Category Archives: Television

October 7, 2026

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Apocalypse

By Joe
Come the Apocalypse.

One of the big bads of X-Men: The Animated Series was none other than Apocalypse. He appeared in the opening clash to start almost every episode and when the show was looking to end on a high note it selected Apocalypse as the villain to center that story on. When X-Men ’97 arrived in 2024, Apocalypse was conspicuously absent apart from a throw-away line by Wolverine in the show’s second episode. That is, until the very end when a post credits stinger featured the immortal one amongst the wreckage of Genosha signaling that he was going to have a part to play in season two. We may have had to wait a bit longer than expected for that second season, but perhaps to tide us over we had Hasbro and its Marvel Legends team which unveiled Apocalypse at last year’s New York Comic Con. The made-to-order item would arrive in 2026 and now as we sit on the eve of New York Comic Con 2026, Apocalypse has indeed arrived.

He’s a big boy, but still in the shadow of the Sentinel.

Even with Apocalypse set to play a large role in X-Men ’97 season two, I was skeptical we would get a Marvel Legends figure of the villain. That’s because in 2022 Hasbro released a retro card version of Apocalypse in his animated colors. Apocalypse was rather famously re-colored to purple and blue for the cartoon as opposed to his black and blue look from the comics. It was a curious decision and as a kid one I probably did not like, but overtime it’s become charming and nostalgic. Still, it’s probably not a popular colorway with the majority of Legends collectors so just getting that one figure was a surprise. And it’s a figure I liked then and still like because they did re-sculpt some of the figure to give it more of an animated look, and since the figure was a re-color of a previously released build-a-figure, he was larger than the standard Legends release.

Eternal enemies.
Good luck, Cable.

Whenever Apocalypse is brought to plastic, there’s always a question of how big should he be? Thanks to the original Toy Biz release, my first understanding of Apocalypse was that his mutant power allowed him to increase in size. And it can, but he also possesses a great deal of other powers to use against his foes. Because of his unique abilities, he’s always changing in size. Some of that is probably due to the inconsistent animation of the old series where there’s even shots of Apocalypse at almost eye level with Archangel. For the most part, he’s quite a bit bigger and the official height chart the animators were supposed to go off of put him at over 7′, which interestingly had him as being shorter than Juggernaut. For this made-to-order figure, Hasbro decided to go big.

He’s big on theming.
This setup for the cables works so much better than past figures.

Apocalypse comes in the same style of box as the previously released Sentinel. It has no window, but instead a render of the figure and the accessories inside against a yellow backdrop. Since it’s not something sold in stores, I don’t really care about the omission of a window box. The packaging inside is easy to get through with an absence of annoying tie-downs. Once removed, Apocalypse will tower over the other X-Men ’97 figures (well, except for the Sentinel) at approximately 12″ in height if not a little taller. And he’s not some bean pole as proportionally he’s pretty massive. I don’t know for sure, but it feels like his height was based on the scene inserted into the opening of some episodes of X-Men ’97 showing Apocalypse confronting Cable beneath his temple. Which itself was a recreation of a scene from the original series. This size also likely puts him in proper scale for the scene depicted at the end of the fourth episode of season two and he even seems to come with an accessory that is a reference to that. There’s a nice mass to all of his limbs and his torso which isn’t something Legends is always good about. Even the old retro card figure when viewed from the side has something of a flat chest. This Apocalypse is round and full and really embodies the look of the character in the show.

It doesn’t show on camera, but the retro card figure is a darker purple and the upper body, boots, etc. is blue where as with this new figure they’re a different shade of purple.

And more than any other Legends release I’ve encountered, this guy looks like he stepped right out of my television. The subtle change in the shades of purple in use are captured exquisitely. The old figure was a purple body with blue accents while this Apocalypse is basically just multiple shades of purple. The only color in use that I’d consider blue is found on the figure’s head. There’s a yellow tint to his exposed flesh which matches the show and his eyes are the inferno-like red and yellow. There’s not a ton of paint on him, but the body has been hit with a clear, matte, finish. It makes photographing him slightly challenging for my very amateurish setup. The difference in colors between this new figure and the retro card one are pretty stark in person, but in pictures it looks far more subtle. All of the details are here though like the piping on his arms and subtle changes in textures throughout. The cables, always the bane of any Apocalypse figure, are a metallic silver and they now connect to the rear of the belt and above the elbow which makes them a lot more manageable. I actually have yet to have one pop out by accident and they do seem more pliable than the old figure. That one has them pop out all the time whenever I pose it. The only visual negative is some of the paint around the lips is a little sloppy on mine. There’s also some hot spots with the finish along the side of the figure which I think is the result of the bubble packaging. Neither are noticeable from shelf range, but is apparent in-hand.

Apocalypse has a lot of foes.

Apocalypse comes loaded with stuff and it’s basically all things seen in the early part of the show’s second season. Hasbro almost certainly was able to look at material from the show to create these which is in contrast to how Marvel has been with a lot of the movies of late. For hands, we get a set of fists and a set of asymmetrical open hands. The right hand is a little looser than I’d like, but at least swapping parts is pretty simple. There is one alternate head and it’s a grimacing one which looks great and has a clean paint application. I do wish we got a third, evil smile portrait from the execution scene at the end of episode four. For attachments, Apocalypse has various weapons and even a defensive item. He has his big, snap-on, shield which is emblazoned with his signature “A” and looks incredibly goofy, but it’s well-represented here. It basically slides up the forearm until snug and works well. He also has a blade hand attachment, a spiked ball, and a drill. All of them are entirely plastic with no paint and Hasbro used its semi-metallic plastic for the “metal” parts. There’s some swirling on the morning star that looks bad, but none on the other two. Apocalypse also has his arm canon which first showed up in the original series and was also an accessor with the retro card figure. It comes with two different blast effects. One is similar to the Sentinel blasts as there’s a rear plume and a cone of energy in the center. The second is just the plume with a clip in the middle to plug another figure into it. This is almost certainly in reference to a specific scene, though you won’t be able to accurately pull that off in plastic as the articulation isn’t quite up to snuff there. It’s a neat idea and you can use it with most Legends figures though I wish the impact was larger and more dramatic. He has multiple muzzles on the arm canon and it can accept the Sentinel blast effects so long as you only use the center piece. That’s the only way to get multiple blasts going. Lastly, there’s a diorama piece that’s a blast hitting a rocky ground and it’s pretty damn cool. I’m going to have to figure out a way to work it into my display as a result because it would be a waste not to.

The Sentinel blast works too.
You can fit more into the canon if you omit the muzzle flash.
The clip-on blast works better with non-caped characters.
This is the face my cat makes when I pick her up.

Apocalypse is a pretty chunky boy so articulation isn’t going to be his strong suit. It’s not a total bummer though as he works reasonably well for a man his size. We get: double-ball head, ball-hinge shoulders, bicep, double elbows, wrist swivel and hinge, ball-jointed diaphragm, ball-jointed waist, ball-socket hips, thigh swivel, double knees, boot swivel, ankle hinge and rocker. Where you’re likely to get the best range is at the head and in the torso. He’s too chunky to crunch forward much, but the ball joints in the torso and waist work really well with rotation, tilt, and just general nuance posing. The arms are a bit too chunky to get the elbows to bend past 90 degrees and no butterfly joint does limit things at the shoulder. The big shoulder pads rotate with the arm so they don’t get in the way, at least. He’s not going to do splits or kick forward as far as 90 degrees, but the gait he gets is adequate and the ankles work very well. I also like the included boot swivel so if you want to rotate the feet you can without breaking up the sculpt in the thighs. He can hit walking poses and sell his effect parts well. What he can’t do is reach across his body or convincingly get down on one knee. Again, there’s a certain scene in episode 4 I’m thinking of here that’s just not possible to pull off, unfortunately, but all things considered the articulation is fine.

These are the weapons he turns to when he wants to get medieval.
“Only a coward feels mighty when stepping on ants.”

Do you want a giant Apocalypse from X-Men ’97? One that looks close enough to his appearance in the original animated series as well? Then you should probably get this one. He’s not cheap at $120, but he’s currently listed as in-stock on Hasbro Pulse as of this post going live. This is an impressive chunk of plastic of season two’s signature villain, and while finding space in one’s collection could be a challenge, he will immediately bring some presence to any display. I’ve always liked Apocalypse so I’m predisposed to like this figure. It’s something I never expected, but am happy is here. I hope Hasbro sold a lot of them and that the X-Men ’97 figures are making them money because I’m counting on more getting announced this weekend at New York Comic Con. Apocalypse was a made-to-order item, but if you want to get one just keep your eyes on hasbropulse.com as there are likely more which will go up for sale in due time.

“Crash upon me and be broken!”

