Tag Archives: marvel legends

December 27, 2025

Marvel Legends Secret Wars Iceman

By Joe
Hailing from the pages of Marvel Comics it’s Iceman with his trusty…face…shield?

As a kid in the 90s, there was a social pressure to not choose the obvious when discussing favorite parts of a fandom. It’s basically a method of gatekeeping, a really silly, annoying, habit that’s not exclusive to children. If you enter into a certain band’s fandom there are some who will claim you’re a fake fan if your favorite song is the most popular one. Likewise, if you claim to be a fan of X-Men and say your favorite character is Wolverine there would be kids who would assume you’re a phony. You’re just trying to fit-in and so you picked the most popular superhero on the team as your favorite. No real fan says Wolverine is their favorite. And yet his books are the most read, his action figures sell the best, and it’s plainly obvious the character is popular for a reason.

Iceman (who is not going to be fun to photograph) with the Vulcan-body Cyclops and the Amazing Web-Man who I think he shares a lot of his sculpt with.

Nevertheless, I succumbed to such pressures as a kid. Wolverine probably was my favorite member of the X-Men, but if you asked me back then who my favorite character was I’d tell you it was Iceman. And it wasn’t as if I was lying as I really did love the character of Iceman. He was my introduction to X-Men without me really knowing it via the cartoon series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. There he was teamed up with Spider-Man and the made-for-TV character Firestar. Played by Frank Welker, Iceman had a really neat transformation sequence into his icy form that stuck with me well beyond that show’s expiration date. It was the only thing I really remembered from the show and for a time I wasn’t sure if it was even real or if my brain made it up as TV shows back then had a habit of just disappearing to make way for something else. Iceman didn’t get to be a part of future televised X teams, but you bet your ass I was pumped when he showed up for an episode of X-Men. I can remember the episode title flashing on the screen and knowing it had to be referring to Iceman and the hair on my arms stood up. It was awesome!

The new Iceman with the last ice men I purchased. Kind of crazy this one on the right is still the only Bobby Drake we’ve ever received.

Toy Biz did manage to get Iceman into its X-Men line of figures pretty quickly. It was one I sought, but he proved hard to get. I never did get the original release which had a color changing feature, but I was able to finally score it on a refresh. By then the color change gimmick was gone and replaced by a feature where you put him on his ice sled, filled a cut-out with water, and then stuck him in the freezer. After a little while, that water encased the figure’s feet in a block of ice for you to remove and I guess just slide across a surface. Cool? I didn’t really care as I hated action features so any gimmick that didn’t intrude upon the sculpt was fine by me. A second edition Iceman would eventually follow, modeled somewhat on his Age of Apocalypse look, but I never did find that one. When Marvel Legends became a thing, Iceman managed to see release in the eighth wave. He was pretty mediocre even by the standards of the day being too slight and formless, but he had a neat Sentinel hand base frozen in ice. Toy Biz would do better with the sister line, X-Men Classics, and the Iceman released there. That one was on a standard buck, and while not perfect even back then, was a major improvement. There were also two chase versions one modeled after the character’s appearance in Ultimate X-Men and the other a de-iced Bobby Drake. That Bobby version instantly became my most wanted and I managed to track down two of them. Worry not, I didn’t scalp either and instead traded one for a chase Moon Knight.

I understand why Hasbro would go transparent with Iceman, but I wish we got a figure that looked like the comic art.

That X-Men Classics Iceman is the most recent Iceman purchase I’ve made. Until now, obviously. There was a three-pack released a couple of years ago based on Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. I wanted to like that set and probably could have settled if the Firestar or Spider-Man was mediocre, but it was my beloved Iceman who was left out in the cold. The figure was hideous and about the only good thing was the portrait. I just couldn’t do it, even when it hit clearance. Hasbro has come back though with a release of the character for its Secret Wars line. This series is a throwback, an homage, to what was essentially the very first proper action figure line for Marvel. Back then, Iceman received a release, but he wasn’t sold in the US. This new figure is like a long overdue makeup. It also reminded me of the very first Toy Biz one and that was enough to get me to throw down my $28 even if I had some reservations about what I was seeing in those solicitations.

Hasbro elected to give this Iceman a snowball. A nod to his original appearance or just an easy, cheap, accessory?

Iceman stands at around 6.25″ to the top of his head. He is essentially a blank body cast in transparent plastic. The base appears to be the same as some older Spider-Man figures namely The Amazing Web-Man and Cyborg Spider-Man, minus the cybernetic arm. In other words, this is an old mold though it has been updated with pin-less joints. Considering that the figure is transparent, that’s both a blessing and a curse. These pin-less limbs require a different composite of plastic be utilized for the elbows and knees, and as we saw with the Crystar figure last year, the result is the plastic comes out cloudy. With Iceman, it means his elbows and knees have a milky color to them. Had Hasbro elected to add an overspray to the rest of the figure this effect may have been minimized, but they left him almost purely transparent like that classic Toy Biz release. There is a very subtle frosting applied to the chest, but that’s about it. That does mean if you like seeing the inner workings of an action figure Iceman is showing you the goods. He’s got nothing to hide. Even the soft plastic belt is transparent. The only paint is reserved for the X logo and the details on the face – basically eyes and teeth. It’s not a bad look and it certainly makes sense for a man of ice to look this way, but I do wish Hasbro added a little blue tint to the plastic just to dress him up a bit.

My attempt at a throwing pose. Too bad he doesn’t have a throwing snowball accessory.

The approach to the presentation is fine, even if it’s not what I’d do personally (I’d want him painted like he is in the comics, basically white or a very light blue with some shading and squared-off anatomy), but what I can say is poor are the overall proportions. This just isn’t a good looking body. The shoulders sit so low that it looks ridiculous and you get these gaps between the traps and the top of the shoulders. What human being, let alone superhero, has a body like this? The shoulders are also undersized taking away from the heroic look the character should have and the width of the body is comically small. From a straight-on perspective, the chest looks okay. There appears to be a little frosting to the plastic to create the illusion of a cubed-off look to the pecs, but it kind of makes him look like he has moobs instead. Turn the figure to view from the side, and the width of the chest is preposterously thin. There’s no front-to-back bulk to this guy. It’s like a person with an average build drew muscles onto their body. Iceman isn’t supposed to be a behemoth, but he should have far more bulk than this. This is a mold that should be chucked in the trash.

I’m not sure about this thing.

For accessories, we get a mostly typical mix with some new stuff thrown in. Iceman has two portraits: smile and angry. Both are fine, but I wish we had a neutral one too. For hands, he has a set of fists and a set of relaxed hands and he also has a snowball that the relaxed hands can handle. For power effects, we get a small, icy, platform that I wouldn’t consider a proper ice sled. It looks fine, but it’s just way too small in both length and width, but at least there’s some white paint on it to give it a frosted look. He also has two power effects that clip onto the wrist. I like the idea here, but these effects suck. They appear to be designed to clip onto the wrist so that the relaxed hands rest on them. The problem is, they end up pointing straight down so angling them to make it look like he’s creating an ice sled looks pretty bad. They also look bad as just a blasting effect if you want him to shoot at bad guys. Clipping them on backwards actually presents a better angle, but also looks stupid. They also end with a flat surface like they should be contacting the shelf or table you end up putting him on. I think they would have done better if they made the hands part of the sculpt or if they designed them to work with flat palms that get inserted into the effect. This feels half-assed and like a first try that no one decided to spend just a little more time on. If the ice sled effect were wider maybe it could have been fudged more easily, but maybe that would have broke the budget. There’s also an included shield with a lenticular image of Iceman’s portrait on it that shifts to Bobby. This thing is an homage to the old toy line and every figure comes with one. It has a clip and a peg on the back of it so you can affix it to the figure’s forearm or peg it into its back. I can’t imagine anyone would. It’s cheap and kind of lame – into a drawer it goes!

From the front, I think I’m less sure.

The articulation for Iceman is pretty basic, and also pretty frustrating. This mold is the type of figure that seems to have most of the joints one would want, but actually getting the figure into the poses you want is harder than it looks. The head is on a ball hinge that gets no tilt so it kind of sucks. There are butterfly joints at the shoulder, but they mostly provide range going back and not forward. There are bicep swivels, double elbows, wrist hinges and swivels, ab crunch, waist twist, ball-socket hips, thigh cuts, double knees, boot cuts, and ankle hinges and rockers. Range is acceptable at all of the major spots while the ab crunch is certainly antiquated. The boot cut is pretty worthless because it breaks up the shape of the leg when utilizing it. The waist twist is the same, but at least the belt is floating to kind of hide it, granted we’re talking transparent parts here. The transparent plastic does seem to result in tighter than usual knees and elbows, but I could get them to work without heating the figure up. It’s not a terrible action figure from an articulation standpoint, but we can definitely do better, Hasbro.

Do you want to build a snow man? If so, no smoking. Disney doesn’t like it.

If you couldn’t tell by now, I’m not in love with this figure. I even regret buying it to a point because there’s just no posing away some of the issues I have with the sculpt. Those shoulders always look goofy and the body is just way too slight. The included effect parts are a nice thought, but how good is that when they don’t really accomplish what they intend to? The old X-Men Classics ice sled is better than this and that thing was a flat, blue, plastic and kind of lame. At least it worked though. I wasn’t expecting to do anything with the silly snowball accessory, but I think that’s how I’ll end up displaying him because I just can’t look past those blast effects. I waited 20 years for a new Iceman figure, and I’ll be waiting longer for an actual good one. Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll show up in X-Men ’97 giving Hasbro an excuse to fix this thing. As one of the first openly gay X-Men, I could see him fitting into the spirit of that show so it’s not impossible, though does Disney have the courage to go there? That I have serious doubts on. This is what we have though and for some collectors out there it might be good enough, but for me it’s not.

If you liked this look at Marvel’s Iceman then maybe you’ll enjoy some of these:

Marvel Legends Marvel’s Crystar

Marvel Legends are still sold primarily at major retailers. This includes the likes of Target, Walmart, and even Best Buy which has been adding more toys to its portfolio over the years. And since they’re made by Hasbro, a company that has been selling toys to kids for generations, they still mostly operate on the…

by Joe

Jada Toys Frosty the Snowman

There are a number of Christmas specials out there that are basically known by all and I’ve written about most of them here. Some have been annual traditions especially when we had more of a monoculture in the US, but the slow death of cable television has made those annual traditions fade away. One holiday…

by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Cable

Today we finish our look at wave 3 of X-Men ’97 Marvel Legends action figures and I think I saved the best for last. Cable was one of the non-members of the X-Men to play a pretty substantial role in the original animated series. He showed up in multiple episodes in both the first and…

by Joe

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November 30, 2025

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Cable

By Joe
Say “Hello,” to the Wild Man of Borneo.

