Psylocke

Why doesn't this figure come with a pocket-sized Siege Perilous? After the X-Men relocate to the Australian Outback, mutant telepath Betsy Braddock exchanges her old Psylocke costume for a more protective suit of armor. Yes she does, with no explanation for where it came from. She just shows up looking spooky in Uncanny X-Men #232, and immediately survives getting slammed through the wall and out of a third-story apartment. That book was released on April 19, 1988, but seven months later, in Wolverine #5, the suit had its "first" appearance when it's lent to another character, with the implication that Wolverine had commissioned it for Psylocke but hadn't given it to her yet. So technically Betsy was the third person to wear it, after Jessica Drew's friend Lindsay McCabe and Madripoor crimelord Tyger Tiger. It might also be magic? Lindasy described it as "metal - but it moves like cloth and fits as comfortably as a second skin!" The guy who presented it to them said it was "impervious to physical assult - including blows, projectiles, and energy weapons." The first thing Tyger did while wearing it was beat up a vampire who couldn't be hurt by any weapon forged by mortal man. So there's definitely something up with it. At that point it also had a full faceplate (can't give the vampire access to any exposed skin, after all) that Betsy apparently traded for a simpler superhero mask. Maybe that had something to do with the fact that apparently getting sealed in the armor was not an entirely voluntary thing, requiring someone else to let you out of it? The sculpt does get its fair share of new pieces, but it's not entirely original: the legs, for instance, come from Lilandra, while the arms are generic enough to have come from anywhere... if not for the accordion folds around her elbows. The torso, though, gets all the specific armor panels and seams the art did. The upper edge of the bustline is sculpted, not simply painted, which wouldn't have worked right for something that's meant to be actual armor and not just costume, but it's not like we haven't seen Hasbro cut that corner before. Probably did it right this time because they knew the mold would be new anyway: her cape plugs into the back, like usual, but the front is glued into place in her chest. She gets layered pauldrons of the "moves with the arm variety," as well. Psylocke never wears her armor without its cape, so it makes sense the cape is nonremovable. The hood is part of the head, rather than being part of the cape, so she can still look around. That's the smart way to do it! The head is on a barbell joint, which we'd normally call "unfortunate," but with the hood, turning and a little bit of tilting is all she needs - she wouldn't be looking up or down harshly. The cape is minorly limiting to what use her joints are, but save making it softgoods, what other choice was there? And do remember, her cape seemed to be made of chainmail or something, so normal cloth on the toy wouldn't have been right. Also, the interior of her cape is painted darker than outside, which would have been a lot more expensive in cloth than in plastic. Betsy has fists or open hands, but her only accessory is her psychic butterfly effect. That's fine, she wasn't using anything else when she dressed like this, but it's still a problem: this is the same mold that came with Gamerverse Psylocke, which means it isn't intended to fit on this face. It has a long peg on one side and a short peg on the other, and this head is designed to accommodate neither of them in the slightest. To even use it, you have to pry the hair away from the head, and kind of jam it in there. Rather crap, honestly. And like we said at the start, a little Siege Perilous tablet would have been neat, too. She does get a Build-A-Figure piece: Box's right leg. Psylocke's armor has been a long-requested toy, and it's great that they put as much effort into it as they did. Plus, if you don't care too much about the Outback X-Men, this is the same outfit Kwannon was wearing when she showed up called herself Revanche, meaning you could use this in a '90s display and have her fighting Ninja Psylocke. Still, for $30, there is zero excuse for not giving us an effect piece that actually worked. -- 08/31/26 Do you want them to do her "puffy sleeves" or Captain Britain costume next? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.