



Remember that dark period when it looked like Hasbro wasn't doing any figures for X-Men or the Fantastic 4? The rumor was that Disney didn't want to support any franchise they didn't own the movie rights to. While that may or may not be true, the fact is that now, both teams are well represented, with the 4 getting Walgreens exclusives, and the X-men getting several waves dedicated to them. Today, let's look at two offerings from the most recent "Caliban" wave, Beast and Blink.





Packaging:

The boxes are the standard Legends ones, and the figures look good if you want to leave them boxed. Nuff said.





Sculpt:





Beast has an awesome sculpt! He's appropriately beefy and bigger than the regular figures. They also did some great detail work giving him hair. Especially on the shoulders and wrists, he's got visible tufts, and they look excellent. One minor issue i have is the belt. It's sculpted, but it can get bent out of place when posing, and I'm a tad concerned it may warp over time.





I suspect that some of Beast's sculpt is new, which is a great show of effort on Hasbro's part.

Beast is a great translation from 2 dimensional comic art to 3 dimensional figure. He's probably the best figure Dr. Mccoy has gotten so far, and he's a great, necessary addition to any X display.









Blink's sculpt isn't as unique or new as Beast's, but she's on one of the many female bucks Hasbro uses, and it works very well. I'm especially fond of the work on her skirt, which is posed in motion, as if she's always teleporting around. That fits her power-set, and its a nice touch.





Blink was one of the figures I wan't especially thrilled about, and originally planned to sell her. But after opening her and posing her, I like Blink too much to do that. Her fantasy look, with the pink skin, green felt, and belts is very unique, and she stands out well because of it.





Articulation:

Beast, in the comics and other adaptations, has always been a very flexible, acrobatic character in spite of his bulky frame. Luckily, the figure is more than capable of matching that. He's got insane articulation, including: Ball jointed head, ball joint and butterfly shoulders, swivel waist, ab crunch, double pin elbows and knees, thigh swivel, rocker ankles, and even hinged toes! Good old Beast can make just about any pose you can think of. Hasbro really knocked it out of the park here.









Blink has a great articulation scheme! She's got a ball jointed head, ball shoulders, a swivel waist, pin/swivel elbows, pin wrists, ball hips, thigh swivel, double pin knees, and rocker/ball ankles. Every joint is useful, and she's super fun to pose in teleporting stances.





Paint:





Hasbro gave the good Dr. an impressive paint job. He's mostly in blue, obviously, but the shorts are sculpted and painted differently, so rest assured, he's a modest furry blue man. The belt is a nice bright yellow, and there's some good work on the teeth and mouth on his roaring mouth. My favorite details are the patches of dark gray fur patched around the figure. It's a nice effect that makes him more varied.









Blink's got pretty great paint! The pink is nice and consistent, and from what I can see, it never slopped over to the green clothes. I'm especially fond of the red diamond marks on her face, and the metallic green eyes are striking. One minor mistake, visible issue above is one area where the green spilled onto the belt. This isn't a huge deal, but it's one flaw in an otherwise great paint job.





Accessories:

While Beast is otherwise excellent, one area that's a bit of a let down is the accessories. He comes with a hunk of Caliban, and a few specific inclusions. To specify, the walgreens Thing is a perfect example of how to do a larger figure's accessories. Thing came with an alternate calm head, and one set of open hands and one set of fists. Beast only comes with the snarling head, limiting posing potential. His alternate hands are also somewhat disappointing , as he comes with a clawed and flat palm left hand, and a fist and gripping right hand. These are great, and they swap in and out easily, but the lack of any matching, symmetrical hands bothers me.





Blink comes with another piece of Caliban, and all the inclusions you'd want to depict her powers. She comes with two energy daggers, cast in pink plastic, and one slightly longer than the other. Best of all, she also comes with an energy portal effect! As far as I know, this is a brand new piece, and it looks great. It would look good with some magical characters, like Dr. Strange or Scarlet Witch.





Overall:

Despite my nitpicks over Beast's accessories, these are great figures. They've got impressive sculpts, great articulation, pretty great paint, and fun accessories. I've got no issue recommending them.





Gallery:



































