I'd like a shirtless Outback Colossus as well. I now subscribe to the theory that characters with visually distinctive looks or powers should show more skin. The Thing, Colossus, Beast, etc.
I also have conflicted feelings about Piotr's Soviet history now. With the sliding timescale, Colossus wouldn't have been born until well after the Soviet Union fell. It probably makes sense to move him away from that motif.
This is a digression, but I have always felt like Thing should be covered up. His whole deal is about being turned into a monster and hating his outward appearance. Like, going off characterization and motivations, the member of the FF who would most likely be out in public in a speedo is Johnny, not Ben. I also just desperately want a jumpsuit Thing, so I will justify it by any means necessary.
The full Astonishing roster can't come soon enough! Really looking forward to building that team, and hoping they find a way slip in Armor, Ord, Abigail Brand, and maybe even a new Danger.
I also still love that old X-Men Classics figure - Stealth Beast! He came with classic and cat-Beast heads. An all-time favorite desk figure to pick up and fiddle with, and he fits in nicely with a Secret Avengers display despite not being comic-accurate to anything I"m aware of.
Alot of the XMen Classics later in the line weren't actually in any media. Pretty sure that red suit Rogue wasn't, Gambit, Beast, and pretty sure Avalanche is in there. Powerd down Bobby Drake isn't from anything I remember, but maybe he was. I never managed to get that figure. There were a couple Wolverines in different outfits that he was never in. It felt like Wolverine was the Batman of that set. With multiple suits that never existed made into figures. Most of them were cool for their time, but alot of them haven't held up. And Wolverine in particular isn't great. My red ninja suit ones ankle broke. I couldn't fix it so it's just glued back on so he can't pose much. And they were all way too tall. He was taller then Gambit and Cyclops. Like they were trying to scale them to Jackman and not comic lol.
Also, I never realized that Beast came with an alternate head. I bought mine loose at a comic shop and the head wasn't there. It was the cat head that was on the body, which is fine cause when I got it I was wanting a cat head Beast to go with my Astonishing team at the time, which was all the old figures. Anorexic Emma Frost, the decent but misproportioned Cyclops, the XMen Classics Colossus, Astonishing Wolverine (which BTW I still think is a decent figure, just not as good as the new ones), and lanky Kitty Pride from the Giant Man BaF wave.
I also have the old Danger. I would like a new one. But it'll be deluxe, cause unique sculpt, possibly wings. Can't single card figures like that one anymore.
Alot of the XMen Classics later in the line weren't actually in any media. Pretty sure that red suit Rogue wasn't, Gambit, Beast, and pretty sure Avalanche is in there. Powerd down Bobby Drake isn't from anything I remember, but maybe he was. I never managed to get that figure. There were a couple Wolverines in different outfits that he was never in. It felt like Wolverine was the Batman of that set. With multiple suits that never existed made into figures. Most of them were cool for their time, but alot of them haven't held up. And Wolverine in particular isn't great. My red ninja suit ones ankle broke. I couldn't fix it so it's just glued back on so he can't pose much. And they were all way too tall. He was taller then Gambit and Cyclops. Like they were trying to scale them to Jackman and not comic lol.
Also, I never realized that Beast came with an alternate head. I bought mine loose at a comic shop and the head wasn't there. It was the cat head that was on the body, which is fine cause when I got it I was wanting a cat head Beast to go with my Astonishing team at the time, which was all the old figures. Anorexic Emma Frost, the decent but misproportioned Cyclops, the XMen Classics Colossus, Astonishing Wolverine (which BTW I still think is a decent figure, just not as good as the new ones), and lanky Kitty Pride from the Giant Man BaF wave.
I also have the old Danger. I would like a new one. But it'll be deluxe, cause unique sculpt, possibly wings. Can't single card figures like that one anymore.
Some of them are looks from the comics. Rogue's red outfit is from X-treme X-Men. Powered down Iceman is a variation of his 90s X-Men outfit. One of the Wolverines is from House of M. Gambit in all black I believe was from his solo title at the time.
Also, that Beast that had the cat face.. it didn’t come with both heads. Toy Biz rarely did that, if ever. They did chase variants, so you had to buy a whole second figure to get both heads. It was one of the worst things about Toy Biz marketing. X-treme Rogue had at least two variants: short hair with sunglasses, and long hair without. I hated chase figures so much.
Rogue is very much real:
It's a design I really like... but admit it really doesn't fit the character. It's also like one I had designed for her at the time - that's probably why I like it so much and it's still in my collection!
The short hair one, not the long hair that looks like Mary McDonnell - and no offense intended by that!
Yeah X-Men Classics was frustrating at the time - it was amazing that an X-Men spinoff of Marvel Legends was made, but the original/non-comic designs took up valuable slots. That weird Angel figure, Magneto, multiple Wolvies, and at least two Beasts. I remember speculation at the time that it was an effort to put pseudo-movie figures on the shelves despite not having enough advance notice to make them screen-accurate, but who knows.
