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…

While the honorable, gentle giant that is Colossus is among the most beloved X-Men of all-time, the hardened Piotr Rasputin is selfish and cowardly in the Age of Apocalypse, where he abandons all of his young students to die so that he and his wife and sister can escape alive.
Of course, AOA Colossus also ultimately runs over his wife and kills her while insanely trying to stop Illyana from preventing the Age of Apocalypse, after learning his sister was dead at the time in the original timeline. Not exactly Colossus’s finest moments.

But hey! Everybody loves 616 Colossus, and this ML AOA Series 2 needed a BAF, so it might as well be a guaranteed icon like Colossus, right?
And what a figure it is! While you’ll need to purchase six of the seven figures in the series (sorry Magneto) to get all the pieces to build him, this is one of the BAFs I’ve most enjoyed in a long time.

The enraged expression on Colossus’s face is right on target, and captures well the anger of a man forced to spend his life suffering personal loss after loss on the battlefield.

There’s also little tassels that plug into the back of Colossus’s head/mask, which are on a sort of ball joint so that they can achieve some unique angles and poses. I didn’t have the vision or dexterity to attach this piece myself, but my wife popped it in quickly despite worrying it might break since the tassels are so petite. They seem sturdy enough to me that I’m not especially worried about that happening unless excessive force is used.

I’m not sure how Hasbro plans to repurpose Colossus’s upper torso mold (or for whatever characters it would even make sense to), but his belt and suspenders are a singular overlay add-on piece. These stay in place well and sit so tightly that my half-blind eyes didn’t even notice the belt wasn’t latched until I was done with the majority of the review photos. Whoops.

The left shoulder pad armor is also an add-on tucked in place by this piece, and looks terrific covered in a multitude of painted, sculpted studs. As far as figures with add-on costume pieces go, this one is a huge winner.

While I’ve never really connected with Kitty Pryde (up until she became a pirate captain in the modern Hickman era comic books), I’m glad Hasbro included her AOA “ghost assassin” iteration in this wave to pair with her husband. Having her to stand alongside Piotr just looks so right, despite the (accurate) size discrepancy between the couple.

I was a bit taken aback at first by the inclusion of a relatively minor Age of Apocalypse character like Kate Pryde at first, but it cannot be underestimated how important it is to the display factor to have both characters that should be displayed together (like Colossus and Shadowcat, Sabretooth and Wild Child, etc.). Brilliant choice on Hasbro’s part, in my opinion.

While the AOA Colossus Build-A-Figure is almost entirely three colors (silver, red and yellow) with a bit of black and white for small areas, there’s SO MUCH detailing on this figure that the whole palette looks very balanced and eye-grabbing). From his boots to his forearm guards to his trunks, there are sculpted details like straps and wrinkles absolutely everywhere so that nothing feels generic or boring.

Hasbro even blesses us with a rare pair of alternate hands for a BAF, giving the choice to pose Age of Apocalypse Colossus with fists for bashing or Zangief-like grappling hands.

With a bulky action figure like AOA Colossus, I always worry a bit about loose or weak joints not being able to hold up to posing. Thankfully, that’s not an issue here—all of Piotr’s limbs feel tight, strong and stable. I had no issues balancing him for photos whatsoever.

And there’s plenty of articulation to make use of this sturdy construction, too:

• Ball-Hinge Head and Shoulders
• Upper torso ab crunch
• Swivel waist, thighs and biceps
• Hinged knees and elbows
• Swivel-hinge wrists
• Hinged feet with ankle rockers

Colossus isn’t Spider-Man and doesn’t need to be in any extreme poses, but I am happy with his articulation scheme and could easily get him posed in all the ways I wanted to.

Overall: although I might have initially preferred a different character for the Wave 2 Marvel Legends Age of Apocalypse Build-A-Figure, ML AOA Colossus ends up being rather amazing. I don’t have any delusions that we’ll ever—EVER—see any of the actual AOA Generation Next kids in action figure form, but this bulky Piotr Rasputin is a standout winner nonetheless. High quality, well-done paints, perfect facial expression and stellar sculpting. This ML Age of Apocalypse Colossus is a win all-around and a toy that makes me really, REALLY wish I liked this character more.

GRADE: A+