7’s Brian Flynn.

If you like one of the toy lines being offered by a company currently working on TMNT then the onramp theory is likely your best reason for optimism. No one was willing to close the door on TMNT completely and Flynn characterized it as saying they’re still waiting for the dust to settle and there’s a lot of dust. With a new movie on the way in 2027, it’s likely that will be Mattel’s focus in the short term, but at some point they will want to unveil a more collector focused line and whatever approach they take will likely influence what other companies are able to do. If Mattel wants to do its own take on TMNT, then companies like NECA and Super7 likely have a path back into TMNT. NECA would certainly love to expand upon its recently started and suddenly aborted line of figures based on the 2012 series, while Super7 is only 3 waves into its own line based on the 2003 cartoon. On the other hand, Mattel could very easily decide that it wants to do a more wholistic approach. Think a TMNT Legends type of line, or TMNT Multiverse where a wave could feature characters from all throughout the history of the franchise. There’s certainly enough material for such a thing and it’s likely the approach Mattel will be taking with its line of DC action figures next year. Even if that isn’t the path they take, they could feel certain designs from other eras are too close to what they’re doing thus preventing other companies from doing something similar. The 1987 edition of the franchise is also probably still the most popular so even if NECA gets its hands back on TMNT I would be very surprised if they’re allowed to play in that sandbox again. It could be we get a situation similar to what we see with Hasbro and import companies like Bandai and Medicom: if you want to do a TMNT figure in a 1:12 or similar scale, it has to come in at around $100 MSRP. Such is probably only good news for a company like Mezco already doing that though it wouldn’t shock me to see Super7 try a $100 turtle that’s not appreciably better than what they currently release for $65.

With Mattel just acquiring the license early this year it means that the company is still a long ways off from actually releasing anything. That means 2027 could be a very dry year for TMNT collectors. While that’s good news for the wallets of many, a full calendar year with limited or no figures in 1:12 or 1:10 scale is certainly disheartening. At the same time, it’s hard to look at the output of a company like NECA where turtles are concerned and not feel appreciative. The popular toon line is ending with the much requested release of Tempestra, a character few casual fans likely even remember from her two appearances in the show. The mere fact that she became some massive outlier is a testament to how deep NECA went with the toy line. They even started releasing characters in the style of the show who never actually made an appearance. Presently, there are still some turtle variants on the way which are hitting Target stores now with Tempestra to follow. The Archie line is receiving the last, main, member of the Mighty Mutanimals in Leatherhead, and the 2012 line is receiving figures of Casey, Splinter, and Metalhead to close it out. And if that’s not enough, NECA recently released a set of turtles based on their appearance in the game Fortnite which, if nothing else, are interesting given some of the articulation choices the company took.

There will be no big boy Krang.

Unfortunately, news of the line’s demise also means there’s a bunch of stuff we’ll never see. Previously shown figures like beach Slash, giant Krang, Slash from the 2012 show, and the Bebop and Rocksteady movie inspired figures are officially cancelled. There will also be no kitchen diorama for those who were into those, but perhaps worst of all is the sudden end of the 2012 line. That one has been hit the hardest as it will be missing characters like April, Karai, Fugitoid, and basically every villain not named Shredder or the Foot Soldier. Personally, I’m most disappointed by the end of the Archie line before it could get to April, Splinter, or even a basic set of turtles. The personality and paint exhibited in that line across the releases it did get to was a real crowd pleaser and it’s such a bummer to see it cut down.

Just at this massive amount of stuff we’ve received over the years. And this isn’t even close to all of it! I had to break my own rule of taking a photo in vertical mode just to fit this much in.

I don’t want to end things on a downer though because we really did get a very comprehensive collection of turtles from NECA. And Super7 did some good things too, though I’ll never forgive them for not getting us a Heavy Metal Raph. When it comes to the license, all of the affected companies didn’t do anything wrong. There’s no way NECA could pay what Mattel paid to get a master license nor do they have the kind of scale that would allow them to match their output even if they had the cash to make a bid. The toon line is about as expansive as it could be and the characters not represented are basically reserved for the D list. I think the focus of many was not on new characters, but on upgrades for some of the older ones and re-releases of stuff that had sold out. There’s a part of me that can’t believe we received figures of characters like Bugman, Scrag, and Rex-1. We even got two versions of Vernon! I don’t know what the future holds for TMNT where toys are concerned. Mattel has done a good job with Masters of the Universe in recent years in serving both the modern collector and the vintage one, but they’re largely untested when it comes to TMNT apart from the Turtles of Grayskull collaboration. I’m also not sure if I really need anymore TMNT lines to collect which is probably the biggest hurdle for Mattel to climb. They could make some good stuff, but it’s possible people just won’t want it because they have already been well served when it comes to TMNT. I plan to keep an open mind though and I’m going to try and enjoy the last few releases companies like NECA have in store for us. It may be a while before we get a chance at anything more.

