Marvel Legends Dark Phoenix

Hear me, X-Men! No longer am I the woman you knew!
I am Fire and Life incarnate! Now and forever - I am PHOENIX!

The latest Marvel Legends incarnation of the Dark Pheonix is definitely Fire and Life Incarnate.

We're just hot off Jean Grey #6 which is hinting at the return of the original "older" Jean Grey via her ghost - assuming younger time-displaced Jean Grey is just not insane given that Dr. Strange can't seem to see the entity.

Anyway, this isn't technically Jean Grey, this is the Phoenix in her form.

For the Marvel Legend non-cosmic destroyer of worlds Phoenix version, click here. 

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Marvel Legends X-Men Series Sunfire Action Figure

I am the unquenchable fire!

Mavel Legend's Sunfire Action Figure is an excellent tribute to one of the less renown X-Men characters. 

Sunfire has a thing about teams in the sense that he's NOT a team player. He does however hold the distinction of being one of the only X-Men to also have been an Avenger having served - albeit briefly - in the Avengers Unity Squad alongside Havok, Rogue and Wolverine.

We remember years back when we were heavily into the Marvel RPG that we thought we figured out back then why Marvel kept Sunfire from joining the X-Men - he had the same Plasma Generation powers as Havok, and the same brash arrogance as Wolverine (Which is also probably why they killed off Thunderbird). Of course, today that oversimplification is a falsehood.

Still quite a waste. We think he would have made a great X-Man.

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Transformers Takara Leo Prime

Bend before the ways of Heavy Metal! 

The  Takara Leo Prime is a regal, kingly, headmaster that sadly fails to be an inspiration in his alt modes.

If we understand his history correctly - which we really don't - this is the main protagonist of the comic book series Beast Wars: Uprising.

This is Lio Convoy, AKA Leo Prime, the Guardian of Order and keeper of the Energon Matrix. He becomes disillusioned with the new caste system of Cybertron and kicks off the Grand Uprising AKA the 4th Cybertronian War. Dubbed a terrorist, Leo Prime would battle the forces of the Builders - the descendants of the Autobots and the Decepticons.

Sometime towards the end of the war, he would sacrifice himself to defeat his arch nemesis, Galva Convoy, and would be rebuilt into the triple-changer you see here.

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Marvel Legends Colossus - Warlock Wave

 "Get up and I shall knock you down once more."

The Marvel Legend Colossus - Warlock Wave  - is a wonderfully sculpted modern rendition of the X-Men's strongman.

We're big fans of the Mighty Colossus. We're not really fond of how Marvel writes him, but we love the X-Men's Knight in literal shining armor.

We've been reading comic books since 1986 and we cannot recall Piotr sporting a beard. The closest was the 5 o'clock shadow that he sported when - after a trip through the Siege Perilious - Piotr was snogging a really hot looking Calisto and living as a rather successful artist in New York, and; following the events of AvX, but nothing as robust as this beard.

So our interest was piqued when Humberto Ramos (Impulse, The Amazing Spider-Man) created a bearded literal Russian Bear of a Colossus for the Extraordinary X-Men.

He's since gone back to his clean shaven look.

Marvel Legends Barbara "Bobbi" Morse AKA Mockingbird

Bobbi Morse - Mockingbird

Presenting Barbara "Bobbi" Morse AKA the Mockingbird from the Marvel Legends Onslaught BAF toyline.

To be perfectly honest we miss Adrianne Palicki and her portrayal of Mockingbird in the Marvel: Agents of Shield TV series. We sincerely hope that she returns or reprises the role elsewhere.

To the uninitiated who only know her as the ex-Mrs. Hawkeye, Dr. Barbara "Bobbi" Morse (Yes, she has a Doctorate in Biology from the Georgia Institute of Technology - and she also went to the SHIELD Spy school), was originally created as a love-interest for Ka-Zar back in 1971 by writer Len Wein and artist
Neal Adams (She also wasn't originally a blonde).

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Marvel Legends BAF Abomination

Marvel Legends BAF Abomination

Presenting the Abomination from the Marvel Legends Build an Action Figure series of the same name. 

Emil Blonsky, or the Abomination, was created by Stan Lee ad Gil Kane in 1967 as an opponent for the Incredible Hulk.

Side note: Say what you want about the 2008 Incredible Hulk movie, we think Tim Roth was a wonderful Emil Blonsky.

The comic book Emil Blonsky however did not gain his powers via a gamma infused blood transfusion. Emil was a KGB agent sent to photograph equipment that was used in the creation of the Incredible Hulk. While doing this, he exposed himself to a large dose of Gamma radiation and transformed into the Abomination. 