For more Apocalypse and X-Men ’97 goodness, check these out:

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

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Sentinel

When X-Men premiered on Halloween 1992 the big bad guy of the day wasn’t Magneto, it wasn’t Apocalypse, it was the Sentinels. The mutant-hunting robots were chosen because they represented the threat from humanity as it pertained to the protagonists of the show. Any show or comic book can put some scary dude in a…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends Mephisto

It’s now been a couple of years since Hasbro did a light pivot from the HasLab model of action figure delivery to the made-to-order one. That’s not to say the HasLab is dead, but we haven’t seen a Marvel Legends themed one since Giant Man which was solicited in September of 2023 and delivered about…

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by Joe

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September 30, 2026

Mondo Squads Rocko’s Modern Life

By Joe

One of the big television moments of my young life in the 1990s was the premiere of Nickelodeon’s very own cartoons. Dubbed Nicktoons, these were creator-driven shows intended to entertain first and move merch second. And that second component was a pretty distant second. Launched in 1991, the original Nicktoons consisted of Doug, Rugrats, and The Ren & Stimpy Show. All three are pretty much classics at this point and all three brought something different to the table, but the three show format sure felt kind of funny even in the moment. Since all were designed to occupy a half hour block of television it meant that the inaugural Nicktoons block was an hour and a half beginning at 10 AM on Sunday morning and ending at 11:30. That just felt wrong somehow. Even though radio had designated a block of content as 3 songs, for television it felt like a proper block should be four half hour shows. Well, we wouldn’t have to wait long to get out wish as the following year Nickelodeon launched Rocko’s Modern Life to complete the block. The Joe Murray created show had a tremendous team behind it including soon to be household names (well, in animation circles) as Stephen Hillenburg, Tom Kenny, and Doug Lawrence.

It’s a big box.

Over the years, Rocko has seemed to remain popular, but not as popular as some of the other Nicktoons. For my money, it is the best show Nickelodeon has produced. It had the wacky, gross-out comedy that many associate with The Ren & Stimpy Show, but it combined that with something of a coming of age tale. Rocko is a young adult who only recently left home to make a go at living on his own in the 1990’s. He has problems that maybe the target audience didn’t entirely relate with, but could at least empathize with. Some of them are universal issues like how to deliver bad news to a friend or what to do about a crush, but then there were issues with credit cards and holding down a job. The animation always delivered out of the newly minted Games Studios, an in-house production company owned by Nickelodeon, and the show was able to churn out 52 episodes which was a pretty typical order for Nickelodeon. Only the mega successful shows got more episodes as presumably re-upping with Murray and his staff following the initial 52 would be more costly for Nickelodeon than simply launching a new series. By all accounts, Murray was ready to move on as well, but it wouldn’t be the last we’d hear from Rocko as the gang did return in the short movie Static Cling in 2019 carried exclusively by Netflix.

These might be bigger than you would have expected.

Because Rocko is so awesome, and because Mondo seems to have a good working relationship with Nickelodeon, we now have a set of Mondo Squads featuring Rocko, Heffer, Filbert and some choice little buddies. Mondo’s Squads brand is different from typical action figures. They’re somewhat modeled after maquettes, small statues often commissioned for artists working on animated shows and movies to help them visualize a character in 3D, featuring minimal articulation and occupying a scale that is basically their own making. The characters come housed in a pretty substantial box featuring the same artwork that was used on the Rocko’s Modern Life DVD collection several years ago. Jordan Christianson is credited with the package design which resembles a television one might find in O-Town, though I want to say the actual picture of Rocko and the other characters in the background was done by Joe Murray. The figures in the set are based on a concept by Joe Allard and the sculpts were handled by Brandon Gash. Mara Ancheta is credited with the paint while Hector Arce was in charge of the art direction. The figures are well packaged in a large plastic bubble and pretty much everything is wrapped in a plastic bag to protect the paint. There are no tie-downs and the whole thing is quite pleasent to access.

Rocko seems a little off to me. Left is a comparison with a Pop! and right is a still from the movie Static Cling.

We’ll talk about Rocko first who Mondo lists at coming in at 5.75″. As I alluded to above, these figures do not occupy any sort of concrete scale. They’re definitely not 1:12 or even 1:10, but the goal seems to be to just make sure they scale with each other. Rocko is depicted in his traditional blue, collared, shirt with pink triangle pattern and brown shoes. By default, he’s sporting what I’d call a contented expression and his arms are at his sides. Rocko could be a tough character to pull off in 3D, but Gash did an amazing job as he looks to be incredibly on-model. The paint application is simple, but clean, as Mondo did not opt to go for a cel-shaded look. Instead we just have flat, saturated, matte colors that do well to mimic an animation cel. Rocko would be perfect if not for one thing that’s been bothering me. The shade of his fur in the original series was a pale yellow. I have a Funko Pop! that pretty well captures that shade, but for this figure we have more of a dull brown. It’s darker in person than in pictures and I can only assume this is because Mondo based their design off of the updated character models for Static Cling where Rocko was a bit darker. In that though, I’d say his fur has a touch of gray as opposed to brown so it’s not a perfect match for that as well. His shoes are also a little off as they’re a dark brown as opposed to more of a red-brown. It’s a thing I’m trying to ignore and just accept, but it does bother me if I’m being honest.

“Umm, you wouldn’t happen to know the Big Heads, would you?”
“Spunky! No!”

Rocko is pretty much a five points of articulation figure as basically all of the Squad designs are, but he does have a lot of extra parts to change how he’s displayed. His secondary portrait is Rocko’s frequently worn concerned look. He is unsure about something or maybe even a bit embarrassed. To complete the look he has a set of arms that feature his hands coming together at the fingertips. If that is a bit understated, he has a terrific “freak out” expression that’s partly based on his scream during the opening title. His mouth is wide open with his brain literally leaping out of his skull. The brain is held up in air with translucent, red, plastic for the brain stem and it’s quite impressive to behold. The eyes are enlarged as well, though not to the degree they are from the show. To help further sell this scream, Rocko has a second tail that sticks straight out from his body (his default tail has a bit of an “S” shape to it) and a set of arms out wide. The brain leaping from the skull bit is something I identify with the show so this was a great pull for an optional display. All of the limbs just peg in so everything is easy to swap on Rocko as well as the rest of the figures in the set.

The gluttonous steer with a heart of gold.

We now move onto Heffer, Rocko’s gluttonous best friend who is a steer raised by wolves. Mondo has Heffer listed at 9.5″ so he’s considerably taller than Rocko, as he should be. He’s also practically a sphere with limbs and has a very light feel, but still has that high quality, Mondo, appearance. Unlike Rocko, his shading is pretty much spot-on and Gash did a tremendous job translating him to 3D. He even has his asymmetrical eyes and cavernous butt crack. The paint is once again clean and I like the addition of some subtle shading in places, most notably that bulbous ass. There’s also some nice, black, linework on the feet and around the hem of his pants. The only blemish, or mistake, is that Mondo left Heffer’s horns the same shade of yellow as his body and head. In the show, and movie, they were always orange as there was an obvious separation between skull and horn It’s a much smaller issue than Rocko’s general fur color, but a surprising omission considering how detail-oriented Mondo typically is.

“Give me a merit badge NOOOOOOOWWW!!!”

By default, Heffer has a happy expression that captures his personality quite well. His default arms are also just at his side. For a second portrait we get Heffer with a mouthful of who knows what? There’s a right arm holding a blue, foil, bag to go with this look and a left arm holding a TV remote. The presence of the remote makes me wish we had Rocko’s couch and TV, but there’s already a lot in this set and that likely would have really pushed the MSRP higher than the already pretty high $160. Heffer’s third expression is a giant belching one with half-lidded eyes. He has outspread arms to go with this and while Heffer likely burped quite a bit in the show, this set really makes me think of his declaration “Give me a merit badge NOW!” from the short “Belch of Destiny.” It’s a good selection for Heffer, though I’m a little disappointed that the snack bag is just plain blue. Why no Pasture Puffies logo? And I think I’d swap the TV remote hand for one clinging to a handful of the green, spongey looking, snack.

“Hello.”
“I’m nauseous…I’m nauseous…”

Rounding out the trio is good old Filbert, the hypochondriac turtle who is probably a little bipolar since he can get aggressive at a moment’s notice. He stands at about 6″ even and looks every bit as good as Rocko and Heffer. If anything, he is the best of the three as there’s nothing obviously off about the design or the paint. I suppose one could quibble with the placement of his arms, but they kind of moved around in the show, but were almost always shown coming out of the side of his shell at about the same level as his belt. His shoes are also too dark, but it’s not really something that bothers me. Overall, he looks great and his default expression is more or less a happy one. He too has arms that just hang at his side for the default ones and like Rocko his secondary portrait is one that looks concerned or worried. His arms that seem intended for this expression are similar to Rocko’s where he’s bringing his hands together in front of him. His third portrait features oversized, bloodshot, eyes and arms with his palms open pointing forward, elbows bent. This is Filbert’s freak out expression and it’s a good one. He’s such an expressive character in the show that it would be especially easy to come up with more (yelling, angry, one with a heating bag on his head), but I think this selection is pretty damn good and appropriate for old Filbert.