For more thoughts on the changes in store for TMNT or to see my original wish list for NECA, read on:

The End of an Era – There Will be No More Playmates TMNT

Before 2025 left us, it had one big piece of news to drop when it comes to action figures: Playmates Toys will no longer hold the master toy license for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. If you’re into the action figure collecting hobby or have ever been a fan of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles then you’re…

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by Joe

Mattel x TMNT

Late last year, news broke via Playmates Toys that they would no longer be the master license holder for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys. As far as news in the toy world goes, this was pretty damn big. Up until now, Playmates has been the only company to hold the master toy license for the…

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by Joe

The NECA TMNT Wish List

The early months of the calendar year are generally among my least favorite. They’re cold, dark, and dull where I reside. About the only good thing on the calendar is the annual New York Toy Fair in which vendors roll out previews of the toys to come for the next fiscal year and sometimes beyond.…

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by Joe

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July 29, 2026

X-Men ’97 – “Strange Land, Savage Heart”

By Joe
Premiere date July 29, 2026.

If you were hoping for a quick follow-up on the closing moments of last week’s episode featuring Apocalypse and a certain resurrected cajun, I’m afraid I have some bad news. The show is going to slow walk that plot as this week we’re dealing with more Genosha fallout. Considering the magnitude of the event, I’m not sure we’ve really had enough of it. The episode is going to open with a flashback to that attack to help setup a plot during the present. The human and mutant conflict is center stage once again, and some old friends and foes from the original series get to make their X-Men ’97 debut. Oh, and we’re going to the Savage Land!

The opening title adds Polaris (Carolina Ravassa) to the mix this week so she’s onboard for real. She’s also been assigned to X-Corp along with Bishop (Isaac Robinson-Smith), though no one is sporting the black and yellow in the opening just yet as they’re all still rocking the blue. As for that flashback I mentioned, that is being done to introduce Colossus (Robert Cait) and Magik (Courtenay Taylor), his younger sister whom cartoon viewers only know as Illyana. She was featured in the original series as the kid sister whom Colossus was always looking out for. As we saw with a Morph transformation during the first season, she’s grown up some to a teenager which seems to track if we were introduced to her in 1992 and it’s now 1997. As the trailers for the season let on, Magik is not going to make it through the attack in Genosha. The scene is brief showing her alongside her brother as they try to help fellow mutants and stand against the massive tri-Sentinel, but Colossus can only stare on helplessly as his little sister is annihilated leaving him grieving over her corpse.

Colossus is back, but sporting Acolyte purple.

This, like in the comics, is the catalyst for Colossus joining Magneto’s Acolytes. We too saw them in the original series with the two-parter “Sanctuary” where they weren’t really positioned as villains, just followers of Magneto. In that story, Acolyte Fabian Cortez attempts to murder Magneto and the X-Men have to expose his crimes. As far as we know, his body has been absconded by Apocalypse following the events in the episode “Fifth Horsemen” so he should not be turning up anytime soon. And we are introduced to the Acolytes via them dropping in on a campaign rally by everyone’s favorite mutant hater Graydon Creed (Ben Pronsky). Apparently, Sabretooth did not murder him at the end of the episode “Bloodlines” which Sabretooth alluded to during his appearance this season. Creed has been left with a scar on his face, but otherwise seems fine. At least, fine for now as the Acolytes, now lead by Exodus (Bo Poraj), have plans for the would-be president. Feeling that he has not been held accountable for his crimes against mutant kind, the Acolytes intend to take him and dispense justice as they see fit.

Poor Illyana, we hardly knew her.

Xavier (Ross Marquand) is able to take point here and sends X-Corp, minus Cyclops and Jean, to the Savage Land where the Acolytes have made their home. It makes sense since that was where Magneto originally intended to launch his mutant utopia, but things obviously changed. Mr. Sinister also called this place home back in the original show’s second season, and via the great citadel in the middle he was able to operate a device that nullified mutant powers and that is apparently still operational. The X-Corp members are separated quickly with Polaris and Bishop left out in the jungle while Rogue (Lenore Zann), Nightcrawler (Adrian Hough), and Beast (George Buza) get to tour the new mutant haven under the watchful eye of their former ally, Colossus. Their goal is to bring Creed home fearing his murder at the hands of mutants would be disastrous for human-mutant relations. The Acolytes seek only to punish him with the punishment being death. Toss in the fact that Creed is Nightcrawler’s biological brother and you have yourself quite the little soap opera. Nightcrawler, being a man of faith, does not wish to see his brother killed even if he personally has no real love for him. And since they can’t exactly fight their way out without their powers his solution is to propose a trial with him defending his brother and Exodus standing as the prosecutor. In the judge’s chair sits Colossus whom Nightcrawler has faith in that he’ll see some worth in Creed and spare his life.

I’ve always found Exodus to be a bad ass design.

