X-Men '97

The retro costumes arrived. Haven't opened and might go straight to a break even resale.

Do not enjoy Jean's portraits. Eyes look like a kicked animal. Also scaled up and differently styled rom the 97 Jean face, which while I can see this being more accurate to the animation, I prefer.

Wolverine looks cool and I love the portraits, but not sure he's worth keeping in the wake of Gamer Wolvie. Storm has too many color and finish differences going on, and the portraits also miss for me.

Bummer coming off Wave 3 being enjoyable.
 
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Difference between adult Jean and Marvel Girl. But I really like this head on the old body.

I do kinda hate the gold on the new figure - it doesn't feel right in this aesthetic and it doesn't match Cyclops. Her green is also too olive. But a big improvement - literally.

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This looks so much better, color-wise.
 
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Got the Cyclops/Jean & Storm/Wolverine packs. Hasbro really is taking the p!ss with the Wolverine pack. After unboxing I realize that there are what looks like 3 DIFFERENT COLORS OF BROWN on the suit. The legs that have part of the underoos painted on them are dark brown, the underoos themself are light brown. So basically they can't even match the colors on the external underwear this late in the game! The torso browns are their own tone, the boots are another. The plus side is you can stick the Secret Wars masked head on this figure and it doesn't look too out of place. The yellows don't match, but what else does on this figure.

Storm is superfluous if you've got the Thunderbird pack but I ended up liking this one better depite her having an excessively dark skin tone to the point where many features are lost in the sculpt due to it (more noticeable in lower lighting of course). Dunno why we don't get a portrait with pupils, as she's clearly got them in the show!

Cyclops and Jean is fine, nothing revolutionary just boxes checked off. Hasbro recently tacked on another 8 bucks for these packs but honestly if I can convey anything to fellow collectors it'd be to WAIT FOR A SALE on the Logan/Storm pack. The mishmash of brown on Wolverine really is reprehensible to put out and then ASK FOR MORE MONEY later on.

I'm more ticked off that they botched Wolverine so badly color-wise than I am about the already known crap torso articulation on basketball Gambit! Is Hasbro really this averse to giving us a proper brown/tan Wolverine that now they're going to mix and match paint/plastic so the suit doesn't even match with itself?!?!

Jean/Cyclops is probably the only one I should have preordered.
 
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I also just received both the Cyclops/Jean Grey and Storm/Wolverine 2-packs this afternoon and, for the most part, I am relatively pleased with the final products.

Storm/Wolverine is a solid set. Both figures look pretty sharp and I'm really digging the unmasked Logan portrait. Aside from the mismatched browns on Wolvie, my only real complaint is regarding Ororo's leg articulation. Both legs are stiff and don't seem to bend all the way at the knees. It seems to be engineered poorly in that the two slots in the upper and lower legs that house the knee hinge don't have enough notching in the back to allow it to articulate properly.

The Cyke/Jean set is also cool but a bit lackluster. Jean looks great and I really like her emotional portrait over the bland one. However, her skirt is super restrictive for her left leg and definitely needs a split like on the right side (which I will add at some point). But other than that, she's a solid update.
Cyclops on the other hand is the worst of the four. I mean he's still fine and all, but as has been mentioned, he's very flat-looking and super cartoony. Plus, mine has a somewhat loose left ankle hinge, making him frustratingly difficult to pose. And I really don't like the pale skintones they used on both portraits. Jean is all warm and fleshy and Scott is just so ...anemic. Another nitpick is his visor is the same flat bright yellow plastic as his boots/gloves/undies. Would have appreciated a little shiny gold pizzazz there to break things up. The only saving grace is the fact you can swap his ruby quartz lens between the two heads allowing for either head to use the fun optic blast effect. That was a nice little surprise.
Anyway, like I said, I'm pleased for the most part. Not too shabby for 50$ a pop. Sadly, they're probably going to be the last figures we ever see at this price point.
 
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Lucid Silverback said:
Storm/Wolverine is a solid set. Both figures look pretty sharp and I'm really digging the unmasked Logan portrait. Aside from the mismatched browns on Wolvie, my only real complaint is regarding Ororo's leg articulation. Both legs are stiff and don't seem to bend all the way at the knees. It seems to be engineered poorly in that the two slots in the upper and lower legs that house the knee hinge don't have enough notching in the back to allow it to articulate properly.

