Marvel Legends X-Men Dump

Marvel Legends seem to be coming out with increasing frequency as the last few years have progressed. Though I can't buy them all, I hardly have time to review what I do buy. Due to this ever-growing pile of unopened figures, I've opted to dump several figures into one post- more of an overview of all the figures than an in-depth look into each figure individually. They are also less trouble to ship if I want to sell any. While the new X-Men Retro Card Apocalypse was a recent acquisition, the other X-Men Retro Card figures are over two years old now, and some of the others were purchased around 2017-18. Bishop and Forge have certainly been around that long...

Shatterstar is a fantastic figure with some nice detail- the leather texture/coloring on his shoulder pauldron and head gear is fantastic! He looks great next to his X-Force teammate Cable ...

Dani Moonstar is actually one of the New Mutants- she came with hand and head accessories for Karma and Wolfsbane, two of her New Mutants teammates. There are a handful of other New Mutants in my Marvel Legends collection, but I teamed her up with Warpath below, as they are both Native American ...

Sunfire is a figure I've had for several years now- one of several I bought on sale at Walgreens. The buck this is on has some fantastic articulation, including butterfly joints at the shoulders. The head sculpt is fantastic! He is pictured below with fellow flamester Human Torch...

When they started dropping these X-Men Retro Card Series figures, I was thrilled- particularly by the inclusion of Gambit and Rogue- the latter of which I had missed out on during her first release...

The Walgreens Exclusive Mystique included the head from that first Rogue figure, half transformed in blue skin. ...it seems a little big on this Rogue, but I sure love the inclusion of the glove holding hand on the new version.

Hasbro also released a black version of this Retro Card Storm with the soft goods cape. The Giant-Sized X-Men Storm that came with the Thunderbird 2-pack may be the best of these, but I love the punker mohawk Storm ...!

I already had the first release of Gambit before Hasbro dropped the superior X-Men Retro Card Gambit ... the painted playing cards, brighter colors, and better hair sculpt were an improvement.

Aside from the unfortunate aura effect on his Cerebro helmet, Professor X may be the best deluxe Marvel Legends figure ever- my favorite part about it are the sliding arm rests that reveal hidden control panels!

With my recent acquisition of the X-Men Animated Series Jean Grey and Cyclops, and the rest of this X-Men dump, I have a respectable '90s X-Men team...

My Marvel Legends Professor X can finally meet the Moira MacTaggert I got a couple years ago!

Moira is the longtime human love interest with Charles Xavier, recently retconned in the 2019 House of X storyline to have been a mutant that can redo her life every time she died. 

This X-Men Retro Card Apocalypse is exactly what the fans ordered, and I couldn't be happier with it- he looks like he stepped out of the '90s Animated X-Men show! I missed out on the BAF figure several years ago, and I'm glad 'cause I like this one way better.

It's somewhat odd how the vivid colors of this Apocalypse really looks like the animated X-Men version but doesn't share the same "cel-shading" deco as Jean and Scott, in spite of also having retro packaging. Regardless, they look great together...

Not an exhaustive look at each figure, but it was time to get some of the Marvel Legends I've had open- both to save space and make way for some new Marvel Legends X-Men on the way. There are some other figure "dumps" I need to do of boxed figures that I've had for awhile, as well as some newer aquisitions, including an entire wave or two of Marvel Legends. Stay Tuned!

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Marvel Legends Retro 3.75" Stealth Iron Man, Storm, and Vision

 I've been slowly building a collection of these Marvel Legends Retro 3.75" figures for the past year or so, acquiring Vision, Storm, and Stealth Iron Man recently on GameStop's website at a decent price. I've only enjoyed these on card so far, a big part of their appeal with the great artwork and throwback styling. Below, the 3.75" Retro figure with their 6" Marvel Legends counterparts, Vision, Storm, and Stealth Iron Man.

I'm a big fan of Vision, so I was happy to get him in particular, but it was nice to get another X-Men character with Storm, in her classic outfit nonetheless. I had the 3.75" Classic Iron Man, but quite fond of his Stealth mode, and have collected some blue Iron Man figures over the years.It's Ironic I sold off most of my 3.75" Marvel Universe figures only to start collecting these, but as a kid raised on 5-point Star Wars figures, there's a nostalgia engrained  into my soul. They also remind me of Hasbro's Marvel Secret Wars figures, which were larger, but simple in articulation, colorful, and simple.Good ingredients for a fun toy. Recommended! 