Ultimate versions of Nightcrawler, Iceman, and Sabretooth, Astonishing Colossus, Gambit (also in his X-Treme look, I think), classic Cyclops and Archangel. The good definitely outweighed the bad.
Also, that Beast that had the cat face.. it didn’t come with both heads. Toy Biz rarely did that, if ever. They did chase variants, so you had to buy a whole second figure to get both heads. It was one of the worst things about Toy Biz marketing. X-treme Rogue had at least two variants: short hair with sunglasses, and long hair without. I hated chase figures so much.
Things are undoubtedly better now, but I can't deny the thrill of opening up the case of ML wave 6 and finding the Dark Phoenix chase, or the repurposed Goliath that was a chase for wave 4. I wouldn't go back to it, but those are fond memories! It also meant I never got Red Skull, depowered Iceman, and half a dozen other figures, so the glasses aren't too rose-tinted.
Also, that Beast that had the cat face.. it didn’t come with both heads. Toy Biz rarely did that, if ever. They did chase variants, so you had to buy a whole second figure to get both heads. It was one of the worst things about Toy Biz marketing. X-treme Rogue had at least two variants: short hair with sunglasses, and long hair without. I hated chase figures so much.
Things are undoubtedly better now, but I can't deny the thrill of opening up the case of ML wave 6 and finding the Dark Phoenix chase, or the repurposed Goliath that was a chase for wave 4. I wouldn't go back to it, but those are fond memories! It also meant I never got Red Skull, depowered Iceman, and half a dozen other figures, so the glasses aren't too rose-tinted.
I think I only found one set of variants in person, the wave 15 MODOK assortment. Fresh set with ALL variations. Otherwise, the only reason I have any of the chase figures is through trades. I only know frustration when I look back on the search for unmasked Wolverine, Dark Phoenix, phasing Vision, transforming Ghost Rider, etc. That crap was a nightmare. At least they were only $6 at the time!
Elements of this running dialogue have inspired me to me dig up these old photos:
This proves that not only will I buy anything, but I’ll also snap a photo, or two, of anything. On a serious note, am I a Legends homer if there’s still some inkling of nostalgia and love for these figs? I even have the variants for Rogue (jacketless) and Beast (non-cat head and ‘chest-laptop’). Me have problem???
De-powered Iceman is the only chase I ever found back in the day, and it came after I had given up and bought one on eBay. I ended up trading it here on The Fwoosh with someone for the Moon Knight variant that must have released around the same time.
That X-Men Classics Rogue holds up really well. I have that figure somewhere as well. Never cared for that costume, or most of the costumes in that line, but I like those proportions on her.
I liked the detail and the costume accuracy for that Rogue, but in time I began to find her too lithe. Like inhumanly thin, like Aeon Flux or something. Her hip articulation was also garbage. I love that photo too, @thebluemarvel , and it showed how up-to-date ToyBiz with costume variations that were current. But also showed how team completion just wasn't a priority for either TB or Hasbro. I think ToyBiz's XMC Gambit also fit with the era of those costumes, as well as XMC New X-Men Wolvie? Psylocke maybe could have fit as is, but there was no X-Treme Storm or Sage to match. TB didn't last long enough to really finish any team in a satisfying way. At this point, we've gotta have at least ten times more figures from Hasbro than the total we got from ToyBiz, and fortunately we've played the long game enough times to have a few teams legitimately finished. ToyBiz barely even finished the Fantastic Four without making Invisible Woman a pain to get.
I never went too deep into X-Men Classics, but I appreciated that they got really creative with a lot of the outfits. Avalanche, for example, had a look that was never in the comics to my knowledge, but that toy looked really cool. TB Storm was one of the few female sculpts that was at least passable, and the white version turned out fine. I found depowered Iceman at a con a few years ago for under $20, kept him for a long time, but then realized I just never displayed him, so I made my money back on him and then some.
@normdapito You summed up perfectly my sentiments on Extreme Rogue, I appreciated the exacting detail, but she was disturbingly gaunt. LOL@ Aeon Flux – perfect analogy. Agreed on TB doing poorly from the team perspective and, as much as we might complain, Hasbro (from the jump) has consistently proved themselves to be demonstrably better at filling out era specific squads:
As for New X-Men Wolvie, I hope we get another shot from Hasbro at that squad. Given the X-Men franchise’s status as a perpetual cash-cow, I’m pretty sure the team will be represented again...it’s just a matter of when.
We're only a few years from them milking New X-Men for nostalgia.
Hasbro has been able to fill out squads because they've had the license since 2006? 2007? It's actually a bit surprising looking back on the Toy Biz days and realizing how brief they really were. And they got quite a lot of figures out for as brief a run as they had with Spider-Man Classics/Marvel Legends/X-Men Classics/etc.
Latest Post: Marvel Select Our newest member: ug44Nix Recent Posts Unread Posts