The idea of a trial is pretty hokey on its surface, but I have to concede it does play an important role in adding some color to the Graydon Creed character. It’s easy to just hate him for being a bigot and think no deeper than that, but the episode finds a rather compelling angle all while not making him out to be someone we should have any amount of respect for. The Polaris and Bishop pairing is pretty underserved though. There’s an interesting angle here in that once Bishop loses his mutant powers all of the energy he had stored within him (he’s basically a battery) is trying to escape, but letting it out would likely kill him and perhaps anyone nearby. He can only withstand it for so long putting a running clock on this mission that is basically never acknowledged again apart from the initial explanation. There’s also clearly a chemistry forming between Bishop and Polaris which is played well, but again, not enough time is devoted to it.

From the trailer with maybe Iceman in a frame on the ground over Rogue’s left shoulder.
From the episode. Now it could just be me, but that image I thought was Iceman appears to be desaturated here. Also, they removed Gambit.

I did not like the Magik death reveal when it was shown in the trailers and I still don’t like it very much now. Mostly because she’s just a plot device to motivate her brother. Yes, she served that role in the preceding series, but not at the expense of her life. If you’re going to kill her off, at least let her get to be a character first. Instead, we get nothing which feels like a waste. This being a show based on comic books, it would hardly be a surprise to see her come back and maybe she’ll even be one of the horsemen of Apocalypse, but that’s not a get out of jail free card for bad character writing. Colossus is still quite likable and I was delighted to see Robert Cait return to reprise the role. We do get an action sequence to cap things off and it too features another character death that felt both implausible and like a waste. Sometimes this show comes across as too cavalier when it comes to killing characters off, mostly because they just don’t get enough runway beforehand. At least the appearance of the shrine first spotted in the trailer brings about no more deaths. Even the image that appeared to be Iceman seems to no longer exist. Has that character been spared a gruesome fate? It would seem so since no one has even spoken his name despite his connection to Polaris.

I hope we get to see more this pairing.

I did really enjoy the Nightcrawler/Creed dynamics in this one. Even if you are not a religious person (and I am not), it’s easy to empathize with Nightcrawler in this one. He’s just trying to find a peaceful solution. He does not defend his brother’s crimes or feel that he should not answer for them, but he firmly believes it would not be right to murder him. He gets tested and pushed, but I really liked his solution. I also just plain like bringing Creed back into the fold because he’s such a detestable human being and a great foil for the X-Men. An element of the show was lost when he basically faded away after season two and keeping the mutant/human conflict in focus is really crucial, in my opinion. The episode does end in a similar fashion to last week’s as the show essentially slow walks the return of Gambit as Death. It does feature a swerve that I didn’t see coming, though it’s one that could also be functionally meaningless as far as the plot is concerned. I guess we’ll find out next week as that episode is titled “The Dead Man’s Hand” and if that isn’t the big Gambit episode then I don’t know what would be.

Previously…on X-Men ’97:

X-Men ’97 – “Danger.exe”

After last week’s side trip up north to get Wolverine his skeleton back, this week’s episode of X-Men ’97 brings us back to the mansion which we really haven’t seen much of so far this season. The season’s sixth episode is centered on survivor’s guilt and the sins of a parent. For the guilt portion,…

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by Joe

X-Men ’97 – “Weapon X, Lies, and DVDs”

When X-Men went into development for the Fox Kids Network, it didn’t take the writing staff (who was unfamiliar with the property going in) long to figure out that Wolverine was their ticket to television royalty. The character really took off in the 1980s and helped the X-Men storm into the 1990s as the most…

Keep reading
by Joe

X-Men ’97 – “Rise of Apocalypse: Part 2”

Unlike the first three episodes of season two of X-Men ’97, this fourth one is going to spend all of its time in one era. And as you could probably guess, that era is 3,000 BCE since that is where we left off last week. I consider these reviews that I do spoiler free, but…

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by Joe

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July 27, 2026

Marvel Legends Onslaught

By Joe
Behold! The most divisive villain in X-Men history!

We’re deep into the second season of X-Men ’97 and it might be appropriate that Hasbro chose this time to unleash Onslaught upon the masses. Onslaught goes back to 1996 and is the manifestation of Charles Xavier and Magneto via complicated, comic booky, means. He was the big bad of a whole arc that changed Marvel Comics for a good while afterward ushering in the Heroes Reborn era and X-Men ’97 may be looking to bring him into the animated universe. Or not, if former showrunner Beau DeMayo can be believed. We’ll just have to wait and see, but the mere possibility of his appearance in the show might be why Hasbro chose to re-release the former build-a-figure as a solo retro card. Sold exclusively at Target, this figure went up for preorder a couple of months ago and now it’s here for me to talk about.

He’s technically not as big as he’s supposed to be, but he’s pretty big.

