I’ve always loved box sets. Unfortunately, they’re done all too infrequently, and when companies do attempt them, more often than not they sit in unsold heaps and end up being deeply discounted, which just proves I don’t understand collectors at all. I will never understand the downside to getting a group of characters all at once, whether thematically linked, a team, or however they want to be served up. If I had my way, all my collecting would be done in groups of box sets. No worries about not finishing a team, no tracking down that one member that is eluding you. One purchase and bam — a whole chunk of goodness right there for you.
At the tail end of the ‘90s 5-inch blitzkrieg, ToyBiz pumped out a trio of box sets aimed right at the excitement spots of toy collectors brains: a First Appearance Avengers set, a First Appearance X-Men set, and a Giant-Size X-Men set. You’d think this would have been a welcome, rewarded endeavor, but they ended up in discount bins, unloved and unwanted. I’ve heard of some people getting them for $5. While I didn’t get that lucky, I did end up getting my set at Kay-bee for half-price — $15. Not bad for six figures.
By the time these started showing up, the 5-inch line was on the inevitable downswing. Many of the figures were bypassing the bigger stores and were making their peg debut at Big Lots around the country. Shortly after I grabbed this set for such a steal, I ran across the Alpha Flight line at a Big Lots for two bucks a piece.
My enthusiasm for the X-Men and mutants as a whole has waned since I was a kid. For me it’s a little like the Batman-obsessed collectors of DC who want all Bat, all the time. There’s a whole universe out there, not just one niche. By the end of the ‘90s, they had scoured every inch of the mutant world with wave after wave of X-Men figures. I don’t begrudge those who grew up in the ‘90s and had the high-selling comic and the X-Men cartoon and the toys that were giving them a constant stream of brand new characters. I was older, but was right there buying and buying and buying. But after a point it got to be too much. Too much mutants, too much obsession, too much people using the letter “X” more than any other letter.
But then this set came along and took me back to being a kid again. I have always had a soft spot for the Giant-Size X-Men team, and this set provided the best interpretations of these characters to date for me. While the articulation scheme pales in comparison to what has come after, at the time toys with ankle joints weren’t an everyday occurrence, and a Colossus that could do the biceps-flexing pose we all take for granted was a rarity.
I think the most noteworthy thing about this set — and probably the reason it ended up in the discount bins — is that it’s an X-Men set without Wolverine. I don’t think I could see that happening now. That angry little runt would be front and center in his tiger stripe costume if this set were offered today. But this set focused on the rest of the team, the ones who had either never before received a figure, or were just now receiving their best figure yet.
In the case of Colossus, this was definitely true. Colossus is one of my favorite X-Men, if not my favorite X-Man, period. I’m more often than not a fan of the strong man of the group (or Strong Guy, in the case of X-Factor), and Colossus fills that role well, obviously, but the design has always been such perfection. There’s no real reason for him to have those lines in his metal skin, but he wouldn’t be the same if he were unbroken metal. Add to that the red and yellow pattern of his costume, and he’s an eye-catching dude. This was my favorite 5-inch version by a long shot, and, from a pure aesthetic view, I like it better than the Marvel Legends release, which lost some of the sleekness. I see him as tall and lean, but powerful, where the Marvel Legends version was a bit rounded and bloated. With the addition of ball-jointed shoulders and jointed ankles, he had a much higher play-factor, and at the time they finally did him right. I still don’t really have a truly stellar Marvel Legends-scaled Colossus, but for 5-inchers with all the limitations of that line, this one hit the heights.
Banshee is my least favorite of the set, for no real reason other than Banshee has never really excited me as a character. Plus, that damned preposed foot. ToyBiz had been doing a lot of preposed sculpting in their toys at that point, with a lot of crouching and leaning and hunching for certain figures. I wanted more static, neutral poses that could be easily manipulated. This set didn’t suffer too much from those issues, but it popped up here and there.
Though less articulated, of course, this Banshee is somehow still better than the Hasbro wave 1 version. He can do a nice flying pose due to his fabric arms-cape. Plus, he has a collar. Just shows what a dedicated sculpt can do for a toy.
Nighcrawler is still a fun even now. With a bendy tail and nice articulation for the time with deep bending capabilities. He can get into a great crouched pose and still stand up straight. He’s another of my favorite characters when written well. When you look back at these characters that were so shockingly new at the time with their multicultural beginnings, you really see what a great pool of diverse characters with diverse personalities Claremont created.
When you look at Nightcrawler, you can almost see the seeds of Marvel Legends being planted. You take a look at the poses he gets into and you start thinking, “What if a ball were added here, or a joint there, or…” and suddenly ML starts taking shape. It’s like this set was the father of Marvel Legends. The shorter, stiffer father. They did do a couple things that not even the grown-up child have done, though.
Thunderbird is example number one of that. I remember how cool it was that they finally immortalized a character that died pretty quickly, and he has yet to have that honor bestowed on him again to this day. While he was a bit redundant with both Wolverine and Colossus on the team, and only existed to raise the takes, as they were, he still played an important part in the
“deadly genesis” of the team, and it’s a shame that he doesn’t have a slightly taller counterpart. His articulation scheme is the same as the rest, and he poses well. Another of my favorite parts of this set is FISTS FOR THE STRONG GUYS. Both Colossus and Thunderbird are capable of punching the bejeezus out of someone — because they have fists. Yes, I may be obsessed with fists.
While Colossus may be my favorite of the set, it’s a very close tie with Sunfire. This costume is just kick-ass. While we got an “Age of Apocalypse” version in ML, and that one’s nice, its not and will never be my idea of Sunfire. This is what Sunfire looks like to me. I love everything about this costume. It has nice nods to his Japanese culture with the design of his mask and the color scheme, and has that bright, colorful instantly recognizable flair I like in a superhero costume. Truthfully, I would have bought the set just for him even if I had hated every other toy or character in it. Sunfire didn’t stick around in the comic very long either, but not because he died, but because he’s an ornery sumbitch. But damn, he can act any way he wants with a costume as kick-ass as this one.
Not content to just give him a plain painted costume, they fully sculpted all the scales on his arms and legs, which adds to his overall visual appeal. He’s the only one of the group to receive swivel wrists — for the flame-shooting.
And finally, Storm. Another costume that has not made the transition from 5-inch figure to ML-status. She received a prototype a while ago, but that sucked, and nothing new has been forthcoming. Boo.
Storm, like a lot of females at the time, had that preposed contrapposta hip-deal going on, along with the female V-crotch design that meant when the legs go up she does the splits. I’m glad girl toys don’t do that anymore. Her unique cape was fabric, and it was exceedingly well done. I know fabric has its vehement detractors, but you can’t deny that that this looks really good, way better than even Banshee’s cloth cape looks. Plus, she seems very happy. She stands OK on her little heels if you balance her just right, but she is by far the most precarious of the group.
Overall, though, this was a great set and a welcome purchase at half price. I wouldn’t have felt cheated if I found it at full price. This is something that Hasbro should look into for retail, or, failing that, for SDCC. Make it as easily available in prodigious enough quantities like this year’s Thunderbolts set, bring in an all-new sculpt for Colossus that you can reuse for some of his other appearances through the years, and anchor it with a new Wolverine if you have to (because nowadays you have to do things like that), and you’ve got a winner. I can’t believe we’re missing some of these figures in our collections now, when back in the late ‘90s they all came in one box set, ready for purchasing.