New Mutants is my lifelong favorite team comic book, so I was all-in for its successor, Generation X, when it launched in 1994. But Toybiz’s Generation X figure line flopped and was cancelled before Toybiz put out half the team—and Gen X merch has felt like it’s seemingly on some sort of radioactive list since. But finally, 20+ years into the run of Marvel Legends, official toys of Chamber and Monet St. Croix (M) have now been released! Are these X-Men Legends figures worth the decades fans have waited for them?

I don’t generally review more than one action figure at a time, but the first-ever 6” Generation X figures kind of feel like they belong together. Luckily, there’s not a ton to talk about for either one, so I think I can cover both Chamber and M without making this excessively long.

Chamber has one of the most unique character designs in the entire Marvel Universe, as the first time Jono used his power he blew off half his face and chest. In contrast to that, Monet St. Croix has a highly traditional and generic character design. Did Hasbro nail them both? Let’s dig in…

At one time it appeared that Marvel was positioning Chamber to be the next big popular mutant in the X-Men universe, so it’s sad to see him making only sporadic incidental appearances in the comics today and only getting a new toy 25+ years after his last one. So I was really hoping for this to be a be-all, end-all definitive Chamber figure. It’s not.

Hasbro wisely went with the more familiar and popular all-black costume for Chamber, rather than the forced-feeling maroon Generation X team uniform that Toybiz did from back in the day. Chamber is the one student member of Generation X that I don’t visualize in the maroon—and which he’s never worn since that comic ended—so I think that’s definitely the proper call.

Rather than the “sparking energy” action feature Toybiz integrated in the 90s (that I don’t think would ever fly today) with wholly unique tooling for Jono’s body mold, Hasbro opted to just attach a bunch of billowing psychic energy to Chamber’s head. It’s a clever workaround that allows for alternate heads such as Chamber with his face wrapped/powered down or even a head with the energy blasting forward like a unibeam.

Unfortunately, we don’t get any heads like that. Indeed, Chamber’s only accessories are a pair of swap-out fists for the fist fights he should never be involved in. This is a huge let-down, as it limits the logical poses this figure is good for to basically just one (him standing around doing nothing).

There’s not a whole lot more to say about Marvel Legends Chamber, though I do admire the sculpt of his hair and dig the stress line paint detailing on his head.

At a glance, I honest to God thought Chamber had all pin-less joints. But alas, his knees are in fact pinned—they just blend in well with his black pants. That’s a little annoying, but what’s a LOT annoying is how hard it is to get Jono to stand stably with his tiny feet and heavy head. Just standing around in a static pose was workable, but anything even a hair dynamic was next to impossible (hence the lacking variety in my review photos).

I have a lot less to say about Marvel Legends Monet St. Croix, which feels appropriate since I always felt like she was a rather generic character power-wise and appearance-wise. Monet’s power set includes super-strength, flight, invulnerability, healing, super speed, telepathy and more. All of which powers that a gajillion other mutants have, and also difficult to portray in toy form.

M’s truly outstanding trait is her snobby, superior personality, so I think the head sculpt(s) were crucial here. But rather than depicting Monet’s elitist attitude with a sneer or condescending look, we get the ubiquitous vacant stare portrait here. An alternate head with haughty or even aggro expression would’ve hugely enhanced this figure, but nothing like that is present here on her debut action figure.

On the bright side, the female Generation X body used here is going to work fantastically for an eventual X-Men Legends Husk (Paige Guthrie) figure (and Gen X Jubilee to a much lesser extent). I love the little ‘X’s painted on the wrist guards, and the hood boots and gauntlets look terrific. Even the ‘X’ belt fits reasonably tightly! This body turned out really great, and strongly elevates this figure.

Like Chamber, Monet only gets swap-in fists as accessories (not counting the Ch’od BAF piece each comes with), but at least M punching out evil mutants makes sense. And unlike Chamber, Monet’s body is full pin-less and she can be posted stably with no issues at all.

Overall: Once again, Hasbro gives us more X-Men Marvel Legends figures that are pretty good—but very basic. The lack of literally any interesting accessories—alternate heads or otherwise—leaves these figures feeling plain and without many interesting options for posing. M’s sole (vacant stare) portrait is particularly disappointing, since she’s got such an overbearing personality that’s not captured here at all. Jono’s instability and pinned knees also rankle me.

These characters are unlikely to be revisited—ever—so they get a definite recommendation to anyone who wants to build an eventual Generation X Legends team. Even so, I truly hope Hasbro has some plans to make Husk and Synch more dynamic toys.

GRADEs— Monet: B; Chamber: C-