Iceman

Damn, that's a cold-ass honky! (Sure, we've already used that joke before, but you didn't remember, did you?) Iceman joins with the X-Men to stop Apocalypse and prevent the catastrophic culling of humankind in a harsh dystopian future. Since "Age of Apocalypse" Iceman was recruited by Magneto instead of Charles Xavier, he grew up different: Erik was not one to indulge Bobby's light-hearted jokester personality, so the kid was forced to become more serious earlier in life, and to develop his powers faster. Remember, 616 Iceman was actually more of a "Snow"man when he started out, and then it was several more (in-universe) years before it occurred to him that he could even form some icy boxing gloves around his normal fists. Meanwhile, AoA Iceman was able to basically teleport himself through any body of water instantly, shaped his body for battle, and rarely ever bothered to revert to his human form. In fact, he was so intense, most of the other X-Men were leery of spending any time around him. This figure is an interesting mishmash of pieces. He's got the "spiky" arms and legs of the Series 2 figure, but a new torso that's very squared off and blocky, like Iceman is often drawn. (No Spidey pec-hinges this time, though.) He even gets a new "icicle" backpack, with more spikes than the other Iceman had - and sharper ones, too! If that weren't enough, we also get copies of the Carnage hands, since Iceman was more violent and dangerous in this reality. The head is completely new. It would have to be, because one of the traits of AoA Iceman was that he barely bothered to form human features - he has (blank) eyes and a slight bump where his nose would be, but no actual nose and not even a hint of a mouth. Even his hair is spikier now, sticking straight up and terminating in sharp points that look like he could stab someone with them. One thing that's disappointing about the figure is the paint. Instead of being white or silver or even a pale blue (all the traditional Iceman colors) he's a strong blue. As blue as the ice that falls off an airplane. There's some lighter airbrushing on some of his pointy bits, but that's not enough to salvage the look. It's almost like they were trying to match the color of the ToyBiz Mutant Armor Iceman figure, but why? Did they think we'd be using those old accessories with this new figure? Did they think everyone has easy access to pieces from 1996? Would those even fit on this figure? It would be neat if they did, but it seems far-fetched. So why not do this one in a normal whitish-silver color, then release a blue one later in one of those Retro series they love so much? Other than the swappable hands, Iceman doesn't have any accessories of his own - just the right arm and bonus fist of the Colossus BAF. It would take more than a new chest to really do "Age of Apocalypse" Iceman justice. Using the existing limbs for their small spikes was a clever choice, but they're small and non-threatening, which is not what AoA Bobby was about. He barely ever stuck to a form this human, so he'd almost have to be some kind of wild BAF himself to really capture the comics' feeling - think "Sandman," but with ice. -- 12/06/21

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