Marvel Legends Cyclops

This figure is no longer new to the market, but it's new to me...it's the Jim Lee-style Cyclops figure!

Here's a look at him from the front and back. At first I was "meh" on this figure because it's kind of plain without any shadows or interesting paint apps, but the sculpt itself is so perfect, I'm glad I finally got him.

You can really appreciate how much an upgrade this figure is until you compare him to an earlier version. I've been displaying the Astonishing X-Men version of Cyclops with my X-Men for a few years. I love that costume design, but the sculpt never had wowed me. Look at them side-by-side.

 

As you can see, the new Cyclops is a lot taller, which fits more with the character's portrayal in the comics. plus, in comparison, the old Cyclops has weirdly large feet!  Never noticed that before.

I can't have a Cyclops post without including his long-time love, Jean Grey. I'm still displaying the old Toybiz Phoenix figure. There have been several very nice toys of her that have come out in the past couple of years, but I honestly still love this one. The body sculpt is kind of simple, compared to modern female figures, but I really like her head sculpt. 

One guy who was not thrilled to see a new, improved Cyclops was Logan. Oh well. Maybe it's time for Logan to get a bit of an upgrade?? There's a new Wolverine coming out this year that I plan to check out. 

 

In conclusion, this figure is a really nice upgrade to my previous Cyclops and I'm happy to have him in my collection. Some paint application shadows would have been nice, but it's still a great figure.

Sideshow Wolverine Statue

 

 Today I was surprised by an amazing gift from my cousin, a Wolverine statue from Sideshow Collectibles! While I have an extensive action figure collection, I only own 3 statues and none of them as dynamic as this one. I can't find my ruler, but he stands around 20" tall, including base and is covered in detailed textures and painstakingly applied paint applications.  This statue is probably the finest item in my geek collection.  Check it out!

The statue comes with an easy-to-change alternate unmasked head.  Both are excellently sculpted, but I prefer the mask-on version.  Still, look at these details!

The unmasked head looks especially cool from the side.

The last thing I want to point out is the base. He's standing on top of a broken japanese-style bridge with 4 arrows sticking in the wood around him. There's snow on the ground and on the bridge. I love the texture and paint details on the wood and the painted shadows on the snow. It really sells the whole scene. Fantastic work.

 

Amazing job by the Sideshow team. I'm super excited about this new addition to my collection. Thanks for checking out my review.

Hallmark Ornament Collection

One of my collections that I don't think about outside of December is my Hallmark Ornament collection.  I bought myself a really cool Spider-Man ornament (pictured above) sometime in the early 2000's and a yearly tradition was started.  Some years I pick up 2 or 3, some years it's only one, but Hallmark always comes through with something worth buying every Christmas.

In the past few years, my kids have gotten old enough to love Christmas ornaments like I do, so you'll notice Mickey, Tinkerbell, Rainbow Brite and others that don't seem to quite fit are included.  This is by no means the whole collection, only the ones that had decent enough light on them to get a usable picture.

These pics won't be great quality, due to the Christmas lights all over the place, but I liked festive spirit of the pics compared to taking them with the lights off...so GET OFF MY BACK!  Sorry....got that under control again...enjoy the pics.

Emmitt Smith 

Tony Romo

Thor

Space Ghost

 Spider-Man

 Yoda

 Chewbacca (with C3PO)

 Mickey Mouse

 Wolverine

Tinkerbell

 Rainbow Brite

 Statler & Waldorf

 Obiwan Kenobi

 Tie-Fighter

Captain America

Shiny New Colossus

A few years ago I bought what i thought was the last Colossus figure I would ever need. The Marvel Legends Colossus was big, shiny, and had a great paint wash. This week I found a better one. Once I saw the new Marvel Select Colossus, I could see all the areas where the Legends version fell short. The Select Colossus is bigger, shinier, actually poses better, and best of all, actually looks like the character! You'll see for yourself if you scroll down.

Colossus comes with a spiked wall that is supposed to be part of the Danger Room training area. It looks great, but seems kind of small to be a threat to this big guy and it's probably going straight to storage.







The details on Piotr's clothes are very well done, but if you prefer your Russian mutants topless, feel free to pull off his head and remove the top part of his shirt. For much of the 80's Colossus went shirtless in battle, so this is not all that weird. I think the details are great, but can't get past the abdominal part of the shirt that is not removable, so I will be displaying him with his shirt on.


Now for some fun comparisons. Look at his size compared with in-scale figures of the Hulk, Thor, Juggernaut, & the Legends Colossus below. I'm not sure that he's supposed to be bigger than the Hulk, but I'm sure the Marvel Select Hulk is bigger. The others are pretty right-on though.





Last but not least, the "Fastball Special"! It's pretty cool that there's actually a Colossus figure that can easily lift a Wolverine figure to recreate their signature move.