Today we finish our look at wave 3 of X-Men ’97 Marvel Legends action figures and I think I saved the best for last. Cable was one of the non-members of the X-Men to play a pretty substantial role in the original animated series. He showed up in multiple episodes in both the first and second season and was a key player in what was to be the show’s big finale, “Beyond Good and Evil.” It wasn’t a surprise to see him return in X-Men ’97 where he once again was a soldier displaced by time, only this time the show actually showed interest in explaining just who the heck this guy is.

They fed him well in the future.

In the episode “Time Fugitives – Part 2,” there’s basically a blink and you miss it moment where Jean Grey mentally probes the mind of Cable. We see images of Cyclops and Jean when she does, but the show doesn’t bother addressing that at any future moment leaving most of the characters in the dark, save for Jean, apparently. Obviously, if you’re a fan of the comics then you probably knew all that, but he must have been a pretty confusing character for those who were only exposed to the X-Men via the cartoon. In X-Men ’97, we finally find out that Cable is the son of Cyclops and Jean from the future. Only there’s a twist as Cable is actually the son of Cyclops and the clone of Jean, who decided to adopt the alias Madelyne Prior. Cable plays a large role in the back-half of the first season and appears to be set to play a big role in the upcoming season. Might we finally see him form X-Force? I kept waiting for him to do that in the old show so it would be long overdue if he does.

I suspect we’ll see something like this in season two. Only Apocalypse will be much taller.

This depiction of Cable is his traditional look. It mostly conforms to what we saw in the ’92 series as well as the first chunk of X-Men ’97. By the finale, Cable (like everyone else) gets a costume change meaning X-Men ’97 is perhaps the most action figure friendly show we’ve ever had. We’ve already seen one of those finale outfits via Jubilee in this wave while others have been reserved for some two-packs that I didn’t pick up. I’m most interested in figures that fit in with my ’92 display and this Cable accomplishes that.

Cable, like Morph, is an all new sculpt. Initially, I thought he might share some parts with the Bishop from the first wave, but if he does I can’t find them. He’s pretty tall as well standing a little over 7″ making him the tallest in the line thus far. His sculpt is pretty intricate with lots of straps, pouches, and other assorted details pulled from the show. He has that animated look to him via a lot of flat colors, but there’s also a slight touch of realism to the face like Hasbro knew comic collectors would want to add this Cable to their display. Cable has a pretty distinct face in the show and it’s not quite captured here. It’s almost like it’s halfway between the ’92 version of the character and the ’97 one.

This is the “little gun.”

As is the case with most of the wave, there isn’t a lot of paint to be found on Cable. It’s mostly reserved for his face which looks good. Hasbro elected not to go with a glowing eye which is fine. The X-emblem is painted onto the collar as well as the red lines on his suspenders (I guess that’s what they are). Perhaps the best paintwork and nicest little detail is the dark blue piping on his chest and abdomen. A lot of the other colored parts are just plastic. The green straps are bands of plastic and they even run under the chest which is an odd look. The arm band on his left arm is plastic as are the thigh straps. The dark gray on his shoulders pads is paint as are the yellow rectangles on the boots, but they’re not that clean. There’s no slop, but they don’t quite reach the edges of the piece. He looks pretty good, all things considered. Obviously, more paint is best, but this muted color palette works better in plastic than some of the brighter offerings. The only aspect of the presentation that bothers me is the left arm. For that, we get Hasbro’s swirly, twirly, silver plastic. It would look so much better if it had a painted finish and since it’s such a small area it’s disappointing that they didn’t go that extra mile, but not surprising.

And this is the Big Gun.

Cable further blows the budget by having some unique accessories as well. I could be wrong, but I don’t think even his hands are recycled, but I also don’t buy every Marvel Legend release that comes out. He has a trigger hand for each arm plus a right fist and a wide, gripping, left hand. That one is intended to support his big, freakin’, gun. It’s a big hunk of plastic with some nice, sculpted, detail and a little bit of red paint. He also has more of a sidearm which too has that futuristic look to it and a little bit of red paint detail. Both guns can utilize a blast effect and Hasbro so kindly provided two. They’re yellow with some red at the base giving it a nice transition. These are recycled from many releases, but they work just fine here and they’re nice to have.

It too has its own blast effect.

The one area that may leave collectors disappointed with this Cable is the articulation. Big guys don’t always articulate the best, but Hasbro made some curious choices here. He does have a double ball peg at the head and a single joint at the base of the neck. Maybe Hasbro is finally figuring these joints out because his range there is terrific. It goes south pretty fast from there though as the arms feature your basic, Marvel Legends, articulation with no butterfly joint. That’s not the problem though, what is are these shoulder pads. Hasbro made no effort to work them into the articulation. Like Emma Frost’s cape, you just have to deal with it. Only in this case, you can’t remove them if you so desire. Cable can raise his arms out to the side, but he can only raise them out front so far. The shoulder pads are a softer material, but not soft enough to just get out of the way. It makes it hard for Cable to hold either gun out straight. For the big one, he has to hold it across his chest while the smaller one is always going to be pointed out at an angle.

“The name’s Cable, Apocalypse, remember it!” “I shall not forget this IMPUDENCE!”

It’s a shame, because the rest of the articulation is solid. He has a ball-jointed diaphragm that provides some forward and back, tilt, and rotation. The straps don’t get in the way because they’re separate pieces between the chest and the abdomen. There is a waist twist and it’s basically hidden by the belt. The legs are pretty standard with the thigh swivels hidden behind the straps on his legs and the only other shortcoming really is the lack of a boot swivel. You don’t really need it, but since he has such big boots that are clearly a separate piece why not have it there anyway?

Is the poor articulation at the shoulders a deal-breaker? For me, no. I like the look of this Cable and it’s a character I’ve wanted to add to the collection for a long time so I’m mostly content. The sculpt and the accessories are great by Marvel Legends standards and I can finagle the figure into a pose that suits me. More than the shoulder range, I think I’m more disappointed by the lack of weapon storage.. All them pouches, but not a single holster for either gun. I know in the show he wore the big gun on his back most of the time, but I don’t know if he actually had a holster like Bishop or if it just attached via cartoon magic. I couldn’t spy one in any of the screenshots I looked at, but Hasbro could have at least given us a peg hole or something. At any rate, Cable is the standout of X-Men ’97 wave three. If you like the show and you’re collecting the figures, then you probably already have him. If you’re someone more into the comic-based figures then I’d still give this one a look. If Cable is missing from your display I think this one works just fine as more of a classic Cable, but that’s just me.

For more action figure reviews from X-Men ’97 look no further:

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Logan

I knew who the X-Men were when the show premiered in 1992, but I didn’t know much about them. That show really was the proper introduction to the franchise for me and one thing I couldn’t wrap my head around as a kid was that these were heroes who didn’t really have a secret identity.…

Keep reading
by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Morph

I’m always going to have a soft spot for Morph. It was rare to see a character killed off in a children’s show, but that was the fate of old Morph who didn’t make it out of the show’s second episode. I wouldn’t call it traumatizing, but there was definitely a haunted quality to that…

Keep reading
by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Emma Frost

If you have seen the first season of X-Men ’97 then you may be wondering why Emma Frost, aka the White Queen, is receiving an action figure in the show’s companion toy line. She didn’t play a big role in the show having a speaking role in just one episode and then what amounted to…

Keep reading
by Joe

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November 27, 2025

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Emma Frost

By Joe
Enter the White Queen.

If you have seen the first season of X-Men ’97 then you may be wondering why Emma Frost, aka the White Queen, is receiving an action figure in the show’s companion toy line. She didn’t play a big role in the show having a speaking role in just one episode and then what amounted to a cameo in a later one. I think she was among the characters shown off in concept art before the show’s premiere so that could be a contributing factor here. Or, she’s set to play a bigger role in the show’s second season. As of this writing, only one trailer has been shown for X-Men ’97 season two and Emma Frost was not present in it. At least I think she wasn’t. It was only shown to attendees of New York Comic Con and for non-attendees we’re left with essentially bootleg cell phone videos from the panel. If she was in it and I missed it that certainly wouldn’t surprise me. Hasbro did use the event to unveil a massive made-to-order Apocalypse figure from the show and we definitely know he’s a big player in season two based on how the first season ended. Could the same be true for Emma?

Those heels means she towers over someone like Jean.

It’s also possible this figure exists because it’s a relatively cheap release for Hasbro. Yes, like Wolverine, this Emma Frost is basically the same Emma Frost we’ve received before in the Legends line, but with minor updates that last year’s Goblin Queen benefitted from as well. The basic formula for this X-Men ’97 line is to take existing molds, add an animated head, and call it a day it would seem. Emma mostly follows in that direction, but she does have a new corset that is slightly less revealing this time around. I don’t have the older Hellfire Club release, but I have seen pictures and I do not like it. She looks like the sort of person who had some bad plastic surgery. This Emma, while the details of her face and hair are toned down to match the animated style, looks like a young Sharon Stone. As such, I think that comic book fans may take more of an interest in this release than some of the other ones in this wave.

That’s a bummer.

Emma is not much to talk about aside from the appearance. The hair is a soft yellow and her face is well painted. Her default portrait has a slight smugness to the expression which suits her. The body is fairly clean and composed mostly of colored plastic – flesh and white. There is some paint on the corset strings and a line running down the front of her boots that’s applied well. The cape is also nice with white on the outside and blue on the inside. My figure does have a splotch of gray paint on the back of her default portrait which I’ll have to try and remove. The figure isn’t as detailed as comic versions, but it works for the source material very well and I think there’s enough here that it can appear on a comic shelf.

The cape makes her harder to stand, but she looks kind of ridiculous without it.