“Please take care of my, Turdy!”
Turdy! Behind you!

And that’s not all, as we have two more characters to talk about. First is Spunky, because you can’t have a Rocko without a Spunky. Spunky is a slug figure with no articulation, but he’s sculpted in a bum scoot pose with a delightful expression upon his face. If you’re going to do just one Spunky, this is the way to go. The other included little buddy is Filbert’s bird, Turdy. Featured in the segment “Bye, Bye, Birdie,” Turdy was entrusted to Rocko while Filbert was away only for Heffer to accidentally sit on him and end his short life. To capture this moment, Turdy has two sets of eyes: one for the living, and one for the dead. His dead eyes, in true cartoon fashion, feature big X’s so you wouldn’t confuse him with a living bird. He does have a swivel in his neck, but is otherwise not articulated. Both Spunky and Turdy are on-model and look great featuring the same quality of paint as the larger figures.

“You think Filbert will notice?”

This set of figures based on Rocko’s Modern Life was sold as a limited edition set on Mondo’s shop earlier this year for $160. It’s a steep price for figures that are essentially statues, but if you’re someone in the market for high end collectibles of Rocko’s Modern Life then this is pretty much the only game in town. It’s also sold out so the only option now is to grab one on the secondary market. I have no idea if this one is going to be so desirable that it will command far more than that $160 price tag (which also included an $18 shipping charge) or not, but it’s also the type of thing that is likely to only go up. Mondo on a live stream awhile back also confirmed that this is the only planned set for Rocko’s Modern Life so if you were holding out for a cheaper one with less stuff it sounds like that isn’t happening. Of course, if demand is there they can always revisit it. I’d personally love a second set featuring the Big Heads or a Christmas variant of these three. Such a set could feature Rocko, Heffer, and Filbert in their winter attire and come with a walking Spunky, the little elf character, and Rocko’s tree with a living expression and a dead one. Perhaps I shouldn’t start giving Mondo ideas since this stuff isn’t cheap, but for now I’m pretty happy to have these characters in my collection as it’s been long overdue. The best Nicktoon deserves the best toys and Mondo’s Squads is pretty much the perfect method of delivery, albeit not the most economical.

For more of my thoughts on the greatness that is Rocko’s Modern Life check these out:

Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling

After taking a trip to the past with Rocko’s Modern Life during the spring, it seems only fitting that I also take a look at the Rocko’s Modern Life movie from 2019: Static Cling. To be fair, the term “movie” is definitely used loosely when applied to this piece of media. Static Cling was originally…

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by Joe

Rocko’s Modern Life – Season 3

My rewatch of Rocko’s Modern Life really could not have gone better. I suppose it would be better if it wasn’t during a pandemic, but what can you do? The show has been a delight, and while I felt Season Two was pretty much on par with the first season, I think an argument can…

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by Joe

Dec. 10 – Rocko’s Modern Christmas

Rocko’s Modern Life may be the most 90s cartoon created during that decade. It’s certainly the most 90s of the Nicktoons, Nickelodeon’s very successful foray into original animation after years of airing other studio’s work. Rocko’s Modern Life centered around a wallaby named Rocko, naturally, and his journey into adulthood, which most notably includes self-reliance.…

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by Joe

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September 21, 2026

Mondo X-Men ’97 1/6 Scale Storm

By Joe
Behold! The fury of the Storm!

With the arrival of Storm, Mondo moves one step closet to completing the X-Men team from the original Fox animated series. She follows Jubilee, Gambit, Rogue, Cyclops, Wolverine, and Beast, but since this line got started during the launch of the very successful X-Men ’97, she arrives with that title upon her box. For fans who have been collecting this line, that distinction has been a little irritating at times. No, I can’t say most care about what’s on the box, but some of the figures within have too strongly favored the continuation as opposed to the original series, but with Storm that is not the case.

Storm comes in the usual, large, box with artwork on the front by former storyboard artist Dan Veesenmeyer. Images from those same storyboards are used to fill out the background and it’s tough to tell what episode. It might be “Slave Island” though it could be “Savage Land, Savage Heart.” Regardless, it’s Storm going off with her powers and it looks pretty neat. The figure inside is another sculpt from the renowned Alex Brewer with paint by Tom Rozejowski and Hilary Arce. Hector Arce is credited with the art direction while Jordan Christianson designed the packaging. It is a box like Beast’s and does not include a window like past releases, but that’s fine considering the contents are heavily wrapped to protect the paint.

Out of the box, Storm stands about 11″ to where the top of her head would likely be under that rather large mass of white hair. Factor that in, and she’s over a foot tall making her one of the tallest in the line. As I alluded to in the opening paragraph, this is very much a Storm based on her appearance in the original animated series. The tell-tale mark in this case are her thigh-high boots and heels. In X-Men ’97, she ditches those for a more traditional boot line halfway up her calf. The sculpt is quite nice as Brewer was pretty generous with the curves. The costume, a bit of a point of contention amongst comic fans (Is it white? Silver? A glossy black?), is a cartoon-accurate white with a lot of black shading. There’s some gray-blue shading mixed in as well which helps make Storm look like she leapt off the screen. All of the yellow accents are where you would expect them to be as are her trademarked lightning bolt earrings. By default, she has her big, poofy, hair which will make her a bit tough to stand, but is animation accurate. The only critique I have for the sculpt is her face is still not quite what I picture for Storm from the show. Her chin comes to more of a pronounced point in plastic where her jaw was a bit more square, but with soft lines, in the show.

The plastic cape looks great, but severely limits posing.

One of the challenges of creating Storm for this line rested with her cape. To preserve the look of the show, a painted cape made out of plastic is ideal, but since her cape connects to her wrists that basically kills any articulation in the arms. Mondo’s solution then was to give the collector options. Storm has an all plastic cape that’s well-painted and looks great. It includes her shoulder pads and plugs into her clavicle area with the yellow cuffs fitting over her wrists. It’s in a neutral position so Storm won’t be able to do much with her hands while wearing it, but if you’re the sort of person that just goes for a pretty vanilla pose on your shelf it will look nice. For those looking for something more poseable, there’s a soft goods cape as well. It’s actually two pieces and also includes the yellow cuffs, but it’s all soft goods. The outside portion is white while the inner part of the cape is gray. It’s not going to fool anyone and does look like a soft goods cape, but it does strike a nice compromise. And if you don’t like the look of the soft goods, yellow, wrist cuffs on it Mondo did include two optional yellow, plastic, ones. I think these are mostly intended for slipping over her wrists for those who don’t want to put the cape on at all, but they can be muscled over the soft goods cuffs too for a stronger, more saturated, look. Based on the pictures on Mondo’s website, it also is possible to remove the cape from the shoulder pads, but it doesn’t look easy so I have opted not to try. I’m also not sure which cape that applies to.

For those who prefer their Storm have more of a punk vibe.

Storm may be wearing her ’92 costume, but she does have some ’97 inspired portraits to approximate her look in that series if it’s your preference. The default one features the big hair and her iris present while there’s an alternate one with the eyes whited-out. This is what happens whenever Storm uses her powers so if you’re posing her with lightning effects make sure you have the right eyes unless you want to look like a fool. The sculpts look to be identical with just the eye paint being different. It makes sense, though I wish her non-powered up look featured a smile. If you want her to look a bit more intimidating, there’s a slightly angrier expression where the wind is pushing her hair up. It’s definitely a cool look and one I’ll be hard pressed to ignore when it comes to my own, personal, display. For the X-Men ’97 enthusiasts, she also has a neutral portrait with mohawk and an angry one with that same mohawk hairstyle. The angry one features the added detail of little holes beside her whited-out eyes that can accommodate two lightning effects. I believe this is based on her grand entrance in the first episode of X-Men ’97. Also included in this timed edition of Storm is another neutral portrait with a ponytail hairstyle. I think this hairstyle made an appearance a couple of times in the original series, but I remember it most from the episode “Orphan’s End.” It’s a good spread, though I’m a little disappointed that none of the heads feature a smiling expression. She’s either stoic or angry and while Storm does tend to be quite serious much of the time, she’s not joyless.

She has a pair of “weapons” as well, including this terrific homage to the Toy Biz Storm.