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Marvel Legends Storm & Thunderbird 2-pk

 I picked this up as soon as I saw it at Target, months ago, and am a little disappointed at how drastically the retail price has dropped since. That said, I'm sure I could recoup the full price paid with the Storm figure alone in a couple years ...unless Hasbro releases a single carded version? Regardless, I was interested in these classic X-Men characters and like them quite a bit.

Thunderbird, shown below with a third-party seller's knives, sadly came with no accessories, sacrificed for the magnificent Storm's exhaustive pack-ins. John Proudstar's 1st appearance was in Giant-Size X-Men (1975), as was Storm, Nightcrawler and Colossus. Len Wein and Dave Cockrum killed Thunderbird off only a few months later, arguing that Wolverine, introduced in the pages of Incredible Hulk #181 the previous year, filled the rough-and-tumble character slot fine by himself.

Below, Thunderbird with brother Warpath, James Proudstar. James shared John's enhanced mutant abilities and endurance, but to a greater degree, and originally took the name Thunderbird in his place before becoming Warpath.

I love the colors of the Proudstar brothers' outfits and their simple powerset- tough guys, great fighters and trackers. There are understandable complaints with the figure, notably the boot fringes that slide down- I pushed mine up over the calf more to avoid slippage. His head sits a little high on the neck and seems a little big, but not terrible in my opinion. Love the belt! Here he is with my 80th Anniversary Marvel Legends 1st Appearance Wolverine...

Storm is the star of this 2-pk, with three sets of hands, and two head and cape sets, one neutral, one engaged. Her limbs have the new Hasbro pin-less joints that I hope we see more of. Hasbro could have just given us a flight stand and single carded her as a deluxe for more money, because she is a fantastic action figure. Her articulation is restricted by both her hair sculpts and her neutral cape, but she does enough for me. The sculpt and paint are a perfect rendition of Storm's original look, and I love it.

Below, Classic Storm with my Mohawk Storm, and

Marvel Legends 2017 Walmart Exclusive Black Panther ...

Below, Storm Vs. Magneto ...!

And finally, Thunderbird and Storm with fellow X-Men Nightcrawler and Beast from my last post, Wolverine, and Colossus... 

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Marvel Legends Storm (Apocalypse BAF)

I posted a shot of the Marvel Legends Retro Series Storm I picked up on my Instagram back in April, but was still on the lookout for the X-Men/Apocalypse Wave version with the mohawk. As luck would have it, I happened upon her on sale at a local GameStop, where we'd normally pay more for a figure than other retailers. No way I'm taking a pass on such an occasion. I love the retro Storm, and have been just enjoying her on card for the time being- she was difficult to track down at a reasonable price, and is somewhat of a treasure. I'm proud to report that mohawk Storm is her own brand of cool, and a fantastic action figure. Not all one color as I'd thought prior to up-close examination- her pants are actually dark grey, which along with the metallic details on the belt and choker necklace make her simple deco feel restrained instead of lazy.

The lighting effect accessories included are appropriate for Storm, but I have also used as fire, such as in my recent Halloween Hulk post. Her articulation is standard for female Legends buck, but she can do enough for me. The figure's neck suffers from lollipop syndrome, which the right pose can hide, but she is otherwise great looking. A swivel at the boot top would have been nice, but they are fixed. Regardless, Ororo stands fine, and with some attitude, I might add.

Storm shares her petite jacket and cuffed glove hands with the Retro Series Dazzler I picked up this summer, which initially didn't interest me, then surprised me by her simple charm as my surrogate for the earlier Rogue figure I never picked up. These two make a fun pair of heroes! Below, Storm with my 2017 Marvel Legends Walmart Exclusive Black Panther. Ororo married T'Challa in Black Panther #18 (2006), and even shared Fantastic Four duties for a brief period, replacing Sue & Reed during a leave of absence in the aftermath of Civil War.