The rest of the figure is basically nothing to write home about. We get one extra portrait which features a smile and a windswept sculpt to the hair. I do like it, but I wonder why Hasbro doesn’t make the hair swappable between the two heads? For hands, we get a set of fists and a set of open hands. No power effects, though more important is no stand. Emma sports some high heels and as a result can be a pain to stand. Without the cape, it’s fairly easy to find a neutral stance to get her to stand in. With the added weight of the plastic cape though it becomes more of a challenge. It’s do-able, but don’t expect to get much use out of her articulation as a result.

These things are going to drive you crazy if you want to get her into any kind of semi-dynamic pose.

And speaking of, the cape plus the heels makes her articulation functionally useless. The head can barely rotate because of the large fur trim on the cape and it locks her shoulders down. Her right arm is more exposed than the left so you can get something out of the elbow, but not much. There is a joint inside the corset, but it’s useless. They way Hasbro did the heels means she has more of an ankle swivel than an ankle rocker. If you want to ditch the cape then, yeah, you’ll get more. Standard arm, hips, thigh, and knee articulation is present, but she looks a little goofy without the cape on account of her long neck. I suppose the real play here is to get a third party soft goods cape, but that can be just as expensive as the figure itself.

This is the maximum amount of nuance I could get out of her legs. And she fell over shortly after.

Emma Frost is basically a barely functional action figure. It looks good in the limited poses available, but it’s not a figure you’re going to want to mess with. Maybe swap the portraits here and there, but that’s it. I thought she looked nice and since she’s a classic X-Men villain I decided to grab her, partly out of fear she’ll sell out. And she did initially and may be one of the harder figures to find in the wave. Mostly, I did worry I’d like her in season two and wish I had purchased the figure, though if she does show up chances are she’ll have a different look. Do I regret my decision? Yes and no. It’s not a great figure, but it’s also not one likely to end up on clearance. And if I just want a White Queen to look good on my shelf, she does accomplish as much. If that’s all you care about then you may be fine with this one. As long as you know what you’re in for.

If you like X-Men ’97 and are interested in more action figure reviews then check these out:

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Jubilee

The television event of 2024 for me was none other than X-Men ’97. I loved that show and I can’t wait for the second season to come around. It’s just a shame we may still be as much as a year away, but to somewhat tide us over until then we have this third wave…

Keep reading
by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Logan

I knew who the X-Men were when the show premiered in 1992, but I didn’t know much about them. That show really was the proper introduction to the franchise for me and one thing I couldn’t wrap my head around as a kid was that these were heroes who didn’t really have a secret identity.…

Keep reading
by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Morph

I’m always going to have a soft spot for Morph. It was rare to see a character killed off in a children’s show, but that was the fate of old Morph who didn’t make it out of the show’s second episode. I wouldn’t call it traumatizing, but there was definitely a haunted quality to that…

Keep reading
by Joe

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

November 20, 2025

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Morph

By Joe
At long last, the era of Morph is here!

I’m always going to have a soft spot for Morph. It was rare to see a character killed off in a children’s show, but that was the fate of old Morph who didn’t make it out of the show’s second episode. I wouldn’t call it traumatizing, but there was definitely a haunted quality to that scene, “Wolverine! Fall Back!” Come on, Morph, don’t you know that Wolverine has a healing factor? He’s the toughest, most unkillable, son of a bitch around! You didn’t need to take that Sentinel blast for him! Why, Morph? Why?!

Of course, Morph didn’t stay dead. Turns out, when you kill off a character in a kid’s show the kids who make up the audience want that character brought back. That’s why the character has stuck with me these past 30 years, though I never did take it upon myself to write a letter to Fox Kids to express my sorrow over the death of Morph. Enough other kids did though that Morph tested really high with audiences as a fan favorite so the show brought them back as evil Morph for the second season premiere. Morph had quite the long arc that year that ended with them kind of back to their old self, but the trauma of getting blasted meant that Morph needed some time away. Returning for the episode “Courage” only confirmed that even more and we didn’t see Morph again until the series finale. Now, X-Men ’97 is a thing and really for the first we get to see Morph as a fully functioning member of the team.

Morph is so slender this time around it almost gives them a juvenile look.

The X-Men ’97 version of Morph is similar to the ’92 version, but borrows some from the comics. Morph has a weird history in that the character was originally called Changeling in the comics and began life as a villain. The character would get cancer and have a change of heart offering to take Xavier’s place to basically fake the professor’s death which is why the writing staff for the cartoon decided to use the character as a sacrificial lamb in the first plotline. Changeling was just off the table because of the DC character of the same name, so Changeling became Morph. And since Morph proved popular, Morph got to be a character during the Age of Apocalypse where they sported a new look that included basically a gray, nose-less, face. That’s apparently the visage our Morph now feels most comfortable with in X-Men ’97. It makes sense as it’s like a blank face, and with Morph being a shapeshifter, it seems like a solid choice.

92 vs 97
My Morph with a Casting Cave head.

The action figure for Morph appears to be entirely new. Morph is now presented as more slender than the old Morph. That Morph conformed to the Jim Lee era the show was based on where basically all of the guys were jacked and all of the women were bombshells. This Morph still retains the old X-Men blue and yellow training uniform as well as the flight jacket, they’re just slim and slender. This depiction in plastic might be just a touch too slender, but considering it’s all new sculpt, I do wonder if the intent here is to repurpose this as a New Mutants base? The Sunspot, who I didn’t buy, that’s part of this wave also has a New Mutants look which is likely to be reused for more characters, but this Morph is almost a dead ringer for a character like Cypher. I guess we’ll see. There is some clear stylization in the chest which I have mixed feelings on which probably has little utility going forward. It’s almost like Hasbro tried to match the cel-shading on the pecs, but with sculpt instead of paint. It’s odd looking, but the jacket at least takes away from it. The jacket, like Logan’s, is also very plain to conform with the look of the show which I like. There’s not a lot of paint here, but at least there isn’t a lot of mis-matched colors.

Not a lot of paint…

At least, there are no mis-matched colors concerning the base figure and the optional hands. Morph comes with a set of fists, a right open hand, and a left relaxed hand. Morph also has an alternate portrait and it’s their more humanoid look. It’s very stylized conforming to the show, but I don’t like this look for Morph. It doesn’t look anything like the ’92 version which I always found very distinct. Worse though, Morph’s neck is gray to match the default head which causes a clash when using the alternate head. The figure really needed another neck piece, or they could have made the neck part of the head sculpt. On one hand, I’m glad that isn’t the case because the articulation would probably suffer, but it does make the unmorphed head look silly and it’s something I’ll never use.

“Who are the X-Men?!”

There is one other accessory and it’s an odd one. Morph comes with the head of Henry Peter Gyrich, the bigot who was spearheading the Mutant Control Agency in the show and is the guy indirectly responsible for Morph’s death so he has some connection here. He’s also in the new show and by including his head here it also feels like a callback to the old Toy Biz Morph which came with a Cyclops, Wolverine, and Evil Morph head to simulate the shape-shifting powers the character possessed. Though here, I think the Gyrich head is much better utilized by placing it on a suited Legends body to create a whole new character. For me, the only suitable body is the Professor X body that came with the hoverchair. And since I also have the Savage Land Xavier, I don’t mind sacrificing him for this new character. For a non-super-powered character, Gyrich is a pretty big villain in the series so having him isn’t bad. It makes me wonder if we’ll get Trask in a fourth wave.

“What was I thinking with that look?”

Morph’s articulation is what one would expect of a Marvel Legends release. The slender frame does mean the range is pretty good in places like the knees and elbows, but there’s also still some limitations. The mediocre ball hinge is in place at the head and I don’t know why any new sculpt would go this route unless getting the figure to look all the way up is really important. The arms feature standard articulation (you really don’t need me to list it all out do you?) while the torso opts for an old ab crunch and waist twist. The belt is keyed in and not floating, but the twist is below it anyway so it doesn’t interfere, but it also means you can’t pull it down to hide the joint. Legs are also fairly typical. The thigh straps hide the thigh swivel okay and there is a boot swivel, something not all figures have.

I look forward to the continuing adventures of Wolverine and Morph.

Morph is probably going to move as much as you want the figure to. It’s just always a shame when Hasbro spends money on a new sculpt and doesn’t put the best articulation it can into the figure. I mostly like the figure. It’s a good representation of the character, but I also admit my soft spot bias for Morph. I had some critiques with the articulation, and the extra portrait is useless, but my biggest complaint would just be it has a cheap look due to the lack of paint. The yellow also hues slightly orange when compared with other blue and yellow outfits. The figure would look a lot better with actual paint, but Hasbro appears to be going to even greater lengths these days to avoid having to paint figures. I guess it’s just something we’re going to have to get used to. If you like Morph’s depiction in X-Men ’97 then this is fine.

If you liked this review and want to see more from X-Men ’97 then check these out:

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Nightcrawler

Since we don’t have a post this week for Turtle Tuesday I decided we should have a Mutant Monday. X-Men ’97 has returned the mutant superheroes to the spotlight and one of the main beneficiaries has been Hasbro. Their first wave of Marvel Legends based on the new show arrived last fall and, aside from…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Jubilee

The television event of 2024 for me was none other than X-Men ’97. I loved that show and I can’t wait for the second season to come around. It’s just a shame we may still be as much as a year away, but to somewhat tide us over until then we have this third wave…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Logan

I knew who the X-Men were when the show premiered in 1992, but I didn’t know much about them. That show really was the proper introduction to the franchise for me and one thing I couldn’t wrap my head around as a kid was that these were heroes who didn’t really have a secret identity.…

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by Joe

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November 13, 2025

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Logan

By Joe
“You got a problem with my look, bub?”

I knew who the X-Men were when the show premiered in 1992, but I didn’t know much about them. That show really was the proper introduction to the franchise for me and one thing I couldn’t wrap my head around as a kid was that these were heroes who didn’t really have a secret identity. Yeah, when they weren’t on the job they wore normal clothes, but the characters didn’t have any hang-ups about using their powers out in public if the situation arose. That just seemed so foreign a concept to me as someone raised on Superman and Batman. I didn’t realize super heroes could walk a different path.

All hail the short king.

During the course of the show, I got familiar with the non-costumed looks of the X-Men and by far the most memorable is Wolverine. He would ditch the tights in favor of some work pants, a yellow plaid shirt, and a bomber jacket with a furred collar. I don’t know if this look was directly pulled from the comics, but the show definitely made it iconic. It’s just another of the many classic looks for the character and it was immortalized in plastic way back during the Toy Biz era. And since every wave of X-Men figures could use a Wolverine, it’s hardly a surprise we’re getting the look in Marvel Legends.

