[Black Arbor]

I wish 2099 Spidey had been on the new bulkier Spidey mold...

[Doop]

Not interested in AoA, so only getting the 3.75" wave.

[Exodus]

Where's the target links for these :P

[magma169]

Contrary to what everyone says I actually love the AoA Cyclops so i ll be sure to pick him up when he releases. Not really seeing anything else that i like except for maybe Helmet Magneto. I dont think they did justice to his unmasked face though, annoyingly :/

[GizmoTron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheBlueMarvel

My recollection is similar to that of Webz. Outside of X-men fans, who are admittedly a huge fanbase capable of propelling popularity/sales on their lonesome, I recall the comic book shop assessment being not so glowing of AoA. AoA by no means started nor typified cross over events. It wasn't even the first for the X-men, as I stopped regular reading of main tier X-books following Inferno. The 90s represented a great deal of hype and, sometimes, empty and gaudy numbers given the many non-readers collecting in a get-rich-quick fashion. Once the Zeitgeist glommed onto Supes and Spidey #1s selling for tens of thousands of dollars, everybody from coked out investment bankers to polydent peddling octogenarians were buying up tinfoil variants of Punisher, Wolverine and Ghost Rider left and right. They did the same with everything from Beanie Babies to Tickle-Me Elmo. Remember the foil cover madness, or every title being rebooted to #1 to cash in on the uninitiated that didn't know better? Well, I do. I had friends working in and running shops at the time and while they certainly don't represent a large and diverse pool of evidentiary research, their "meh"ness about AoA wasn't exactly an isolated occurrence - as anecdotal a statement as that may be. AoA is definitely celebrated among the many, many X-men fans, but I'm not sure of the event's cachet far beyond.

Alllllll that said, I can't say I'm entirely unbiased as, imo, there have only been 3.5 cross over events that I've continued to like in the years following: Crisis on Infinite Earths, Infinity Gauntlet, Annihilation, and half of Annihilation:Conquest.

That's the thing, for the "comic book guys" in the shops event fatigue set in a long time ago. Like I said, that's always been true for those that hung around the shops, read their Comic Shop News and Wizards and stayed in the know. They knew what was going on and were harder to impress.

But AOA, while it certainly wasn't the first line wide event ever, wasn't just like another Inferno, or a Fall of the Mutants, or the previous big event with the Phalanx Covenant. It was a huge gamble for Marvel as they literally cancelled/shelved the regular X-Men line for at least half of a year in order to relaunch the entire line with a brand new story in a new continuity. Sure, DC had done big things like kill Superman and replace Batman, but those stories continued on through the regular monthly books. With AOA and barely any message boards or social media like today you had people subscribing to Uncanny X-Men every month, who knew or may have known little or nothing at all about the ending to Legion Quest, suddenly receive the Alpha issue and a new Astonishing X-Men #1 out of the blue without much warning. That's quite ambitious in hindsight, even though big marketing pushes, renumberings, and relaunches aren't so special now, back then it was a pretty big deal, especially with Marvel's arguably top property at the time.

Of course the other kicker was that AOA was by and large was by and large well written, too, which is what fans remember the most. For a long time it was peak X-Men, and turned out to be more than a gimmick or just another comic fad which is why it's had such a lasting impression with X-fans new and old.

And Marvel and comics as a whole as well, since they really do return to the AOA template every once in awhile for their latest events (to varying degrees of success of course).

[Benn Roe]

Granted I was 12 at the time, but no X-Men fan I was friends with was disappointed with Age of Apocalypse as it was being released. My friends and I were all over it. It was the first story where I got every issue of every title. And it was an X-Men story, so I’m not sure what the opinions of non-X-Men fans have to do with determining its original popularity. Game of Thrones was really unpopular with people who don’t watch TV, after all.

[En Sabah Nerd]

I don't think the AoA was a particularly well written story but it was certainly an ambitious presentation of how dark things can get when an alternate timeline is actually allowed to play out. Days of Future Past showed how terribly wrong the future could be but it was still these same characters just after the hardship but AoA rewrote the past to show a terribly wrong present where many characters had completely different upbringings and might only be superficially familiar. I guess I'm saying I've always liked AoA because it was Marvel's first big dive into fleshing out an alternate reality for the X-Men to reside in, it was like one of the "what if?" stories was given more room to breathe.