Back in the Toy Biz days, Marvel Legends did a build-a-figure Onslaught, but not like this. That version of the character was its “crab form” that had a skull-like face and digitigrade legs. It was basically not the version most wanted or thought of when thinking of Onslaught, but in the pre-Legends days Toy Biz had done an Onslaught figure in the armored Magneto form so maybe that was why they were reluctant to do that again? Many years later, Hasbro finally did the figure in the more familiar look as a build-a-figure and, like several other build-a-figures before it, it’s now being repackaged as a stand-alone action figure with only minimal tooling changes. I don’t have the prior version so I can’t say for sure what’s different, but some have claimed the head has been retooled. I can’t tell just by looking at pictures. The only thing I know for sure is the paint job is a little different, most notably the hands, and this version omits the Red Skull optional portrait. Otherwise, it’s a big figure on a big card for a bigger price.

He’s not going to do much, so it’s all about presence.

The retro card makes for a nice display option for those who keep these things mint-on-card, but for me I’m ripping this big boy open. Onslaught stands around 8″ tall and he’s most comparable in my collection to the previous build-a-figure turned retro card release Apocalypse. Red and purple dominates the look here and most of it is just colored plastic. There’s a shininess to the purple this time that may be new, but again, I don’t have that old figure. It’s not done via paint but rather Hasbro’s shiny attempt at molded plastic and it looks okay, but there’s no fooling anyone what this thing is. It’s a big hunk of plastic. Most of the paint is reserved for the head which has the purple trim, black “face,” and white eyes. Onslaught never had a face when helmeted so this is definitely the preferred route and it looks fine. There’s also a little paint on the circles of his armor and even a hit of a matte red on the outer part of his thighs. The shoulder pads are massive and, if anything, actually could be bigger but I understand Hasbro’s reluctance to go beyond what’s here. They help dominate the silhouette and even contribute to the torso looking a bit blocky. There is a taper to it, but you almost have to raise the shoulder pads or outstretch the arms to really get a feel for it. Otherwise, this guy presents as pretty chunky head-on. I wish there was actually more bulk front-to-back, but such is often a failing of Marvel Legends. The character was so preposterous in the comics that it’s kind of impossible to properly render him in plastic, but this is mostly fine.

“Daddy..?”
“Charles, I did not sign up for this!” “Come on Magnus, you need to step up!”

Since this mold is a few years old, the construction and articulation is a little dated. If you hate pinned limbs in your figures well then too bad, Onslaught has pins in his knees and that’s that. There’s a ball-hinge at the neck, shoulder hinges, bicep, elbow, wrist, ab crunch, hip, thigh, knee, and ankle articulation. It’s all a bit stiff and somewhat limited because this guy is pretty damn chunky and not conducive to much range really anywhere. The head is pretty well buried in the neck and can only do so much. The shoulder pads do swivel and can kind of get out of the way, but not enough to let the arms come up a full 90 degrees. You can disconnect the shoulder pads in the back rather easily, but it only allows so much extra. Perhaps because this was originally a build-a-figure, the arms pop out of the socket pretty easily and sometimes when you don’t want them to. Despite how blocky the ankles look, there’s enough clearance to get a good ankle rocker. The cuffs on his forearms also rotate which is good for adjustment posing. The bicep swivel is more like a sleeve as the elbows are single hinged. It basically just moves to keep the muscle group lined up. The elbow itself also swivels. He’s a very limited poser as a result, but at least there’s some size here to kind of make up for that. Is it enough though?

“Yay! I want to go to the park!”

Because this guy has no accessories. Just his “cape” which comes in the box unattached and pegs into the figure’s back. Basically, what you see is what you get and it will set you back $40 if you can find one in Target. The register date was July 20th so if you find one at this point there’s no fear of a register lock event. If you want an Onslaught and didn’t get the prior one then this is fine. It’s a lot cheaper than having to buy an entire wave of figures even if it’s still overpriced at $40. I think it’s pretty lame of Hasbro to not slip in some accessories of some kind. How about some fists? Maybe some kind of energy effect? I don’t really care about the Red Skull omission, but there should be something here. When that retro card Apocalypse dropped it had a newly tooled torso, a new portrait, the old portrait, two sets of hands, and a newly tooled arm canon and blast effect parts. That’s a good value! It was also 2022 and it seems like these days you’re getting less with every Legends release, but paying more money. Onslaught certainly captures that. As for me, I always liked the look of the character even if the story kind of sucked. I also know that if this guy does show up in X-Men ’97 then I would have regretted passing on this release. Is that a good reason to spend forty bucks on an action figure? Probably not.

He may be more at home with the Gamerverse.

For related entries on Onslaught, check out the following:

Marvel Legends Professor X with Hoverchair

Most view superheroes as idealized versions of people. Superman has all the power he needs to mete out justice as he sees fit. He’s a man who is super fast, super strong, basically invulnerable, and he even has laser eyes for good measure. Not every character can be Superman though and as the stable of…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Magneto

It was two years ago that Hasbro made the announcement that it was wading into the weeds of X-Men, the cartoon series that aired on the Fox Kids Network from 1992-1997. The line was released across eight installments in 2022 (plus a ninth if you include the obviously animated-inspired Apocalypse released on a retro card)…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men Retro Card Series Apocalypse

It is Halloween and that means it’s time for costumes, candy, and spooky fun. It’s also Halloween 2022, a pretty important date if you grew up loving those mutants who ran around in colorful spandex fighting for a better tomorrow. That’s because 30 years ago on this very night, the animated series X-Men premiered on…

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by Joe

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July 23, 2026

X-Men ’97 – “Danger.exe”

By Joe
Original premiere date July 22, 2026.

