Stryfe X-Men Marvel Legends figure review

Stryfe is a strong addition to X-Men Marvel Legends

It seems hard to imagine given the Avengers universe we live in now, but Marvel used to revolve around all things X. The X-Men franchise was so popular that every other month a new mutant seemed to pop up. Stryfe was introduced as a foil for Cable and X-Force and was prominently featured in The X-Cutioner’s Song crossover.

With Hasbro bringing the X-Men back to prominence with its Marvel Legends line, I figured it was a good time to break out my Stryfe figure. Let’s see how he manages.

Package: I appreciate Hasbro being consistent with the ML packaging. MOC collectors would have a pretty nice display since the window fully shows the figure. In Stryfe’s case, he looks massive and makes use of pretty much the entire inner tray. The drawing on the size isn’t as personalized as usual and instead features Wolverine.

The underwhelming bio is intact though. The back definitely needs some work or an overhaul in its presentation. The bright blue accent helps to distinguish this one-off X-Men wave.

Likeness: If nothing else, Stryfe certainly has a cool visual. As a 90s creation, Stryfe suffers a bit from impractical design overkill. There’s random spikes for the sake of spikes and that headpiece is just as crazy as I remember.

But that over the top design really translates well to a figure. The spikes are made of a strong plastic so wilting won’t be an issue for them. The various pieces to the armor from the rivets and the layered blade look of the helmet are faithfully recreated.

[irp]

His cape has the nice arc to it as has a good blowing in wind sculpt. It’s stiffer than I’d like though. The DC Icons line utilizes a great material for softer capes that don’t weigh the figures down while still looking great.

Paint: From most source material Stryfe’s armor is one solid shade of silver. There were some instances where the under armor sections were a different color. Hasbro went that route so the arms, mid-torso and hips have a gunmetal silver paint job. I would have liked a more metallic looking sheen to the armor overall, but that’s just my preference.

Scale: As a clone of Cable, Stryfe should be his height, but Cable’s height varies by artist. He looks nice and imposing against the regular size X-Men figures.

Articulation: Stryfe was more the posturing and order barking kind of opponent. He rarely gets into physical confrontations with the X-Men so his articulation isn’t as important as it is for other characters like a Sabretooth. But he’s got all the articulation you’d want to put him in action.

To help with the articulation, Hasbro gave the armor parts, like the gauntlets and waist piece a softer plastic.

Stryfe has:

• neck
• shoulders (hinge)
• bicep
• elbows (double jointed)
• wrist (hinge and swivel)
• torso
• waist
• thighs
• hips
• knees (double-jointed)
• ankle

Accessories: Stryfe doesn’t have a ton of obvious accessories. Maybe a vial of the Legacy virus would have been a nice touch, but he’s pretty much just directing other people. Hasbro went the extra mile though and gave him a sword.

It’s cast in a gold plastic with no details making it look like a very cheap toy sword besides its intricate handle. The guys over at OAFE.net said the sword is actually from chapter 8 of the X-Cutioner’s Song when Stryfe stabbed Apocalypse. That’s a neat inclusion since it’s actually from a storyline and Stryfe isn’t a guy with a lot of obvious accessory options. Too bad the sword looks so cheap.

Stryfe was part of one of the more frustrating Build-A-Figure waves. Hasbro made the often requested Jubilee, but it was in a modern outfit and not the classic ‘Jim Lee-style’ original costume. And the BAF Jubilee wave was pretty impossible to find anyway.

Stryfe comes with Jubilee’s head and spark effects. For customizers that’s the most important part in making a classic Jubilee. If you’re not trying to build Jubilee, you could probably find some folks willing to take it off your hands.

Worth it: Getting Stryfe MOC will run you close to $40. Loose will be close to $25. Given this wave’s weaker distribution that’s not awful. You can never really have enough villains and Stryfe is well-executed making him worth tracking down — for a good deal.

Where to find it: Stalking eBay is the best bet, but you can avoid the hassle and buy him straight away from Amazon.com.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Stryfe is about as good as necessary. His look is translated to figure form terrifically in all his 90s extreme glory. With a shinier metallic paintjob he would definitely warrant a perfect score.