To go with all of those expressions is an assortment of hands. By default, Storm has these style posed hands. The kind of gesture she would make while reaching out and getting ready to direct her powers at a target, be it lightning, wind, or something else. She also has a similar set with little crackles of lightning affixed to them. They’re soft and pliable, but also do make it a little tough when trying to put her hands on (and swapping is not easy – go for heat). She also has two clenching hands with similar lightning effects on them and a set of gripping hands. For those gripping hands, Storm has the staff weapon featured in her battle with Callisto in the episode “Captive Hearts.” It’s the strange, double lightsaber weapon that has a gray handle in the center and translucent blue plastic for each end. It looks fine, but I’m surprised at the lack of paint in the center handle. The other handheld accessory is a large, translucent, yellow, lightning bolt. This feels like a direct callback to Storm’s original Toy Biz figure right down to the little, squared-off, grip on the side of it. It looks pretty neat and I do love it when Mondo slips callbacks into these packages. The hands that are likely to be among the favorites of anyone with this figure are the ones with lightning shooting from the finger tips in a wide arc. It’s more translucent yellow plastic and it’s an effect similar to what Hasbro attempted with their X-Men Storm, but executed far better because the plastic for the hands is not painted over translucent plastic. The last hand option is a unique piece. It’s a small plant with a right hand affixed to the bottom. Above the plant is a rainstorm and a dark cloud and affixed to that cloud is another lightning bolt connected to a left hand. Unfortunately, mine arrived with the hands basically parallel to each other which made it impossible to get onto Storm as the top needed to be facing the opposite direction. By heating it, I reshaped the little lightning bolt and was able to get it onto my figure, though this stressed where the lightning was glued into the cloud and it snapped when I took it off. Mondo is sending me a new one at no cost to me so it’s not a big deal, but something to watch out for if you get the same. The last accessory, is another mutant power suppressor collar like the ones Gambit came with. You should now have enough to reenact the episode “Slave Island” with Storm, Jubilee, and Gambit if you so desire.

Can’t forget the ponytail look.

For articulation, Storm is pretty typical of the line. We get: double-ball head, ball-hinge shoulders, single hinge elbows with a swivel, ball wrists, diaphragm, waist, hips, thigh cut, double-jointed knees, hinge ankles and rockers, wired cape. The thigh cut is a nice addition since it’s hidden by the line of her boots. The torso works really well with its ability to arche back and forth at the diaphragm and a little at the waist. Plus you get the rotation and tilt you likely would want. The single-hinged elbows are a minor shortcoming, but the shoulders are the weakest point. Because her costume bunches up at the shoulders which is captured by the sculpt, she can’t raise her arms out to the side into a classic “T” pose. The range is about 45 degrees, but she can rotate at the shoulders without issue so it’s something that can be worked around to some degree. Even with the heels and big hair, Storm can be made to stand on her own with a little persistence. I don’t know that I’d leave her on a shelf like that, but the good thing is that I don’t have to. Mondo also included their new flight stand. Unlike the one I received with Nightcrawler, this one fit over the articulated post for me without having to disassemble it. The only problem is that she’s so slight of frame finding a place to use the claw on her is tough. It’s pretty much the bust area or nothing. I wish they had a smaller claw for smaller figures, but on the plus side this will work with pretty much all of the other figures in the line if you want to put Wolverine in a leaping pose or allow Magneto to hover.

Before I “fixed” it, this is how the plant hand arrived.
This is how it’s supposed to look.
From Mondo itself. Image by Raúl Barrero.

Like all of the figures in this line, Storm doesn’t come cheap. The MSRP is $245, but it also required a tariff fee and shipping which brought the total for me to north of $300. Is she worth it? If any of the others are then yes and by the standards of the line she not only features a lot of stuff, but looks great and articulates about as well as can be expected. I love all of the options and I appreciate Mondo giving us two kinds of capes for our display. The only downer for me is how Mondo doesn’t allow for us to swap the hair. If Storm could do so it would really open up the display possibilities. I love the eye lightning, but I don’t know if I’ll ever want to display her with her X-Men ’97 hairstyle when I’m mainly going for a ’92 look for my display. If the hair could be moved around it would solve that problem, Plus, that’s a lot of extra plastic to have to include. The issue with the tree accessory is unfortunate, but not a big deal for me. As of right now, I have not received my replacement part, but I have an “order” created for it by Mondo so I’m not concerned at the moment. I might also just try and repair the one I have since it is a clever little item. My criticisms here feel pretty minor though and at the end of the day I think Storm is one of the best figures in the line so far. It’s getting tough to pick favorites, but I’ve been really impressed by Storm, Beast, and Nightcrawler. Next up is Jean which Mondo is billing as the team completer, but we all know there’s still some pretty important characters still waiting for their own chance. Jean won’t be out until next year though so it’s going to be a little while before we have another figure in the line to talk about, but at least it’s not the last.

EDIT: Jean went up for preorder on September 22 with an expected ship date of November 2026 so apparently we are not done with X-Men this year!

UPDATE: I received my replacement “Storm Plant” from Mondo about two weeks after contacting them. The new part did have the hands in a new orientation, but unfortunately it’s still unusable. When the bottom hand is connected to the figure, the fingertips of the top hand are now pointing at her chest. Previously, they were pointed in the same direction as the bottom hand. I can only conclude the issue must be pretty widespread and I wonder if checking which direction the parts are going is even part of the factory review. It’s too bad they glued everything as not only would that have prevented the issue, it would have made it easier to get onto the figure. I think I’ll explore a permanent fix to the one I broke rather than ask for a third one.

We are so close!

For more from Mondo’s X-Men line, see below:

Mondo X-Men ’97 1/6 Scale Beast – Limited Edition

Back in the old Toy Biz line, it felt like we had to wait a long while for an action figure of Beast, or The Beast as the opening title of X-Men: The Animated Series referred to him as. Perhaps that was due to the character spending the bulk of the first season out of…

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by Joe

Mondo X-Men ’97 1/6 Scale Nightcrawler

Yes, I’m afraid this is another toy review that needs to begin with a word about tariffs. It was the talk of 2025 in the toy collecting community because it caused considerable delays, disruptions, and worst of all, increased prices across the board. One line impacted by the introduction of these new costs more than…

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by Joe

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

September 10, 2026

Boss Fight Studio Garfield & Odie Halloween Adventure Set

By Joe
Best be prepared to turn over your candy!

Retail loves having something to sell you and one of the easiest themes for retail to go in on is a seasonal one. That’s why (at least in the United States) when the Fourth of July passes us by out come the Halloween items! Which is why it isn’t really out of the ordinary for a Halloween post to show up on this humble little blog at this time of year. Halloween is the only holiday that can rival Christmas in terms of television specials. If I had to guess, I’d assume that Christmas is still ahead, but there are certainly a lot of episodes of popular shows as well as stand-alone specials designed to air during the Halloween season, more so if you just count anything that has a horror motif. I’ve never gone into Halloween as heavy as I do Christmas here, but I do enjoy a good Halloween special and one of my all-time favorites is Garfield’s Halloween Adventure. Also known as Garfield in Disguise, the television special first showed up on CBS in 1985 and was the fourth in a long line of Garfield television specials. This one arrived even before the much loved A Garfield Christmas and I’d love to say it was an instant classic upon it’s arrival, but I was still in diapers at the time and couldn’t really say either way. I don’t remember my first viewing, but I probably liked it as did pretty much everyone in the 1980s. The cat was huge, and I’m not just talking about his belly.

This line is a larger scale compared with NECA’s interpretation.

Here to capitalize on Garfield and Halloween nostalgia is Boss Fight Studio. The Massachusetts toy maker acquired the license to produce Garfield action figures a few years ago and the first wave arrived around a year ago. Coincidentally, it was around that time this set of action figures based on Garfield’s Halloween Adventure went up for preorder. In fact, I received my set exactly one year after placing my order. It’s a set that features both Garfield and Odie dressed up as pirates from the famous special as they embarked on a quest for candy. Well, Garfield wanted candy, Odie was basically along for the ride and so that Garfield could get even more candy. It went up alongside another two-pack based on their appearance in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles magazine, as in, the very same appearance NECA also made a Garfield and Odie set based on. I thought it odd at the time that Nickelodeon, who controls the Garfield license now, would license out the same basic design to two different toy makers, but now that I have this set I can kind of see why.

Garfield can go hat-less if you prefer, but he’s missing the little tufts of hair at his temples. The hat also left behind some purple on my figure’s ears which I’ll have to try and remove.

