Juggernaut

The fanboys were nervous when it was announced that Brett Ratner would be taking over for departing director Bryan Singer when it came to X-Men: The Last Stand. They said it was a huge mistake, and for once, the fanboys were right: doing Superman Returns was a colossal blunder. Especially once X3 turned out to be pretty darn good. A smoother transition than anyone expected, at any rate. Most of the new characters were handled well, particularly the unstoppable Juggernaut. Once the Juggernaut starts moving, no force on Earth can stop him. He is the proverbial irresistible force, a walking, talking battering ram with a physical focus so singular that forward motion becomes an inevitability. Incredibly strong, highly resistant to damage, and faster than he looks, he is to the Brotherhood of Mutants what an armored division is to most human armies. Of all the mutants freed by Magneto he is the most fearsome, for no cell can contain him, no wall can halt his movement. He is unstoppable! In true fanboy fashion, there were a lot of complaints about the Juggernaut before the film opened. Apparently all the fans who loved the first two films because they followed the comics so precisely were worried that a character had been somewhat changed. Gone is the bright red armor of the original Juggernaut, replaced by something that makes a lot more sense in the world of the film. It's actually quite heavily influenced by the comics - big huge boots, metal bands on his hands, forearms and biceps, and a rounded helmet. The costume is mostly brown leather now, rather than red... stuff, and his abdomen is exposed, but it's still pretty similar in terms of design. The original concept was definitely more Juggernauty, but this is still a strong representation. Juggernaut is a good 7" tall, which doesn't make him the biggest Marvel Legend of all time (current leader? Sasquatch), but allows him to look down on the rest of your X-Men movie figures. He has a balljointed head, balljointed shoulders, swivel biceps, hinged elbows, balljointed wrists, hinged torso, swivel waist, balljointed hips, swivel thighs, double knees, swivel boots, plus ankles that are both hinged and rocker style. If this figure had been made by ToyBiz, we probably would have gotten hinges in the hands and toes, but is anyone complaining about losing those? The sculpt is nice. Juggernaut is bulkier in figure form than he was on the screen, but it works - they're obviously trying to convey his power. Of course, the character was played by Vinnie Jones, who's scary enough to make a wall fall down by looking at it, let alone running through it. Juggy's helmet is removable, and the likeness is very good - this honestly looks like Jones. The costume doesn't get overlooked, either, with all the tiny straps and rivets detailed well. And look at the texture on the toes of his boots, too! What's particularly surprising is the paint. For all the bitching about who the paint on Hasbro's Legends is bad, Juggernaut is looking very good. He's got at least three shades of brown on his costume, and the silver armor bits are painted crisply. He's got hair painted on his chest and arms, and an impressive bit of airbrushed stubble on his head. The cracks in his helmet are darker than the surface, too. Bad paint? Where? Okay, the stubble spills onto the tops of his ears, but that's it. Some have complained that the hair on his chest doesn't quite match up with the skin. That is true, but come on: the guy is wearing a big strappy harness to hold armor plates on his shoulders; it's sure to rub, and if you've ever experienced a bit of "ankle baldness" from wearing thick socks all winter, you know how that goes. Hasbro has continued the Build-A-Figure tradition started by ToyBiz, and this series' big boy is Blob. Juggy is a fairly big figure by himself, so he gets a small piece of the BAF: Blob's meaty hands. The fingers are thick and sausagey, and there are hinge joints at the wrist and fingers. Just looking at these big paws, you can tell Blob is going to be a huge figure. In the movie, Juggernaut was a mutant, not a human empowered by the mystical gem of Cyttorak. But honestly, does that make a difference? His powers and personality are the same. Heck, he probably even has the same weakness to mental attacks. And sure, there was no mention of him being Xavier's stepbrother, but that just means it never came up. This is, simply, the Juggernaut, a fairly comic-accurate character in a film series that's never been afraid to make changes. A well-made toy like this is the 3D proof that everyone who spent a year bemoaning Hasbro getting the Marvel rights was way off the mark.

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