This has been a long time coming. When Toy Biz launched its line of X-Men action figures in the early 90s it was not in tandem with the animated series that would follow. Those early waves of figures were driven by the popularity of characters from the actual comic books and what a toy maker thought would sell. When the cartoon arrived, there still wasn’t a direct synergy. The writers on the show did not want to be burdened with having to write to a toyline or other merchandise and Toy Biz may not have wanted to tie its products to a show that might not even last beyond a season. As the show grew popular though, it began to influence what Toy Biz did, but it still could take a while for certain characters to be rendered in plastic. Beast was one of those characters, and since he largely sat out the show’s first season it’s not all that surprising that he was forced to wait (he still beat Jean). His figure was even released alongside Morph, a characters more or less created for the cartoon. I received the pair on Christmas morning in 1994 and was delighted to have the team nearly complete in my collection, but there was always one thing that bothered me about Beast and it was those eyes.
When Jim Lee got his hands on Beast, he gave the kind-hearted doctor a rather feral appearance. He was often illustrated, at least on covers and in promotional material, roaring with all-white eyes. The action figure from Toy Biz gave him something of a slight smile, but kept those white eyes. In the show, Beast almost never was depicted as a beast. He was a poet trapped in the body of a beast and his eyes reflected that. Since the show was my introduction to the character, it’s become my preferred take on Hank McCoy. The all white eyes just don’t suit the character in my mind, but that first figure was the only base Beast we’d get in that line. When Marvel Legends came around though, we did get a Beast with blue eyes, but it wasn’t really a figure that resembled the Jim Lee design. Other Legends figures have gone in different directions, but a Beast that captured his appearance in the ’92 show has proven elusive. Now, thanks to the popularity of X-Men ’97, we have what is perhaps the best Beast figure for fans of that show.
The X-Men ’97 Beast is packaged in a window box like Archangel which means he has earned the dreaded “deluxe” label. What makes this figure deluxe in the eyes of Hasbro? Hard to say. His accessory load out is fairly standard, but then again, he does have slightly more than the alternate hands and one alternate portrait approach seemingly most releases follow these days. Beast is a physically bigger character than many of his peers, but we’re not talking anything drastic here. He’s no Juggernaut or Apocalypse, but then again, neither of those characters received an upcharge back in the Toy Biz days of Marvel Legends. He is an all new sculpt and I guess that’s good enough for Hasbro to see fit to charge extra which in this case is a $40 MSRP. Maybe it’s just a desirability tax as Hasbro likely knows as well as I do that a lot of people are just waiting on Beast to complete the ’97 team and even the ’92 edition. He is the final one from the start of the first season and the only ones missing now are Forge and Polaris (who is coming before the end of the year).
As for this new sculpt, it’s pretty good. Beast follows the design of the show which means his body is smooth plastic with only sculpted tufts of fur in strategic places meant to break-up the silhouette. On his face there’s a hint of a smile though his brow is in a furrowed state. The figure does have the black shading on the outer parts of his hair around the ears and the lips are painted a darker blue and his little teeth have been hit with white. There’s some blue shading in the muscles and the belt has the painted on X logo, but that’s basically it for paint and what’s there is a little sloppy in places. Most notably, the eyebrows and that X logo. One area not painted are the claws on his hands and feet which is consistent with X-Men ’97 and one of the major deviations from his design in the original show. The only other is just the shape of the mouth. His face is ever so slightly longer in the new series with more space between his nose and upper lip. He does have a fairly pronounced underbite, especially when viewed from the side, but overall the look is similar enough to the ’92 series that I think he works for a display based on that series.
The overall proportions and sculpting is pretty nice. Beast has a wide chest and there’s enough mass to make him look powerful. His shoulders are properly sized and his limbs appropriately long as he has that almost gorilla physique. Beast stands at about 6.75″, but we all know that he almost is never depicted standing as tall as possible. Beast is almost always hunched over to some degree. His actual standing height is probably around 6.35″ which probably puts him a bit on the larger side. His portrayal in the show might be a bit inconsistent. Since we just wrapped season two that’s on the brain a bit stronger than season one and I can’t get the image of him approaching Polaris in her room from the episode “Danger.exe” where he’s quite a bit shorter than Lorna. The official artbook actually has a height chart that puts him at a mere 5′ when hunched over and only 5’11” (or 5’10”, I can’t find a clear image and didn’t purchase the book) when standing up straight. This means the figure is quite a bit larger than he should be. I suspect that won’t disappoint comic books fans who want to integrate him into a comic display, but it’s a little annoying for the source material. I’m not sure why he’s so big since it’s easy to access the show materials via the artbook and the first season concluded over two years ago.