Garfield stands at roughly 3.375″ to tip of his ears. He also has his pirate hat which makes him a bit taller while the NECA “Garfello” came in at pretty much an inch shorter. If the NECA one is thought to be something close to 1:12 scale (Garfield’s size kind of changes in print and on television to suit the scene) then this interpretation is more like 1:10 scale. There is a difference, albeit a minor one, but hopefully there’s enough enthusiasm for that one-shot to go around. This set though has no such concerns as Boss Fight Studio is the only one making Halloween Garfield. The figure borrows parts from the regular Garfield (which I don’t have) while mixing in some new. He comes out of the box with a mischievous, almost evil, grin of sharp teeth and frowny eyes. The strap across the torso is a separate piece, but is glued down. The shorts are part of the sculpt and I love how they left holes in the ragged ends. Garfield’s right leg is a normal one while the left is a peg leg. He has his little, wooden, sword to wield and there’s a peg hole on his left hip to holster it, though it’s a bit tough to fit in. Garfield also has his sack of candy which can be placed on a surface or slotted into either hand. The paint is clean and matte. Garfield is mostly orange plastic, but it too is matte in appearance. All of his stripes are where you would expect as well as the little freckles on his cheeks. His little, pink, nose has a hit of gloss to it which makes it stand out. The skull and crossbones on the hat is very clean and crisp and, as I alluded to earlier, it is removable. It fits over the ears, though it did leave behind some purple smudges on those ears. I could probably get it off, but honestly I’ll never display him without the hat. My only critique with the presentation is that Boss Fight Studio doesn’t put any stripes on the cheek area of his face. It’s one of those things that’s kind of a cheat with the character as the stripes appear to only be on the back of the body and head, but from the front and side they’re always visible. I’d have liked to see them included here. I also wonder if it would look better with some black outlining on the teeth. NECA outlined everything which really gave their figure a sharp presentation. This one looks good, but also more like a toy. The more orange and overall rounded features do make me think of the CG Nickelodeon show more than the old animation where Garfield was a bit lumpier, but it’s a pretty subtle distinction.

“Stick with me, Odie, and there will be much candy.”

Garfield is not alone in this set as we also have Odie in his pirate garb. For Odie that means a yellow and green polka-dotted bandana, a gold ring in his left ear, and a red and white striped shirt. By default, Odie has his tongue proudly on display and he is about 3.5″ to the top of his head and 4.75″ to the highest point of his ears. The scaling looks great with Garfield and I think Odie might be the overall better looking figure in terms of being on-model. That’s not to say that Garfield looks off-model, just that Odie looks that damn good. Which is funny because he’s such a wild design. His neck is basically his entire lower jaw. No dog looks like Odie, but somehow Jim Davis made this work and Boss Fight Studio was able to reproduce it in 3D. He has his little whiskers on his face and the yellow plastic for his body is matte. The paint on the head is very clean while the shirt has a small blemish or two, but nothing out of the ordinary. Out of the box, Odie has four standard Odie legs, but he also has an optional peg leg to swap out with his front, left, leg. It pops off pretty easy as Boss Fight just utilizes ball joints for all of the connections. They’re tiny, but sturdy, and once I worked up the courage to actually swap them I found there was really nothing to worry about as far as breakage is concerned.

A trick-or-treating we will go!

Both Garfield and Odie have two expressions to take advantage of. Garfield’s secondary expression is more of a scared one. His eyes are wide and his mouth has basically vanished. Swapping between the two expression is very easy and I imagine both work with the regular release of Garfield so if you have that one you’re getting more options for your display. Odie is a little more involved as he basically has a swap-out neck. The top of his head comes off and out of the box mine was pretty snug. If you handed me the figure without telling me it had another display option I would not have suspected it came off. It did with just a little wiggling and elbow grease and then the neck, or jaw, plugs into the body via another ball joint. It too needed a little force and some courage, but it popped out. It’s very sturdy plastic so I don’t think there’s much risk for breakage, but a wiser person than me might have heated him up first (I was worried about warping either the tongue or ears). The secondary expression is all teeth with an opening in it. That opening is for Odie to hold his candy sack which is a different sculpt from Garfield’s. It works, but it’s hard to turn down Odie and his big, happy, tongue expression. The extra piece plugs into the body of the figure pretty effortlessly, but I have a hard time getting the head onto it. It’s extremely snug and required some heating up to get a seamless fit. Even going back to the default, tongue-out expression needed some heat.

“Tough break, kid.”

Both Garfield and Odie are articulated, but don’t expect these to be the most poseable figures in your collection. For Garfield, we have joints at the head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, tail, and ankles. The most range is at the head and Garfield has enough range to look up, down, and all around with some tilt. The elbows and knees are a bit tricky since there just isn’t a lot of plastic to work with, but they do work. The ankles are nice, but the hips are pretty limited. He can brandish his sword and be posed walking or running to a point so I think he’ll do enough. I would like a little more out of the tail just to better sell a running pose, but at least the way that it is allows for it to be a suitable tripod. As for Odie, he has a far simpler spread with far less utility. He has articulation where the legs meet his body and at his ankles which includes a hinge and a rocker. The ball joints are very smooth with the front legs bordering on too smooth. Sometimes his legs slide out when I go to stand him, but I can usually adjust it and he stands just fine. And that’s with or without the peg leg in place. He’s not going to really do anything though. He can stand on his hind legs, but since he doesn’t have knees he can’t really do a walk or running pose. I can’t say I mind all that much because he looks great and what do I really want him to do? He’s just going to stand on my shelf looking like the best little pirate boy that he is.

“Hand over the candy, mummy!”
“On second thought, you hang onto that.”

Garfield and Odie as based on their appearance in Garfield’s Halloween Adventure is a layup. This is an easy set to get behind and Boss Fight Studio did a great job of recreating the looks from this infamous Halloween special. If you’re a Garfield fan or just love decorating your house for the season then this is an easy recommend. It’ll set you back $45, which in this day and age is a pretty fair price for a licensed character. You get two figures and some display options for both. About the only thing I wish was included that is not is just a scared expression for Odie to go with Garfield’s. This is pretty great though and it’s been a hit in my house even if it’s still technically summer. It also makes me wonder what else could be on the horizon for Garfield and Boss Fight Studio? The holy trinity of holiday specials is Garfield’s Halloween Adventure, Garfield’s Thanksgiving, and A Garfield Christmas, but those other two don’t have the iconic looks that the Halloween special contains. There’s Jon in his elf attire from the Christmas one and Grandma in her biker gear, but Garfield and Odie pretty much play it straight. I think for Christmas, just Grandma and her rocking chair with a Garfield for her lap would be amazing, but would probably make me cry every time I look at it since that special always makes me think of my own grandmother. And I probably would buy a Thanksgiving grandma because I have too few Thanksgiving toys.

“You know what, Odie? Thanksgiving isn’t so bad, and it’s a lot less scary.”

For more holiday tales from Garfield and toys look no further:

Dec. 5 – A Garfield Christmas

This year, I’m bringing back a feature from last year where I take another look at, what I consider to be, the greatest Christmas specials ever made. I explained my reasoning for doing this in prior posts, but in short, the first time I looked at some of these specials I did just a short…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT Garfello

Before they teamed up with the likes of Batman and the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had an encounter with an orange cat with a love for Italian food. I am speaking of none other than Garfield, the Jim Davis creation who was everywhere in the 1980s. The two franchises came…

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by Joe

Dec. 20 – The Garfield Show – “Caroling Capers”

Back in the 1980s, Garfield was pretty damn popular. His presence was pervasive in pop culture, so much so that younger people today would probably be surprised. He originated as a comic strip by Jim Davis, but his popularity grew enough to pave the way for some prime time animation specials. These proved popular, and…

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by Joe

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

September 2, 2026

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Professor Charles Xavier with Hoverchair

By Joe
I never thought we’d get this in plastic.

The second season of X-Men ’97 may be over, but we still have more on the way to talk about starting with this year’s Marvel Legends San Diego Comic Con exclusive. It was just over a year ago that I reviewed the reissue of the Charles Xavier with Hoverchair based on his appearance in the comic books. At the time, I decided to grab that figure because I wasn’t convinced Hasbro would ever give us a toon accurate version of the character and chair. I figured, at best, they’d just reissue the existing chair again, but maybe in a brighter yellow. How wrong I was. Announced as an exclusive for San Diego Comic Con this year was the Professor Charles Xavier with a screen accurate hoverchair to go with it. I honestly didn’t see that coming even though I know that the X-Men ’97 figures have been pretty successful for Hasbro. Since I had no plans to attend San Diego Comic Con this year (or any year) I was going to be at the mercy of what Hasbro did following the event which leads me into the following tangent.

The comic con exclusive goes back many years. I have no idea when it started, but I can remember reading about them in Wizard back in the 90s. They are to be expected and in this day and age most of them aren’t true exclusives since they’re sold online. Still, last year Hasbro did a Marvel Legends three-pack featuring a reissue of Sauron, Rogue in her Savage Land attire, and a new version of Shanna the She-Devil. Rogue had never been depicted in that look before so there were plenty of collectors interested in the set for that. Sauron was previously a build-a-figure so the chance to get him in a three-pack was also tempting for some. Shanna was a brand new character for Legends and paired very nicely with the recently released (at the time) Ka-Zar and Zabu which made the set really desirable for a lot of fans. Hasbro wasn’t willing to meet demand and few non-attendees were able to get a set when it went up for sale on Hasbro Pulse following the event. I wasn’t personally interested, but I know many collectors still sore about it. The prospect of the same happening with Chuck did not give me much confidence and it leads me to my main criticism when it comes to exclusives: they shouldn’t be essential to a collection. Rogue in a one-off look? Sure. A reissue of Sauron? That’s fine. A somewhat goofy, deep pull like Death’s Head? Bring it on! A main character from a hit show in his most recognizable and iconic look? What?! No!

