Jumping back to my series of X-Men Marvel Legends Age of Apocalypse wave figures, today I’m going to check out the token female figure in the series! In one of her most unique looks ever, it’s the Marvel Legends X-Men Age of Apocalypse Jean Grey figure that’s available online now! AOA Jean Grey comes with a whopping zero accessories of her own, but also one of the biggest Build-A-Figure parts ever—does it even out and make her a worthwhile purchase?
In the all-time Classic X-Men Age of Apocalypse story arc, Jean Grey lived a very different life, but was still one of the first members of the X-Men (under Magneto, mind you, but whatever). She fell in love with Weapon X, and her capture by Cyclops led to Logan losing a hard and Scott losing an eye (and becoming a real Cyclops—ha!).
AOA Jean Grey was a rare character who straddled two different series during the storyline (Factor-X and Weapon X), and featured a totally fresh and different look from any character design we’d seen before for the character. So is this Hasbro Marvel Legends action figure of this version of Jean a winner…?
In some ways yes, in some ways no. While I generally talk about a figure before its accessories, it’s kind of hard to discuss this Jean Grey figure in that manner when she is literally crammed into the side of her package in order to accommodate the pieces of another figure.
I’m not at all a fan of the way this poor Age of Apocalypse Jean Grey figure was packaged. Having her turned sideways in the box looks awful and wrong. Not sure how Hasbro could have done things much differently and still included the Sugar Man’s humongous head in the series, but this is one of the worst-looking Marvel Legends figures ever for packaged collectors.
The size (and likely cost) of the Sugar Man BAF piece also meant that the ML Jean Grey AOA figure got bupkis accessories of her own. No alternate heads/hands, no psychic effects pieces to attach anywhere, no psychic aura (like Songbird’s)… nothing.
Jean’s hands are thankfully sculpted in such a way that it looks like she’s manipulating something telekinetically, so she’s not totally passive, but the lack of any kind of effects is a monumental blow to the display potential for this figure.
The articulation on Jean is pretty standard as far as female Marvel Legends action figures go: decent, but inferior to the amount of articulation the male figures are given. Her complete articulation set scheme consists of:
- Ball-Hinge Head, Shoulders and Elbows
- Ball-Jointed Upper Torso and Hips
- Swivel-Hinge Wrists
- Swivel Thighs
- Double-Hinge Knees
- Hinged Ankles with Rockers
The articulation is still eons better than we got on Marvel action figures in the 90s (the last time an Age of Apocalypse Jean Grey action figure was made), but it’s getting rather old how the male figures in the ML series almost constantly have vastly better articulation than the females. The range of motion is still “good” here, though.
Where this figure does really excel is the looks department. This costume is utterly different from any Jean wore prior to the Age of Apocalypse, and the sculpt here is a near-perfect representation of it.
The short red hair and blue jacket are defining elements of this costume, and I think Hasbro did a bang-up job with the sculpting and colors on the costume as a whole. The neck wrap looks good as well, and I actually like the no-nonsense expression etched on Jean’s face.
I’m not sold on the blue tattoo on AOA Jean Grey’s face from when she was Sinister’s prisoner—I think it’s meant to be black or at least a much darker blue—but I’m glad the detail is there nonetheless. It definitely gives her portrait a distinct look.
And… well, that’s really it. I don’t have a lot to say about this figure, as it’s rather plain besides looking cool and giving fans a unique version of the X-Men’s iconic founding female member.
Overall: If this X-Men Legends AOA Jean Grey figure had slightly improved articulation and came with virtually anything as an add-on accessory to spice up display, I could probably feel okay about giving her a low ‘A’ grade. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Basically, all Jean can do is stand around, dressed to kill and looking sharp. Sculpting and paint-wise, I love the snot out of this ML Jean Grey figure.
Alas, with no alternate hands, no alternate head, no psychic energy effects, no flight stand, no nothing… this figure feels very basic. I gave the Sugar Man Build-A-Figure top marks, but that doesn’t help poor Jean. With few display options and limited potential poses, this ends up being a sweet-looking but boring figure that falls short of greatness.
GRADE: C+
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I enjoy this figure. She really looks great paired up, and standing next to, Weapon X. I thought the packaging was kind of funny. It reminded me of Madcap Deadpool or Netflix Chill Deadpool packaging from the Sauron BAF wave…..something different.