[mangkanorxxv]

outback x-men wave or mutant massacre/inferno wave

[Archangel]

I’m stoked to get that Cyclops figure. I hope he comes with some sort of accessories, hands, and an alternate head would be great.

[Dolemite]

Quote:

Originally Posted by webz

Funny that AoA has a new life to it 20+ years later. I remember during the event it was quite polarizing, majority leaning negative.

It was a ballsy and unique storyline for the time. I thought it was pretty fucking rad when it happened...it's not often that a comic publisher pulls the rug out from under their fans' feet like that, especially for, what? At least six months, if I remember correctly?

Sure, you knew they were going to eventually set the timeline right, and there were no real lasting ramifications once they did (aside from a few popular AOA characters crossing over), but it was cool while it lasted, especially getting to see completely different takes on well-known characters.

[Dolemite]

Quote:

Originally Posted by En Sabah Nerd

I don't think the AoA was a particularly well written story but it was certainly an ambitious presentation of how dark things can get when an alternate timeline is actually allowed to play out. Days of Future Past showed how terribly wrong the future could be but it was still these same characters just after the hardship but AoA rewrote the past to show a terribly wrong present where many characters had completely different upbringings and might only be superficially familiar. I guess I'm saying I've always liked AoA because it was Marvel's first big dive into fleshing out an alternate reality for the X-Men to reside in, it was like one of the "what if?" stories was given more room to breathe.

What I do/don't like about these "What If? scenarios like AOA is that characters who would never normally die can be killed off. I like it because it's more realistic and unexpected and actually adds stakes to the proceedings, but I don't like it because it reminds me that they would never happen in the regular continuity...people either never die, or they die and are resurrected 4 months later ala "comic book death." It's meaningless.

And Marvel has made it even worse, now. I've peeked at some recent X-Men comics and apparently mutants now have their own island nation and can actually "back up" their brains and grow new bodies identical to their old ones, so any time someone is "killed" they can just be brought back to life instantly (I won't start the debate about how I think using backed-up memories means that the "reborn" person is actually a copy and not the original, but...). The point is that there are no stakes at all anymore.

I just read X-Men #20 and Nimrod the Uber-Sentinel (another old-school comeback!) shoots Mystique as she's escaping through a portal to Mutant Island (or whatever it's called), she dies, and one panel later she's popping out of the X-Men's rebirth device (or whatever it's called) with a new body and everything is fine. It's like oh, you were just killed, no big deal. Aggravating, since you know if this tech didn't exist the writers never would have killed off Mystique so casually like they did.

Again, no stakes. But I understand that these characters are commodities, and no one wants to get rid of anything that can make them money. Hence, "comic book death."

[TheBlueMarvel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GizmoTron

That's the thing, for the "comic book guys" in the shops event fatigue set in a long time ago. Like I said, that's always been true for those that hung around the shops, read their Comic Shop News and Wizards and stayed in the know. They knew what was going on and were harder to impress.

But AOA, while it certainly wasn't the first line wide event ever, wasn't just like another Inferno, or a Fall of the Mutants, or the previous big event with the Phalanx Covenant. It was a huge gamble for Marvel as they literally cancelled/shelved the regular X-Men line for at least half of a year in order to relaunch the entire line with a brand new story in a new continuity. Sure, DC had done big things like kill Superman and replace Batman, but those stories continued on through the regular monthly books. With AOA and barely any message boards or social media like today you had people subscribing to Uncanny X-Men every month, who knew or may have known little or nothing at all about the ending to Legion Quest, suddenly receive the Alpha issue and a new Astonishing X-Men #1 out of the blue without much warning. That's quite ambitious in hindsight, even though big marketing pushes, renumberings, and relaunches aren't so special now, back then it was a pretty big deal, especially with Marvel's arguably top property at the time.