Chuck sure likes green.

Professor X in his green suit should be an easy figure to acquire. He should have been a regular retail release. Did retailers pass on him? Maybe, but I doubt it. I don’t think any are sitting on much X-Men ’97 stock so the chance to have another character to sell while the second season was in full swing would probably be pretty appealing. That’s not what happened, and when reports surfaced that Xavier sold out at the event I wasn’t feeling too good about getting one myself. Then Hasbro changed how they do things when it comes to Pulse. For their storefront, fans can pay Hasbro an annual sum for the privilege to buy stuff from them. The perk being they get free shipping, but also first crack at exclusive products. In previous years, that meant a one hour headstart on the general public, but this year that one hour was turned into twenty-four. If Premium members were getting a full day all to themselves to buy product what chance did I have? I wasn’t about to hand Hasbro another fifty bucks for Charlie so I let it ride, and to my surprise it all worked out. Xavier was there the next day and remained available for at least an hour. That may sound like a quick sell-out, but when it comes to exclusives that’s a pretty generous amount of time. They also opened up preorders following that which is what should have happened with the Savage Land set the prior year. They did that for basically every other brand exclusive so I don’t know what the issue there was. Hasbro made a silly decision in making Professor X an exclusive, but at least they had the foresight to make enough and keep him available past that for a little while longer.

“Admit it: you’re jealous of my blankie.”

As for the release itself, it’s probably what you expect. The main draw is the chair. In the show, the chair was always blockier, usually very yellow in appearance, and quite sleek. The comic version is more narrow, bulbous, and just all together a different shape. I have no idea why the animated series changed it up, but I’ve always preferred this look to the comic one. And it’s never made it to plastic. Even the old 90s Toy Biz figure featured a chair with the comic design even though that toy line was loosely based on the cartoon. And for this release, Hasbro got it right. It’s the right shape, the right color, has some nice accents on it, and doesn’t feature any unsightly seems anywhere like the older chair. The only assembly required is the seat back has to be inserted and it features a far more understated flight stand that’s just transparent plastic with some concentric circles on it. It’s simple, but it looks the part and that’s all that is needed. The only nitpick I have is it’s a little hard to get a figure into it. If the front panel could pop off it would make it a lot easier, but it’s not like it’s impossible. Plus, Legends figures aren’t covered in paint so it’s not as if you have much to worry about when it comes to paint rub.

The effect part works much better plugged into the chair (left) than into the helmet (right).

I lead with the chair because it’s the star of the show, the actual figure is just fine. Professor X “stands” at about 6.125″ to the top of his bald head. He’s the same height as the older figure and much of the sculpt is also the same. The torso and jacket are reuse while the arms and legs were redone to make them pin-less. The sculpt for both is all new as the wrinkles and seems are different. The arms also dropped the buttons at the ends of the sleeves in favor of just painted on ones which was a bit of an odd choice. The feet are the same while the hands are new. If they’re from another figure I don’t know, but they’re not of the old one. The head is obviously new and this one does resemble the character from the show. It’s a stoic expression and looks good, but it also looks pretty big on the body. This body is very slight. That works for some takes on Xavier, but not really the animated one. He’s built like a house in the show which isn’t captured here. I wish they had gone with one of their bigger suited bodies with broader shoulders, but they probably wanted to reuse this torso with the correct tie on it. They at least did a good job of getting all of the greens to match. There’s not a lot of paint to be found on here, but what’s present is neatly applied.

Watch out: Charlie is packing!

What’s unfortunate is the small frame looks more out of place when Charles is placed in his chair. He could get lost in this thing which is noticeably bigger than his old one. At first I thought maybe it was the chair that’s too big, but then I stuck the Savage Land Xavier in it and he looks great. That’s a bigger sculpt and he fills out the chair quite well. The heads from this set also fit that body which is nice. And speaking of, there are two portraits: stoic and yelling. The yelling one works for a more aggressive Xavier, though I wish we got a third one featuring a smile (this is a $50 set, after all). The other accessories include two sets of hands: open and gripping. The gripping hands are asymmetrical as one is intended to grip the included keypad which pops out of the chair’s right armrest. He can hold that with his right hand and the left gripping hand is a touch more relaxed like he’s punching something in on that keypad. There’s also an extra right hand with a two-finger gesture that stands in as his mental powers gesture for reaching to his temple. The same Cerebro helmet from the Savage Land figure is also featured here and now we can see why there’s a hole on the back of it as there’s an included power effect. It’s a large, transparent, circle with sculpted circles throughout it. I think this was released with a Daredevil in the past and it works as a physical manifestation of his power set. It can not only plug into the helmet, but there’s also a hole in the chair back for it too which works well should you not want to utilize the helmet. When plugged into the helmet, it can be a challenge to get it to balance right as it wants to pull the helmet back. As for the chair, it too has some accessories in the form of swap-out canons on the front. The panels on the left and right slide off and the canons slide in to replace them. The customary translucent, red, blast effects are included as well to further sell the illusion and they’re fine. There’s a little gold paint at the base, though they may arrive a little warped. The canons and key pad were both featured in the season two episode “Danger.exe” so Hasbro clearly had advanced notice on what this chair could do.

Savage Land Charles seems to fit better than the one that came with the chair.

Articulation for Professor X is the same as the old figure. Considering he’s a paraplegic, he doesn’t really need to do much, but it’s nice to have options. This new head gets a bit of tilt on the ball hinge which is appreciated for the character and the knees, elbows, and ankles are what you would expect of the line. There are no butterfly joints and the only thing I actively do not like is the ab crunch. It serves little purpose for Xavier and I’d much prefer a diaphragm swivel. I think that would be far more useful than even the waist swivel he has for a guy in a chair.

“I’m gonna need Jubilee to show me how to use this…”

The figure did come in specialty packaging designed to resemble an old television. It’s neat, but just a slipcover which they annoyingly taped to the box inside. It does, however, provide for some hope of a re-release if you missed out and still want this figure. Make the slipcover the real exclusive and just release the figure in a standard box. Which would be a good thing because I think people will want this. It’s a main character from a popular show that has plenty of collectors. It’s not the sort of thing that should remain locked behind the exclusive label, but maybe everyone who wanted one already got one? This set was $50 which is probably a little too much, but not unexpected. The figure is pretty basic, but comes with more accessories than the typical Legends release these days. The chair is its own thing with its own accessories as well and it’s good. I wish the figure had a more accurate sculpt, but at least I have the Savage Land figure I can turn to should it please me (and I still hate the portrait that came with it so at least I can retire that). This release does leave me wishing that I didn’t bother with the old Xavier, but I doubt it has much resale value at this point. At least I have a body for old Guyrich.

We’ll keep it to the original roster to prevent this from getting even more crowded.

For related figures, check these out:

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Archangel

On July 1st, 2026, our long wait ends. X-Men ’97 returns to Disney+ with its greatly anticipated second season a little over two years after the conclusion of the first. It’s something I have been looking forward to pretty much ever since credits rolled on the finale and the only thing that stinks about it…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends Professor X (Savage Land)

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…

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by Joe

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

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

August 27, 2026

X-Men ’97 – Season Two Wrap-Up

By Joe

It’s been two weeks since X-Men ’97 aired its season two finale, which in the entertainment world might as well be two years. As a culture, we move on from things real quick, but I’m still letting that second season simmer in my brain as I collect my thoughts on the season as a whole. The second season of X-Men ’97 was a success, but it was a different experience from season one. That season put the human and mutant conflict at its center. There were other subplots, but the season built to a major climax with the X-Men taking on Bastion and his army of sentinels. The second season centered its conflict on Apocalypse. The X-Men taking on a literal god is going to lead to a different kind of story. Over the decades, the X-Men have done all kinds of stories. Some are more grounded than others while plenty take the group to strange and fantastic destinations. There have been successes and failures with both approaches, but for me personally I do prefer when the X-Men keep mutant persecution at its core. As such, I was predestined to like the show’s second season less than the first, but there are other reasons why season one was the overall stronger of the two.