I don’t have the 97 Wolverine, but it’s essentially the same figure as the 92 one.

This figure is almost entirely reuse. Past Wolverines have utilized these parts including even the head which is reused from the first X-Men ’97 Wolverine. The clawed hands are from the Weapon X release and feature the slightly longer middle claw which is an odd choice as that’s not something carried over into the show. The coat overlay is probably new and the arms might be as well, but that’s it. Does it matter? Yes and no. The coat has that animated look to it. It’s very smooth and untextured while the pants are textured like denim. This isn’t consistent with the source material and it’s a bit frustrating. Yeah, in the grand scheme of things it’s not a big deal, but it just serves as a reminder that Hasbro is not committed to accuracy with this line. It’s also odd to get the same Wolverine head recycled here, though the complexion is a touch redder which is odd. If you want a new unmasked portrait you have to get the new two-pack with Storm (I passed).

“What am I supposed to do with this?”

The figure is compromised, but looks all right. The accessories, on the other hand, are pretty unimpressive. Wolverine has his clawed hands, as usual, and the claws can actually pop off. They’re unpainted, gray, plastic and pretty bland looking. It can be hard to get them straight too and the claws on my figure’s right fist are kind of driving me crazy. The other options include a left fist without claw holes and an optional right hand that’s in a unique shape. That shape is to facilitate the use of a hand of playing cards which is also recycled from a past release. They’re fine? It might be more fun to give them to Gambit, but they don’t add a whole lot to the experience with Logan here.

“Now this is more like it!”

Articulation is pretty standard. Ball-hinge head, ball-hinge shoulders, bicep swivel, double-elbows, wrist swivel and hinge, diaphragm joint, waist twist, ball-socket hips, thigh swivels, double-jointed knees, ankle rocker and hinge. The cowboy boots that he appears to be wearing are kind of annoying. He’s tricky to stand and the coat limits the torso articulation. The diaphragm joint doesn’t really do a whole lot and the collar of the coat also interferes with the head. You’re going to be hard-pressed to get him into a low, Wolverine, crouch. It’s unfortunate this follows the Gamerverse Wolverine because the articulation in that makes this look like a hunk of crap.

“Logan! This is a school!”

Logan is what he is. The figure is only worth pursuing if you have a fondness for this look. Yeah, the pants and the belt are wrong, but it’s also instantly recognizable as Wolverine’s civilian look from the cartoon. That’s what got me to buy this even if I was a little hesitant. It’s also Wolverine so it might appear in large numbers. If you’re unimpressed, and I mostly am, then it may pay to wait this one out to see if it ever goes on sale. It’s October as I write this so the holiday shopping season is pretty much here and things have a habit of going on sale during this time of year. That might be the approach to take.

If you like this review then check out these other X-Men ’97 releases:

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Bishop

We’re going to keep this Marvel/Mutant Monday thing going for one more week! After taking a look at a trio of figures from Hasbro’s new X-Men ’97 line of figures in its Marvel Legends catalog I’ve decided to do one more: Bishop. The first three figures I looked at were basically all missing pieces to…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Nightcrawler

Since we don’t have a post this week for Turtle Tuesday I decided we should have a Mutant Monday. X-Men ’97 has returned the mutant superheroes to the spotlight and one of the main beneficiaries has been Hasbro. Their first wave of Marvel Legends based on the new show arrived last fall and, aside from…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Jubilee

The television event of 2024 for me was none other than X-Men ’97. I loved that show and I can’t wait for the second season to come around. It’s just a shame we may still be as much as a year away, but to somewhat tide us over until then we have this third wave…

Keep reading
by Joe

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November 6, 2025

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Jubilee

By Joe
The self-professed mall babe is back with a new look.

The television event of 2024 for me was none other than X-Men ’97. I loved that show and I can’t wait for the second season to come around. It’s just a shame we may still be as much as a year away, but to somewhat tide us over until then we have this third wave of Marvel Legends action figures from Hasbro. The first two waves were undoubtedly done based on concept art of whatever Disney and Marvel were willing to share with the toy maker at the time. It seemed to fill-in some of the gaps left behind by Hasbro’s brief dance with the original X-Men cartoon via the VHS style box releases while also getting in a few show specific characters and looks. This third wave feels like a post season one wave. It contains characters we didn’t really know were going to be in it as well as some different looks for those we did know were coming. Up first, is Miss Jubilee.

She’s sized pretty well for what she is.

Jubilee, unlike some other characters, did get a slot in that VHS line based on the original show from 1992. That Jubilee was pretty much a hodgepodge of past Jubilee releases with some half-assed and poorly applied cel-shading. I don’t know if it’s my least favorite in that line, but it’s in contention. This update is based on the end of the first season following a minor wardrobe update. The look, from what I understand, is from the comics when she went through a vampire phase. Yeah, I don’t know. I wasn’t reading and I don’t care to know more than that. It’s basically just an all black, skin-tight suit, with her customary yellow trench coat. It’s not a look I care about, but maybe it has some utility for the ’92 display? Let’s find out!

The stars of the show.

Jubilee is a pretty basic figure. She has a brand new headsculpt that more or less matches the look of the show. I think it’s a little full in the face, but definitely more on model than what we’ve had before. The body is mostly reuse from past Jubilees, but updated with pinless joints. The arms might be new, but I am not certain. I think the upper diaphragm is also new, but it’s basically black plastic with minimal paint near the chest. The arms are yellow plastic while the coat is a thinner plastic. It has some pliability, but it’s also really shiny giving it this very rain coat quality. It’s okay, but cheap looking.

This one is definitely an improvement over the old figure, but not the look I prefer.

Jubilee’s accessories are surprisingly robust. She has a set of open hands, a left fist, and a right C-grip hand. I don’t think any of these are new, but that’s fine. Her C-grip hand is for a soft drink she comes with which looks fine and calls back to her origins as a mall rat. She also has some new effect hands and these are a massive improvement over those little swirly things the 92 Jubilee had. They appear to be a translucent acrylic which ends in star shapes and has this nice transition of colors from purple to blue. They’re permanently affixed to a set of open hands which almost appear to be insert-molded into these things. It’s a bummer because it means it won’t work with other Jubilee figures unless those ones also feature black gloves. And since the fingers of said gloves are inside the effects, it also means that painting them yellow or blue isn’t going to be a perfect solution. They look great for this figure, but only this figure.

This looks better, but that old coat still kind of sucks.

Jubilee’s articulation is pretty basic. She has a double-ball joint at the head, ball-hinge shoulders, double-elbows, bicep swivel, wrist swivel and hinges, diaphragm joint, ball-socket hips, thigh swivel, boot swivel, double-jointed knees, and ankles with hinges and rockers. The lack of a waist twist stinks and the presence of a jacket would have made hiding a butterfly joint fairly easy, but we don’t get either. The double-ball head is okay, but it has that annoying quality where the neck-ball pops out often when removing the head. I had to heat it up and pull that joint out of the head to do it properly. Why did I remove the head? Well…

Ok, yeah, now we’re ready to rock!

Jubilee’s original ’92 look is by far my preference. While I like these new effect parts, I would much rather have Jubilee in her more colorful threads. Swapping heads with the 92 figure is pretty easy. I found the old heads don’t want to go on this new body all that easily, but getting the new head on that old body was a piece of cake once I got the peg out. I also found I much preferred the look of this new coat to the old one. Getting it off was also pretty easy as was putting it on the old figure. Getting the old coat off the old figure was more difficult as that plastic is a bit thicker and less forgiving, but I still was able to do it without popping the arms out at the shoulder. The end result is, for me, a much better representation of Jubilee. She still has the ugly shading on her sleeves, but I could remove that if I so desire. I may yet try to paint the hands in the effect parts, but for now she can continue using the dumb swirly ones. I could also repaint the C-grip hand if I want her to be able to enjoy her soft drink. It’s just a matter of making sure I can match the shade of yellow in use here, but I’m just happy the old sleeves mix well with the new coat.

I obviously bought this Jubilee not intending to enjoy it for the figure it is. If you like the updated look, then it’s fine. The articulation is just so-so and it has a cheaper look than usual, but the new effect parts are nice and she does match the source material well enough. She also makes for a suitable kit-bash if that’s your aim. Do with that information what you will.

If you liked this one then check out these other X-Men ’97 reviews we have:

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Rogue

Previously, on X-Men reviews we looked at Magneto from the upcoming series X-Men ’97. The animated series may have been delayed into 2024, but the action figures from Hasbro are already here. And if you were collecting Hasbro’s line of figures based on the animated series from the 90s, this new line offers a chance…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Gambit

Everyone can relax – Gambit has returned. Or arrived, since I’ve never reviewed a Gambit action figure in this space, but that’s because I haven’t bought a Gambit figure in about 20 years until now. When X-Men arrived on airwaves in the fall of 1992, hardly anyone on that team could be considered a true…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Jean Grey

If you are reading this the day it goes live then Happy X-Men ’97 Day! Today is the day the long-awaited sequel series to X-Men debuts on Disney+. Rather than fast-track a review of the first two episodes to this blog, I decided instead to do what I most often do: review an action figure!…

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by Joe

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September 17, 2025

Marvel Legends Gamerverse Wolverine vs Silver Samurai

By Joe
It’s the latest from Hasbro’s Marvel vs Capcom Gamerverse line!

Video game inspired action figures are quite the hot ticket right now. I’m not entirely sure why that is, but maybe some of that is owed to Jada Toys and how well received their line of Ultra Street Fighter 2 action figures have been received. Hasbro, for their part, has had a “Gamerverse” subline of Marvel Legends for quite awhile now, but it has mostly centered on the Spider-Man games released for the PlayStation. This year, Hasbro decided it wanted a piece of the Marvel vs Capcom pie without actually saying that outright. Gamerverse has now pivoted to that beloved franchise, though strictly the Marvel side. Despite having a previous relationship with Capcom via its Power Rangers x Street Fighter line a few years ago, Hasbro has shown no interest in actually engaging the licensor for these figures instead releasing a series of two-packs and one-offs of Marvel characters from that line of games. Most of them have not been of much interest to me, but there was one I could not ignore: Wolverine vs Silver Samurai.

