The bird design is a non-issue for me. It's the inability to function as a display stand for the figure that really irks me. That single foot hole is just not enough to support a figure over time.
I don't own it yet but that is a bit worrisome. I did see a review that showed you really have to push the leg down to get in securely in that hole. I don't know how big of a difference that makes over time. Still.....how many different ways could that have been designed? How many better solutions could there have been to fix her securely to the base if they gave it more thought? I'm betting a lot. Even so, I don't know that I would be too upset if I just have her standing in front of the thing.
I don't care about mythological interpretations - I care about Marvel-inspired interpretations and this misses the mark entirely. You might find one image where a bad artist drew it like an eagle - but for decades that is not how this character is depicted. This character is made of FIRE - not feathers.
I'm surprised Nova's fire stand hasn't come out with another character - that's a useful piece, even if the bottom has a hand cut-out.
Incidentally, this figure is NOT part of the 85th Anniversary line.
I already admitted I was wrong, OK... you don't have to keep yelling at me about it. gosh
😉
I'm surprised Nova's fire stand hasn't come out with another character - that's a useful piece, even if the bottom has a hand cut-out.
I have my Nova base standing on top of the old base that came with the '90s Nova. Works well.
But I agree that it's a versatile piece. Having gotten the Phoenix fire base for Firelord, if that doesn't work with him I'll just swap that to Nova and give hers to him.
Jean became Dark Phoenix in Uncanny X-Men #134, and the first time we see the Phoenix Force is in #135 when she destroys a sun and a Shi'ar ship in the area. The page from #135 where that happens is below.
It's pretty clearly a bird. The talons are clear, as are the wings and the beak of the bird. I assumed the fire was supposed to be feather-like. Seems pretty clear that Claremont and Cockrum were going for a bird design, so the idea that it's not a bird confuses me.
Or is it the type of bird that's the issue? What does the one in this image look like--a hawk? Eagle? Turkey buzzard? Some mythical mix that isn't any modern bird exactly? I don't know enough about modern raptors to know.
@enigmaticclarity I think they mean that they'd like the stylization of the bird sculpt to lean more towards a fiery texture than a feathered one. Fire in the vague shape of a bird rather than fully sculpted bird in the transparent colors of fire.
Personally I'm fine with the design either way as I think both convey the overall theme adequately. But I do think I understand the preference they're expressing.
Both Toy Biz and Diamond Select made their own Phoenix Forces similar to this new one. The Diamond Select is pictured below for comparison reference. I don't have that one because I never liked that prominent square piece visible in the pic below, but I do have the Toy Biz so I'll post pics in another post.
This new one looks MUCH better than those older two which is why I want the new one. I'll leave it to others more versed in raptor anatomy to decide which matches whatever reference they prefer. I agree with the people who don't like Jean's face sculpt or paint, I don't either in the promos. I'll probably use the 2-pack Dark Phoenix heads with it if the new ones don't look better than the promos in hand.
@enigmaticclarity I think they mean that they'd like the stylization of the bird sculpt to lean more towards a fiery texture than a feathered one. Fire in the vague shape of a bird rather than fully sculpted bird in the transparent colors of fire.
I'd definitely describe Cockrum's depiction as being fiery, but it does have talons and a beak. I didn't note the feather textures in the reviews I"ve watched so I'll look at that when I get it in-hand.
Here's the Toy Biz Phoenix Force. Pretty simple, but I still love it and put my Mafex Phoenix on it when I got her intending the replace it with the Legends version once I have it. Before I got the Mafex I've had the Legends 2-pack Dark Phoenix on it for years. The base hinges forward or backward a notch, and there's a clip that rotates in the middle that I have on Jean's right thigh to hold her up. It also fits the waist of the Mafex and most Legends female figures, but the feet of figures hits the ground if you put that on the waist so it's tough to do flying poses using that clip with the waist. There's a mount on the back that fits over a nail for hanging it on a wall. Nothing else articulates at all including the head that's built entirely into the body and wing sculpt.
This and the Diamond look more fiery as jakeekiss described, and neither have talons like the one in X-Men #135. Both have beaks, and I don't know what kind of bird either is most similar to.
@enigmaticclarity I think like most adaptations from page to plastic there's a cross section of the audience that will always have some misalignment between what they wanted and interpreted mentally and what they got. Happens to all of us at some point, I think. I don't think it necessarily indicates malice or intentional lack of forethought on the part of the artists making the figures, just differences in taste.
@enigmaticclarity I think like most adaptations from page to plastic there's a cross section of the audience that will always have some misalignment between what they wanted and interpreted mentally and what they got. Happens to all of us at some point, I think. I don't think it necessarily indicates malice or intentional lack of forethought on the part of the artists making the figures, just differences in taste.
Yea, we all have our favorite reference from whatever artist or era--but to assume the Legends team had no Marvel art reference they worked from is the mistake people repeat here virtually daily. I don't know what the Legends team reference art for this new base is, but I'd bet they had one.
Or maybe they didn't and put their own artistic spin on it. Usually they don't do that, but I'm sure there are some examples of them doing it. Maybe this is one, but I'd bet maybe $100 that we could find a reference that looks like the new base just because 9 times out of 10 when I see people affirm here that the Legends team didn't pull their design from Marvel art I or others can find reference art demonstrating that they actually didn't just make up character details on their own.
Either way I've seen enough Phoenix Force art to know Claremont and Cockrum were going for some kind of fire/bird design derived directly from the mythological Phoenix creature so I'm fine with whatever interpretation that looks good, and this base looks spectacular in the promos and reviews I've seen so far.
All this talk of the Phoenix Force fire bird effect makes me want Firebird even more to stand in front of it.
Never heard of Firebird until now, but looking her up I see she first appeared in Incredible Hulk #265 in 1981. Claremont started the Phoenix storyline in Uncanny X-Men #101 in 1976, she transformed to Dark Phoenix in #134 in 1980, and she died in #137 in June 1980 so that storyline completely preceded Firebird.
Is she as much of a Phoenix copy as she looks?
I have a vague memory of there being speculation that Firebird's origin/powers were somehow tied into Phoenix's death, but I can't cite where that memory comes from. So consider it nonsense unless someone else has more knowledge of that than I do.
Or is it the type of bird that's the issue? What does the one in this image look like--a hawk? Eagle? Turkey buzzard? Some mythical mix that isn't any modern bird exactly? I don't know enough about modern raptors to know.
I already covered this in my first post - this bird looks like an eagle, especially the articulation point at the neck emphasizing a bald eagle's design.
Yes, the Phoenix has always resembled a bird - no one is disputing that. But as I also said, it may have been depicted close to an eagle once by one bad artist - why is that what the figure looks like? That doesn't resemble the art you attached or any subsequent firebird design?
I'm not being ridiculous expecting that the Marvel Phoenix Force action figure actually resemble the Phoenix Force as it is generally depicted - as a bird-like creature covered in fire (sometimes more dragon-faced, with a longer neck, sometimes very little neck - but almost always with flames on the crown of its head to create a different profile - this figure has zero of that). Repaint this thing and any person off the street would say "eagle".
That's awful.
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