X-Men '97

I like to imagine it's just warm cocoa butter.

All this talk about Ororo now has me longing for a Savage Land Storm ...complete with all the curves and maybe even an alternate head with light blue oval irises?
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My eyes ain't what they used to be, but I'm looking at 2pk Wolvie in sunlight and not seeing these glaringly different shades of brown. It all looks pretty close to me.

I don’t see the differences either. At least in the soft lighting of my living room.


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I like to imagine it's just warm cocoa butter.

All this talk about Ororo now has me longing for a Savage Land Storm ...complete with all the curves and maybe even an alternate head with light blue oval irises?
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I have Rogue now. And I really like alot of the Savage Land looks. I'd buy her.

With enough money one could buy some Hammond Collection Dinosaurs and male a Savage Land display.

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Enough Money has never stopped my toy habits.

Got my Rogue alternate head set. It doesn't seat as nice as you'd hope because the collar on the jacket runs against the hair, but you can bend it around. Technically it has even less range of motion now, but it is scaled better with a better face and paint.

Threw the older head on the new figure and reboxed it to list it and see what happens with the disclaimer.
 
So I got the Gambit/Rogue set today.

Rogue is nice enough. X-Men #4 was my very first comic book. The opening scenes in that book was a two-on-two basketball game involving Gambit, Rogue, Wolverine, and Jubilee (I forget who the team ups were). I really enjoyed seeing that recreational side of the team, understanding for the first time that these superheroes had off time. This was also my initiation into Jim Lee's artwork, with which I was astounded. So seeing this brought to animation in '97 hit major nostalgia buttons. And further seeing it immortalized in plastic had me even more excited. Rogue evokes the same spirit of both the animation and comic panels. It's a standard female body, though without the ab hinge of Phoenix/Warbird. The fuller hair looks great, and I haven't yet tried swapping onto the standard '97 Rogue figure. A little bummed she'll never get her hands on that basketball...

Gambit may be my least favorite/vote for worst Marvel Legend of the year. It's no wonder the revival of Starting Lineup went no where. These base figures are awful. Totally dated and ugly torso articulation scheme, butterfly joints that barely work, lanky limbs unsuitable for a "superhero" build. This is easily the most disappointing of the 2pks, the '97 line, and probably 2025 Marvel Legends as a whole. They have so many bodies at their disposal that could have worked better than this. I'm going to have to explore options to salvage this character. The head ain't that bad. I like the assortment of hands. The high top sneakers are good. But everything between? Hot garbage.
 
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We need a concerted group effort to find our boy Gambit a better torso with matching skintone. I inquired about Daimon Hellstrom, but dunno if that's the right tone or how separating at the waist would work, as I would prefer Gambit continue to play basketball in shorts rather than yoga / capri pants.
 
Well, he has a ball socket connection at the waist. Like GI Joe Classified. The pelvic area of the shorts is an overlay too. So it had potential. But then he’s got this ridiculous ab crunch, so ugly. But based on that, maybe he’s swappable with Classified. Quick Kick could be a bare torso contender. But then he’s still got these skinny legs…
 
Well, he has a ball socket connection at the waist. Like GI Joe Classified. The pelvic area of the shorts is an overlay too. So it had potential. But then he’s got this ridiculous ab crunch, so ugly. But based on that, maybe he’s swappable with Classified. Quick Kick could be a bare torso contender. But then he’s still got these skinny legs…
I was thinking if the shorts are just an overlay I'd try just putting Gambit's legs onto Hellstrom's pelvis and using the overlay shorts to cover whatever is left on Hellstrom's waist. If the waist socket wont work, then QuickKick might do, I'm not sure if ML legs and GIJoe Classified legs swap as easily though. The chest is genuinely terrible though. Stick basketball Gambit next to any other ML Gambit and he looks like he's been through chemotherapy. Do they just assume his magenta chest armor is straight up plate armor like a hoplite? He does acrobatics/savate for crying out loud!

I'm drawing a bit of inspiration from customs at the moment.

 
Did Starting Lineup ever have a line of basketball hoops? I can't remember seeing any either recently or in the 90s when the line had actual buyers. I would think it'd be an obvious accessory worth selling for such figures?
 
Did Starting Lineup ever have a line of basketball hoops? I can't remember seeing any either recently or in the 90s when the line had actual buyers. I would think it'd be an obvious accessory worth selling for such figures?

Damn, 4 bucks.

 
That's practically a diorama for that scene, maybe just find a brick wall backdrop or something.

I got my Gambit and Rogue. I like Gambit more than I thought I would. The shoes on him scream "Sketcher" more than basketball shoes though. I didn't look closely during solicitation but assumed he'd be getting shoes closer to Miles and the like from various ML sublines. Rogue's basically wearing some sort of sports wedge for shoes (if that exists). The soft goods top bunches up during certain arm poses. It's not terrible, but not great either. Given her bodysuit I'd considered trying to make it into a swimsuit, since I think she wore something similar in the Jim Lee pool party poster. I'd take every X-Man from that poster in their looks (maybe Colossus and Gambit could just have normal trunks or speedo's as Colossus' looks more like a thong, Gambit's pool attire you can't see much of but I know in the 90s books he sometimes wore a speedo as I remember as did Warren.) I would like at least a basketball Wolverine (I doubt I have to ask as Hasbro is short on ways to give us new Wolverine's at this point) and a basketball Jubilee. I think Cyclops would be decent moreso in the pool party look than the 97 episode where's he's more Marky Mark in appearance.

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I know why Rogue has exposed skin. But if I were her, I would've done a full body wetsuit. That suit for her just feel isolating and scary. Like, Gambit may be the only one willing to get close to her in that. Not to say I don't like it, but if I were her, I wouldn't wear it.

I'd take that Psylocke any day of the week though.

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