Last year, Mondo sold three different exclusives timed with popular conventions from its sixth scale line of action figures based on X-Men the animated series. One of them was a comic edition of Magneto which was sold at San Diego Comic Con. The other two were essentially preorders to be delivered at a later date. San Diego Comic Con brought Logan, a version of popular hero Wolverine in his civilian attire. New York Comic Con, which took place a couple of months later, featured Omega Red, the soviet super soldier who appeared in a pair of episodes. I don’t know how toy production works, but for whatever reason the exclusive sold most recently was the first to arrive at my residence so lets talk about Omega Red!
Omega Red comes in the standard box from Mondo with new artwork by series storyboard artist Dan Veesenmeyer and an assortment of production art as well. Omega Red has the added wrinkle of featuring raised elements on the box with his hands and coils being a separate piece of cardstock that’s been attached to the box. It’s a fun little embellishment I wasn’t expecting. The front flap is affixed via Velcro, which is different from the Gambit figure we just looked at which used magnets. The inner tray is a floating piece and is not affixed to the cardboard backdrop. I’m guessing the little variations in packaging are just due to them originating from different factories. Also of interest is that Omega Red shipped to me via DHL and it came straight from the factory rather than going to Mondo first in Texas and then being shipped via FedEx. This meant the figure required a signature, but it wasn’t an issue since I was home at the time of delivery. I’m curious if this will be how the figures are shipped going forward or if Omega Red was a special case.
Omega Red is certainly an interesting choice for this line. We have three heroes and three villains so far and I bet if you asked fans of the show which villain would arrive third most would have guessed Mr. Sinister. Omega Red was only a featured player in two episodes and one of those episodes is considered among the worst in the series by showrunner Eric Lewald. And that was because he basically had to write it in a weekend since they were an episode short (I forget why, but it’s detailed in one or both of his books on the series). Omega Red was also a fairly new villain in the comics when the show began and he may have even appeared in the series because Marvel wanted to spotlight the new adversary of Wolverine and the X-Men. He’s basically the soviet equivalent of a Captain America or even the Weapon X project. He was created by artist Jim Lee and writer John Byrne and I would say he’s a case of 90s style over substance. Still, Omega Red was undeniably cool looking and his old Toy Biz figures was one of my favorites as a kid because of that. He’s a good enough foil for Wolverine, and strictly from a design perspective, I was happy to see that he was going to be included in this line.
Unfortunately, I do have an issue right off the bat with my figure. When I opened the shipper box and took a look at the goods inside, I noticed right away that there was a spot in the bubble tray that was empty. It was supposed to contain an optional left hand for the figure. I was hoping it had just become dislodged during the shipping process, but upon opening the box there was no hand to be found. Bummer. It’s disappointing that this wasn’t caught by the factory since just a cursory inspection of the product would have revealed the missing item. I’ve reached out to Mondo to see if they can send me a hand or exchange the figure – whatever is needed to get the complete package. They got back to me after a few days to say a replacement hand is on the way and should ship by the end of the month. I’ll update this space accordingly when that happens. UPDATE: The missing hand arrived as promised maybe two weeks after I reached out. Perfect customer service!
Omega Red stands at roughly 12.5″ to the base of his ponytail. This would put him at a bit over six feet, which seems reasonable for a sixth scale action figure. Omega Red is a very impressive looking figure. I’ve raved about the paint jobs in this line with every release, but Omega Red represents a new high bar. Alex Brewer is the sculptor for this figure, and he’s been the sculptor for all of them I believe, but handling the paint master this time around was Mark Bristow. Mark, you knocked this one out of the park! There are two primary shades of red in use, a bright red and a crimson, with black and white mixed in as well. The metallic portions of the suit are white with a gray-blue and some black linework and the same approach is taken for the white flesh of his arms and face. This figure is just covered in paint and it looks amazing. This is a figure that is going to draw eyes to it on your shelf. The sculpt is also very impressive as he has this massive upper body. He is just a joy to behold.
Of course, with a lot of paint comes a lot of room for error. For the most part, the paint job on Omega Red is very impressive and cleanly applied. Upon close inspection, there are a few blemishes here and there mostly in the form of a small scratch. Some of the white accents could be applied in a more opaque manner, especially the white on the forearms which ends up almost pink. There’s also a ton of paint around the elbow joints that’s a risk to flake off or get scratched with repeated use. I also think the black under his chin might be just a tad too heavy, but that’s more of a subjective critique. Overall, the presentation is the strength of this figure and I doubt any who picked this one up will be disappointed by it.