Beast does at least contain a decent accessory load-out given the higher price. The conventional parts are just an extra set of hands and an extra portrait. For hands, it’s the customary open/clawing gesture and a set of fists. For heads, we get the smile and a yelling head which also kind of has a hint of a smile to it. It’s not so much a battle cry head as it is an over-excited Beast sharing news about his latest scientific discovery. It reminds me of his introductory scene with Roberto in the infirmary. The paint on the teeth is pretty decent, but the eyebrows are a little messy, especially the left one. For additional things, we get a backpack, glasses, and a gizmo for his wrist. The backpack was first seen in the original series and it does show up in X-Men ’97. It has a poorly painted X logo on the right strap and fits on the figure easy enough. It doesn’t open or do anything and has an intentionally simple sculpt to likely match the animation. It does mean the silver-painted part on the rear reminds me of an old coin return on a change machine one might find in an arcade. The glasses are safety glasses and in both shows they would be connected to some wires coming out of the backpack, but here they just fit on his face. They’re made of transparent plastic with a slight cloudiness to them. The edges are painted silver and kind of fit in his ear, as opposed to on them since they lay flat on his head. They’ll fit on either portrait and seem to stay in place well enough. The bracelet for his wrist appears to be the computer device he utilizes in the second season which also happens to take place in the episode “Danger.exe.” It has the X logo on it in two places, but only one is painted. There’s also a light blue “screen” and the rest is silver. It’s a fine assortment, but I suppose some would have liked traditional glasses and a lab coat. If you have the previously released retro card Beast, that coat will fit, but the glasses are a trickier proposition. I couldn’t get them to stay on, but those glasses are also pretty bad though so it’s no great loss.
One of the things I have found frustrating of late with Marvel Legends has been brand new sculpts coming with mediocre articulation. Take the ’97 Jean, both versions released so far, which omitted a diaphragm joint even though the sculpt was brand new. Perhaps we need deluxe pricing to get the full suite of articulation as Beast is greatly improved. He is almost perfect when it comes to articulation choices as we get: head, shoulder, butterfly, double elbows, wrist, diaphragm, waist, drop-down hips, thigh, double knees, ankle, and toe. The head is the antiquated ball-hinge, but it at least makes it easy for Beast to look forward in a hunched position. The butterfly joint reaches back about as far as it can go, but forward is limited as they were apparently unwilling to cut into the pecs. The drop-down hinges in the hips are nice and tight so they don’t bother me. The elbow and knee range is good and the toe hinge is whatever, but what I really like are the ball joints at the diaphragm and waist. This is what I want out of every new sculpt in the line because this is the ideal way to articulate the torso. The reverse ab crunch needs to die. And Beast rocks forward and back pretty well at the waist and diaphragm making posing pretty much effortless. His only limitations really stem from the lack of more range at the butterfly joint as he can’t really hit those three-point stance poses Beast is known for. Then again, that’s more of a comic book pose, but still, they could do better. There’s no logo or any painted details on his chest to have to account for and a butterfly joint can be sculpted to look fine when cutting into the chest. The Gamerverse Captain America is a solid example for that.
My articulation gripes are fairly minor and overall I’m pretty happy with the level of posing I’m getting out of Beast. He’s a good release and honestly probably the best figure in the line so far. He’s probably one of my favorite Legends figures in a while going back to the Gamerverse Wolverine that I enjoy quite a bit. It just sucks that he costs $40 when there is really no justification for it. I suppose that price tag is lessened some by the recent waves to go up for preorder at $30 a piece, but some how that doesn’t make me feel any better. Beast appears to be a pretty popular release so if you want him I can’t recommend waiting on a sale that may never come. Hasbro knows you need him to complete the team and it’s taking advantage of that fact. Price aside, I obviously recommend this figure. He’s probably too big, but at least Beast is a character that can kind of get away with that. And it’s a figure I’ve been waiting for since the 90s so I’m predisposed to like it. I don’t think any Marvel Legends figure is really worth the asking price, but I’m also not at all sad I spent the money to get this guy. The memory of the price tag will fade, but the figure will remain.
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