Of course the other kicker was that AOA was by and large was by and large well written, too, which is what fans remember the most. For a long time it was peak X-Men, and turned out to be more than a gimmick or just another comic fad which is why it's had such a lasting impression with X-fans new and old.

And Marvel and comics as a whole as well, since they really do return to the AOA template every once in awhile for their latest events (to varying degrees of success of course).

All of your points are reasonable and I get where you are coming from, but it doesn't change the original assertion that there were diametrically opposed views ('polarization') within the comic community when the event was initially published and digested, differences that apparently persist even today. Popularity and critical acclaim might correlate much of the time, but that's not always the case. There are 13 Fast and Furious movies and the franchise obviously enjoys a robust fanbase. However, that creative team isn't likely to win an oscar any time soon. No one can doubt the affect the Fast series has had on its fanbase, nor can anyone deny the importance of AoA to X-Heads. I just don't know if either have much relevance outside of the choirs to which they individually preach.

In any event, Legion/Sabretooth/Colossus are nabs for me. Legion because I've always wanted the fig - he's a bit too brawny tho'. Sabretooth because of the Exiles head and my want to get some representation for tha team - by the way, IMO Exiles does/did better what AoA/What If? only play at. And Colossus because that thing looks damn cool.

[Super Joe]

3.75's gonna look good next to HasLab Galactus!!!

[GizmoTron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheBlueMarvel

All of your points are reasonable and I get where you are coming from, but it doesn't change the original assertion that there were diametrically opposed views ('polarization') within the comic community when the event was initially published and digested, differences that apparently persist even today. Popularity and critical acclaim might correlate much of the time, but that's not always the case. There are 13 Fast and Furious movies and the franchise obviously enjoys a robust fanbase. However, that creative team isn't likely to win an oscar any time soon. No one can doubt the affect the Fast series has had on its fanbase, nor can anyone deny the importance of AoA to X-Heads. I just don't know if either have much relevance outside of the choirs to which they individually preach.

In any event, Legion/Sabretooth/Colossus are nabs for me. Legion because I've always wanted the fig - he's a bit too brawny tho'. Sabretooth because of the Exiles head and my want to get some representation for tha team - by the way, IMO Exiles does/did better what AoA/What If? only play at. And Colossus because that thing looks damn cool.

True, as polarization in the comics community will always exist and this story is no different.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dolemite

And Marvel has made it even worse, now. I've peeked at some recent X-Men comics and apparently mutants now have their own island nation and can actually "back up" their brains and grow new bodies identical to their old ones, so any time someone is "killed" they can just be brought back to life instantly (I won't start the debate about how I think using backed-up memories means that the "reborn" person is actually a copy and not the original, but...). The point is that there are no stakes at all anymore.

Well even if it wasn't already established in Marvel that resurrections can work that way even before Krakoa, I think it was a clever way to address the endless doom and gloom of de-powerings and genocides that Marvel writers had dumped on the Mutant population and the franchise for years. How do you stop evil people from killing off all of the Mutants? Make it so they can't kill the Mutants anymore.

But believe it or not, they have addressed the idea of "no stakes" in the stories themselves, and have started a book recently that has Nightcrawler delving a bit deeper into some Mutants having no regard for life and death anymore.

[Kernel]

I might buy Tigra if I see her on clearance. I wish they’d reissue beast as I was never able to find him in 6” form.

Except for Tigra all this stuff is an EASY pass. The 3.75” figures have went completely backwards in quality compared to what we had over a decade ago. Oh well more money in my pocket or to spend on other toys

[Runamuck]

They look great, but I will wait until I see non-rendered preorder pics.

[Runamuck]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Black Arbor

I wish 2099 Spidey had been on the new bulkier Spidey mold...

Yeah, his proportions look so out of whack. Arms too long, neck too long, etc.

[MeLikeJinx]

If retro Spidey 2099 is not using the new retro Spidey mold I'm thinking the retro classic red Daredevil won't either... it will just be a repainted release of the first version.

[Struggler]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MeLikeJinx

If retro Spidey 2099 is not using the new retro Spidey mold I'm thinking the retro classic red Daredevil won't either... it will just be a repainted release of the first version.

Straight repaints are hasbro's goto move.