What’s a little more surprising with this figure is the small assortment of accessories. There was only one edition of Omega Red so perhaps that’s why, but he’s comparatively lighter than the rest of the line. He comes with fisted hands in the box, but should have a set of open hands as well. The cuffs around his hands are removable and will pop off when you swap hands, but they’re pretty easy to work with and are just floating pieces. He also comes with three different portraits: neutral/scowl, smirk, angry yell. All three look appropriate for the character and all three use the same hair mold. It would have been nice if one had a more windswept hair piece instead, but I don’t think his hair changed much in the show either. They are a bitch to swap though. It took some force to get the default one off and I could not get it or any of the others to pop onto the ball joint without first heating it up. And even then, it still was a challenge. I’d recommend picking a favorite and just sticking with it, though admittedly that’s a hard choice because all three heads look terrific.
The only other accessories included with Omega Red are his carbonadium coils. He has two sets: long and short. The long ones are pretty damn long – about 14″. They’re done with soft plastic with a bendy wire inside that works reasonably well. You won’t be able to do anything too crazy, but they’ll pose. They’re done with gray plastic and there’s some black shading on them as well. I wish there was a little blue or white too, but they look fine. They plug into the ports on the underside of his forearms and that works fine. The shorter ones are about 4.5″ long and work the same way so you get a little variety, but that’s it. I did encounter some splitting of the plastic on one of the short tentacles, so beware if you intend to bend them a bunch. The only other thing in the box is the usual Mondo stand (and it’s the older version which lack the no-slip bottom). I’m a little surprised we didn’t get an effect part as the coils glow with green energy in the show whenever Omega Red sucks the lifeforce out of his victims. Some removable ice blocks to simulate his frozen state could have been cool too. I think the assortment is fine, I’m just a little surprised at the sparseness.
The articulation for this line has not been impressive and Omega Red may be the worst one yet. He is extremely locked-down for me so this figure is definitely a case of what you see is basically what you get. If you’re not impressed with how he looks, then you will definitely not be all that pleased with the product. The head is on the standard double-ball peg, but the hair means it can’t really do anything. He can basically look down a bit and that’s it. Try to even turn his head and you risk a lot of paint transfer. The shoulders are ball-hinged and pretty tight. I can only get about 45 degrees of range out to the side, and the big shoulder pads will also limit rotation quite a bit. There is a cut about the elbow for a swivel, but as I mentioned in the aesthetics portion, there’s a ton of paint here so you want to be careful moving it so as not to disturb any of that paint. The hinge in the elbow is very tight and maybe moves a little past 45 degrees. The hands rotate fine and the ball-hinge is pretty smooth. I still can’t get the hands to rotate on that ball, but at least they’re not as tight as Gambit’s.
The diaphragm features a ball joint, but the fit is super tight. I can’t get that joint to do much of anything. There’s a waist twist, but it’s behind his belt so that’s super tight as well. I get a little pivot out of it, but not full rotation. The ball socket hips work about as well as they do on the other figures. He can widen his stance a bit and kick forward a bit, but nothing crazy. The thigh swivels on that joint and it works fine while the usual double-jointed knees are in place. My left knee works fine, the right is super tight and I don’t want to force it. The ankles hinge forward and back a little bit and the ankle rocker is suitable.
Omega Red barely poses as a result of all of that. He’s basically just going to stand there on your shelf and look cool. A more adventurous sort could probably get a little more out of this figure than I, but I don’t want to screw up the paint at all. The end result is I have a figure that I absolutely love to look at, but doesn’t bring me any joy to handle. Some would say that makes this a pretty poor release since it is, after all, an action figure and should be able to pose accordingly. I can’t bring myself to say that about it though because it does just look amazing. This is a figure for those who prioritize aesthetics over articulation and accessories. If you want a bad ass, foot tall, Omega Red in your collection then this figure is awesome. If you want something that can be posed in a dynamic fashion then this will let you down. If you know what you want out of this, then you should be able to make an informed decision. I personally love it, but it’s not for everyone.
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