It feels like lately I’ve been getting swayed by clearance and discounts when it comes to my action figure purchases. Such is the case for today’s post on Professor X from the Marvel Legends line of action figures. Target had an exclusive version of Xavier featuring the character in his jumpsuit which showed up in the spring. Having recently purchased a different, more traditional version of the professor it wasn’t something I felt I needed. I wasn’t entirely satisfied with that figure though, so I was a little interested in this new one. Plus, the jumpsuit look feels like it’s pulled straight from the old animated series as this was the look Xavier sported for the entirety of the second season. And in that season, he and Magneto found themselves stranded in the Savage Land where a device Mr. Sinister had negated mutant powers, but somehow managed to cure a paraplegic like Charles Xavier. Of course, the X-Men destroy the machine to get their powers back thus dooming the world’s paraplegics to a life of paralysis. Seriously guys, you probably should have thought that one through a little better. I know this outfit showed up in the comics as well, but the combination of the look plus Hasbro’s decision to release it on a retro card definitely has me thinking X-Men ’92.
When I buy one version of a character that I’m not crazy about I hate to compound the issue by buying another version of the same character. Especially when I don’t love that other version either. And with this Xavier it’s the face I don’t love. Xavier is often illustrated with pronounced cheek bones, but in three dimensions that makes for a bit of a lumpy appearance. Hasbro has also introduced more detailed face printing in recent years and sometimes they overdo it. That strikes me as the case here with Chuck as his eyes are rimmed with black and his lips are painted. The shade is almost like a slightly metallic peach and doesn’t look like a natural lip shade to me. It actually reminds me of a shade of lipstick my grandmother used to wear. I feel like he’s a wig away from being able to cosplay as a Golden Girl. This is in contrast to what I would want him to look like which is the animated series which took a very plain look to its character designs with mostly smooth features and no shading for the lips.
Basically what I’m saying is that, apart from the bald head and the pronounced eyebrows, this portrait doesn’t scream Xavier to me. As for the rest of the sculpt – it’s fine. I think this body is reused from a past release, but I can’t be certain. The legs may be from Wonder Man though I’m not sure about the arms and torso. I don’t have enough Legends figures to know. Whether they are or are not, it doesn’t matter so long as they work for this figure and in this case I would say that they do. Most of the figure is colored plastic with paint reserved for the black undershirt and the belt. There are some black buttons painted onto the shirt and the rolled up sleeves were painted a lighter shade of green from the rest which is a nice touch. And we get some X logos printed on the shoulders. The greens are mostly consistent, but the legs and arms appear to have a touch more yellow to them than the torso. The knees and elbows are also a little off which is typical of these pin-less joints from Hasbro. This figure is not the worst offender in that regard and the difference is pretty subtle.
Xavier comes with just a few accessories, which is often the case for Legends these days. He has two sets of hands: fists and trigger hands. I have no idea why Professor X would come with trigger finger hands, but I guess if you want him to wield a gun he can. He also has a fifth hand which is a two-finger pointing left hand for doing mental power poses. It actually has some sculpted in lines to make it look like an actual glove which is surprising. It may be the same hand that came with the Age of Apocalypse Gambit so that may be how they justified the tooling cost. Chuck also comes with a new Cerebro helmet. At least, I think it’s new. It’s different from the one that came with hoverchair Charlie and it’s fine. It’s that swirly, gray, plastic Hasbro favors over shiny paint for metallic objects and it fits on his head just fine. There’s a hole on the back which had me thinking that was for X-Men ’97 Jean’s ponytail, but the helmet really doesn’t fit on her head because of her hair.
Xavier’s articulation is pretty standard Legends fair, though it has its own quirks. The head is a double ball peg and it’s actually the best double ball peg setup I’ve seen from Hasbro. The lower ball isn’t as deep as it normally is in the neck and he gets good range looking up, down, and tilt thanks to another joint at the base of the neck. Of course, the lack of any hair to work around is playing a role, but good is good. From there we have typical shoulder ball pegs, bicep swivel, double-jointed elbows, wrists, ab crunch, waist twist, hip, thigh, double-jointed knees, boot cut, and ankle hinges and rockers. The range on the ab crunch is pretty poor going forward and back, but aside from that the other joints are fine. The two-finger pointing hand and the trigger hands all have vertical hinges which is interesting. Not so much the trigger hands, but the two-finger gesture is an odd choice. I’m not sure which direction I’d want the hinge to go in this case. The waist twist being above the sculpted belt is a bit unfortunate because it’s ugly. If they could have set it inside the belt it would have looked better, but also cost more.
The articulation is fine and it’s probably plenty for Charles Xavier, a guy who traditionally doesn’t walk. The figure also can fit into the hoverchair if you wish and he did sport that look in the show as well. This is a pretty fine Marvel Legends figure. If I liked the portrait sculpt then I’d be pretty happy here and probably would have paid full price. Since I don’t, I still question my decision to buy it as I don’t think it’s an improvement over the other Xavier I have. At any rate, he’s another addition to the animated shelf and he won’t look awful. And if I display him with the helmet I’ll probably barely notice the face. Plus, the new X-Men ’97 Morph is coming with a head for Henry Gyrich and even the Legends team had that head on the hoverchair Xavier body. Perhaps I’ll do the same eventually leaving this as my default Xavier. Even though this has been discounted for a couple of weeks now, I still see this one at Target so you may be able to find it if you’re interested. I paid $17 for it, but if they keep lingering maybe they’ll go even lower? That might be a gamble worth taking.
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