[faelon]

So got some time with my full X-Men Apocalypse wave this afternoon to get an impression of them. Here's how they shake out and fall in my rankings, etc.

1. Storm - Just a great figure. Perfect Punk StormThe outfit is dead on. Everything about her looks and moves naturally. Great face sculpt. Great paint. I kinda like the new soft effect pieces.

2. Tiger Stripe Wolverine - I love Wolvie and my only Tiger Stripe was the Revoltech, which is kind of oddly stylized. It is great to get a nice clean Wolverine. I love how the figure moves. I love that you can get hinm in his claws out arms back pose. Perfect. Only negative is the claws tend to wobble and pop out.

3. Madrox the Multiple Man - I wasn't expecting to like this guy. But damn!. The coat is nice and soft. Minimal hindering of movement. The three heads give him lots of emotion and charm. He's going to find his way into Photo projects. And now I understand why people want multiples of him.

4. Magneto - I know I will be booed. But I really like this Magneto. It isn't without flaws. But that bare head makes up for a ton of them. I prefer his classic outfit. But this one is acceptable and recognizable. I hate the helmeted head.

5. Sabertooth - He's great. Just not spectacular. Face sculpt is decent (although my lower jaw falls off) Articulation is good. He just lacks something that the others all have and I am not sure what. I would expect Sabertooth to grab my eye more than this one does. There is nothing wrong with him, besides wonky jaw. It's me.

6. Psylocke - Once again a nice figure. And would rank higher in any other wave. But the face doesn't sell it to me. Too emotionless. Too generic. She poses about as well as a female ML can. (Yeah looking forward to the Revoltech) She's a good solid dependable Action figure of a comic character. She has 3 accessories in glowy pink. She looks much more like a toy than Storm does. Storm looks like a detailed model of a character. Almost a statue. Psylocke looks like a standard toy Action Figure. And it's mostly in the face sculpt. Plus those flat spandex tank style leotard suits never do action figures any favors.

7. Gladiator - Meh! He's ok. He looks quite nice. Very colorful. Lots of colors. Yes colorful. Like I said... meh. Into the bag of misfit toys he goes unless I come up with some really inspired Photo project.

8. Apocalpse BAF - Everyone has been praising how great this BAF is, so my expectations were really high... and man were they not met. It looks gorgeous. To a point. I find mine has some areas of swirly marbled blue plastic. The knees feel weak and really wobbly side to side. My ab joint is insanely loose almost floppy. The annoying cables should have been an inch shorter on each one. His overall articulation is appallingly limited. On par with the Iron Monger. But he does look good, and that face sculpt is gorgeous. add to the wish list, he really needed alternate hands. Or at least one open hands. He needs something for monologing. A master villain doesn't monolog with clenched fists.

Overall it might be the best Wave series we have gotten in awhile when taken as a whole. No bad figures. A nice classic and wanted villain BAF. The most obscure and questionable one was Gladiator. It's on par with or slightly better than the Sasquatch and Man Thing waves, and head and shoulders beyond anything else in recent menory. With the added bonus that it looks like they pulled this off twice back to back with the Sauron wave.