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Though his powers are hardly anything new, Pietro Maximoff does still bring something new to the idea of the comicbook speedster: his attitude. He's an insufferable grump, all the time. And really, can you blame him? Ever been stuck behind a slowpoke in traffic? Or waited at a self-checkout behind somebody who didn't know how to use it? Now imagine every second of your life was like that. You'd be irritable, too.
Son of the greatest mutant criminal ever to live and brother to the infamous Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver is a no less legendary figure. He has been a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants, a member of the government sponsored X-Factor and long-time Avenger. He has walked the line between hero and villain, forced by circumstance to travel back and forth from the light to the dark. As a member of his father's government in Genosha, he hoped to be a calming influence on the anti-human ambitions of Magneto, but as his sister's brother he was instrumental in the creation of the House of M crisis. Depowered after M-Day, he stole the Mists of Terrigen from the Inhumans, using them to regain his powers and restore those of several other former mutants. Whether his next move will be in defense of the Earth or an attempt to conquer it is unknown.
Though today the "son of Magneto" thing is generally accepted as true, that wasn't always the case. When Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #4, they were part of Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, but their hearts weren't really in it. They just weren't evil enough. The only reason that they hung around with the team was that Magneto had saved them from a mob, not because of any family ties. In fact, the first time questions of the twins' parentage came up, Magneto wasn't even in the picture.
Quicksilver is built on the Bullseye body, and so shares all that body's specs: 6¼" tall, more than 30 points of articulation, all that. The chest joint is oddly loose, here. Thanks to the ratchet, it's still completely poseable, it just sort of rattles around instead of fighting tightly. Don't know if this is a common problem, but it's certainly not one that makes the bother of returning the figure worth it. He doesn't have a hole for Doop stand in his back, which is a shame - he could really use it to support those extreme running poses.
The sculpt suits the character quite well. He runs everywhere and relies on speed rather than power, so of course he should be a slender guy. The shoulders may be a bit too wide, but chalk that up to the fact that he often ends up carrying people out of danger. His white hair has those two ridiculous spikes coming up off the sides, but his face is young enough that you can tell his hair is naturally that color, not a result of age.
The paint is simple, but applied well.
Quicksilver's costume is fairly simple, having remained mostly unchanged since Jack Kirby designed it lo those many years ago. It's a plain blue suit with white boots and gloves, and a white lightning bolt belt/sash to break up the space. It's a nice look, really. The lines between the gloves and boots are easy to control, since they just follow the joints, but the lightning is crisp all around, even when it has to align over three different body parts. There's a "first appearance" variant, as well, which sees Quicksilver in gren instead of blue.
As part of Hasbro Legends 2,
Quicksilver includes a piece of this series' BAF, Blob. The package claims he comes with the left arm, but if you've read the X3 Jean Grey review, you know better - she has the left arm, while Pietro, here, has the right. You can tell by the shape of the forearms, as well as the picture on the back. The lesson here? Don't just blindly follow directions.
With the release of Quicksilver, we can finally finish off one incarnation of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Wait, no, we're still missing Mastermind. Well, at least we can finish off Magneto's direct fami... no, they're now claiming Polaris is his daughter, too. Hmm. They haven't made his wife, Crystal, so that's out, too. Is there anything we can -- I know! Cap's Kooky Quartet! Now that we have a Legends version of Quicksilver, you can assemble the second incarnation of the Avengers, when all the original guys quit and Captain America recruited three villains to his side (Wanda, Pietro and Hawkeye). It's not much, but it's something. Quicksilver is one of those guys who has been on the periphery of a lot of books, and it's surprising he's been overlooked this long.
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