I don’t really need any accessories with this figure, especially a telekinesis power. We have enough of those plasma hand effect pieces, that getting any more is just pointless. I see telekinesis as being more invisible, anyway. It’s a different story with a figure, if they use a weapon or item to do battle….then that is a must to include. Overall, this is a perfect representation of AOA Jean Grey, and I am happy to replace this one with the older figure.
Her costume looks like she took a jacket and a pair of scissors and cut out the front so you could see her boobs better. The 90’s…
The reason of your complain of how its packaged is the reason why we dont get a bigger bafs!
still looks too much like Michael J Fox to me
I, too, enjoy this figure a lot and have taken to using the newer long-haired Jim Lee Jean portrait on this body instead of the actual (stunning) head sculpt.
let’s be honest, she was the accessory to the Sugarman head.
I’m rather disappointed by this review. A C+ seems inconsistent. The reviewer gave the Phoenix figure from the Juggernaut BaF series a B-. That figure had the same problems as this one (no accessories, same articulation). True, it’s only one small step lower, but that review was also more positive, and it didn’t have the excuse that this one had for no accessories. I would think that the new unique sculpting on this one would earn it a higher score, yes? Granted, it has been four years since the Phoenix figure came out, and he might have changed his mind on that one too. Time happens.
Phoenix got a ‘B-‘ four years ago, though–action figures have advanced and evolved since then. Sure, AOA Jean Grey would have been a ‘B-‘ figure is she came out back then–but to me, the action figure game has progressed and she’s still the same level of quality as a 2016 female figure.
Thanks for the direct reply! I’m not a Jean Grey fan, so I was surprised how much I liked this one. An impression I get of this wave overall is that it’s light on accessories. Sunfire, Jean, Morph (unless you count the cape), and X-Man all lack ANY accessories (minus the BaF pieces), For Jean though, what effect pieces would you like to have seen with her, given they’d most likely use existing molds? I’d also be curious if there could be a figure who could be packaged with this particular BaF piece and still feel like (s)he still got an excellent figure out of it. I would think someone with the same stature as Rocket Racoon or Spider-Ham would due it, but I can’t think of anyone that small from the AoA storyline.
Does anyone else think Hasbro’s male Legends figures have better articulation than the females is to preserve the overall female visual aesthetic?
They could articulate the hell out of female action figure, but then it just starts looking like a marionette. I think it ruins a lot of the curves too. I don’t even like the double jointed knees.
I agree, and let’s face it you don’t really need all the double joints for someone like Jean, its mainly an issue for females who’s thing is hand-to-hand combat where stuff like butterfly shoulders and added range in elbow/knee movement helps with those action poses. And even then for someone like Elektra the relatively stiff plastic skirt/thong thing she wears limits posing anyhow.
I don’t get which female figures get better arm articulation. Hasbro knows there is a demand for it. I figured it was a combination of quality control (maybe they’re arms would be more brittle) and aesthetics. That assumption proved correct for figures like Proxima Midnight, who was larger than most fem figures and thus bigger arms for better articulation. Then She-Hulk happened. Her shoulders were better, but no double jointed elbows like I expected. Seems like she could have handled them.
EXACTLY. See toybiz Marvel Legends(Giant man series) MS.”marionette”Marvel aka “Warbird”. The minute I got NEWS that Hasbro was updating that figure on the voluptuous Moonstone mold, I put that marionett monstrosity out of my collection! Immediately!
This was YEARS ago,and it’s good to see I was not the only collector to make this observation,capt.
A Marionette is exactly what figures with obvious multiple articulated cuts look like.
These days there have been inovative advances for highly articulated figures that eschew the ugly aesthetic of seams as creases.
However, MOST are high-end exspensive toys. Real feel skin and wire frame skeleton is the best option to replicating the human body in toy form. Imo.
I have just gotten into getting a few from tb league figures to the conventional highly well-articulated Amazing Yamaguchi line.
Happy collecting!
😎
Shalom!
Yeah, like others here i viewed Jean as the accessory for the Sugarman head that i was mainly purchasing this for. She’s a decent enough figure on her own. I’m not really sure what alternate hands you would want, she’s not really known for punching or wielding weapons, is she? and the effect pieces would matter more to me if i didn’t already have a zillion of them from other figures. I do think an alternate head would’ve been cool but that’s true for more or less every ML figure that only comes with one head.