X-Men '97

The new Rogue head is SUCH an improvement! It also looks like it is upscaled just a tiny bit so it fits better on the regular body, but that could be the VOLUME of her hair hiding secrets. :)

I wonder how Rogue's crop top would fit on Gambit.
 
I finished opening up X-Men '97 wave 3 (sans Sunspot) today. My thoughts:

Morph - torso sculpt still seems weird to me, but the overall aesthetic is nice. The secondary portrait is pretty useless though without a new neck part. The sculpt might be overly slender even though the character isn't as big in 97 as the 92 version. Makes me think some of these parts get reused for New Mutants or other teen characters.

Logan - I guess the laziest, or most cost effective, release in the wave? Not loving these claws as I have one that always wants to go off to the side and I never liked the longer middle claw look. Accessories are useless, but I have a soft spot for this look going back to the old cartoon so I can't stay mad at it. I wish new legs had been in the budget though as the texture clashes with the simplistic coat. I need to find a 1:12 beer bottle for him too.

Jubilee - I really wish the power effects clipped onto the splayed hands, but that's not the figure's fault. I just wish I could use them with the VHS Jubilee without having to attempt painting over the black gloves with yellow, which is usually a bad idea. The new coat is decent and more in-line with both animated versions of Jubilee. Portrait is nice, though a little oversized. The rest of the figure is very bland though. I think I'll put this head on the 92 Jubilee and maybe the coat too. I may have to try painting these effect parts though because they're too good to toss in a bin.

Emma - a great looking figure for what it's going for, jut not one that's any fun to pose. If Hasbro was ever going to do a soft goods cape, this was the figure to do it with. This will be a set it and forget it figure for me. I do think it looks a lot better than the comic version though.

Cable - Obviously, the star of the wave. They did go to great lengths to avoid having to paint stuff, reminds me of a Jakks release. Still, the sculpt is great and the paint that is there looks mostly fine too. There's sloppy edgework on the yellow panels on the boots on my figure and I really wish we could have got some silver paint on that left arm. The muted gray swirly stuff sucks. The shoulder pads are a problem. I've surprised they didn't go with a softer material as he just needs a little more. He can get to "good enough" with the guns though I do think we're missing some weapon storage here. Even the box art has the big gun affixed to something over his shoulder. I don't remember if there's a holster or not in the show, maybe it just appears when he needs it, but it definitely would have been nice to have. I still think he's pretty great though and it's nice to have a good Cable in the collection.
 
Got a shipping notice from Pulse for Gambit/Rogue.

Looks like the Guardian/Deathbird pack is shipping out in a few weeks, too.


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Schizm said:
The new Rogue head is SUCH an improvement! It also looks like it is upscaled just a tiny bit so it fits better on the regular body, but that could be the VOLUME of her hair hiding secrets. :)

I wonder how Rogue's crop top would fit on Gambit.
Click to expand...
I give it a month before there's a maroon guitar halter top out on Etsy or Ebay to cover up the horrible torso articulation on poor Gambit. The 3rd party community often comes through.
 
Got Jubilee from Pulse. She’s very cool. Love the head sculpt which actually makes her look Asian. One of my favorite sculpts, alwaybumping, made her:

Love the fireworks effects. Her coat is made of a nice and soft plastic. It’s fun that she has a soda, but I don’t know if I will ever want to remove the firework effects.


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It's planned obsolescence at its finest. Anyone who buys multiple of this figure to create the other male New Mutants will have to buy the next version with the corrected yellow because you can bet Magik and any upcoming female New Mutants will not feature this incorrect canary color.
 
I opened Morph and Cable. Emma is still my favorite of the 3. They're not bad but they have some issues. As has been said, Morphs alt heads don't match his neck so they look weird. And he doesn't have any grip hands. Small nitpicks I guess? Cable on the other hand, can't really do much with. He only holds his guns in a couple meaningful poses and most of it is hindered by those shoulder pads. I honestly think the comic cable has the better belt setup. At least that one I can move the shoulder pads out of the way. This one is very limited from the waste up. The straps look odd cause they are broken up. And no weapon storage is... annoying. Otherwise the sculpt is good and the guns are awesome. Just sucks that he can barely hold them. Mines hands also keep popping off easy. May try to tighten the wrist holes. I don't hate him. He looks great, spot on. But the shoulder pads definitely needed reworked or just made a floating piece.

Emma still wins. Once I get that cloth cape, she will be damn near perfect.

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I guess I didn't play around with my Cable enough to be annoyed by his lack of arm movement. I found a good pose with him firing his big gun at stomach level off to the side, thought it looked good, and left it like that. I agree that a strap and shoulder pad set up like the comic Cable would have been preferable, I don't like the broken up strap look like this and the Zabu wave Cable have. Still, I like the above average amount of paint and the sculpt on this guy.

I really love Jubilee too but I'm personally going for the looks from the 90's cartoon so I really wish this head was on her standard body.

I almost didn't get Morph. His body is so much more stylized than any of the other figures. I know he's slimmer in the 97 show but I wish they bulked him up like 5%. His human head and hand options are "meh". I may still end up going with the VHS Morph but I don't want to mess with removing his cell shading.

I have Emma in my POL still waiting on a couple more figures.

Sun Spot's yellow can be explained the same way you explain basketball Gambit's torso. No one involved in production can honestly think it's good, but a fix would be too much effort and/or money and less than the best still tends to sell. "Why wasn't it just done right the first time? Surely that can't cost extra?" We may never know.
 
Yeah, Sunspot's yellow is.... rough. Kinda like a pastel yellow, almost, or like lemon yogurt or something. Looks so off next to the brighter yellow of Morph and Jubilee. I don't even know if it's quite accurate either- I think his yellow in the show was closer to the others. A weird inclusion for sure.

Jubilee and Sunspot are definitely the most plain feeling of the wave, I think (I don't have Logan). I know the bodies are pinless, so somewhat new, but they do feel oddly outdated in some ways, especially Jubilee's. Really wish we'd have gotten her normal look in the 97 style first, and maybe this new look in a 2 pack or something. May have to try and track down the VHS release and see if these parts fit on that. I may also try and find a purple paint or paint pen that's close to Jubilee's purple to add some highlights to the rest of her body. I know it's not accurate, but she needs more color- she's such a bright and bubbly character. But if anyone happens to know the shade, or something similar, let me know!

I did get in the Storm 2 pack, and I think she's fantastic. I'm still not a fan of the giant lightning effect pieces that they gave her and NWH Electro, but with some adjusting, they can look good. She's just got so much character, especially with the windswept headsculpt and cape. She stands just fine on her own too, even with those heels, which is nice, but let's be real- you gotta keep her on a flight stand. So glad they got around to making her.
 
It definitely appears to be a little paler compared to Jubilee's coat when looking at the card art, but it was pretty close in the show. I could only find the below pic where both are in frame and the yellows look pretty much the same. Definitely an odd choice.

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I don't think 97 Morph will replace the VHS one on my shelf. But I will have to find a way to make both fit and not look odd. Most of the characters that I doubled up on in the display are very similar in build and height from each other. These Morphs look like 2 completely different people. Its fine, I like them both. Just not sure how to display them since my 97 team is mixed in with the comic figures. Most of them look close enough to work. Morph may be an exception.

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Yeah, I prefer this wave's Morph to be the dedicated Morph in this collection. The beefy one was never right for the character. That one will inherit a Banshee head or something.
 
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