Marvel Select Colossus

By Denis del Callar Presenting Marvel Select: Colossus from Diamond Select Toys. Piotr Nikolaievitch Rasputin AKA Colossus, the stalwart unflinching giant with the heart of a painter that shields the X-Men from harm.

I was first introduced to Colossus all the way back in 1986 when I first picked up a copy of the Uncanny X-Men which was currently embroiled in the "Mutant Massacre" story-line. The first issue that I read with Colossus, was also the issue where Colossus was sidelined. His powers were straight forward and easy to understand - turns into steel and bashes things. But in that one issue Colossus showed how he differed from other heroes.

He was hurt.

He was hurt not because he went toe-to-toe with a villain but because in an effort to save as many Morlocks and X-Men as possible from the assault of the Marauders, Colossus stood as a wall bearing without complaint all the damage that the Morlocks could throw at him. In the end he realized that he would die if he changed back to human form but told no-one that he was - as Magneto put it - "bleeding energy through damage points. Magneto healed him, saving his life. but he was subsequently paralyzed. Colossus would return in time to save the X-Men in the "Fall of the Mutants" saga.

I'm Sexy and I know it

He would later kill himself by using the cure for the Legacy Virus, sacrificing himself to save millions of mutants around the world. But of course, no one stays dead forever in the Marvel Universe.

Unfortunately, today, he's the freakin Juggernaut - or a pale imitation of one. While I agree that Colossus is long over-due for a power-upgrade (His sister Magik, is a Demon-sorcerer who rules an alternate dimension, while his brother is an Omega class Energy Manipulator and all Colossus does is shunt mass from another dimension to give him height, mass, strength and a steel form?) but I really don't like what he is now. It's the anti-thesis of what Colossus is - and I blame Cyclops for that.




Marvel Select Colossus' blister card reads: "A descendant of the mad mystic Grigori Rasputin, Piotr Rasputin was raised on a collective in the Soviet Union and was recruited to the X-Men by Professor Charles Xavier, after his ability to turn his body into organic steel was discovered during a tractor incident. Piotr took the codename "Colossus" and became a long-standing member of the team, finding romance with young recruit Kitty Pryde and comradeship with Wolverine, whom Colossus would frequently hurl into battle as part of their "Fastball Special" maneuver."

What's to to like about Marvel Select Colossus?

Marvel Select Colossus stands a proud and mighty 8 inches high and bears 16 points of articulation. He's a solid heft figure with a very nice metallic paint job as you can see, despite being made of plastic. He's dressed in his original Colossus uniform - his traditional one technically. Today he still uses a slight variation of this classic design.

Colossus is truly mighty - almost regal - and would make a fine replacement for Colossus in your Marvel Legends collection as most characters in the Marvel Legends series stand around 6 inches tall - at 8 inches tall, Colossus is as tall as he should be in the Marvel Universe in relation to other characters (8ft to a normal character's 6 ft).

And check out the 16 points of articulation in action:

And thanks to to having two joints at the knee instead of one, Marvel Select Colossus can kneel:

Kinda reminds me of Randy Orton the WWE Wrestler.

Further, look into the detailing that went into his sculpt. No sign of creases or excess plastic from the mold that created him. 

What's not to like about Marvel Select Colossus?

Well there are only two things that I don't like about Marvel Select Colossus. First up are his shoulder pads. What you see here is about the limit of how high he can raise his arms. He can't raise them past the shoulder pads as they get in the way.

Also, the sculpt of the shoulder pads is a bit... off when he raises his arms. You can see a slight discrepancy in the alignment of the human form when his arms are up. His shoulder muscles are either extremely massive, or his arms should always be down.

My second issue with Marvel Select Colossus is his base.

Marvel Select Colossus comes with what's supposed to be one of two spiked walls that pop out of the danger room to crush Colossus. Is that's the best Professor-X has to throw at him? A base that's three-fourths his size which he can probably vault over? The base of his Marvel Legends counterpart, the ruins of a sentinel seems to be more appropriate for Colossus.

This base is supposed to be connectable to the Danger Room Bases of Marvel Select Gambit and Cyclops. But that doesn't make any sense because both Cyclops and Colossus are clearly from the early 80s versions of the comic books based upon their costumes and Gambit is a relative newcomer to the X-Men. The three would and could never have been in the Danger Room dressed as such.

This Marvel Colossus was purchased for PhP 1,350 (Roughly US$ 30) at a local comic book store. He's available on Amazon for US$ 20.26 (Roughly PhP 891 plus shipping). If you're into Marvel Select or Marvel Legends, he's a must have for your collection.

I am MIGHTY!!! I AM COLOSSUS!!!