He's been a foil for the Incredible Hulk and the other heroes of the Marvel Universe ever since - until the Red Hulk killed him

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Marvel Legends Ashley Barton - Spider Woman

Marvel Legends Ashley Barton - Spider Woman

Presenting Ashley Barton AKA Spider Woman from the Marvel Legends Space Venom BAF series.

Once upon a time, Marvel created a futuristic world where the villain's Acts of Vengeance actually worked, Wolverine killed all the X-Men, and Hawkeye married the half-African American daughter of Peter-Parker. They had a daughter named Ashley who decided to call herself Spider Bitch.

And that will be the last time we refer to her as such because it's just too...crass.. for us.It's not something that should be said as a name for a woman - no matter how f''ed up she is. So we'll refer to her as Ashley Barton or Spider Woman from here on. She also uses the name Spider-Girl.

Ashley Barton was a rebel against the regime of the Kingpin, ruler of Hammer Falls, in the time of Old Man Logan. Kingpin crushes her pathetic little rebellion, captures her and schedules her for execution.

She's rescued by her father, Hawkeye, but Spider Woman turns on him and kills the Kingpin be decapitating him with the handle of a shotgun (Yes, she has her grand-father's strength). Old Man Logan and Hawkeye escape on the Spider-Mobile with Ashley Barton's forces hot in pursuit.

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Marvel Legends Cable

Cable: Just chillin

Presenting Nathan Summers, AKA Cable - son of Scott Summer (Cyclops) and Madelyne Pryor (The Goblin Queen) - from the Marvel Legends X-Men Juggernaut BAF series.

The good news is that this is no longer based on the images of Rob Liefeld who co-created Cable in the 1990 along with Louise Simonson (However Nathan Summers was first created by Chris Claremont waaaay back in 1986). As such, we no longer have to suffer through the enormous shoulder-pads which were all the rave in the 1990s along with useless bits of armor that protect.... nothing.

This is Cable as he appears in the prologue of the AvX series called Avengers X-sanction which was written by Jeph Loeb and illustrated by Ed McGuinness. 

In Avengers X-sanction, Cable returns to take out the Avengers - having foreseen that the Avengers would kill Hope Summers in the coming AvX series. He successfully incapacitates Falcon, Captain America, Iron Man and the Red Hulk, but is interrupted by the arrival of Cyclops who tries to talk him down. Unfortunately the Avengers Spider-Man and Wolverine arrive and all hell breaks loose. Cable eventually loses but does succeed in planting the distrust between the Avengers and the X-Men. 

Marvel Legends Captain Britain

Together, we will guard the gates of reality

Presenting Captain Britain from the Marvel Legends Captain America Abomination BAF series.

To the uninitiated, Captain Britain is Brian Braddock, the fraternal twin of the mutant Betsy Braddock, Psylocke - who he really isn't very fond of since he found out that she was a member of X-Force and hunted down and killed bad-guys.

Following the death of his parents, Brian was working in Darkmoor nuclear facility when it was attacked by the villain known as the Reaver. Attempting to escape to get help, Brian is mortally wounded. He is then confronted by Merlyn and the Guardian of the Omniverse, Roma and the dying Brain is asked to choose between the Sword of Might or the Amulet of Right.

Brian chooses the Amulet and becomes Captain Britain - the "Protector of the entire bloody Omniverse", imbued with Superhuman strength, speed, endurance, agility, durability, reflexes, and senses as well as the the abilities to fly, project destructive energy beams and generate force fields. We should note that Kelsey Leigh chose the Sword of Might and still also became Captain Britain (Lionheart, The one who would become an Avenger, not a Secret Avenger).

As of this writing, Captain Britain is supposedly the last surviving member of the Captain Britain Corp following the universal incursions that unified the Marvel Universe.

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Marvel Legends Phoenix - Jean Grey

Marvel Legends Phoenix - Jean Grey

Presenting Jean Grey, the Phoenix, Fire and Life Incarnate, from the Marvel Legends X-Men series

To the uninitiated, this specific Jean Grey remains dead (Killed by Xorn). She was last seen in 2005 ascending into a higher plane of existence with the Phoenix Force and in 2012 convincing Cyclops to let go of the Pheonix Force.

Marvel has teased plans for her return, but for now seems happy to have the time-displaced Teenage Jean in active service - which must really make things uncomfortable for Old Man Logan - who hopefully will finally find happiness in the hands of Storm (Though even that's a bit of a May-December romance).

