I’m a self-admitted X-Men fanboy, so I was anticipating this year’s X-Men Marvel Legends 2014 figures even more than the superb Captain America Marvel Legends and Spider-Man Marvel Legends series (not to mention the so-so Guardians of the Galaxy Marvel Legends figures). As a shared Toys R Us/Diamond Previews exclusive, this wave was also more expensive and harder to get than the others. Are they worth your effort and money? I’ll start my reviews with the 2014 Marvel Legends Cyclops figure…

The Right:

I’m greatly enjoying the Brian Michael Bendis “Uncanny X-Men” comic book series, and I’m super-psyched that we’re already getting a super-articulated figure of Cyclops in his modern costume from that series.

I know some people will balk at a character design that just showed up about a year ago in the “Marvel Legends” line of 6″ figures, but I think it feels fresh and exciting for Hasbro to beat all other figure companies to the punch for a change.

Though Cyclops is far from the most athletic member of the X-Men, his latest Marvel Legends 6″ figure has all the articulation we’ve come to know and expect from the Hasbro Marvel Legends line.

The Marvel Legends X-Men Cyclops figure features a ball-hinge neck, upper torso ab crunch, ball-hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, double-jointed elbows, swivel-hinge wrists, swivel waist, ball-jointed hips, swivel thighs, double-jointed knees, swivel calves and hinge ankles with ankle rockers.

In total, there are thirty-two points of articulation on the X-Men Legends 6″ Cyclops figure. That’s basically every point of articulation you could ever ask for in a Cyclops action figure! I’m a bit disappointed that Cyclops can’t cross his arms to make the ‘X’ symbol with them (readers of the “AvX” comic book storyline know what I’m talking about), but otherwise this Cyclops action figure can do everything I want him too.

The other detail I really like about this Cyclops action figure is the sculpted belt Hasbro has added onto mold. It looks terrific and adds a lot of style to the look of this action figure, making it much more visually compelling.

The Wrong:

When Hasbro upped the price of 6″ Marvel Legends figures to around $20 at the start of 2014, they have us figures with copious amounts of accessories and alternate body parts to really make us feel like we were getting our money’s worth.

Unfortunately, it seems like those days are gone. Not only is the price-point higher on this series (as it’s a retailer exclusive), but across the board they contain less accessories.

In fact, other than the Jubilee Build-A-Figure arm, Cyclops comes with a great fat zero accessories. No alternate hands (non-fist hands would have been nice), no optic blast effects piece attachment, no unmasked head–nothing! For a ~$20 figure with almost no new parts, that’s a tough cookie to swallow.

Further bringing me down is the fact that the Marvel Now Cyclops Marvel Legends figure’s paint applications are unquestionably sloppy. There’s lots of tiny spots where paint deco was missed, and the lines could be a lot more even (especially on poor Cyclops’ face).

“Where Can I Buy It?!”

You can get the X-Men Marvel Legends Cyclops figure for well under $19.99 online right now, which is a few bucks cheaper than you’re likely to pay at Toys R Us or any local comic book store. I sure miss the days of $7 Marvel Legends, though!

Overall: As much as I love this Marvel NOW Cyclops costume design, this Cyclops Marvel Legends figure is pretty mediocre. The paint apps are below average with plenty of flaws and uneven lines, and the X-Men Legends Cyclops figure doesn’t come with one true accessory to make him pop. I love the source material enough that I would have bought this figure regardless, but if it wasn’t for his Jubilee Build-A-Figure piece, I imagine a lot more collectors might be skipping this Cyclops action figure.

GRADE: B-