M

How stuck up do you have to be to make your supranym just the first letter of your own real name? Monet St. Croix studies to become the next generation of X-Men at the Massachusetts Academy while unraveling her mysterious connection to some of the team's greatest enemies. This series is all over the place, isn't it? Astonishing X-Men looks from the '00s, Shi'ar and Imperial Guards from the 70s/80s, House of X from the nows, and here we have Generation X from the '90s. That's quite the change from the fully themed series were were getting not too long ago. Which do you prefer? An entire Generation X team set might not sell well (who's going to care that much about building a Mondo BAF?), but it could easily have been all-90s; surely there have to be at least six designs from that era that have yet to be turned into toys, I mean, the inclusion of Monet in this series instantly makes us think of at least one related character. IYKYK. M had the usual combo-plate superpowers - flight, strength, speed, invulnerability - but rather than being physical in nature, she was subconsciously using her psionic abilities to do all that: she can fly, but she can fly the way Jean Grey can fly, not the way Captain Marvel can fly; her skin's not unbreakable, her powers are just stopping any threat before it gets to her skin; etc. So while she's powerful, she's not She-Hulk, meaning right out of the box we can tell this toy is too tall. The girl stands 5'7", but the toy is nearly 6¼". Which honestly may just be continuing a tradition: I recall that Toy Biz's 1995 Generation X line was also way taller than it should have been. We're going to lay that blame on the legs. While the lower torso is one we've seen used on plenty of women, and even the thighs have been used with it before, the Generation X costumes were designed in the mid-90s, so they were more technological than simple pieces of material to cover your feet. They come up knew-high, and seem to be made of stacked metal tubes. Having all that detail there made artists tend to draw the legs longer than normal, and now they've been sculpted longer, as well - bend the knee up to compare the shin directly to the forearm, and you'll see that the lower legs are approximately ¼" longer than they should be. Pair that with a body that was already fairly tall, and you've got yourself a toy with an incorrect height. The torso is also new, because there was no way to simply paint on the raised collar and the X-logo zipper pull. The original X-Men were blue and gold, the New Mutants were black and gold, and Generation X is red and gold. Or at least maroon, which honestly does set the kids apart from all the other superheroes, and gives them a look that feels intentionally cohesive yet distinct. The toy captures that color well, without too much of a difference between different blends of plastic. Even the golves and boots, separate pieces slid over the existing molds, match the painted areas nicely. The gold on the suit is gold-gold, not yellow. M gets just a bit of blue on her belt. The St. Croix family was from Monaco, which many of the books' artists seemed to think made her Middle Eastern? Maybe they were confusing it with Morocco, except that's not in the Middle East, either? Opposite side of the continent. And yet near Monaco. This toy gets European-style facial features, but keeps her brown skin (which is more than the comics could be bothered to do in the mid-00s). Articulation is the usual stuff: ankles, knees, thighs, hips, chest, wrists, elbows, biceps, shoulders, neck, and head. Are we really sure this chest is a new mold? Because most of the new sculpts these days get barbell necks, not a hinge and a balljoint. That's not a complaint, becaus M needs the extra range this provides in order to deal with her long hair, it's just unusual to see. The little bits of armor on the costume's shoulders are the sort that move with the arm, so they won't get in the way while punching. You get your choice of fists or open hands. This series' Build-A-Figure is Ch'od, and M includes his left leg. This figure being the wrong size is disappointing. Not just for M herself (though that too), but because with this being a team uniform, Hasbro could have cranked out other team members pretty easily, reusing the new boots and gloves to make Jubilee and Husk in short order. But none of them should be this large - they're teenagers, not adults. A single figure in a Generation X uniform isn't terribly exciting, but Hasbro would need to make a lot of changes before they could give us any more. -- 07/10/23

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