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Marvel Legends Civil War Scarlet Witch

Marvel Legends Civil War Scarlet Witch

Presenting Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch from the Marvel Legends Captain America Civil War toyline.

To the uninitiated, this is the outfit that the Scarlet Witch wore when Captain America's team went toe-to-toe against Iron Man's team in the airport in Germany where she displayed an ability for short flight, telekinetic strength of incredible proportions, and a penchant for throwing German made cars. This is not the outfit that she is seen wearing at the end of Avengers - Age of Ultron.

For our thoughts on Captain America Civil-War, click here. 

Personally we'd love to have had her Age of Ultron "Schoolgirl" look. We thought that it was quite... fetching... and it suited Elizabeth Olsen.

We're certainly looking forward to her return in the Avengers and if her short incarceration on the Raft would have any effects on her mental heath.

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Marvel Legends X-Men Series Wolverine

Fastball Special!!!

Presenting Wolverine from the Marvel Legends X-Men series Juggernaut BAF toyline.

We believe that the last time Logan wore the tan and brown uniform was when the reconstituted X-Men tussled with Magneto all the way back with Jim Lee's run with the X-Men circa 1991.

He's been wearing variants of the Yellow and Blue uniform since then.

For a look at the mode modern Wolverine costume, click here. 

Which is a shame since we thought that the tan and brown outfit was not just kick-ass, it was more tactical. How does Logan hide in the shadows dressed in canary yellow? (Even DC has recognized this and made Robin's cape black on the outside.)

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Marvel Legends X-Men Series Havok

JUST CRY HAVOK!!!!

Presenting the Havok from the Marvel Legends X-Men Juggernaut BAF series.

To the uninitiated, this is Alexander "Alex" Summers AKA Havok, the younger brother of Scott Summers AKA Cyclops. Singer's X-Men movies reversed their ages.

Marvel doesn't really seem to know what to do with Cyclops-lite. Havok and Polaris have actually been described as a 2nd tier Cyclops and Jean Grey

For more about Cyclops, click here.

Waaaay back in the 80s, we remember an Alex Summers who was pretty much useless because he was so afraid that his plasma blasts would maim or kill anyone he used them against - which is true, Havok fires plasma (Ironically Sunfire and hey! The Human Torch - have no such qualms), not concussive force (Which is what his brother Cyclops  fires).  As a cosmic powered entity (Again like his brother Cyclops), suffice to say he's pretty powerful.

So Marvel had to gloss over that period and allow him the ability to keep hitting people with his plasma blasts.

We should probably mention that the heat he generates can fuse the ground into glass, and when Marvel retooled him, they gave him the ability to use his blasts to propel him into the air (Yes, Havok can "fly")

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Marvel Legends Rogue

Marvel Legends X-Men Rogue

Presenting the X-Man Rogue from the Marvel Legends X-Men Juggernaut BAF series.

To the uninitiated, Anna Marie, the mutant also known as Rogue, is currently a member of Captain America's Avengers Unity Squad along with Deadpool.  A power thief, she currently has the powers and psyche of Simon Williams, Wonder-Man, making her nigh invulnerable, strong enough to take on Thor, and pretty much immortal.

But that's the current comic book Rogue.

This Rogue is based upon the 90s incarnation of Rogue as she was redesigned by Jim Lee when she rejoined the X-Men after being among the X-Men lost to the Siege Perilous (Though technically that may have been Carol Danver's - whose psyche resided in Rogue - doing, not Rogue's.)

In this guise, Rogue had the powers of the pre-Binary Carol Danvers, so: flight, invulnerability, super-strength and a "7th sense" which allowed her to predict the movements of her enemies (Allowing her to actually predict where a teleporter like Nightcrawler would next appear).

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Marvel Legends BAF Juggernaut

Marvel Legends BAF Juggernaut

Presenting the Build an Action Figure (BAF) Juggernaut from the 2016 Marvel Legends X-Men line.

To the uninitiated, Cain Marko is NOT a mutant, though he has been both one of the most formidable opponents of the X-Men and a one time member of Xavier's merry band of mutants.

The Juggernaut is powered by the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak - an other-dimensional being of immense power - a power which can be drawn upon by magic-users on Earth.

The Crimson Gem of Cyttorak comes with an instruction manual of sorts: "Whosoever touches this gem shall be granted the power of the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak! Henceforth, you who read these words, shall become ... forevermore ... a human juggernaut!"

