I used to find it virtually unthinkable that I would ever prefer any modern costume over Magento’s classic red and purple duds. But then a crazy thing happened: I fell in love with ** Magneto in the Marvel Puzzle Quest game, and white costume Magneto quickly became my favorite costume for him ever. And now, as unlikely as it seemed, the Marvel NOW! white costume has been captured in statue form, and for just over 50 bucks the white Kotobukiya Magneto ARTFX+ Statue is now mine…

The Right:

Although the Kotobukiya Magneto White Version ARTFX+ statue is the fourth of the Marvel NOW X-Men statues that I’ve received, it’s the first that I’ve actually rushed to open.

As cool as the Marvel NOW Magik, Cyclops and Emma Frost are, this is the statue from the lineup that I’ve been the most excited about and the most intent to making a permanent fixture in my collection. And even with those lofty expectations, I’m very satisfied and pleased with Koto’s work on this piece.

I know that some folks much prefer the black Magneto costume from the Cullen Bunn solo series, but for me, this bright white costume–which dominates paired with ** Storm in Marvel Puzzle Quest–is totally where it’s at.

The white paint on the Magneto Kotobukiya statue has a pearlescent sheen to it on Magneto’s helmet and cape, while the white used on the rest of the costume is matte but had its depth brought out by a nice paint wash.

The “whiteness” of the costume is broken up by areas of silver and black details which beautifully complement the white. From a paint perspective, this is a drop-dead gorgeous statue.

And whereas some companies would slap a variant sticker on the regular edition’s box and call it a day, Kotobukiya created some killer monochromatic packaging for this white costume Magneto statue!

This is one of the most eye-grabbing statue boxes I think I’ve ever seen, and I’m totally mesmerized whenever I look at it. I love the detailed bio text on the back of the box as well!

As with all Kotobukiya Marvel statues, Magneto is technically a model and comes in several pieces that have to be assembled.

Even so, the nature of this figure’s assembly and design makes it impossible to see the seams once you put this Magneto statue together. In fact, I actually forgot where the individual pieces of the statue were after assembling him and forgot he wasn’t a single piece to begin with! (Luckily, I documented the assembly by taking the above photo.)

The sculpting on this almost 8″ tall Kotobukiya ARTFX+ Magneto statue is perfect. It looks like Magneto stepped straight out of a Marvel NOW comic book, and I particularly like the textured lines on Magneto’s costume and the powerful look of his pose. The windswept cape is a highlight as well.

Magneto has magnets (how ironic) implanted in the bottoms of his boots, allowing the statue to stand stably anywhere atop one of the black magnetic rectangular bases that come with all ARTFX+ Marvel statues.

I’m not the biggest fan of these black bases, and I feared the white costume Magneto ARTFX wouldn’t be able to stand up without the base due to his billowing cape. But to my surprise, the cape isn’t all that heavy, and Magneto can stand up without issues on a flat surface unassisted. Nice!!

The Wrong:

I think it’s weird that Kotobukiya chose the white costume Erik regularly wore in Uncanny X-Men to be the limited edition exclusive variant, as I imagine more people will want the white version than the black one from the Magneto solo series.

Don’t sleep on this variant, as I definitely see it becoming the first sell-out in the Marvel NOW! X-Men ARTFX+ statues series, and the most likely piece in the line to quickly get expensive on the aftermarket.

As for the piece itself, the only way I could see this 1/10 scale statue being improved is by Koto including a diorama-style base instead of the plain black magnetic bases that all of their Marvel ARTFX+ statues include.

I understand the advantages of the generic rectangular bases, but at this point, I just find them boring. I really wish Koto would incorporate more interesting based for their upcoming Spider-Man ARTFX+ series.

Overall: Despite a few minor gripes about the exclusive nature of this statue and the boring black base, this is actually my favorite Marvel ARTFX+ Kotobukiya statue yet. The sculpting on the white Magneto statue is detailed, the pose oozes a dangerous vibe, and the paint deco is simply gorgeous. This is a beautiful figure that exceeds my expectations and is now the default non-classic Magneto in my collection.

GRADE: A