Season two picked up where season one left off with the X-Men scattered across time and the rise of Apocalypse (Ross Marquand) in focus. In true X-Men fashion, things moved quickly. Bishop (Isaac Robinson-Smith) and Forge (Gil Birmingham) had already deduced where each member of the team had ended up and already had a plan to bring them all home when the second season started. The future flung X-Men were returned to the present in short order and the past dwelling mutants made their way back home in episode four after a slightly elongated stay. During that fourth episode, Magneto (Matthew Waterson) was executed by Apocalypse and Xavier (Marquand) left a broken mess in the desert sand. I did a mid-season check-in which I’ll link to at the end of this post so I don’t want to spend too much time on the season’s first half, but it provided a good setup for the Apocalypse conflict. It introduced multiple plot lines including both the existence of X-Force and X-Factor and let us know that Apocalypse was not the sort of villain the X-Men could ever hope to reason with.

I did miss the sentinels this year.

The second half of the season (which was actually four episodes so less than half) was less focused. We received the one-off Wolverine (Cal Dodd) centric episode in the fifth spot where Logan was able to lead a team of friends and foes alike to check out a Weapon X facility only to come face-to-face with the Brood. It was all a ruse by Wolverine to get his adamantium back and his actions claimed the lives of two former comrades in Maverick and Kane. What followed was an episode centered on a newcomer, Polaris (Carolina Ravassa), and another that reintroduced the mutant-hating Graydon Creed (Ben Pronsky). The finale gave us the long anticipated resurrection of Gambit (A.J. LoCascio) and the eventual confrontation with Apocalypse which resulted in victory for the X-Men, but at great cost.

Rogue got a substantial power-up in the finale.

My initial thought is to blame the shift in focus from Apocalypse to more condensed stories as the cause for the season losing some of its momentum. The only problem with that theory is I consider the Wolverine episode the best of the season. In that, we got a good character study that also introduced some new conflict between Morph (JP Karliak) and Wolverine. It’s the sort of story that I think X-Men does best. Had the other episodes done something similar I think the season would have felt like a bigger success. Instead, the episode “Danger.exe,” while addressing the PTSD Xavier was feeling over the death of Magneto was a welcomed addition, the conflict felt very small. Danger (Rachel Kimsey) as a character was uninteresting. It sprung up out of no where and was dispatched of with relative ease. Polaris was also properly introduced in that episode and while I think the character is fine, it’s a bit tough to get the audience to care about a new character when so many of the existing ones are not being well serviced by the show. “Strange Land, Savage Heart” made some attempt to refocus the show on the Genosha fallout and the mutant/human conflict, but also felt almost inconsequential. It also brought Colossus (Robert Cait) back into the fold, though he was immediately sidelined following the conclusion of that one.

So…what did everyone think of Gambocalypse?

And the bulging cast was a problem. The original series had a large, but manageable, cast of characters. Even so, some would go several episodes with little to do or say. Most episodes would try to break the team off into smaller squads to better spotlight a few as opposed to trying to focus on many. X-Men ’97 doesn’t seem to care and is happy to shelve characters if it serves the story’s purpose. Beau DeMayo was the showrunner for season one and the writer and architect for much of season two. As a big X-Men fan, he understood what made the engine go. He also, as a fanboy, seemed to want to race through several moments and events from the comics and I feel that lead to tunnel vision, at times. Some episodes in both seasons felt superfluous in the moment, but they often did serve a purpose in advancing a longer running plot. We had to speed-run Inferno in season one to understand where Cable (Chris Potter) came from as it had importance later on. On the flipside, Wolverine had to get his adamantium ripped out in season one because DeMayo just thought it was cool. Season two, despite it being what I consider to be the season’s best, had to devote an episode to Wolverine getting his adamantium back because the show was uninterested in exploring a de-powered Logan. And I think some moments and actions had to happen in season two because DeMayo was building towards Onslaught, which was then aborted. The show didn’t need to add Polaris, but maybe she was going to play a role with Onslaught?

This still hurts.

With the cast becoming unwieldy, it was no surprise that some needed to be culled. And the chosen method for that seemed to be death. Magneto was taken out in the fourth episode. While Onslaught on the horizon was likely to be his way back to the land of the living, it’s now possible he’s gone for good. Or, at least, gone for longer than Gambit. Magik (Courtenay Taylor), who never got a chance to be a character, was killed off to further her brother’s plot which was a shame. Heading into the finale, it still felt like more needed to go. Since the original series ended, we have added Morph, Bishop, Nightcrawler, Sunspot, Forge, and Polaris to the X-Men while only subtracting Gambit. Colossus was sort of added, though he never made it into the title. X-Force brought back Psylocke (Naoko Mori) and Archangel (Christopher Barger) while X-Factor also returned, but really didn’t get any character development outside of Havok (Teddy Sears) and even that was only slightly. X-Men ’97 decided someone had to go (and really, more probably do) and that someone ended up being Nightcrawler.

Many may hate that it happened, but Nightcrawler’s death was handled pretty well.

Nightcrawler’s sacrifice in the finale was both shocking and heartbreaking. It was also beautiful and really a proper send-off for the character. I don’t think anyone wanted to say goodbye to the fuzzy, blue, elf, but it would have been harder to find a better way to do so. In the episode, Rogue (Lenore Zann) makes a bargain with the celestial Eson (Waterson): her life for the power to take down Apocalypse and save Gambit. After she departs with her new glow-up, Nightcrawler realizes what she has done and offers himself up in her place. It’s done well as the show didn’t telegraph Nightcrawler’s choice. And this is a show that isn’t exactly subtle about much. Having Rogue save the day and look at her hands in bewilderment that she’s still alive only for the camera to pan to show a sad looking Beast (George Buza) standing alone clutching Nightcrawler’s Bible to his chest was a true gut punch moment. Nightcrawler’s contented narration as he explains to the god why he is choosing to give his life for his sister is well written (Brian Ford Sullivan is the only credited writer on the episode) and well performed by Adrian Hough. The images we see of the X-Men back home living their lives could be interpreted as Nightcrawler’s hope for his comrades, but I choose to see it as what did happen. It’s such a good way to close the book on Nightcrawler that I hope it isn’t undone. When Gambit died in season one it felt like there was unfinished business so I didn’t hate the show bringing him back, but with Nightcrawler there’s a finality here. That and if the show keeps cheating death then it will cease to have meaning. It took a season and a half’s worth of episodes, but the show basically exchanged Nightcrawler for Gambit and that’s forgivable regardless of who the favored character is.

I’m not a religious person, but I didn’t take any issue with Rogue choosing to remember her brother in this way.

Where the show has never faltered is with the production end. The animation is a huge step up from the original series. Action scenes remain inventive and perhaps the greatest tragedy in Nightcrawler dying is we won’t get to see his skills on display again. He got a nice send-off in that respect first with his dual against Exodus (who I am a bitter was dispatched unceremoniously) and then when under the control of Apocalypse as he damn near took down the entirety of the X-Men and X-Force by himself. The soundtrack by The Newton Brothers also remains excellent and they know just when to turn to that bombastic main theme. They also do a great job of weaving in the old themes from the original series like using Gambit’s theme during his dinner scene with Rogue. And there’s nothing that gets me more excited these days than that opening kicking in before each episode. I hope there never comes a day when I experience that opening without getting goosebumps all up and down my body.

Apocalypse went out like a chump in the end, but at least it was at the hand’s of a fellow god.

Season two pinned its success on the confrontation between the X-Men and Apocalypse as well as the minor conflict of the X-Men vs X-Factor. Was that a wise decision? I think so, but the results weren’t quite there. Apocalypse was really sidelined following that fourth episode. The show tried to keep him on the viewer’s mind with little moments at the end of episodes six and seven, but it wasn’t really enough. He spent the bulk of the finale inside Gambit, and once he emerged, he looked ridiculous and was quickly dispatched by a powered-up Rogue. The show really could have used a tenth episode to let the conflict simmer. Actually have the mutants fight Apocalypse for more than a minute. The issue there, and it’s one that has always existed with Apocalypse, is that he’s just too damn powerful. There usually isn’t a believable way for the X-Men to go toe-to-toe with him, but that’s also a problem of the show’s making. I’ve always loved the concept of Apocalypse, but his stories often end unceremoniously. At least here there was a plausible end to the conflict, even if it felt like the Power Rangers summoning the Megazord and quickly dispatching of a previously insurmountable foe. Or a Dragon Ball Z power-up that reduces a previously unstoppable opponent to a punching bag.

A happy ending?

That was season two. Overall, I enjoyed my time with it and I’ll miss having an episode to look forward to each week (let’s not do the three-episode premiere again, please, it only hastens the end), but the season was not without its problems. For season three, it looks like we’ll be heading back to a human/mutant conflict and that bodes well for the future. It’s also the true end of the DeMayo era (had it continued, we would have been getting a form of the Age of Apocalypse) which gives the season an uncertain feel. One of his strengths as showrunner was his willingness to be uncompromising in calling out bigotry within the show’s universe. That’s something it will need with a President Creed, but in the hands of someone else will that be softened? The finale marked the return of Mystique (Randall Carpenter) and the only clip shown of season three so far featured her Brotherhood of Mutants tangling with some sentinels. Will Creed be a season-long conflict, or will this be something that gets taken care of as quickly as our time-displaced heroes this season? The road ahead is less certain and I am looking forward to it, but the lack of a major cliffhanger this year makes the wait a little more palatable. And as of right now that wait is only supposed to be a year so here’s hoping that come summer 2027 we’ll have more X-Men ’97 to talk about.