After last week’s side trip up north to get Wolverine his skeleton back, this week’s episode of X-Men ’97 brings us back to the mansion which we really haven’t seen much of so far this season. The season’s sixth episode is centered on survivor’s guilt and the sins of a parent. For the guilt portion, we have Charles Xavier (Ross Marquand) who witnessed the death of his friend, rival, and surrogate brother Magneto at the hands of Apocalypse. For the sins of the father angle, we have Polaris (Carolina Ravissa) who we really don’t know much about. Sure, if you’re a comic reader then you probably know plenty about the sometimes daughter of Magneto, but anyone who only absorbs X-knowledge via the animated series just knows she’s a former member of the team who once dated Iceman and is now a member of the government task force known as X-Factor. Oh, and she has a green hair for some reason.

Polaris gets something of a spotlight episode this week which just makes me wonder if a certain ancient, evil mutant has a plan for her?

Since both the original show and this one have dedicated so little screen time to Polaris, it’s even possible that viewers have no idea that she essentially has the same power set as Magneto. The comics have always been a bit non-committal with her lineage. Some writers made it a point to say she wasn’t related to Magneto while others have said the opposite. Obviously, if she has the same magnetic powers then one is going to naturally wonder if the two are related, though there are plenty of mutants with similar powers that are not so it’s also not a requirement. For this universe, we were shown previously the two are likely related since Polaris appears in silhouette form in the first season finale in Magneto’s mind. I guess that means he knows about her, and that much is confirmed early on in the episode “Danger.exe.” At the beginning, Polaris is shown breaking up a weapon’s smuggling ring being lead by old friend Carl Denti aka the X-Cutioner (Lawrence Bayne), though he’s no longer sporting the fancy costume. He’s teamed up with a bunch of other folks all in service to the reverand William Stryker (JP Karliak), the enemy featured in the classic story God Loves, Man Kills by Chris Claremont. More casual fans will recognize him as the foe in X2: X-Men United though for that role he was turned into former military and the whole preacher thing was dropped – a pity. Here he’s just a cameo, but I do hope he plays a bigger role in the episodes to come at some point.

Xavier using the Danger Room to relive Magneto’s execution is pretty grim.

Polaris breaks up this gathering in pretty extravagant fashion. She also loses her cool a bit which puts her in hot water with X-Factor’s leader and government liaison, Val Cooper (Catherine Disher). Seeing the two have a very different idea for how members of X-Factor should approach their work, Polaris finds herself dismissed, but that’s not so big of a deal when your fallback plan happens to be the X-Men. Lorna returns to find her room had been left untouched, which is impressive since the mansion has been destroyed at least two times since she left. Her and the professor get to have a little chat and things seems to be going well, all until the Danger Room’s artificial intelligence breaks free and turns on everyone. This is where Xavier comes in as he and a small team have returned to Genosha to pick up the pieces. The Danger Room A.I., simply known as Danger (Rachel Kimsey), seeks a confrontation with its maker in Charles and that’s the physical conflict of the episode. The mental one is Xavier overcoming his guilt and helping Lorna to not be afraid of where she comes from in order to cut loose and use her powers to help those who are in need.

There is some…danger…incoming for the X-Men this week.

This episode is a little less meaty than most of the ones we’ve had this season. I liken it to the Lifedeath stuff from last season as there’s some necessary character growth, just minus the big, world-changing, moments. There is a lot of subtle change at play here as Storm (Alison Sealy-Smith) has been promoted to headmistress and put in charge of the education at the Xavier Institute. The government has also forbid the X-Men from acting as a paramilitary organization and the institute is only allowed to remain open if it’s to function as a school. Basically, anything they do outside of education is going to put them into conflict with X-Factor and it feels like we’re setting up a showdown between the two. How X-Force plays into all of this remains to be seen as we haven’t checked in with them in quite some time now. There are also a lot of new students at the school, most of whom we saw in that X-Force centric second episode so I’m assuming there is some cooperation between the X-Men and X-Force, or they just ditched the kids on their doorstep. A bit surprising that Jubilee didn’t hang around.

Looks like another wardrobe change for the X-Men is in order.

In terms of the bigger picture, there was an interesting conversation between Xavier and Lorna where Charles basically confesses he tried to preserve Magneto’s psyche just before Apocalypse murdered him, but failed. Are we aborting on Onslaught? That’s a strong possibility. The episode concludes with a long-expected scene as well which may or may not pay dividends next week. I would not be surprised if it’s put off until the penultimate episode. This episode is also noteworthy in that it does not feature Wolverine. It’s hardly a surprise to see an episode of X-Men ’97 not feature the runt, but following the end of last week’s episode it was a bit disappointing to not see if his relationship with Morph has been affected. The episode does put some players on the move and there is an attempt at placing the focus back on Apocalypse despite the emphasis on a villain of the week format. I get the sense that the show is maneuvering its pieces into place before the big conclusion. With only three episodes to go in the season, it feels like things are about to pick up.