One of these figures is more desirable than the other.

I have enjoyed the Capcom fighters going back to X-Men: Children of the Atom in arcades. The hyper fast fighting games were a sight to behold and it felt awesome to finally be able to take control of the X-Men in a setting that felt worthy of them. The games only became more popular when they were eventually paired with Street Fighter, then eventually it expanded to include all of Marvel and all of Capcom. The designs from those games always came across as rather unique for the Marvel characters and many years ago Toy Biz made a half-hearted attempt at characters in that style with a series of two-packs sold at KB Toy Stores. They weren’t great and I never actually bought any, but I’ve always wanted figures that match the art style presented in those games.

“Let’s go, bub!”

For Hasbro’s collection, we get the usual mixed bag from the company. Some of the figures in the line do a really good job of matching the games, while others very much do not. And considering most of the releases are two-packs, it probably comes as little surprise that one figure in each set appears to get more love than the other. That is certainly the case with this two-pack featuring Wolverine and Silver Samurai. Wolverine practically looks like he was yanked off the side of the arcade cabinet with his bulky frame and elongated claws and mask fins. Silver Samurai…just looks like the previous Legends release, but in a muted color. I’ll say upfront I do not care about Silver Samurai at all. He’s always been a D tier Wolverine adversary for me and his figure doesn’t offer much. I got this for Wolverine, and considering the set comes at the inflated sticker price of $60, there’s a good chance I way overpaid for a Wolverine figure. Now, I’m going to help you decide if you should do the same.

The presence of dark gray lines on the chest appear to be entirely random.

We might as well get the Silver Samurai out of the way. As best as I can tell, this figure is mostly a straight re-release of the prior Legends figure, but with a new torso and expression. The previous figure had a riveted look to the armor where as this one is pretty smooth. Both the arms and legs feature pinned joints owing to their age so if that’s something that bothers you then you may be disappointed here. The color this time around is a very bland gray. The only paint on this guy is reserved for the exposed part of his face, the white of his eyes, and the red on his crest and sun pattern on his chest. The rest of the figure is that lame attempt at metallic plastic Hasbro likes to use. All it does is create random lines or swirls in the plastic while adding zero luster. The chest on my figure almost looks cracked, but it’s just streaks in the plastic. The character in the game was damn near white by default with gray-blue shading. Hasbro didn’t bother to try and match that sprite or the art from the booklet and instead gave us this ugly lump of plastic.

He looks like a kid posing for a Little League picture.
It’s fine.
Looks cool, but it’s a little heavy for the blade.

For articulation, the Samurai is also not up to snuff. He’s very basic with a ball-hinged head, hinged-ball shoulders, bicep swivel, double-jointed elbows, ball-jointed diaphragm, waist cut, ball-socket hips, thigh cuts, double-jointed knees, boot swivel, ankle hinge and rocker. His wrist hinges are at least the proper vertical hinge for sword wielding, but his lack of a butterfly joint means he can’t hold his sword with two hands in a convincing fashion. You can get two hands onto it, but it looks kind of dumb. The shoulder pads are pegged into his traps and are annoying to deal with and tend to pop off a lot. For accessories, he has his katana which is done in a translucent blue plastic. It looks fine, but mine has some black paint on the blade. It’s also very flimsy which stinks because he also has an effect part for the sword that looks pretty cool. It’s bubbly and done with blue translucent plastic with hits of a dark blue or purple. The swords slots through it, but the weight of the part will cause it to droop. He also has his energy shuriken made out of translucent orange plastic and a flimsy plastic stand to peg into it. The weight can be a bit tricky to get it balanced because the stand is so poor, but it can be done. However, Jada this is not.

Bring it on!

Which brings us to the real reason I wanted this set: Wolverine. What attracted me to this figure wasn’t just the stylization on display, but also some engineering choices Hasbro made. They have not, to my knowledge, made an action figure like this Wolverine and some of the choices they made are ones that I’ve been wanting from them for years. We’ll get to that with the articulation portion, but first the elephant in the room must be addressed: this is a big Wolverine.

He’s a pretty big Wolverine.

Wolverine stands at just a touch under 6″. Wolverine runs taller in those games, probably because his sprite is always crouched, but if you wanted to slide him into your comic collection this may pose too big a hurdle to climb. The X-Men animated Wolverine by comparison comes in at 5.75″. Is slightly less than a quarter of an inch a big deal? Kind of, considering that older Wolverine is probably a little on the tall side as well (mostly owing to the really long neck of that sculpt). What really stands out as different though is just how much bigger all around this new Wolverine is. Line up any part of the body and compare it to the prior one and it’s a stark contrast. His biceps, thighs, fists, are all quite a big larger. It’s almost as if this Wolverine is in a different scale from its predecessors. Marvel Legends is thought of as a 1:12 scale line while this Wolverine almost feels like it’s in between 1:12 and 1:10 scale (I guess that would be 1:11). He’s a little big for 1:12, but not quite 1:10.

Even though he has a single hinge at the elbow, the range is pretty much the same as the prior double-jointed version.

As for the sculpt, this thing is entirely brand new. We have the new head with the exaggerated fins, or ears, or whatever those things are on his mask. He has just the one expression which features a gritted teeth look like the cabinet art. The body is also entirely new with the much beefier proportions. The shoulder pads are separate and looped onto the peg going into the torso as opposed to pegged into the shoulder itself. The black on the torso is painted and not sculpted in while the fins are black plastic. The face also appears to be painted onto black plastic and the opacity is not as thick as it needed to be. The left side of my figure’s face has some black showing through, which is a shame. The overall proportions and sculpt are all very nice, but other paint issues include a yellow speck on the left side of my figure’s abdomen and some blue smudging on the left thigh. The middle claw on the left hand (geez, everything is on the left side) has some excess plastic around the tip which I’ll need to trim. Silver Samurai’s left pauldron has a similar issue as well which I failed to note earlier. The knees also suffer from miscolored plastic, a frequent issue with Legends in the pin-less era, as they’re noticeably darker than the yellow used for the thigh and shin. It may also bother some to know that the back of his ankles feature a black rectangle since the figure is using black, plastic, for the ankle hinges. Unlike other Wolverine designs, the black trim on the boots doesn’t continue onto and down the center of the back of the boot so it does create an eyesore, but better it be there than on the front.

The effect part is whatever, but the torso articulation is aces. This twisting crouch wasn’t possible on older figures.

From a quality control standpoint, this Wolverine certainly doesn’t have a premium feel, but even with the minor paint imperfections I still think it looks pretty good overall. I love the sculpt, I really love the elongated claws, and I’m really happy with what we’re about to talk about next: the articulation. Hasbro did some good stuff here while also making some trade-offs. How the overall package is received will be somewhat subjective, but what is present works pretty well. They did keep the hinged-neck joint. Wolverine being a croucher needs a lot of range to look up and down and Hasbro has yet to find a better way to pull that off so it’s here once again. We lose the nuance of a double ball, but the joint at least does what it set out to do. The joint some will likely miss is the butterfly joint. Instead, Hasbro has gone with a ball peg shoulder which is the sort of joint McFarlane is known for utilizing. Import companies use the same, but they’ll affix it to a hinged apparatus inside the torso to get that butterfly joint, but here we just get the up and down, in and out, that the ball peg affords which isn’t a ton. They either didn’t have room in the chest for the joint, or didn’t want to cut up the sculpt. Considering it means we don’t have those silly low shoulders many Legends figures suffer from, I’ll consider it a worthy trade-off. Wolverine can still cross his claws in front of his face and has some room to rear back with his arm. Would I have made the trade to cut out a little more on the back so he could really reach back? Yeah, probably, but I am otherwise okay with the range.

It’s too bad stands weren’t included with this set.

The arms also contain another surprise: single-hinged joints at the elbow. Ordinarily, this is something to be frowned upon, but given that it’s Wolverine it’s honestly a nonissue. The arms are always so bulky that even the old, double-jointed, Wolverine can barely bend his elbow past 90 degrees. This one can’t either, but the single joint is cut in such a way that it’s far more pleasing to look at so I consider it an improvement. There’s also a bicep swivel which is more like an import figure in that the piece is floating independent of the elbow. It’s basically just a cover over a straight peg. The elbow also swivels since it pegs into whatever is under the bicep and the wrists feature the standard swivel and hinge.

I wouldn’t come in high, if I were you, Samurai.

The torso is where I was most eager to get my hands on this guy. Most of the old Wolverine figures go with an ab crunch, a big old hinge right in the middle of the figure and a standard waist cut below it. Some of the newer ones use a ball-joint in the diaphragm and retain the ab crunch below it, but at the expense of waist articulation. The thinking from Hasbro is you get rotation in the diaphragm and bend at the waist, but why settle for that if you don’t have to? For this Wolverine, Hasbro went with the ball-jointed diaphragm and paired it with a ball-jointed waist. You know, like all of those import companies making figures that articulate better than the rest. The result is you get forward and back tilt at both spots plus rotation. He crunches forward very well, arches back a decent amount, and can twist and turn with the best of them. And somewhat to my surprise, there’s very little gapping on display at both the waist and diaphragm. They did a really good job with this torso and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t become the default approach going forward. And since it’s a bit large and doesn’t feature any sculpted costume details, I suspect we’ll see it reused for other characters in the future.

Tag!

The rest of the articulation below the waist is your standard ball-socket hips, thigh cut, double-jointed knees, and ankles with hinges and rockers. There’s no boot swivel which is a bit of a surprise. It looks like the boot is a separate piece so I can’t fathom why it doesn’t just peg-on. Like the gloves, it’s possible the boot is just a sleeve glued into place. It’s not a huge omission, but if it could be there with no impact to the budget then why not go for it? For accessories, Wolverine comes with a set of fists and two slash effects. The slash is done on transparent plastic with some blue shading in the center. One can peg onto an included stand, the same, cheap, style one as Silver Samurai’s, and the other slash can then slot over that one to form an X. Wolverine has multiple attacks that make such a pattern with his claws in the game, plus his super move which just makes a big X on the screen that he jumps in front of. It’s a decent accessory, but I wish we got more for the price. Wolverine could really use a stand of his own to sell that effect part and I would have loved a second portrait. A yelling head would have been great or an unmasked one.