See you next year!

Previously…on X-Men ’97:

X-Men ’97 – “Survival of the Fittest”

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…

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by Joe

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…

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by Joe

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August 18, 2026

NECA TMNT Toon Neighborhood Dudes Incognito Mikey

By Joe
Pizza and video tapes – looks like a good time.

As I sit here and look upon the latest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figure from NECA I can’t help but wonder if this is the last? Not the last figure from the line for me, but the last actual turtle. NECA has, like everyone not named Mattel, lost the license which allows them to produce 1:12 and 1:10 scale action figures of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It runs out at the end of the year or shortly there after and NECA is on record as saying what they’ve shown is all that’s left. And when it comes to turtles based on the 1987 animated series, NECA has four releases on tap for us dedicated to each turtle. Dubbed the Neighborhood Dudes subline, each turtle is in some sort of disguise or unique look with Donatello as a construction worker, Leonardo as a butler, and Raphael in a sailor suit. Those three I’m not really that interested in, maybe I’ll cave on one eventually, but not all three. The only one I wanted was Michelangelo who is featured in his puffy coat look. Not only is it the most memorable disguise apart from the fedora and trench coat look for me, I also associate it with winter and the Michelangelo one-shot comic which takes place at Christmas. And if you know me then you know I like Christmas.

This line has had no shortage of Mikeys.

Incognito Mikey comes in a new box styled after the spotlight VHS tapes of the past. The artwork is by Aaron Hazouri and the packaging is credited to Travis Hastbeck with interior photography by Matt Kloberdanz. The sculpt is credited to Tomasz Rozejowski and Kushwara Studios with paint by the usual duo of Geoff Trapp and Mike Puzzo. Mikey doesn’t appear to share many parts with previously released turtles. The arms, legs, feet, and mittened hands are all new with the smiling, alternate, portrait perhaps a retooled head from the Punk Turtles set. The default head with scowl and phoney nose is all new from what I can tell. Some parts will likely show up in other figures in this wave, but basically what is here should feel new. Not that it feels much different from other NECA turtles as Mikey is pretty much as expected. The main portion of the coat is an overlay and the sweater underneath is part of the same overlay. He has that rounded, turtle anatomy and stands at about 5.875″ to the top of the head putting him right in line with the turtles who came before him.

Where are you off to, Michelangelo? You look like you’ve got something to hide.

The design of this one is fairly simple, but the sculpt and paint are executed to near perfection. The coat is a pale blue with black linework to accentuate that puffy look. The interior sweater is orange with more linework and the paint is mostly clean. There is a blob of blue on the back of the collar, but at least it’s on the back and not the front. The mittens and hat are a pale orange and I like the contrast with the rest of the body while the slacks are a soft blue-gray with brown loafers. There will be the usual paint flaking at the joints because this figure is painted all over. The back of the knees are where it’s likely to show the most, but the plastic beneath matches the paint well so it’s not really an issue. I did have the right knee cap pop off of mine when I first articulated it as it looks like the factory missed it with the glue or applied too little. It pops on easy enough, but it was interesting to see and helps explain how NECA is able to get its knees to color-match to the rest of the leg, something other companies struggle with because they don’t produce a separate knee cap in PVC. The cut-out for the knee does stand out a bit almost looking like a knee pad, but it doesn’t bother me. I can see the argument though for a single-hinge here since it would hide articulation a bit better and probably not sacrifice much when it comes to movement. That’s the approach NECA took with the elbows. As for the heads, I do very much like the alternate, smiling, portrait that foregoes the ear muffs and goofy glasses of the default portrait. That one has more of a scowl and while it looks good, I prefer the happy approach with this one.

It’s fair to question if these gripping hands are different enough to justify existing. Maybe fists would have been better?

Articulation is what you would expect and I already touched on it a bit. We get a double ball head, shoulders, single elbows, wrist swivel and hinge, waist twist, ball-socket hips, thigh pivot, double-jointed knees, and ankles that hinge and rock. The knees are pinless and the single hinge elbows allow for a swivel at the joint. As is often the case with a NECA turtle, there is likely a diaphragm joint of some kind, but it’s basically inaccessible due to the turtle anatomy. Since the jacket covers the waist, the twist there is more usable than it is on a turtle with a visible shell so that’s a plus. There is a crotch overlay which severely restricts articulation at the hips. This is not a turtle for doing splits or sitting down. It’s not a turtle for doing much really, but if you’ve been collecting this line for awhile then you probably expected as much.

It’s also a Donatello!

For accessories, Mikey has the aforementioned two heads as well as two sets of hands: tight gripping and loose gripping. There’s the customary pizza and yet another grocery bag accessory. This one comes loaded with a bunch of VHS tapes. Those are Mikey’s accessories, the other accessories belong to Donatello. NECA apparently has designs on fans buying multiples because Mikey comes with another set of heads and hands which are color-coded to match Donatello. That means all of the orange parts have been replaced with purple. Considering all of the turtles wore this disguise in the show, it makes sense to offer the others in some fashion to not only build out the collection, but for NECA to make more money. I’m guessing retailers may have soured a bit on the four-packs of the past and doing these solo releases was a more economically viable path forward. The only problem is that in the show it wasn’t just the hats and mittens that changed color between each turtle, but the sweater underneath as well. Donatello wore a light blue sweater, Leonardo yellow, and Raphael purple. Now, one could buy four of these and paint the sweaters if they wanted to achieve something close to screen accuracy. I’m not sure how easy that would. One could pop the arms off with some heat and slip the jacket off, and then once done, it probably wouldn’t be that hard to cut the sweater off to make it easier to paint. Or one could simply paint it as-is, but that’s obviously a lot trickier. The real hardest part would be painting around the glasses of the disguise portrait, but maybe most don’t care about that part? I can’t see myself going through the trouble unless this release gets heavily discounted, but for those that want to, at least you’re halfway there with the heads for two turtles already painted. Of course, you’ll end up with a bunch of extra heads if you buy four of these.

“I don’t think you’re foolin’ anyone, dude.”
If you want to assemble a squad of four, you’ll need to get out your paint brush.

I mentioned it earlier, but one of the draws of this figure for me was its resemblance to Michelangelo in the Mirage Studios Michelangelo one-shot. In that comic, Mikey sports a look pretty similar to this one as he seeks to break up a crime ring focused on stealing Christmas toys. It’s also the issue where he befriends a little, stray, kitten. The episode of the 2003 cartoon, “The Christmas Aliens,” is based on the same issue. I wish NECA had included a kitten that Michelangelo could hold easily. We have the cat which came with the Channel 6 set, but it’s in a standing position and a little awkward, but it will have to do. It helps give this figure a second life though as a Christmas decoration, and you know I’m all about that.

I think this is going to be how I display him.

Is that it? The end of turtles from NECA for me? Quite possibly. It’s not exactly a high point for the company to go out on, but it’s also not a low point or anything. It’s an alternate look for Michelangelo from the cartoon which makes it somewhat of a deep cut, but that’s part of NECA’s legacy with TMNT. They did hit on a lot of those deep cuts no one ever tried to do. In this line we had all manner of Bebop and Rocksteady, their gang of forgotten mutants, Lotus Blossom, the toon versions of Tokka and Rahzar, Chakahachi, Zach, Dirk Savage, and so many more. We even got characters I passed on because I had just never thought to myself that I need someone like Creepy Eddie in my collection, but I appreciate that I could have him. This is one of those action figure lines that’s going to be held in high regard for years to come. Those who missed out will lament doing so and some figures will probably command stupid prices on the after market for those with a wicked case of FOMO. As for me, I’m not quite done with NECA’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles quite yet as I have another review to write and at least one more figure on the way. Will there be more? Who can say? For now, I’m feeling pretty content.

For more NECA TMNT and thoughts on the license changing hands, check these out:

NECA TMNT Toon Robo Tokka and Robo Rahzar

The vintage Playmates toy line for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had no shortage of variants. There were beach turtles, police turtles, hockey turtles, and so on. We even had something akin to Operation: Desert Storm turtles. In looking back, it seems like few stones were left unturned unless you want to get into the weeds…

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by Joe

The TMNT Collector Landscape is About to Change

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,…

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by Joe

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

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

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

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…

Keep reading
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,…

Keep reading
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

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

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,…

Keep reading
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…

Keep reading
by Joe

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