Previously…on X-Men ’97:

X-Men ’97 – “Weapon X, Lies, and DVDs”

When X-Men went into development for the Fox Kids Network, it didn’t take the writing staff (who was unfamiliar with the property going in) long to figure out that Wolverine was their ticket to television royalty. The character really took off in the 1980s and helped the X-Men storm into the 1990s as the most…

Keep reading
by Joe

X-Men ’97 – “Rise of Apocalypse: Part 2”

Unlike the first three episodes of season two of X-Men ’97, this fourth one is going to spend all of its time in one era. And as you could probably guess, that era is 3,000 BCE since that is where we left off last week. I consider these reviews that I do spoiler free, but…

Keep reading
by Joe

X-Men ’97 – “Rise of Apocalypse: Part 1”

The premiere episode for season two of X-Men ’97 took us to the far off future where Apocalypse reigns supreme. The second followed that one up with a story set in the present time of the series: 1997 (Duh!). Now, for the third episode of this three-part premiere we head to ancient Egypt to meet…

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by Joe

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Comics, Television

July 21, 2026

What Can We Expect from the Second Half of X-Men ’97 Season Two?

By Joe
X-Men ’97 appears to be building towards one hell of a finish.

With the airing of last week’s episode “Weapon X, Lies, and DVDs” the second season of X-Men ’97 passed the halfway point. And after tomorrow when this goes live, we’ll be 2/3rds of the way through the season since it’s only nine episodes. Since I am away (again) for the sixth episode, I figured I’d do a little recap post and offer up some of my thoughts on where we’re heading from here. There’s a lot of stuff we know is likely to happen, but a lot we don’t, and it sounds like the plans for season three have been changed since they were originally mapped out. It should probably go without saying, but just in case, there are spoilers ahead for the first half of X-Men ’97’s season two and I’ll also be talking about the potentially scuttled plans for season three so you have been warned.

Season two of X-Men ’97 has been a lot of fun so far. The actual episodes have been pretty tight focusing on just select squads of the heroes involved while also laying the groundwork for a big finale against Apocalypse. With the most recent episode, we got a deviation where Wolverine and a select group of mutants ran off to Canada to shut down the latest Weapon X lab. Or at least that’s what the squad signed up for, but in reality Wolverine was just looking to get his adamantium skeleton back which Magneto had stripped from him in season one.

Wolverine is left to wonder, “Was it all worth it?”

We might as well start there. That episode was a pretty interesting look at Wolverine and it also really put a spotlight on his relationship with Morph. It’s been a little divisive in some circles from what I’ve seen and that goes back to how the story was presented in the comics. Any X-Men show or movie is going to run into issues where fans compare what they’re seeing on their screen to what already happened in the comics while writers and showrunners aren’t always looking for a direct adaptation. In the comics, Wolverine went years without his adamantium skeleton and even had a botched attempt at it during that time period which brought about the feral Wolverine era. We got a slight taste of that in episode one as Wolverine’s look was evocative of that one, but that was it. The comic book story put Wolverine before Apocalypse with a choice: battle Sabretooth for the right to become Death, or let Sabretooth assume that mantle. Whoever became Death would have an adamantium skeleton courtesy of Apocalypse which was kind of like a little bonus. For Wolverine, it meant letting someone else turn him into a weapon as the Weapon X program had done years before against his will. On the other hand, letting Sabretooth get basically a power-up and a new job that was all about killing didn’t exactly sound appealing either. Wolverine’s choice was presented as a sacrifice and he had faith in himself that he’d eventually beat Apocalypse’s programming and ultimately cause the world far less harm than a powered-up Sabretooth and that’s just what he did.

In X-Men ’97, Wolverine lead a group of allies and enemies into a hornet’s nest under false pretenses. During the first episode and in this one, we saw how Wolverine’s effectiveness had been reduced thanks to his new, fragile, bone claws. He had a tough time taking down the robotic foes in the distant future and was unable to takedown a Brood-infested polar bear in this one. And in that moment, Sabretooth had to bail him out and he was all too happy to let him know. Wolverine ended up getting infected by the Brood which caused him to murder his ally Maverick who wanted to bail on the mission as soon as they realized what they were up against. He very nearly killed Morph, but Morph was able to distract him by morphing into Jean (that always works). Sabretooth and Deathstrike saw through what Wolverine was doing, but Morph was the last one to cross the finish line. Morph refused to see Wolverine as a monster, but in the end, they found out that even Wolverine thinks he has no worth unless he’s a monster. It must have been a pretty devastating episode for Morph who we know has feelings beyond just friendship for Wolverine. Morph presenting as themself to Wolverine to try and get him to stop failed, but Jean? Apparently she has enough of Wolverine’s heart to pull that off and Morph likely never will. There could be a rift forming here and it will be interesting to see how this plays out. For fans, I get it that some were upset that Wolverine’s sacrifice in the books was turned into a selfish act, but I think this aspect of his personality that X-Men ’97 is shining a light on is also a worthwhile avenue. We’ll just have to see how it goes.