Wolverine (and Ken) most definitely wins.

This is a hard set to rate. Subjectively, I love this Wolverine. I love the proportions, I love the new articulation, and I just love messing around with him. He’s not one of those overly gummy Hasbro releases and I like that they went for it in making this sculpt really evoke the game. On the other hand, I can’t ignore the minor problems with the paint and I’ve heard of others having similar issues. Those knees are also an eyesore and the accessories are just okay. If we’re to split the price of the set between the two figures, he’s a little iffy at $30. I’d still recommend him at that price, but I wouldn’t feel like I’m getting a real steal or anthing.

Unfortunately, Wolverine is not a $30 figure. He’s sold in a $60 set with a thoroughly mediocre Silver Samurai. By Legends standards, there is nothing special about this Silver Samurai. Nothing interesting about the presentation, the articulation, and the accessories do not overcome that. I like the sword effect part, but I don’t know if I can use it since it’s so heavy. The shuriken is fine and at least it’s from the game. He has no extra parts and I find he looks dumb with two gripping hands at all times. Couldn’t we get one extra set of hands? His articulation isn’t good enough for a sword wielder and he doesn’t look like the character art or sprite. He’s a total dud for me.

One thing is for sure, Marvel vs Capcom fans are eating good!

Is this set worth $60? Absolutely not. This Wolverine is good, ignoring the scale issues it’s easily Hasbro’s best Wolverine. Considering I don’t really care for the proportions on the MAFEX Wolverine it might even be my favorite Wolverine of all time. It’s still not worth $60 or even $40. And if he’s not worth that then what’s Silver Samurai worth? I honestly wouldn’t pay $20 for him, or even $10. I just plain don’t like the figure so it’s worthless. Despite that, I think this set will sell well because Wolverine is, in case you haven’t heard, very popular and toy collectors get pretty geeked up about new articulation schemes. Even though nothing this Wolverine does is truly new, just new for Hasbro and Marvel Legends. And I’m having fun with it, so while I think it’s stupid to pay $60 for this Wolverine, I don’t hate myself for doing exactly that.

If you liked this review then maybe you’ll like these as well:

Marvel Legends X-Men Animated Series Wolverine

The toyline of my dreams was announced last October. In celebration of the 30th anniversary of the television series X-Men, Hasbro is doing a dedicated line of Marvel Legends with figures based on the look of the show. The show was obviously inspired by the designs of Jim Lee, but there are differences in the…

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Storm Arena Street Fighter Alpha 3 Ken

One of my most anticipated releases of 2025 came out of no where. I was a kid during the early 90s and into video games so I know a thing or two about Street Fighter. Street Fighter II was everywhere and is pretty much the reason why the one-on-one fighting game became a huge genre…

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Jada Toys Mega Man

We just had 11 consecutive weeks of action figure reviews on Super7’s line of figures based on The Simpsons. Things were getting pretty negative in that sphere as that line went out with a whimper. I don’t like reviewing bad figures and it’s mostly because everything I review here I buy for my own collection.…

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August 7, 2025

Marvel Legends Professor X (Savage Land)

By Joe
You can’t wear a business suit for every occasion.

It feels like lately I’ve been getting swayed by clearance and discounts when it comes to my action figure purchases. Such is the case for today’s post on Professor X from the Marvel Legends line of action figures. Target had an exclusive version of Xavier featuring the character in his jumpsuit which showed up in the spring. Having recently purchased a different, more traditional version of the professor it wasn’t something I felt I needed. I wasn’t entirely satisfied with that figure though, so I was a little interested in this new one. Plus, the jumpsuit look feels like it’s pulled straight from the old animated series as this was the look Xavier sported for the entirety of the second season. And in that season, he and Magneto found themselves stranded in the Savage Land where a device Mr. Sinister had negated mutant powers, but somehow managed to cure a paraplegic like Charles Xavier. Of course, the X-Men destroy the machine to get their powers back thus dooming the world’s paraplegics to a life of paralysis. Seriously guys, you probably should have thought that one through a little better. I know this outfit showed up in the comics as well, but the combination of the look plus Hasbro’s decision to release it on a retro card definitely has me thinking X-Men ’92.

This is definitely a more 90s interpretation of Charles vs the older figure.
Xavier definitely has some size to him.

When I buy one version of a character that I’m not crazy about I hate to compound the issue by buying another version of the same character. Especially when I don’t love that other version either. And with this Xavier it’s the face I don’t love. Xavier is often illustrated with pronounced cheek bones, but in three dimensions that makes for a bit of a lumpy appearance. Hasbro has also introduced more detailed face printing in recent years and sometimes they overdo it. That strikes me as the case here with Chuck as his eyes are rimmed with black and his lips are painted. The shade is almost like a slightly metallic peach and doesn’t look like a natural lip shade to me. It actually reminds me of a shade of lipstick my grandmother used to wear. I feel like he’s a wig away from being able to cosplay as a Golden Girl. This is in contrast to what I would want him to look like which is the animated series which took a very plain look to its character designs with mostly smooth features and no shading for the lips.

Some like this face, some don’t, but all can agree that Chuck has some crazy eyebrows.

Basically what I’m saying is that, apart from the bald head and the pronounced eyebrows, this portrait doesn’t scream Xavier to me. As for the rest of the sculpt – it’s fine. I think this body is reused from a past release, but I can’t be certain. The legs may be from Wonder Man though I’m not sure about the arms and torso. I don’t have enough Legends figures to know. Whether they are or are not, it doesn’t matter so long as they work for this figure and in this case I would say that they do. Most of the figure is colored plastic with paint reserved for the black undershirt and the belt. There are some black buttons painted onto the shirt and the rolled up sleeves were painted a lighter shade of green from the rest which is a nice touch. And we get some X logos printed on the shoulders. The greens are mostly consistent, but the legs and arms appear to have a touch more yellow to them than the torso. The knees and elbows are also a little off which is typical of these pin-less joints from Hasbro. This figure is not the worst offender in that regard and the difference is pretty subtle.

He’s got the helmet, even though he’s not supposed to have his powers in this state.

Xavier comes with just a few accessories, which is often the case for Legends these days. He has two sets of hands: fists and trigger hands. I have no idea why Professor X would come with trigger finger hands, but I guess if you want him to wield a gun he can. He also has a fifth hand which is a two-finger pointing left hand for doing mental power poses. It actually has some sculpted in lines to make it look like an actual glove which is surprising. It may be the same hand that came with the Age of Apocalypse Gambit so that may be how they justified the tooling cost. Chuck also comes with a new Cerebro helmet. At least, I think it’s new. It’s different from the one that came with hoverchair Charlie and it’s fine. It’s that swirly, gray, plastic Hasbro favors over shiny paint for metallic objects and it fits on his head just fine. There’s a hole on the back which had me thinking that was for X-Men ’97 Jean’s ponytail, but the helmet really doesn’t fit on her head because of her hair.

“We must fend them off, Magnus!”
So much for pacifism.
It’s a tight fit, but he can get into this chair and wear the former helmet.
“So we meet again, old friend.”

Xavier’s articulation is pretty standard Legends fair, though it has its own quirks. The head is a double ball peg and it’s actually the best double ball peg setup I’ve seen from Hasbro. The lower ball isn’t as deep as it normally is in the neck and he gets good range looking up, down, and tilt thanks to another joint at the base of the neck. Of course, the lack of any hair to work around is playing a role, but good is good. From there we have typical shoulder ball pegs, bicep swivel, double-jointed elbows, wrists, ab crunch, waist twist, hip, thigh, double-jointed knees, boot cut, and ankle hinges and rockers. The range on the ab crunch is pretty poor going forward and back, but aside from that the other joints are fine. The two-finger pointing hand and the trigger hands all have vertical hinges which is interesting. Not so much the trigger hands, but the two-finger gesture is an odd choice. I’m not sure which direction I’d want the hinge to go in this case. The waist twist being above the sculpted belt is a bit unfortunate because it’s ugly. If they could have set it inside the belt it would have looked better, but also cost more.

In the chair where he belongs.

The articulation is fine and it’s probably plenty for Charles Xavier, a guy who traditionally doesn’t walk. The figure also can fit into the hoverchair if you wish and he did sport that look in the show as well. This is a pretty fine Marvel Legends figure. If I liked the portrait sculpt then I’d be pretty happy here and probably would have paid full price. Since I don’t, I still question my decision to buy it as I don’t think it’s an improvement over the other Xavier I have. At any rate, he’s another addition to the animated shelf and he won’t look awful. And if I display him with the helmet I’ll probably barely notice the face. Plus, the new X-Men ’97 Morph is coming with a head for Henry Gyrich and even the Legends team had that head on the hoverchair Xavier body. Perhaps I’ll do the same eventually leaving this as my default Xavier. Even though this has been discounted for a couple of weeks now, I still see this one at Target so you may be able to find it if you’re interested. I paid $17 for it, but if they keep lingering maybe they’ll go even lower? That might be a gamble worth taking.

Professor X isn’t much on his own, so here’s some other figures that might catch your fancy:

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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Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Magneto

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

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Marvel Legends X-Men Animated Series Mr. Sinister

This week, the long wait for an in-person San Diego Comic Con comes to an end. For the first time since 2019, attendees, creators, and the like will be invited back into the city of San Diego for a celebration of all things comics, movies, and general “nerd” culture. One of the many panels this…

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July 28, 2025

San Diego Comic Con 2025 is in the books!

By Joe

San Diego Comic Con is always an exciting time of year for toy collectors. Even for someone like me who has never considered actually going to the event, I get up for it because I know the coverage is going to be coming fast and furious. Some years are bigger than others, but for me I think I can say that the 2025 edition has been the most surprising. I went into it with certain expectations some of which were met, but some were not and that’s not unusual. What was unusual for me is that some of the things I basically considered a “lock” did not come to pass and I left the event being perhaps most excited about a company and a product line I definitely didn’t see coming. Let’s start with the familiar though and my bread and butter franchise: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

TMNT

NECA is heading down the 2012 TMNT rabbit hole this fall.