The bearer becomes the avatar of Cyttorak who gets his high on destruction. As the Juggernaut, Cain Marko is a near immortal with the strength to shatter mountains, regeneration, and a mystical force-field that grants him invulnerability, particularly when he's in motion. He doesn't tire, and can survive without food, water, or oxygen.

You might also want to check out the Juggerlossus. Click here if you do.

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Marvel Legends Deadpool

Marvel Legends Deadpool

Presenting the "Merc with a Mouth", Wade Wilson, AKA Deadpool from the Marvel Legends X-Men Juggernaut BAF series.

To the uninitiated, Deadpool is not a fan of International Women's Day, but was genetically altered by the Weapon X program so that he possesses a healing factor that is so strong he can survive a bullet up "Main Street" - and live to talk about it.

Deadpool's healing factor is stronger than Wolverine's. Wade has shown the ability to survive full-on decapitations without the benefit of any external empowering force (Wolverine once regenerated completely - Adamantium and all - from a single drop of blood, but he was powered by a cosmic, reality manipulating crystal).

For more about the Marvel Legends Wolverine, chick here.

Which of course doesn't mean that Wade doesn't feel pain - so it really helps that Deadpool's mind is so messed up, he probably can't distinguish pain from pleasure.

So yeah, he probably thinks he can take down the Juggernaut.

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Marvel Legends Kitty Pryde

Marvel Legends Kitty Pryde

Presenting the X-Man Katherine "Kitty" Pryde AKA Shadowcat from the Marvel Legends X-Men line.

Or Ariana Grande if she was a super-hero.

To the uninitiated, and as of this writing, Kitty Pryde, formerly of the X-Men and currently a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy as the new Star-Lord.

Also as of this writing we're not sure if she and Peter Quill will be getting back together and if she will be relinquishing the title of Star-Lord now that Peter is back with the Guardians.

Anyway, this is Kitty Pryde as she last appeared as the leader/mentor of the time-displaced original-five X-Men and prior to her phasing powers being elevated to cosmic levels - allowing her to phase through anything and phase anything, phase through the multiverse and walk through space. But since the Black Vortex supposedly granted her god-like powers, this is probably just a taste of what she can do.

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Marvel Legends Civil War Captain America Action Figure

Marvel Legends Civil War Captain America Action Figure

Presenting Captain America action figure from the Marvel Legends Civil War Toyline.

This is a bit late. The movie is long over nad has crossed into that magical 1B mark. If you've been following this blog then you know that we absolutely loved Captain America Civil War! This particular figure has been sitting in our side-lines for quite some time now, so we decided to feature him.

For our thoughts on Captain America Civil War, click here.

To those who are wondering, no Captain America did not wear the same uniform that he wore in Captain America the Winter Soldier. You can tell by the glaring lack of red and white stripes in Cap's Winter Soldier costume.

For more about the Marvel Legends Captain America Winter Solider Action Figure, click here.

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Marvel Legends BAF Puck

Marvel Legends BAF Puck

Presenting Puck the end result of the Build your own Action Figure (BAF) series of the same name from Marvel Legends.

If we're right Eugene Milton "Puck" Judd is the smallest articulated Marvel Legends character in the market - not counting the tiny version of AntMan and the Wasp.

To the uninitiated, Puck was a soldier of fortune who was born in 1914. Despite the fact that he stood 7' tall - an imposing, hardly discrete character - he was hired to steal the Black Blade of Baghdad, which unbeknownst to him contained a trapped sorcerer called the Black Raazer.

Freed from the blade, the Black Blade, Puck sacrificed a portion of his life-force to contain the wraith in the only container available in the area, his body. Somehow this resulted in Puck's shrinking down from 7' to 3'6".

Marvel Legends Spiral Gold Variant

Marvel Legends Spiral Gold Variant

Presenting the Spiral Gold variant from the Marvel Legends Red Hulk BAF series.

We first met the woman known as Spiral waaaay back in the mid-80s during the Fall of the Mutants story-line of the X-Men. Back then she was one of the scariest members of Freedom Force, a literal powerhouse who could take the X-Men on all by her lonesome.

Spiral was a master swords-woman who had six arms - one bionic arm - enhanced strength; the ability to use offensive and defensive magic; and could teleport across dimensions, and; a severely psychotic attitude.

Her one vulnerability seemed to be her irrational hatred for the X-Man Longshot. It would later be revealed that it's because she's the future Mojo manipulated version of Rita "Richochet Rita" Wayward, Longshot's girlfriend.

Decades later Spiral would become a member of the all female - not counting Puck - X-Force team.