Marvel Legends Gambit, Banshee and Psylocke review
One of the more iconic X-Men covers is Uncanny X-Men #275. The image, featuring artwork from Jim Lee featured the team in the vintage blue and yellow “training gear” outfits of the original team. Among that crew was Gambit, Banshee and Psylocke.
Gambit was emerging as a very cool new addition to the X-Men. Psylocke was in the midst of a dramatic makeover and Banshee was finally getting back in the fold. The team look didn’t last long, but it was sweet seeing the X-Men decked out in a uniform look.
I’ve been griping about the need for a new Banshee figure for years. While I’m still awaiting the traditional green and yellow attire, Banshee rocked this blue and yellow look well into the blue and gold era so this isn’t a throwaway look at all.
Let’s see if the wait for this trio of X-Men was worth it.
Packaging: This packaging is more personalized than the usual three-pack setup with Uncanny X-Men #275 in the backdrop. The side art features Gambit, Banshee and Psylocke from the cover. I dig the rear, which showcases various panels of primarily Lee artwork.
As usual, the rest of the back features different images of the figures and their accessories.
This would have been a cool opportunity to shout out the issue and its significance with some sort of write-up. On the top is the 60 years X-Men logo.
Likeness: One thing that immediately stands out with this set is that these are by far the best Gambit, Banshee and Psylocke head sculpts.
Gambit has the right amount of tousled hair that can work in a natural state or action poses. Hasbro has done several Gambit figures but this is the first that really screams Jim Lee influenced to me.
Hasbro used the Vulcan mold for him, which is most consistent with previous Gambit figures. The big difference of course is the lack of a stylized light armor chest-plate and thigh high boots. Gambit wore this look for issue #275, but he quickly found a trench coat that he rocked for the rest of the arc. It would have been great if Hasbro included a soft goods jacket for him for both looks.
Gambit’s training gear attire is pretty basic with small strip-like button straps around the neck, gloves, thighs and boots. And a belt with a big X logo. This gear was largely the basis for the Jim Lee Cyclops design.
Banshee’s costume is basically the same with unique flourishes like the flared collar. And of course, his signature wings.
Just based on their designs, I don’t know how Hasbro could pull them off completely comic accurate. They’re drawn with zero gap between his underarms, torso and legs.
That’s impossible to achieve with a highly articulated figure. The ML team does an admirable job with it while accounting for the articulation thanks to soft plastic tabs the wings are sewn into.
Banshee’s head sculpt perfectly captures the mutant who’s seen and done it all. I love the slightly amused expression suggesting Banshee’s about to say something smart to Wolverine.
He’s got the classic muttonchops, which is a great element to add harkening back to his old Claremont/Cockrum/Byrne days. The hair has a nice flow to it as well.
Psylocke has seen incremental improvements to her various figures, but this is a big upgrade. The head sculpt does a better job of showing Psylocke is Asian at this period in her history.
She’s still missing the hair strands in front of her face, but this is much closer to a Lee-likeness. Psylocke has what I think is the Shriek body with new gloves, leg strap pieces and boots.
Paint: With the blue and yellow bodies, Hasbro basically used molded plastic with little need for paintwork.
Most of the fuzziness with the paint comes around the uniform points in the shoulders. The rest is pretty clean.
Gambit, Banshee and Psylocke all had exceptionally clean face paintings. Each had some subtle airbrushing to further bring out the sculpt details.
The makeup application on Psylocke was very impressive.
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Scale: Gambit has traditionally been drawn as taller than most of the non-larger scale X-Men. He’s taller than both Banshee and Psylocke easily. I like that the three figures all have different heights.
Psylocke is a little shorter than some other female figures like the 90s era Black Widow. Lee drew her to Gambit’s chin, so the scale is pretty close to accurate here.
Articulation: In a very nice departure from the usual write-up, I don’t have to add any asterisks explaining some articulation is for the dudes-only. Psylocke has the same articulation scheme as Gambit and Banshee. Well, with one exception. Psylocke lacks butterfly shoulders.
They can all hit a great variety of poses. Banshee has no problem hitting flying and rearing back to unleash his sonic scream.
This is the most articulated Gambit figure we’ve gotten by virtue of not having the trench coat shoulders restricting some of his range.
Gambit, Banshee and Psylocke have:
- neck
- ball-jointed shoulders (butterfly shoulders for Gambit and Banshee only)
- bicep
- elbow (double-jointed)
- wrist
- wrist hinge
- torso
- hip
- thigh
- knee (double-jointed)
- ankle
Accessories: Gambit comes with his usual allotment of accessories — the separate left hand with energy charged flung throwing cards. He’s also got a separate ace of hearts charged card.
He’s also got a satchel to store his deck of cards in lieu of his usual trench coat. Next, he’s got a separate gripping left hand.
Finally, Gambit has his bo staff. The gripping hands do a much better job of holding it this time so I didn’t have to deal with sliding staff syndrome.
Banshee doesn’t need a lot of accessories. He does thankfully come with what Hasbro neglected to provide for his daughter, Siryn, — an alternate screaming head.
Much like the Dr. Strange figure, Hasbro decided it made sense to give the alternate head sculpt a noticeably different hairstyle. This one ditches the muttonchops, which is a weird choice unless Banshee screams the muttonchops off while flying?
His other accessory is a set of open hands — ideal for flying poses. It’s something so no complaints from me here.
Psylocke has her psionic sword with an energy charge to lace around the blade.
She’s also got her psionic knife. All three pieces are cast in a translucent purple. Psylocke also gets a chopping right and a left-hand fist. That’s a solid amount of accessories for her.
Worth it? Originally this set was $77.99. That was a lot considering there was no Build-A-Figure and a decent amount of reuse. Hasbro Pulse had the set available for $49.94, which made it an immediate purchase for me.
Rating: 10 out of 10
I was kind of on the fence about getting a set from one brief arc in X-Men lore, but this set really sold me on it with stellar execution on all the figures and setting up what will be a very cool display centerpiece.
Where to get it? You can still get this set at Amazon or from Entertainment Earth.
As an Amazon associate and Entertainment Earth affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.