[En Sabah Nerd]

My Nimrod set arrived and while doing some minor shopping I popped in at Gamestop and was able to use their bag sale to grab War Machine for $24.

I decided against getting the Nimrod set at full price even before it came out. $80 felt just too high and the Alpha Flight set last year taught me that they're willing to put their exclusives on sale pretty quickly. For only $55 plus tax I find my gripes with the set are more easily consoled. Nimrod is appropriately sizable but unlike Hulk and Juggernaut he has severely limited articulation. He does look good though and his assorted optional pieces are a treat. Psylocke and Fantomex are just a good reuse of parts. I passed on the Apocalypse wave Psylocke because everyone I found had really bad paint smearing, this one still has some paint smearing but not as much as I encountered before. I really dig the coloring on her hair and accessories. The costume is pretty specific but I loved Remender's Uncanny X-Force so it's all good in my book. Fantomex also has some spots of paint smearing but nothing is too bad on mine, overall he looks good. His long vest is cumbersome but not terrible.

Like the Nimrod set, War Machine's initial price didn't sit right with me. He comes with more than the typical Legends figure but not $10 more, so grabbing him for less than $25 was satisfying. The figure itself is great, I've always liked the classic War Machine look. Everything moves well and the paint is mostly clean. The effect pieces for his shoulder weapons are fun but I have some nitpicks regarding the wrist gun. My strafing-shot effect has some notable warping and it's kind of a bummer that if you plug in both the plain shot pieces at once the gun suddenly adopts a severe spread. Unfortunately it appears as though someone has played a prank on Colonel Rhodes because mine has only half of his facial hair, the sculpt is obviously still there but on the entire right side of his face the mustache and beard are completely unpainted. It's a good thing I always planned on sticking with the helmet. QC grievances aside I'm very happy to add classic War Machine to my collection.