As for the rest of the season, we know the episode titles for what’s to come starting with the episode that airs the day after this post goes live “Danger.exe.” I am expecting this one will feature the enemy Danger (duh), and based on the newer trailers, it could also feature an X-Men and X-Force team-up. Or a fight, either sounds enjoyable. It should be a good opportunity to bring in the Grant Morrison era costumes we’ve seen featured in the trailers (they thankfully have not featured Wolverine’s look from that run which I have never liked) and I think it will also be a chance to get most everyone in the same place. We have not had an episode where the whole team is together. It would also be a chance to see the first bit of fallout from the time jumping adventure the X-Men went on as well as the loss of Magneto. I wonder if it will stick with the Danger plot, or maybe jump around? We haven’t really had an episode like that this season apart from briefly jumping to the future in episode two and starting episode 3 in the present.

Could this episode be where the show brings back the Genosha fallout?

The next episode is titled “Strange Land, Savage Heart” which is a play on the episode title from the original series “Savage Land, Strange Heart.” It would seem to suggest the presence of the Savage Land and perhaps that is where the shrine for victims of Genosha has been erected? We also saw shots of Nightcrawler battling with Exodus and perhaps that takes place in the Savage Land? Or we’re just going to split up with Nightcrawler and Rogue heading to Genosha and the rest heading to the Savage Land. Beyond that, I’m not sure, but I think this is the episode that brings everything back to focus on those lost at Genosha. And based on the trailer, it looks like the body count has gone up since season one ended as Magik and possibly Iceman were added to the death toll despite appearing on Forge’s board as being alive and accounted for. Colossus was also in his Acolytes costume and if the Acolytes have a new leader it’s almost certainly Exodus. Colossus is likely to be in a bad headspace following the loss of his beloved sister. We know of some similar scenes with Polaris returning to the mansion and taking sight of how everything has been destroyed and one shot in the trailer shows a picture of her and Bobby which seems to further hint that he may have been among the casualties. This all leads me to speculate on some big things in the next episode.

Or maybe they are just going on a Savage Land adventure?

“Dead Man’s Hand” sounds pretty self-explanatory. When Gambit died in season one, few expected it to be permanent. That’s just not how comics work. When Apocalypse was shown at the end of season one finding a playing card in the rubble of Genosha that basically cemented it. Gambit is coming back as Apocalypse’s horseman of death, but what of the other three? Horsemen always come in fours and we have not seen any shots in any trailer suggesting who could be among the horsemen. In the comics, Polaris became one at one point and could her anger towards humanity over the loss of Bobby and others drive her to Apocalypse? She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s also lost a father in Magneto though that one is complicated by the fact that it was Apocalypse who killed him. Then again, that could be what the X-Men use to pull her out of his clutches. Rogue is another possibility. She was devastated by the loss of Gambit, could this be a way to be with him? I don’t know if she would go willingly, but there’s a darkness in her brought about by Genosha. Archangel also reminded us in episode two that it was Rogue who took away the evil within him and allowed him to break free of Apocalypse’s control. That evil has been dwelling inside her ever since perhaps ready to come out. She could also attempt to do the same for Gambit, and maybe that backfires? In the scene where it looks like the X-Men and X-Force are bracing for a fight from the trailer, I don’t think Rogue is seen, though that might not be them getting ready to tangle with Apocalypse too. Colossus is another candidate. Devastated by the loss of his sister, he could certainly turn towards Apocalypse if he thinks the Acolytes aren’t doing enough.

Rogue is definitely going to feature heavily in the climax of this season.

The other possibility for the horsemen that I envision is the show using it as a way to undo some deaths. We know Gambit is likely one such character, but then there’s others who perished in Genosha like Magik, Iceman, Marrow, and Banshee. Many others fell as well and if they indeed decided to add Magik and Iceman to the death toll between seasons then virtually anyone is on the table if we have yet to see them alive. And it could also be a way to bring back Magneto. Perhaps when Apocalypse nuked Magneto’s body he preserved his essence to put into a new body and control? I personally think it would be a mistake to bring Magneto back yet again, but I can’t rule it out. After all, these are comic book characters and they seem to never die. There’s also opportunities to introduce new or forgotten characters to fill out Apocalypse’s ranks. Characters like Nemesis, Mikhail Rasputin, Deathbird, or Tyler – Cable’s son he essentially abandoned in the future. We’ve also never really had Stryfe in the animated universe as he’s only ever made cameos. We have not heard from Sinister at all this season and it’s been even longer since we’ve seen Mystique, the Brotherhood, or anyone from The Nasty Boys. And can we fully write-off Wolverine as a horseman? Maybe his opinion of himself as only a weapon and his actions up north create a bigger divide with the team than expected and it allows Apocalypse to corrupt him somehow? Maybe a character like X-23 or Daken gets introduced as a horseman and Wolverine has to find his worth as a human being in order to convince one of them to suppress what Apocalypse has done to them?

