I’m always going to have a soft spot for Morph. It was rare to see a character killed off in a children’s show, but that was the fate of old Morph who didn’t make it out of the show’s second episode. I wouldn’t call it traumatizing, but there was definitely a haunted quality to that scene, “Wolverine! Fall Back!” Come on, Morph, don’t you know that Wolverine has a healing factor? He’s the toughest, most unkillable, son of a bitch around! You didn’t need to take that Sentinel blast for him! Why, Morph? Why?!
Of course, Morph didn’t stay dead. Turns out, when you kill off a character in a kid’s show the kids who make up the audience want that character brought back. That’s why the character has stuck with me these past 30 years, though I never did take it upon myself to write a letter to Fox Kids to express my sorrow over the death of Morph. Enough other kids did though that Morph tested really high with audiences as a fan favorite so the show brought them back as evil Morph for the second season premiere. Morph had quite the long arc that year that ended with them kind of back to their old self, but the trauma of getting blasted meant that Morph needed some time away. Returning for the episode “Courage” only confirmed that even more and we didn’t see Morph again until the series finale. Now, X-Men ’97 is a thing and really for the first we get to see Morph as a fully functioning member of the team.
The X-Men ’97 version of Morph is similar to the ’92 version, but borrows some from the comics. Morph has a weird history in that the character was originally called Changeling in the comics and began life as a villain. The character would get cancer and have a change of heart offering to take Xavier’s place to basically fake the professor’s death which is why the writing staff for the cartoon decided to use the character as a sacrificial lamb in the first plotline. Changeling was just off the table because of the DC character of the same name, so Changeling became Morph. And since Morph proved popular, Morph got to be a character during the Age of Apocalypse where they sported a new look that included basically a gray, nose-less, face. That’s apparently the visage our Morph now feels most comfortable with in X-Men ’97. It makes sense as it’s like a blank face, and with Morph being a shapeshifter, it seems like a solid choice.
The action figure for Morph appears to be entirely new. Morph is now presented as more slender than the old Morph. That Morph conformed to the Jim Lee era the show was based on where basically all of the guys were jacked and all of the women were bombshells. This Morph still retains the old X-Men blue and yellow training uniform as well as the flight jacket, they’re just slim and slender. This depiction in plastic might be just a touch too slender, but considering it’s all new sculpt, I do wonder if the intent here is to repurpose this as a New Mutants base? The Sunspot, who I didn’t buy, that’s part of this wave also has a New Mutants look which is likely to be reused for more characters, but this Morph is almost a dead ringer for a character like Cypher. I guess we’ll see. There is some clear stylization in the chest which I have mixed feelings on which probably has little utility going forward. It’s almost like Hasbro tried to match the cel-shading on the pecs, but with sculpt instead of paint. It’s odd looking, but the jacket at least takes away from it. The jacket, like Logan’s, is also very plain to conform with the look of the show which I like. There’s not a lot of paint here, but at least there isn’t a lot of mis-matched colors.
At least, there are no mis-matched colors concerning the base figure and the optional hands. Morph comes with a set of fists, a right open hand, and a left relaxed hand. Morph also has an alternate portrait and it’s their more humanoid look. It’s very stylized conforming to the show, but I don’t like this look for Morph. It doesn’t look anything like the ’92 version which I always found very distinct. Worse though, Morph’s neck is gray to match the default head which causes a clash when using the alternate head. The figure really needed another neck piece, or they could have made the neck part of the head sculpt. On one hand, I’m glad that isn’t the case because the articulation would probably suffer, but it does make the unmorphed head look silly and it’s something I’ll never use.
There is one other accessory and it’s an odd one. Morph comes with the head of Henry Peter Gyrich, the bigot who was spearheading the Mutant Control Agency in the show and is the guy indirectly responsible for Morph’s death so he has some connection here. He’s also in the new show and by including his head here it also feels like a callback to the old Toy Biz Morph which came with a Cyclops, Wolverine, and Evil Morph head to simulate the shape-shifting powers the character possessed. Though here, I think the Gyrich head is much better utilized by placing it on a suited Legends body to create a whole new character. For me, the only suitable body is the Professor X body that came with the hoverchair. And since I also have the Savage Land Xavier, I don’t mind sacrificing him for this new character. For a non-super-powered character, Gyrich is a pretty big villain in the series so having him isn’t bad. It makes me wonder if we’ll get Trask in a fourth wave.
Morph’s articulation is what one would expect of a Marvel Legends release. The slender frame does mean the range is pretty good in places like the knees and elbows, but there’s also still some limitations. The mediocre ball hinge is in place at the head and I don’t know why any new sculpt would go this route unless getting the figure to look all the way up is really important. The arms feature standard articulation (you really don’t need me to list it all out do you?) while the torso opts for an old ab crunch and waist twist. The belt is keyed in and not floating, but the twist is below it anyway so it doesn’t interfere, but it also means you can’t pull it down to hide the joint. Legs are also fairly typical. The thigh straps hide the thigh swivel okay and there is a boot swivel, something not all figures have.
Morph is probably going to move as much as you want the figure to. It’s just always a shame when Hasbro spends money on a new sculpt and doesn’t put the best articulation it can into the figure. I mostly like the figure. It’s a good representation of the character, but I also admit my soft spot bias for Morph. I had some critiques with the articulation, and the extra portrait is useless, but my biggest complaint would just be it has a cheap look due to the lack of paint. The yellow also hues slightly orange when compared with other blue and yellow outfits. The figure would look a lot better with actual paint, but Hasbro appears to be going to even greater lengths these days to avoid having to paint figures. I guess it’s just something we’re going to have to get used to. If you like Morph’s depiction in X-Men ’97 then this is fine.
If you liked this review and want to see more from X-Men ’97 then check these out:
Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Nightcrawler
Since we don’t have a post this week for Turtle Tuesday I decided we should have a Mutant Monday. X-Men ’97 has returned the mutant superheroes to the spotlight and one of the main beneficiaries has been Hasbro. Their first wave of Marvel Legends based on the new show arrived last fall and, aside from…
Keep reading
Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Jubilee
The television event of 2024 for me was none other than X-Men ’97. I loved that show and I can’t wait for the second season to come around. It’s just a shame we may still be as much as a year away, but to somewhat tide us over until then we have this third wave…
Keep reading
Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Logan
I knew who the X-Men were when the show premiered in 1992, but I didn’t know much about them. That show really was the proper introduction to the franchise for me and one thing I couldn’t wrap my head around as a kid was that these were heroes who didn’t really have a secret identity.…
Keep reading
The Nostalgia Spot 
Leave a comment