Toy Review: XMO X-men

XMO X-men

I’m going to be lazy again and just lump these two into the same review. X-Men Origins (XMO): Wolverine Cyclops and Iceman.

Back during the Hall of Heroes 2009 event, I had both of these in my hands. They were the only Cyke and Iceman on the shelves and I’d pick them up to look at them, but at the time, I wasn’t a big fan of the 3.75″ lines. Sure everyone was saying that 6″ Marvel figures were dead, but I wasn’t ready to give up. Even now, I’m not sold on the idea, but I do realize that if I want to continue collecting Marvel figures, 3.75″ is the only option out there. Sadly, I didn’t know that then. I put the two back and they were promptly bought by some other collector about half a second later.

As an X-men fan from the start (my start, not the 1963 start), I couldn’t resist picking up a few other figures from the line, figures of my favorite characters, like Colossus, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Storm. Most of my memories are of the Claremont X-men from the 80’s, so the core group from that time is really what I wanted. I was missing Rouge, Psylocke in armor, and Shadowcat. After I started reading about the other figures in the line, though, I realized that the XMO Cyclops and Iceman were probably 2 of the best examples of the line that had come out.

As luck would have it, one of the guys at PinoyToyKolektors sent me an SMS that he was selling the set with a free Piledriver thrown in, all at a fair price. Since I was also hoping to complete the wrecking Crew (can never have too many bad guys), I figured this was the best chance I was going to get to own these two figures.

Best toy related decision I’ve made in quite some time.

The packaging is the same as the Wolverine with Jacket I reviewed a few months back when the XMO series went on sale. It’s sturdy enough, with some decent graphics, and some poor product photography on the back. I don’t know what it is about Hasbro product shots lately that just puts a toy in the most unappealing light. What happened to the guys who set up the shots for the Adventure Team line?

The package opens up like any old clamshell and there’s a tray inside that you can slip out. If you’re careful, you’ll still have a decent pacakge to store the figure in later. I can’t stress enough how glad I am that Hasbro has stopped tying figures down with twist ties.

Cyclops is in his Astonishing X-Men costume. I’ve never gotten around to actually reading the book, which is unfortunate since I’m a big fan of Joss Whedon, and have grown to appreciate Cassaday’s art after reading Planetary. Instead of the outdated blue spandex with yellow underwear, he looks as if he’s just wearing any old wetsuit with a hood, boots, and piping. He must be doing his shopping at the same place Kick Ass did his in the movie of the same name.

Not that the costume’s bad. I actually prefer it to the classic one. It’s simple and stark looking, no nonsense. It seems perfect for Slim Summers.

He comes with one accessory; a plug-in eyebeam. It’s a sad little thing, awfully short and made of a droopy plastic that gets deformed under it’s own weight. Despite being a great idea, it’s not maximized. For the suggested retail price, you’d think that they’d include more with him. Two more optic blasts would have been nice. More hands? Maybe even a Flyclops harness. No? okay.

Articulation is a little lacking for this guy. While he has double-hinged knees and a ball-and-socket hip joint, the leg sadly lacks any joints below the knee. This may seem like nitpicking, but a lot of the time, an ankle joint is one of the key points of articulation. Without it, the sole of the figure’s foot won’t lay flat and it falls over.

That’s what happens here. He looks great standing straight, but it’s kind of hard to do anything else with him without a stand.

Iceman on the other hand has very good articulation. Ball-jointed neck, double swivel/hinge shoulders, hinge/swivel elbows, ball-jointed torso crunch, double swivel/hinge hips, double hinge knees, and hinge/swivel ankles.

About all he’s missing is a wrist swivel.

He comes with an ice slide which sadly, looks more like an ice skateboard. I’m sorry Hasbro, but this looks pretty dinky. Accessories these days have really been back sliding. I remember when the Marvel Legends Iceman came with a Sentinel hand with a properly scaled ice slide. This is pathetic compared to that. Really.

Fortunately, the XMO Iceman really makes up for it. On top of the excellent articulation, he’s got a really nice sculpt. The transluscent plastic that he’s cast in hides a lot of the detail, but after careful study, it looks as if Hasbro’s team did a pretty nice job with him.

There are a few sticking points though. He is a little barrel chested compared to the other figures, which is weird. I always remember him as having a slimmer silhouette than the other X-men. Also he does have awfully big hands for someone his size.

That said, I love the way they sculpted his hands in a pose that makes it look as if he’s casting some ice sculptures from his hands. Hasbro should have just dumped the slide and added in an Ice Wall or Ice Beam or something.

Overall, if you can find either of these figures at a reasonable price (maybe about Php 700.00 or so), they’re both great buys. Both are well sculpted, reasonably articulated toys and essential for a 3.75″ X-men collection. Both look great with my Wolverine with Jacket or my Wolverine from the Colossus 2-pack.

That is until they are inevitably re-colored and introduced in the main Marvel Universe line.