As has been the case most years, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had no shortage of coverage this year at the convention. There was even a dedicated brand panel that covered releases from several companies. We still have Playmates for vintage re-releases and some modern takes, NECA is hitting on the toon, Archie, and Mirage, Super7 has the 2003 edition of the show, and now we have Mondo doing sixth scale stuff. Mondo’s line is their own take on a post 1990 film franchise and it looks interesting, but isn’t really on my radar for the time being. I don’t have the space or funds for another Mondo sixth scale franchise. Super7 also reaffirmed its commitment to 2k3 by unveiling silhouettes for the next wave which will include Hun, April, and a motorcycle Raphael and Shell Cycle. This would seem to be the nail in the coffin for the vintage inspired figures Super7 started off with which is really frustrating considering the figures missing (topped by Heavy Metal Raph). I’m done with the 2k3 series after Shredder, and possibly done with Super7 after that as well.

NECA has been the company at the forefront for TMNT the past several years, but their showing was surprisingly light. They did announce a line of turtles based on their appearance in the game Fortnite, but that might have been the most noteworthy. There was a leak the week before SDCC of one of their reveals for the toon line, granny Bebop and baby Rocksteady, though that release wasn’t going to blow anyone away (even if it is entertaining). The only new figure shown for the toon line otherwise was a beach Slash. There was also no big display with dioramas and such, just figures in a case. It’s pretty clear that NECA wasn’t going all out for SDCC. Is that a shift in strategy? It certainly costs money to put these big displays up and staff a booth plus rental space isn’t cheap. Are they going to pivot more to social media for reveals? Is New York Comic Con considered their flagship event? Or did the reappearance of Toy Fair earlier this year just mean all of the stuff that would have been revealed at SDCC was instead shown there?

NECA didn’t have a lot of surprised in their booth, but this certainly was the most standout one.

I don’t know the answer to any of those questions, but I was very surprised at the lack of Tempestra. She has become the biggest missing piece for the toon line, even if she is very much a B-tier character in her own right. I’m not sure why they’re slow-walking that one. They mocked up an arcade cabinet accessory for a still unreleased movie April variant more than two years ago that most assumed was really made for a Tempestra. What I did like, even though none of the figures shown were new reveals, was how the 2012 TMNT line is shaping up. The sculpts look fantastic and they’re all dated for this year and will be sold as single releases so no four or two packs. I don’t think it’s been confirmed where we’ll be able to buy them, but they’re among my most anticipated releases for the second half of 2025. The only other showing that excited me was Garfello, i.e. Garfied cos-playing as a ninja turtle, which was unexpected. It looks great and comes with Odie and is the sort of silly release I’m very likely to get.

As for the rest, there wasn’t much to be excited by. Playmates is re-releasing its remastered turtles minus the bumpy texture a lot of people didn’t like. We actually knew about that going into SDCC, but that was basically the official launch. Mezco also showed off 1990 movie turtles for its One:12 line. They look worse than the NECA releases (which are coincidentally being re-released in single packs this year), but will probably cost more than twice as much.

Mondo

No one does animated X-Men better than Mondo.

We’ll pivot from an IP to a company here as Mondo had a lot to show off. Perhaps more than any other company, though I confess I’m not interested in everything they do (like Masters of the Universe and ThunderCats). What gets my attention first and foremost when it comes to Mondo are their plans for their X-Men animated line of sixth scale figures. It’s a line that is becoming much harder to collect because of the tariff situation in the country, but I’m in too deep to dump it. Heading into the event, we knew the next figure to be solicited was likely to be Mr. Sinister who had already been shown. There was also the reveal of an event exclusive Savage Land Rogue which went up for preorder before the show. They were both at the event along with the next figure: Storm. She looks awesome and was my guess for next up. It didn’t end there though as we also got to see concept art for the next figure and it’s Beast! I’m glad he’s a little ways off since he might be an expensive one. Perhaps things can improve economically before going up for order, though there’s always the chance things get worse. Little is likely to change before Sinister goes up though which is happening in August. I love the look of the figure and he’s an A-list villain from the show, but I do not look forward to the sticker with that one.

That was a hoot!

That’s the only sixth scale line I’m in, but Mondo did reveal more Marvel and DC figures (Superman, Two-Face, Dr. Doom, Lizard) in their other lines which all seemed solid. What really caught my eye though were their Mondo Squads which are more statuesque figures with swappable parts and sold in bundles of characters. Previously, they had done a set of characters from the Nicktoon Aaahh!!! Real Monsters and now they’re moving onto Rocko’s Modern Life. I love Rocko and this set of the titular character plus his mates Heffer and Filbert is pretty much an automatic buy from me. We don’t have a lot of Rocko merch out there so the scarcity will help. Also shown is a squad of Beavis and Butt-Head with their couch and the four fellows from King of the Hill (Hank, Bill, Dale, Boomhauer). Similar to Rocko, I may have to get King of the Hill since there’s so little out there for the franchise that I have really grown to love in recent years after previously dropping off around Season 5. Mondo also teased future squads based on Rugrats and The Ren & Stimpy Show.

The last of the real Ghostbusters makes his debut in Ray.

Mondo is also heavily invested in The Real Ghostbusters, which was probably the biggest reveal of the 2024 show. We’re still waiting on the first release to drop (once again, thank you tariffs), but we have now seen all four of the busters and their companion ghosts. And, to no one’s surprise, everything looks great. I still have reservations about the price, but it is what it is and we’ll talk more about that when Peter finally arrives (hopefully sometime in August). Mondo also revealed that Janine will follow the boys and she’ll be in her more traditional secretary attire. To sweeten the package, she’ll come with her desk and an alternate lower half for a clean cross-legged sitting position. I’m guessing all of this extra stuff means she’s going to retail for $202 like the Ghostbuster + Ghost package we’ve seen up until now, but maybe that won’t be the case. That will be a tall ask and is probably something I won’t be interested in.

Marvel Legends

It’s all X-Men ’97!

I knew Hasbro would have some X-Men ’97 stuff for us, but I wasn’t prepared for just how much and how much I’d like it. We learned what wave three will be and those figures were all on-hand for folks to gawk at: Morph, Jubilee (final suit), Sunspot (final suit), Emma Frost, Cable (first outfit), Wolverine (classic civilian clothes). All of them looked pretty damn good. I’m mostly looking to supplement my ’92 display with these so Cable and Wolverine were locks. My dissatisfaction with the ’92 Jubilee puts the ’97 one on my radar, though I’m disappointed she’s in her black jumpsuit. Maybe I’ll swap heads with the ’92 one? Maybe even arms and coat? Emma just looks great though a classic take on the White Queen was enough to get me to put in a preorder and I love Morph so I’m in for the ’97 version. The only one I didn’t preorder was Sunspot. Nothing against the figure, I just don’t really care about Sunspot.

Gambit, what did they do to you?!

That wasn’t all though as we got a nice look at the made-to-order Sentinel which went up last year and there were some two-packs announced. We can look forward to a finale Cyclops and Jean (Marvel Girl), finale Wolverine and Storm, and a pairing of Rogue and Gambit from their basketball scene in the first episode. None are essentials for me and I don’t think I’ll be getting any, but I love to see how all-in Hasbro is with X-Men ’97. The one set that I would have had the most interest in is the basketball two-pack, but it is unfortunately the worst looking set of the two. That’s because it looks like Hasbro repurposed its Starting Lineup body of NBA players for its shirtless Gambit. That sculpt has a very unpleasant looking ab crunch in the middle of it. It worked okay for Starting Lineup because all of those figures had a jersey. Gambit doesn’t have that luxury and it looks terrible. It’s honestly one of those “How did this get approved?” moments that comes along once in awhile.

Aside from that, I had little to be critical of with Hasbro’s panel. They also revealed their next made-to-order figure: Mephisto. Mephisto was previously released many moons ago by Diamond in their Diamond Select line. Marvel Legends has not touched him though because he’s basically Marvel Satan and not afraid to show it. There was going to be one attached to the Engine of Vengeance HasLab if it hit a certain number of orders, but that product didn’t even fund. The Legends team had previously stated Mephisto could not be released any other way, but there was almost certainly some gamesmanship in those statements. Something obviously changed and now Mephisto is on the way, though he won’t be showing up at Walmart or Target. He is coming with his own throne and this thing sure looks familiar.

Hey! I know that skull!

Crystar fans can probably spot where this thing is from and the Legends team was not shy about stating it’s based on the cover of issue 8 by artist Michael Golden. We’ve covered that issue here and that’s because it’s also the cover musician Glenn Danzig stole from to come up with a logo for his band Samhain which then became the logo for the band Danzig. The Legends team, once again, was not at all shy about pointing that out and might even be hoping for some cross-sale appeal with that fanbase. As for Danzig, no comment has been made. The item was shared in the official Danzig fan group on Facebook and has since been removed so either he’s not happy or the moderators for that group think he would not be happy to see it. Fans have frequently traded and sold issues of Crystar there so it’s not like the group hides from the connection, but maybe he’s salty that he won’t get a cut? He probably thinks he made the image famous, and he probably did, but he has also made a lot of money off of art he never owned so I think we can call it square on this one, Mr. Danzig. Especially if Marvel never came looking for a cut of those t-shirts. Either way, the throne looks awesome and yes, I’m buying it. I don’t even care about Mephisto, but this thing looks too good to pass up. It’s an open preorder that closes August 26th and will set you back $80 when it ships next year.

As for other odds and ends, I continue to be impressed with the offerings from Jada Toys, even if the IPs they traffic in have little or no appeal to me. Except for Frosty the Snowman, I will get that. Big Bad Workshop had a variant of its upcoming action figure of The Tick on display and he might already be my most anticipated for next year. I love The Tick and it’s been at the top of my most wanted for a few years now and I hope the line is a success. We also know who will be the next character: Chairface Chippendale. The Naughty or Nice collection is also continuing and we’re finally getting a Mrs. Claus. I assume she will go up for preorder around Christmas time and hopefully will fund. She’s not the design I would have gone with, but I’ll be happy to have a Mrs. Claus join Santa on my shelf some day.

And that’s a wrap! Thanks to all of the people who cover this event every year and whose videos I snipped screen grabs from: Pixel Dan, Toy Anxiety, Robo Don’t Know. Toyark.com also has some great coverage if you prefer still shots. All of the folks involved help people like me who can’t make it to the con enjoy from my home or wherever I happen to be.

