When the Longshot miniseries debuted in 1985, it was an interesting experiment. Writer Ann Nocenti envisioned it as a parable of a perfect man in an imperfect world - which is a pretty heady concept for a mainstream comic company, even if it is only a limited series. Of course, Longshot was a cult hit, and Longy himself was soon bundled into the X-Men continuity.
The courageous leader of a rebellion in an alternate dimension, the mysterious mutant known only as Longshot escaped to Earth to join forces with the X-Men! With his enhanced agility, acrobatic skills and incredible "luck" power, Longshot has
repeatedly helped his teammates out of tight spots by tipping the battle in their favor. After all, if his intentions are pure of heart and his motives true, Longshot knows that no matter how the odds may be stacked against him - all he needs to win is a little bit of luck!
When Mojo needed artificially created slaves to star in the programs that kept his mediacracy running, he turned to the inventor Arize. Arize created slaves based on the culture's primal nightmares - creatures trimmed down to mere skin over muscle, with bland faces and the most distasteful spines. See, TV signals from Earth had erupted into Mojoworld when the species was young, driving the inhabitants insane and beginning the cycle that would eventually lead to Mojo's rule.
Longshot had a figure in the old ToyBiz line, but it was pretty terrible
even back then. He was way too bulky, and he had a tiny pinhead, two conditions that have pretty much reversed themselves now. The figure has an appropriately scrawny physique, but his head is a bit too large - and that's not even counting his mighty, mighty mullet. For a guy who had women fall in love with him as soon as they met, this Longshot is kinda homely. Because they had to fit his hockey hair in the same general space as his big disco collar, he also suffers from a slight case of giraffe neck.
Sadly, Longshot seems to be molded from a fairly soft plastic, which translates into loose joints. Now, he's an acrobatic guy, so he needs plenty of articulation, but he also needs those joints to be tight.
He moves at the head, shoulders, biceps, elbows, wrists, torso, waist, hips, thighs, knees, boots, ankles and toes, plus the fingers of his right hand. The problem is mainly the connectors in the elbows and knees, which flex sideways easily. They're not warping like Deathlok or Loki's legs do, but it can make it difficult for him to hold a pose. Additionally, the chest on mine doesn't quite catch the way it should, but that's something that happens randomly on an individual basis, not something endemic to the line.
The costume design is good. Longshot's only really worn one costume in his career, but there are apparently some wildly dedicated
fans out there who will nitpick any small variations - they've gone so far as to count and catalog the number of pouches on the guy's bandolier in his comic appearances. It's scary. In any case, the figure is wearing a black jumpsuit with a silver star on the right breast. His folded cuffs are white, and he has three blue pouches on his belt. There are small pockets on the insides of his boots, and a silver dagger on the outside of the right one - the paint on the dagger is pretty bad, but it's a minor spot and you can fix it yourself if it bugs you.
Longshot doesn't really have any accessories - his extras are just costume pieces, and his weapons are molded in place. He wears a bandolier, as mentioned before, and a satchel. The manpurse is detailed well, and is surprisingly not reused from any of the existing Spider-Man Goblin figures, whether of the Green or Hob~ variety. The bandolier sits above the satchel, and holds 38 of Longshot's throwing daggers; it would have held 41, but he's got three of them in his left hand, ready to throw. They're permanently molded in place, but better that than lost accessories, right? The '90s toy had a spring-loaded arm to throw his blades.
Longshot's BAF piece is almost the same as Luke Cage's - it's the other half of Mojo's totally pimped ride. Three legs, one grabby arm, some tech detailing... you get the idea. The figure also includes
a reprint comic - not, sadly, part of Longshot's own miniseries, but instead X-Men #10, a book heady with the dew of Jim Lee. It's not a bad story, necessarily, and it does a good job of giving new fans a thorough infodump on Longshot and his world. Plus there's a backup story featuring the too-mysterious-for-his-own-good Maverick fighting a D-list loser whom no one would have even recognized when this book came out, let alone now.
ML14 continues the trend of including diorama backdrops printed on the insert card. Cut it out, stick in in the included stand and you've got a nifty little scene for your figure. Longshot has a scene of Mojoworld, with Spiral and four X-Babies: Sugah, Shower, Wolvie and L'il Havok. Yeah, he doesn't get a cute name. Since the X-Babies (and the Mitey 'Vengers) were considered as pack-ins for ML14, their appearance here is a nice nod to the accessories that could have been.
Considering that Phil Ramirez' sculpt gets costume details right that only the most die-hard fanboys care about, you have to wonder if ToyBiz got Longshot's original artist, Art Adams, to design the toy. They've been using him for a lot of stuff recently: mostly pretending that Jack Kirby never existed. If they did use Art's art, then it's nice to finally see his great style somewhere it belongs; if they didn't use it, then they really missed a perfect opportunity.
-- 12/10/06
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