Everyone has a character that is special to them. A character they’ve championed year after year, decade after decade, through all the highs and lows that character has been put through. Sometimes that character becomes trendy, like, say, Deadpool, and it feels as though the entire world has finally caught on to what you knew all along — and there is vindication. But sometimes the opposite happens — a character you’ve been championing for years and decades never catches on the way you know they could and should, if that magic combination of the perfect creative team and timing would just hurry up and strike.
For X-Men-affiliate Longshot, he began his tenure in the Marvel Universe with an advantage most characters never see. His introduction was in the pages of his own 6-issue limited series by Ann Nocenti and Art Adams, so he basically got his start with the perfect creative team, even though that creative team was still pretty new themselves at the time. I bought Longshot #1 straight off the rack in 1985 at my local drug store, and I was hooked immediately. The world that Nocenti and Adams created was absorbing, Longshot was relatable as a “superhero” because his abilities were more down to earth, and he just looked so darn cool. (C’mon — in 1985 that haircut was cool. Everyone from Bono to Duran Duran was sporting it.) And getting on board with a #1 comic had tremendous appeal. Here was a new comic with a new character that was “ours,” at least that’s how it felt standing in that aisle in 1985. Spider-Man, the Hulk, Captain America — they’d all been around forever and were firmly established in comics that numbered up in the hundreds, but Longshot felt like a gift to just us kids from Marvel. To be fair, Art Adams wasn’t really a “name” yet in the comics world, and Longshot was his own introduction to Marvel, but the series was fantastic and hinted at great things to come for Art Adams, but Longshot himself didn’t fare as well.
Following the limited series, there was a brief hiatus before Longshot was eventually re-introduced in Uncanny X-Men Annual #10, where he would join the team as an X-Man, despite not actually being a mutant. So Longshot went from the pages of his own Art Adams-penciled series to become a member of the X-Men just as The Uncanny X-Men was becoming the most popular comic book on the racks — so what on earth is the problem? The problem is that it felt as though no one but Ann Nocenti and Art Adams understood the character and knew what to do with him. He was an oddball fit for the X-Men and it never really felt like he was part of the team, and, worst of all, it felt like his best days were behind him. Fans who were introduced to him in the pages of The Uncanny X-Men tended to not be very fond of him — and with good reason. He was often comic relief, with that mullet of his drawn to ridiculous comic extremes, ensuring no one was going to get on board with the character. It was difficult to take him seriously, so all I could do was watch in disappointment as my favorite character metaphorically had dirt kicked in his face by multitudes who “didn’t get it.”
When ToyBiz announced Longshot was on the way in Marvel Legends wave 14, the Mojo wave, I was floored and excited. This felt like vindication for all those years I spent championing the character to everyone who disparaged him. The joke was on me, however, since that Longshot figure became one of the worst-selling Marvel Legends figures ever. Retailers had piles of him on deep discounts, and even now he can still be had for around $5 on Amazon. Once again, it sucked to see my favorite character get kicked around so.
But then, a few years later, Longshot was absorbed into X-Factor and was totally revamped. The mullet disappeared, the costume updated, and the writers played to the character’s strengths. Longshot let loose in a casino? Are you kidding me? That is awesome! How come that took so long? In X-Factor Longshot regained some of that cool factor I always knew he had. He was still a secondary character for sure, but at least it felt like someone besides Nocenti and Adams “got” him. With this updated look and relevance, it felt like the right time to start testing the waters for a new, updated figure from Hasbro.
When Fwoosh would host its annual “most wanted” vote, Longshot would only get one or two votes. There was one year when I was definitely the only person who voted for him. And I get it. I do. With so many characters who still haven’t had their day in 6-inch form, asking for a new Longshot feels a little superfluous and maybe even a little selfish. Polaris, Shatterstar, Dazzler, Warlock, Thunderbird, a real Sunfire, Strong Guy, Madrox, etc. — all of these characters still need 6-inch representation. We got a Longshot already. But that was a decade ago, and that figure is kinda terrible due to extremely rubbery joints. So . . . I still want a new one.
Even though his second limited series, Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe, did the character absolutely no favors in terms of raising his profile in a positive way, I’m still clinging to the idea of getting a 6-inch X-Factor Longshot, especially if we were to somehow get an X-Factor Shatterstar before an original X-Force Shatterstar. X-Factor versions of both Longshot and Shatterstar in the same wave would make me completely flip out, and the joy of explaining to others how Longshot and Shatterstar are simultaneously each other’s father and son would be inexpressible. And then, well, all we would need is a Dazzler to make that hypothetical wave the greatest wave ever. GREATEST WAVE EVER.
tl;dr: New X-Factor versions of Longshot AND Shatterstar, please. And toss in a Dazzler while you’re at it.