If you liked reading this here’s some related content you may enjoy:

Mondo X-Men TAS 1/6 Scale SDCC Exclusive Logan

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

April 30, 2025

Marvel Legends Professor X with Hoverchair

By Joe
All right kids, back in your seats. Teacher is here.

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 superheroes increased over the years there was more room for nuance. I’m sure some folks in marketing at Marvel Comics scoffed at the idea of a team of superheroes being led by a middle aged paraplegic, but that’s the direction Stan Lee and Jack Kirby went in when they created the X-Men. That team was founded by Professor Charles Xavier, a powerful, telepathic, mutant (which is basically used to mean a superhero born with their powers) who just so happens to be confined to a wheelchair. Unlike a character like Daredevil, a blind superhero whose enhanced, super, senses essentially negate his disability, Xavier’s powers do not help him walk. Sure, some writers have played around with that over the years, but at his core Professor X is a man with a disability able to thrive in a world of super powered individuals.

He’s a bit of a little guy.

I don’t know for certain, but in a world where even female characters were treated like radioactive material, I can imagine folks at Toy Biz not being too excited about doing a Professor X figure. It took a little while for the head man to make his debut in that old toy line, but I was honestly pumped when he did. I think he may have been the final character from the cartoon series X-Men to be released and complete the team. I know we had to wait awhile for Beast and Morph, but I can recall getting those two figures on Christmas (1994, I want to say) and the following Easter Chuck was sitting beside my Easter basket (along with Ahab, a figure not exactly high on my wants list). And aside from having a blue suit instead of green, he was pretty faithfully depicted as he was in the show complete with his 90s, stylish, hoverchair. Because of the cartoon and Jim Lee’s run on X-Men, it’s the hoverchair I most often associate with Xavier. Hasbro certainly knows that’s the case for many which is probably why they released Xavier in a deluxe package with his famous chair.

Hope you like this gesture, because it’s kind of all he can do.

This figure was released a few years ago, but in 2024 Hasbro made it available once again to preorder. Having since acquired several characters from the cartoon in Marvel Legends form, I felt like I needed Xavier to pull it all together. The addition of the chair does make for additional cost. This thing was a whopping 50 bucks, by far the most I have ever spent on a Marvel Legends figure. I was pretty skeptical it would be worth that in the end, but when you’re basically one figure short of a full squad it’s the kind of thing one will extend themselves on. Toy companies are aware of this phenomenon, which is why I fully expect Xavier to be the last release in Mondo’s very awesome, but very expensive, line of X-Men figures. Trying to imagine what a sixth scale Xavier in his hoverchair will set me back is already giving me anxiety.

His chair comes loaded with a TV and some games so he doesn’t get bored.

That is a topic for another day, today we’re in the more familiar realm of 1:12, or there about. Xavier comes in an oversized window box and is featured prominently in the center. His chair is amusingly split in half so we can see one half of the chair on each side of the figure. The backdrop contains artwork of the entire, animated, team in a style that resembles the cartoon. Beast, for example, has pupils. It displays well, but I could not care less about that fact. Once removed, the chair requires some assembly. There are four pieces to it: each side, a backrest, and a cushion. The backrest slides onto either half while the cushion plugs into a slot in the center of one of the pieces. Then you just push it together. It’s pretty intuitive and most probably won’t need to consult any instructions. Not that there is any. I’m surprised they didn’t print some on an inside flap of the box.

I like the thought of this base, but not so much the execution.

The chair looks pretty good from a sculpting standpoint. It’s not painted though, so you get some of that swirly plastic effect Hasbro seems to love when it’s trying to create the illusion of a metal material. There is a big seam down the middle which is unfortunate. It makes me wish that at least the front was a third piece that snapped over the assembled halves, essentially the same concept as the backrest, to at least get rid of the seam there. On each armrest there’s a control panel that slides out. One has a monitor while the other a keyboard and at least those two parts are painted. Even though the artwork seems to be evocative of the cartoon, the design of the chair is from the comic. The most obvious distinction is the shape of the front and lack of headlights. The chair sits fine as-is, but there’s also an included base. It’s a white post with a transparent piece of plastic over it in the shape of smoke, I guess? The transparent portion is frosted over with white paint and the plumes are pointed so, to me, it looks more like ice. I don’t think ice is what they’re going for here, but it gives the figure a little height.

Cool hat, bro.

As for Xavier himself, he’s depicted in his green suit with white shirt and blue and black tie. He has a very serious expression on his face with his signature, arched, eyebrows. His right hand is in a two-finger gesture while his left hand is open, but curled. He has no extra hands which is unfortunate. He should at least come with another right hand so he doesn’t always have to be making this very specific gesture. And because the damn thing cost 50 bucks – throw in some hands! Outside the chair, Charles stands just a tick over 6″. He has a slight build with a very big head relative to his body. It strikes me as a little off as Xavier from this era was usually portrayed as being rather broad shouldered. This figure makes him look like a weenie. Most of the figure is colored plastic with the belt and tie being where the most paint is utilized. The jacket portion of the torso is an overlay while the sleeves are part of the sculpt. This is pretty standard, but the small shoulders means some white sticks through the gap between the arms and jacket. There is also a slight discoloration to the arms vs the shoulders with the shoulders being noticeably darker and shinier. This is an older figure so it does feature pins in the joints. I don’t find them particularly distracting, but there must have been suit guys made over the past few years on pin-less bodies, no? I’m surprised he didn’t get a minor cosmetic upgrade as a result.

Hey professor, you got some…ugh…stuff…squirting out of the back of your head.

Articulation for Charlie is pretty typical stuff for Legends. We have: ball hinge neck, ab crunch, ball-hinged shoulders, biceps swivels, wrist swivels and hinges, waist swivel, ball-socket hips, thigh swivel, ankle hinge and rocker, double-jointed elbows and knees. Range at the hips and shoulders is mediocre and the ankles are pretty limited too, though I guess that doesn’t matter much for a character who will be seated. He’s going to do what you need him to do, but if that’s something you want him to do is outside Professor X’s typical wheelhouse then you won’t be impressed. Like standing. This guy is really hard to stand because the range on the ankle hinged is poor and his feet are tiny. Again, for this guy it doesn’t matter, but if you wanted to swap in a different Xavier and use this body as a custom for someone else you may be disappointed.

If you’re curious, it can kind of fit the head of the X-Men ’97 Jean.

I have critiques for the presentation and articulation on this set, but the bulk of my criticism is going to reside with the accessories. I suppose one could consider the hoverchair itself an accessory, but since this is a set that’s double the price of a typical Legends release I think of it more like a two-pack where the hoverchair is almost like its own thing. And the hoverchair has the effect part stand and also a little blankie that can go over the lap of its occupant. That’s all fine, but for Xavier himself the accessory count is slight. He has his Cerebro helmet which is more of a classic design than one that’s evocative of the 90s or animated series (if you want a more TV helmet, the new Target exclusive Savage Land Xavier comes with one). It fits on his head fine though you may have to mess with it to get it aligned just right. It also has an effect part that plugs into the back. Its done in white plastic with a pearlescent coating. The shape is like a splatter effect and it’s supposed to represent his psychic powers which are sometimes illustrated with such a shape. For me, I think of them as being colored pink or blue (even the box art opts for pink), though I’m sure someone colored them white at some point in the comics. It’s just this color and this shape make it look like he’s getting hit in the back of the head with a balloon filled with milk, or a substance that’s much more disgusting.

Obviously, this is how everyone is going to display this guy.

For optional parts, we have the head of the Shadow King. Your mileage may vary, but for me, the Shadow King was always one of the lamest characters associated with X-Men. I loathe his episodes from the show so this isn’t an accessory that’s going to appeal to me. That being said, the sculpt and paint on the head is fine. There’s more paint on this thing than probably on the entirety of the rest of the set. It’s also just a head and it’s not meant for this figure. My understanding is that this head is designed to fit on the Kingpin body so if you want to create a Shadow King for your collection you need to go out and get yourself another Kingpin. Which is fine as a throw-in if they had room in the budget, but this head is the only other accessory in the box. We don’t get a second portrait for Charles, we don’t even get any extra hands! I wish he had some neutral hands for just when he’s sitting in his chair or at least one alternative to the pointing fingers hand. A portrait where he’s calling out commands to his X-Men would be appreciated too and I would happily trade this Shadow King head for accessories for Xavier that flesh him out. That’s the character I want. That’s what’s driving my purchasing decision. Not a random part that’s only useful if I go out and buy a whole other figure.

This set may be more expensive than your typical Legends release, but the end result is pretty much the same. This Charles Xavier figure is what you buy if you have a collection of Marvel Legends X-Men and you just want an Xavier. It’s going to slot into your display and anyone who sees it will know that’s Professor X. It’s not going to “wow” anybody though and there are a lot of shortcomings. The actual figure strikes me as a better representation of a 60s and 70s Xavier who was drawn more like an older guy. As a 90s Chuck, this guy is too small and slight. The chair looks fine, but the lack of paint also makes it look cheap. And if they had just done the thing in three pieces where the front portion that covers the characters legs was one piece it would have cut out that hideous seam right down the middle. The accessories are a bummer because the figure feels underbaked, and given that this is a re-release it’s an added bummer because they could have improved the figure at no added expense. There are better suit-guy molds at Hasbro they could have used or just more hands. It’s almost like they want you to go out and buy that Savage Land Xavier in the flight suit if you’re unsatisfied with this one and toss him in the chair instead. I prefer my Xavier in his green suit though, and I don’t like the portrait of that new Xavier. Plus, his assortment of hands are almost as bad as they are here (he comes with trigger finger hands – why would Xavier need trigger finger hands?!).

Obligatory, “To me, my X-Men,” shot.

Should you get this one? I don’t know. It’s really just to fill out a collection which is honestly the worst reason to buy something. I try not to do it because money and space are precious resources and I don’t like wasting either on something I don’t love. And to get this guy into your display it’s going to take some work since he does demand quite a bit of shelf space. It looks okay, so I don’t hate it. I would like it a whole lot more if it were $35 instead of $50 so maybe I should have held out for a sale. One may come, one may not, as X-Men are pretty hot right now thanks to X-Men ’97 so anyone waiting for a sale somewhere is probably taking a risk.

There are more reviews here of X-Men action figures if you’re looking to fill out a shelf:

Marvel Legends X-Men Animated Series Wolverine

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Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Jean Grey

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