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ToyBiz Famous Covers Storm

According to Thomas Wheeler's "Flashback Review" on these, this is the second version of Storm in ToyBiz's Famous Covers line of 9" dolls action figures, created for the X-Men movie line of toys. I have dug deeply into the outer internet space and found zilch on her. I scored this on eBay quite some time ago from a seller who also had a Storm and Wolverine in black leather outfits styled after the movie outfits. He wasn't asking much for any of them, and I bought this white Storm on am impulse. To be honest, I can't find a thing about her on the internet- she might be somewhat rare!

She has a silky-feeling, luxurious cape- really nice! Some of the Famous Covers females looked as though they were ...a miss. But not Ororo, here- she's one of the prettiest dollies I've ever seen!  :D   The paint apps on her delicate face are flawless. Her head is on a ball-joint, too, making her more expressive than many of these sometimes "clunky" figures. She's a dainty flower. Ororo came to me with her silver mane banded in a long ponytail which I never let down- who would ever cover that angelic face?! *GASP*

The put some cool boots on this girl, thigh-high and fashioned from vinyl, simulating white leather. She does not like to stand in them, however. She definitely needs a doll stand. I just sold her off, so that's someone else's problem. Yeah, that's right... we broke up.

I had an initial photo session with this diva, and put her in the glass cabinet directly after where she lived the rest of her time with me. It's funny, feeling now I never appreciated her until I had her sold... maybe she was, ummm... a little too much like a Barbie doll pretty to live with me. Not that there's anything wrong with that!   :D   All joking aside, I've just been trying to thin the toy collection lately. Thankfully, I got a few decent photos of her before she left. I... I think I miss her...  Women! 

Believe it or not, I have another Storm figure by ToyBiz- one of those 10" Marvel Universe figures from the 90's. I've never opened her, and in retrospect somewhat wished she'd sold instead. While researching the Famous Covers Storm, I found that a 12" Storm that looked a lot like a Barbie was produced at some point- she was in white as well, and even included a casual change of clothes & accessories. If Hasbro produced a 3 3/4" Storm in white I'd buy it. I liked the Storm in the Marvel Universe Giant Size X-Men box set- Slangards gave her a thumbs down over at Joint Junkie. I wonder if Hasbro will take another whack. They gave us 35 Wolverines, after all!

Here's a shot of Storm with my Hasbro Cyclops- they made a dashing pair, don't you think?

I've learned a lot about Storm recently. I was unaware that Ororo married T'Challa (Black Panther) in 2006. She was created by author Len Wein & artist Dave Cockrum for the famous 1975  Giant Size X-Men #1 comic- I discovered who Cockrum was simultaneously, having read about him recently on Tony Isabella's blog. I've recently read some of the early 60's X-Men and 80's Uncanny X-Men. Chris Claremont took over the latter after Wein & Cockrum's Giant Size, fleshing out her backstory and making frequent use of the popular heroine in all the X-Men story arcs- even making her the leader of the mutant supergroup when Cyclops takes a leave of absence.

Ororo Monroe was the descendant of an ancient line of magic African priestesses, their shared physical traits that of white hair and blue eyes. She was orphaned at five, her parents killed when an airplane crashed into their home in Cairo, Egypt.  Found by a gang of street urchins who trained Ororo in the arts of thievery, she quickly became the star pupil of their master, Achmed el-Gibar. This was how Storm first met Professor X, having tried to pick pocket him long before she knew the extent of her mutant powers, and before he recruited her to the X-Men.

From the Comic Book Database:

Storm  possesses the psionic ability to manipulate weather patterns over limited areas. She can stimulate the creation of any form of precipitation such as rain or fog, generate winds in varying degrees of intensity up to and including hurricane force, raise or lower the humidity and temperature in her immediate vicinity, induce lightning and other electrical atmospheric phenomena, and disperse natural storms so as to create clear change. Storm can direct the path of certain atmospheric effects, such as bolts of lightning with her hands, and manipulate ocean currents. She is able to fly by creating winds strong enough to support her weight, the weight of others, and to propel her forward through the air. Storm can thus travel as fast as any wind can, and has reached speeds up to 300 miles per hour. Her powers over the atmosphere enable her to breathe at any speed, protect her from air friction, and grant her limited immunity to extreme heat and cold.

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Addendum 1/7/12

This figure was included in a "X-Mutations"2-pack that also featured a Halle Berry Storm from the X-Men motion picture (2000). A similar box set was also produced for Wolverine: