It was when Iron Studios actually solicited a resin statue of Pyro that I knew they were dead serious about making their 1:10 scale X-Men Battle Diorama Series the deepest range of X-Men statues ever made–and also when I started to get really, really excited about the line. Now that he’s in-hand at an affordable-ish ~$160, is this fiery former member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants worth his price-tag?
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Losing most of my vision (and function of my left side) has altered what and how I collect somewhat. If I can’t see (or lift) enormous statues that are larger than my field of vision, what’s the use in having them, right…? And so, I’ve begun prioritizing smaller, lighter statues such as the 1/10 scale Battle Diorama Series from Iron Studios. And thus, I’ve backtracked to pick up some pieces from the last year or so that I missed—including some statues from Avengers Endgame such as the subject of today’s review: the Iron Studios Endgame Rescue statue is a great value at $105 shipped—should you add this Pepper Potts to your collection?
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As a 13-year-old boy in 1995, the very notion of Magneto himself serving as the founder and leader of the X-Men—even in an alternate reality—completely blew my mind. X-Men Age of Apocalypse served as my favorite comic book storyline ever for over 20 years, and while AOA Magneto was never my favorite character from the story, I still happily gobbled up the 5” Toybiz AOA Magneto figure and its repaint. But 26 years later, I was ready for an upgrade, and Hasbro has delivered: the Marvel Legends Age of Apocalypse Magneto figure is now available! Is it a worthy successor to Toybiz’s version two and a half decades later?
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hardcore X-Men fanboy-ism was born in the early 90s, so I have vivid memories of thinking Bishop was the coolest and most badass dude ever. The ripped, arms-wielding enforcer from the future was a central character and plot element for years after his arrival, and I was delighted to buy his first-ever mini bust and statue from Bowen Designs a good decade-plus ago. And now, I’ve added another resin Bishop to my collection. The 1/10 scale Iron Studios Bishop statue is now shipping—is it worth having this time-traveler travel to your home? Here’s my review…
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If anyIf anyone had told me a year ago that my last review of 2021 would be me reviewing a Marvel Legends Armadillo Build-A-Figure semi-blind, I’d have thought they were crazy on all fronts. But here we are, so let’s begin. Collectors will need to buy almost the entire Marvel Legends Spider-Man No Way Home figures series of 6″ figures to get all the pieces for the ML Armadillo BAF. Is it worth the expense to build this relatively obscure pro wrestling supervillain?
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X-Men 92 has a long-standing legacy with fans as being among the greatest superhero cartoons of all-time. It’s also how mutants permeated my 10-year-old brain, beginning my life-long love of the X-Men. So when I was given a chance to have a review sample of the Diamond Select Toys X-Men Animated Series Gambit mini bust by Entertainment Earth, I jumped at the opportunity. Now that I’ve spent some time with the first resin Gambit animated statue ever, does the Rajun Cajun spark as much love from me as he did almost 30 years ago?
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Just when it looked like Funko had managed to squeeze out every possible penny from countless canonical variants of the most iconic Marvel characters, they had a devilishly ingenious idea for this year’s Holiday Marvel POP Vinyls figures series. I instantly fell in love with the Funko POP Gingerbread Spider-Man figure, and had my pre-order locked in as soon as listings for the series went up in August. And now that Gingerbread Spidey has arrived…? I am not at all disappointed. In fact, I want more POPs in this stylized form…
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Some readers were upset by the drubbing I gave poor Age of Apocalypse Cyclops in his review, so I figured I’d jump from reviewing the worst figure in Marvel Legends AOA wave 2 to the best. You’ll have to purchase almost this whole X-Men Legends series to put him together, but the Marvel Legends Age of Apocalypse Colossus figure actually ends up being more than worth the trouble and expense of getting all the pieces from a fairly star-studded wave…
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Cyclops is a character that has oftentimes been accused of being boring over the years (perhaps because of his straight-laced boy scout personality). But in the Age of Apocalypse, Cyclops was a badass rebel with stubbly facial hair and only one eye remaining after a brutal battle where he blasted off Wolverine’s left hand. Scott Summers was a lock for the recently released Age of Apocalypse Legends Wave 2, but ironically, Cyclops’ alternate reality 6” figure ends up as boring as his 616 character is accused of being…
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Sideshow Collectibles’ once rapidly-expanding lineup of 1/4 Premium Format X-Men statues has slowed to a glacial pace over the last two years, but Iron Studios is picking up the slack and popping out 1/10 X-Men statues at an unprecedented rate—including never-before-done-as-statues characters like Spiral and even Elsie-Dee/Albert! It seems with their smaller, more affordable Battle Diorama Series, Iron Studios has hit a sweet spot with modern collectors with limited space and disposable funds! As they captured my full attention long, long ago, I figured it was high time I review something from the X-Men line: focusing on the Deluxe Magneto Iron Studios BDS statue!
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gtime readers know that before I drank the “the Jonathan Hickman X-Men era is the best ever” Kool-Aid, X-Men Age Of Apocalypse was my jam for about a decade and a half. And so, I’ve been waiting about that long for a proper 6” (or even 5”) Age of Apocalypse Rogue figure. I worried such a thing might never occur when anecdotes indicated poor sales for the first series of X-Men Marvel Legends Age of Apocalypse figures. But the AX-Men Marvel Legends OA Wave 2 Colossus Series is now available, including the “Bride of Magneto” version of Rogue! Is the 6” Marvel Legends AOA Rogue figure all I could have dreamed?
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If there’s one villain that was wronged by the first 19 years of Marvel Legends, it’s Ultron. Toybiz’s long-eared attempt was universally hated, and Hasbro’s first efforts weren’t quite on the ball either. But for this year’s series of Iron Man Marvel Legends, Hasbro finally hit a home run. Ultron quickly sold out through most online retailers, and has been difficult to locate at retail stores. But finally, I had the opportunity to sit down and review my own classic Ultron Marvel Legends Figure!
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Note: I began writing this Iron Man Marvel Legends Ironheart figure review in September 2021, but completing and posting it got delayed because, well…
Somewhere during my NYCC 2021 preparations, my brain got it in mind that it would be a swell time to have a series of four consecutive strokes. Ten weeks, two hospitals, 50% of my vision lost, a couple tubes down my throat and one missed New York Comic Con later, I’m finally coherent enough to patch together my thoughts and complete this long overdue review (but please forgive any minor mistakes or typos in my articles for the near future)…
ven the hundreds and hundreds of 6” Marvel Legends figures Hasbro has cranked out over the last decade, you might think there are few significant characters left needing an update from Toybiz or even needing their first ML action figure. But as it turns out, there’s still some fan-favorites waiting for the limelight—and Hasbro is kicking off the first Spider-Man Marvel Legends 2022 Build-A-Figure wave with one such character! One of the last remaining key characters necessary to complete the Maximum Carnage 90s crossover lineup is the sound-manipulating psychopath herself: the 2022 Marvel Legends Shriek figure is in the house!
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There are few things in collecting life as sobering as realizing you don’t have the strength to force together all the pieces of a Marvel Legends Build-A-Figure while recovering from a [series of four] stroke[s]. But that’s precisely what happened over the weekend, when my wife had to construct the Iron Man Legends Ursa Major figure for me. However, once the deed was done, I got to enjoy the delight of yet another Marvel character I cannot believe Hasbro made a super-articulated action figure of. Is buying almost the entire Marvel Legends Iron Man series to build this Ursa Major BAF worhwhile or just too much to bear? Here’s my review…
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