The Cyke/Jean set is also cool but a bit lackluster. Jean looks great and I really like her emotional portrait over the bland one. However, her skirt is super restrictive for her left leg and definitely needs a split like on the right side (which I will add at some point). But other than that, she's a solid update.
Cyclops on the other hand is the worst of the four.
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It's interesting how one person's gripe can be no big deal where as for another it's figure-ruining etc. Just an observation. The mismatched colors show me an obvious lack of care went into Logan so it annoys me majorly, some may not care as much. Cyclops was probably the one I was happiest with mostly because it's what I thought I was getting visually. His blast effect has limp edges so I'm sure they cut down on plastic quality on this one versus the blue/yellow X-Factor head, which seems more rigid. Have you tried putting the more recent BAF wave X-Factor Cyclop's head on this 97 version and seeing if you like that better or if the blues match? Granted it doesn't have the yellow ear coverings for the visor, but what else can Hasbro forget at this point beyond including the figure in the box.
 
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Yeah, I didn't spring for any of the two packs and reading the above posts gives me some reassurance of my decision. I was tempted with the Jean 2 pack because I didn't get the HOX version, but the upgrades in the sculpt were negated by the downgrades in the color scheme. You can't raise price and drop effort simultaneously.
 
IDK, maybe I am not as critical as I used to be, but I think Wolverine, Cyclops, & Jean are all nice upgrades to previous releases...

None of them are perfect matches for a comic display, but they all look leaps and bounds better than what they replaced (Juggernaut BAF Wolverine, Toys R' Us 2-Pack Cyclops, & Tri-sentinel BAF Marvel Girl).

Storm is the exception. I appreciate the double jointed elbows and she looks great overall, but I think the 2-Pack release with Thunderbird is still a great figure.
 
I'm with you, @Andru. I see valid critiques, but I also see improvements over previous versions. I'm pretty satisfied with both of the 2pks. Not sure how I'll feel about Gambit and Rogue once in hand, which should be this week.
 
I'm not interested in incremental upgrades at this point. I feel like that's been the Hasbro business model for a long time. I'm done with this Wolverine mold. The head sits too high, the shoulders are too small, and he's too thin. I love the Gamerverse Wolverine for multiple reasons, but that front-to-back thickness is a big reason why and it's something lacking from a lot of Legends, especially the Vulcan body which Cyclops has been getting a ton of use out of. I'd like a brown costume Wolverine in my collection and I was interested in the classic Cyclops and Marvel Girl looks, but these aren't it and compromising on my wants won't make me happy in the end. That's just me though.
 
I had wondered about Storm's knees; nice to know it wasn't just on mine. I got them to move after a while, but it did take a bit. I didn't end up keeping brown suit Wolvie, since yellow and blue is just how I've always preferred my animated Wolvie, but I did like that they gave him a more wild headsculpt. Much as I like the wave 1 Wolvie, the stoic head just doesn't feel quite right. May see if I can't snag an extra head from somewhere- brown suit or custom.
 
I'm ultimately glad I passed on these. I've wanted an updated brown Wolverine for a while, but neither this two pack nor the Secret Wars figure scratch that itch, which is a damned shame. The brown suit will always be my minds-eye version of Wolvie. The Storm seems like a nice upgrade, but it's just not different enough from the Thunderbird two pack for me to justify the purchase.

I'm hoping the Cyclops in the pack with Jean gets a more comic accurate repaint on a retro card or something. It's ridiculous that one of Scott's most iconic looks has now been locked into two different two-packs.
 
yojoebro82 said:
In hand look at basketball Gambit and Rogue.


That ab crunch on Gambit doesn't get any more excusable in hand. It looks horrendous. Looks like the Rogue head from this pack does indeed fit nicely onto the standard Rouge. If she were sold individually I'd buy her for the head alone. I can't with this two pack, though. Had they done Gambit right this might have been a purchase.

(Is that the same b-ball hand they're giving Big Lob? Even though I'm almost 100% sure he didn't play b-ball in the movie?)
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Ollie's and Ross gonna be packed with these in a couple months.
 
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