Either way, I see the finale “Survival of the Fittest” as being the battle for Gambit’s soul and anyone else corrupted by Apocalypse. They’ll also have to actually defeat Apocalypse and I don’t know how they’ll do that. I do hope it’s something satisfying as the ways in which those confrontations were settled in the original series were never satisfying for me. That’s the Apocalypse problem – he’s made to be so strong and so powerful that there’s almost no believable way to stop him. He kind of just runs for no reason or you get something a bit more abstract like the ending to “Beyond Good and Evil.” One possibility for taking him down is Onslaught. In the comics, when Charles Xavier wiped the mind of Magneto during the Fatal Attractions arc it meant Magneto’s consciousness remained with Xavier’s mind. It basically tormented him and eventually it caused Onslaught to emerge. Now, few fans seem to actually like that arc. The setup is fine, the character certainly has a 90s cool factor, but it basically lead to the temporary deaths of a lot of Marvel’s non-mutant heroes and brought about the controversial Heroes Reborn era. I, like many, am not a fan of the Onslaught saga, but I’m also not afraid of it. The way I see it, X-Men ’97 could be a way to redeem the character, but that may not happen.

If this represents X-Men and X-Force getting ready to duke it out with Apocalypse, it could be more telling to focus on who isn’t there rather than who is.

According to former showrunner Beau DeMayo, Marvel axed his plans to introduce Onslaught in episode ten of this season and that’s why we ended up with nine episodes instead of ten. I would guess he knows this to be true because he probably lost a credit over it. Onslaught was going to be a season three enemy and somehow that was going to lead to an Age of Apocalypse in the animated universe. That might also explain why Hasbro decided to reissue their own Onslaught figure (review coming soon) since this was all stuff being worked on years before this season premiered. Does that mean Onslaught is completely off the table? No, as there’s been plenty of time to reconsider if they wanted to. They could have decided to kick the can further down the road as opposed to bring it into season two. There’s certainly plenty of foreshadowing with how Xavier ended episode four. Perhaps he even “saved” Magneto from death by psychically downloading his mind into his own? Such a thing sounds like absolute nonsense, but for X-Men? Nah, that could be sold. And from there it could be that which brings about Onslaught. How this would have created an Age of Apocalypse when the previous show already went down the rabbit hole of “What if Xavier were killed before forming the X-Men?” with the two-parter “One Man’s Worth,” is also something I can’t wrap my head around. Maybe the show was just going to forget about that? I’m pretty sure it was referenced in the opening title during season one so DeMayo likely wanted us to remember it for a reason. Either way, I could see Marvel not wanting to set an entire season of the show in an alternate present thereby throwing a wrench into the whole thing. Comic fans seem titillated by it, but would the casuals want to see another season where Magneto leads the team and characters like Beast and Cyclops are villains?

Onslaught not being the ultimate end game for season two has one obvious benefit in that it makes it really hard to predict what could follow instead. It could simply be a cleaner ending, but I can’t imagine them not teasing another villain or plot to come. Perhaps Krakoa? That seems to be something a lot of fans would take in place of Age of Apocalypse. It wouldn’t surprise me if we see Generation X being formed and maybe a reshuffling of some cards where X-Force and X-Factor are concerned. The mere fact that I’ve written over 2,000 words on the subject should be enough of a tell that I’m pretty excited and eager to see where things are heading. There’s so much for the show to cover or not and it feels like we’ve barely spent time with most of the characters. I hope the show is doing really well with whatever metrics Disney uses to evaluate these streaming shows so that it ensure we get even more beyond a third season because this is just too much damn fun each week.

Some prior X-Men ’97 musings and reviews if this wasn’t enough for you:

X-Men ’97 – “Weapon X, Lies, and DVDs”

When X-Men went into development for the Fox Kids Network, it didn’t take the writing staff (who was unfamiliar with the property going in) long to figure out that Wolverine was their ticket to television royalty. The character really took off in the 1980s and helped the X-Men storm into the 1990s as the most…

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by Joe

The Return of X-Men ’97

The return of the ’92 era X-Men featured in the classic animated series could not have gone any better. I was extremely excited for that show’s continuation via X-Men ’97, but at the same time a bit fearful. Could it really live up to my own expectations even as I tried to tamp them down?…

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by Joe

X-Men ’97 – “Tolerance is Extinction – Part 3”

Today, X-Men ’97 dropped the curtain on its first season and what a way to bring it to an end. Last week’s episode was a roller coaster of emotions for me. I couldn’t go into much detail of my review of “Tolerance is Extinction – Part 2” without wading into spoiler territory, so allow me…

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by Joe

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