Cyclops

Remember that brief period in the '90s when being a stick in the mud was suddenly cool? Scott Summers wears a specially designed visor and shoots beams of energy from his eyes as the optically-gifted hero, Cyclops. Cyclops, apparently, is not a guy who's a big fan of change. After taking off his school uniform, he wore one costume until the day he quit the team. Then there were the three X-Factor uniforms, which really only varied in terms of the color of the X on his chest. Then he got this costume when the original X-Men rejoined the team, and kept it while everyone else changed regularly. A few interim costumes were inspired by the live-action movie, but then it was years of the Astonishing costume with tiny tweaks. So honestly, when you think of Cyclops, the odds are good - about one in three - that this is the costume you think of. This is the fourth Cyclops Marvel Legends toy Hasbro has released, and it's the fourth to use the same basic body. At least in this case, all those reused molds make sense. Well, other than him as a teenager, but Hasbro didn't have that body yet. The sculpt is exceedingly muscular, but not overly huge, and therefore is suitable for a guy whose defining nickname is "Slim." They did spend a lot of effort on tooling his costume elements: you know a Jim Lee design is going to have lots of straps and pouches, and since just painting them on would have been insufficient, Hasbro actually molded a bunch of new pieces to fit on the body. The bands go around his shins, thighs, waist/chest, and wrists, and since they're not glued on, you could stip him down to a classic blue and yellow look. Other than the head, of course. Although it's one of the most defining elements of this costume, Jim Lee did not originate the "head sock" look for Cyclops - surprisingly, it was a holdover from Whilce Portacio's X-Factor design. The floppy '90s haircut didn't even get changed! This figure is sculpted with a square jaw and a stern demeanor, sort of a "young Bruce Campbell" look. The other defining feature of the costume is the odd strap/suspender thing that holds up his belt, and unfortunately, it's not done very well here. Oh, the sculpt is great, with just the sort of generic shape details Lee used to draw on it, and the clasp that holds it closed is cleverly hidden in one of the small pouches on the belt, but the entire thing is just slightly too large for the toy. It "hovers" away from his body, rather than looking like something attached to him. And we're talking a minor difference at most - like, if it had been molded even 2% smaller than it is, it would be great. Imagine wearing a shoe that's one or two sizes too big for your foot, and you'll get the idea. Shame, really. When ToyBiz made this costume, the chest strap was sculpted as part of the chest, and that was probably the right idea. It's possible Hasbro did it this way so that there was enough room for the torso hinge to move freely, but if so, it was still a bad choice, as it continues to look oversized no matter how you pose him. Cyke has all the same articulation as other uses of this body, and his left hand is sculpted with two fingers extended and curled, either to reach the G spot or to control the dial on his visor. He comes with a piece of this series' Build-A-Figure, the New Mutants' robot friend Warlock. Cyclops has the left leg, which is tall enough to reach up to his armpit. Cyclops is a decent figure, but his loose and wiggly chest strap is a disappointment, and makes the figure less appealing than it could have been. "A" for effort, but "C-" for execution. -- 06/26/17

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