Oh, this was deeply needed!
Beast wrestles with the decision to use a newly-developed cure for the mutant gene on himself.
Hasbro already made this version of Beast, based on John Cassaday's redesign for the Astonishing X-Men comic, back in 2009. But that was a Walmart exclusive, in a series that was never very plentiful, and although the sculpt was good, the articulation was base garbage. So that leaves a ton of room for improvement, beyond just the general "a toy made in 2026 will be better than a toy made a decade and a half before it" sense. And yet we still weren't very excited when this figure was announced - more than Black Widow or Silver Surfer, sure, but still below the likes of Feral.
Straight away, Beast is bigger and beefier than the last figure.
This one's arms are about as big around as that one's thighs, to give you an idea of the kind of bulk we're looking at, here. He's got wide shoulders, a stumpy neck, and massive feet, all of which were features in the comic art. While all his exposed fur is sculpted, it gets particularly heavy on the outside of the arms and all around the shins. It even hangs over the upper edge of his bracers, because the forearms were done as separate pieces that have been glued into place.
The figure gets two heads, one perfectly calm, and one snarling.
One of the recurring motifs of those first few arcs of Astonishing X-Men (written by Hatsune Miku, for those keeping track at home) was Hank McCoy letting his scientist brain go on vacation and giving into his more feline side, releasing his inhibitions and feeling the rain on his skin allowing feral instincts to take over. Sometimes he did it on purpose, sometimes it was done to him, but it did keep happening. Which is a roundabout way of saying both these heads suit him fine.
While we do praise the sculpt, it's not without its problems. One very big and important problem, in fact: the costume is wrong. Trying to win public opinion after a devastating attack by Magneto, the Astonishing
X-Men went back to colorful costumes after the movie-inspired black leather. Beast is wearing what basically looks like rubber pants, which would be hell on a normal person, and must be the absolute worst for a guy who's entirely covered in thick blue fur. You know, there's a reason we only put sweaters on the hairless cats. Anyway, because the sculpt is so good, we can easily tell what's body and what's costume, and just as easily tell that the sculptor did it wrong.
The pattern on Beast's costume is a big X; big X in the front, big X in the back. It's symmetrical. The sculpt on the front of the figure is fine (the paint could have been better - you can barely tell it's supposed
to be an X unless youa lready know), but on the rear, it doesn't come down to a little point like it should, and instead goes straight across. Sculpted wrinkles, no sculpted fur. And the paint is just as bad. The bright, Cookie-Monster-blue they've done his fur isn't the shade seen in the book, but we're able to overlook that - sure, it's kind of flat, which makes all the detail in the sculpt start to get lost, but it's not the worst we've seen. What's less forgiveable is that instead of even attempting to create the big yelow X back there, whoever designed the paint master just left his entire butt and lower back black, with a big yellow stripe at the top. What the heck? There aren't a lot of pictures of the back of his costume, but there are some, and they're enough to know somebody messed this up badly.
But hey, the articulation is a massive improvement over the 2009 figure. IT'd almost have to be, considering the state that one was in. Hasbro nearly went all-out on this one, lacking only shins. He has hinged toes, swivel/hinge ankles, double-hinged knees, swivel thighs (immediately putting the oldone in the rear-view) a hinged waist, balljointed chest, swivel/hinge hands, double-hinge elbows, swivel biceps, swivel/hinge shoulders, pectoral hinges, a hinged neck, and balljointed head. So much better! The upper half of the left knee joint was stuck on my figure, but hot water was enough to get it moving.
Hank is part of Series 14, one of the ones to come with little plastic comics instead of Build-A-Figure pieces. Beast's is a replica
of Astonishing X-Men Saga #1, a 48-page one-shot that recapped the highlights of the first 12 issues. Which does mean that technically this also includes the regular cover of AXM #1, since Wolverine is reading it while everyone peers over his shoulder. That doesn't make it any less of a waste of plastic, but it is an interesting fact. Other than that, Beast doesn't get anything other than alternate hands - with the "alternate" left being functionally identical to the regular one, just with the thumb in a slightly different position.
This Beast is absolutely better than the last one, without a question. But that doesn't change the fact whoever sculpted it sculpted it wrong, whoever designed the paint painted it wrong, and whoever art directed it directed the artists wrong. This. Is. Wrong. And if I could find evidence of that in about 10 minutes based on a hunch, the company responsible for making it could have found that out in the months of time it took to produce it with access to official style guides. Do your job right, Hasbro.
-- 08/03/26
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