Marvel Legends Storm, Forge and Jubilee review

When Hasbro is committed to knocking out a team they don’t lose focus. We’d gotten Retro Wolverine as a solo pack and then two three packs. I’d looked at the Banshee, Gambit and Psylocke pack earlier. Now it’s time to finish it with the Storm, Forge and Jubilee set. Once I knock this one out, it’s on to the Retro Card Professor X as Warlord (or is it?) release.

That will largely complete the main image for Uncanny X-Men #275, the iconic Jim Lee portrait of the team in their training gear attire. I was pretty excited about this set and was very impressed with the first three pack. Thanks to a big Hasbro Pulse sale I got these three at another crazy discounted price point.

Let’s see if lightning strikes twice with this second Uncanny X-Men #275 three pack or if Forge will have to put this set back up for repairs. Get your fireworks ready!

Packaging:  Like its predecessor, this packaging features Uncanny X-Men #275 in the backdrop. Over on the left side the art features Storm, Forge and Jubilee direct from the cover. The right side features the renders of the figure while the back provides better looks at the trio and their included accessories.

It would have been awesome to have a little tag or blurb explaining what made this team look so unique and why it was highlighted as part of the X-Men 60th Anniversary rollout for ML.

Likeness: Banshee, Gambit and Psylocke arguably had their best figures in the three-pack. That’s for sure the case with Forge though Storm and Jubilee’s figures are perfectly fine as well. They just better attires than the team look.

The wacky part with Storm in this attire is she doesn’t actually wear it until issue #276. She’s back to her traditional black outfit with the lightning bolt across the front. Hasbro hasn’t made that look yet but it’s a low-key underrated costume that hopefully will get done eventually in ML.

The sculpt almost has Storm’s hair down just right. It’s got the right amount of body and width at the top, but the sides needed to be cropped tighter for a more distinct style — think Halle Berry in the 90s.

Storm had the lightning earrings on while she had her black costume on, but Lee drew them for the cover. She didn’t have them in a comic until Paul Smith’s guest artist stint in #278. The biggest issue with Storm is she’s too thin. Hasbro needs to introduce a grown woman body that doesn’t make the women look like taller teenagers.

Forge previously had a figure in this look, but it reflected his modified suit with unique boots. Lee was/is a great artist, but consistency was not his strong suit. The cover featured the shoulder harness, though he didn’t actually wear it in any interior pages. While the cover features Forge without the headband, he actually wears it throughout the arc.

One area I can’t cut the ML sculptors a break is on Forge’s right leg. His cybernetic parts should end just above his knee, which is where Lee placed the leg band. The keyed-in band is accurately placed on the female X-Men, but along the upper thigh of the dudes.

Forge’s belt should be raised higher, but this would impact his waist articulation. His head sculpt is an improvement over the previous figure as it looks like it got some face printing enhancements.

Jubilee also got a face print improvement. She’s got a slender, teen body, which helps to make her look younger since she’s too tall.

Jubilee is probably the plainest figure in this set through no fault of her own.

Paint: To keep things simple with these costumes, Hasbro essentially used molded plastic with little need for paintwork. Despite the lack of sculpted lines for the outfits, the linework is very clean for the figures.

Storm’s paintwork is very well done. The shoulder points are the only area that has even minimal fuzziness. I do wish Hasbro gave her hair a grey wash to help break up the all-white hue.

Just a smidge of her lipstick is missing around her lower right lip. It’s the kind of thing I’d only notice in trying to find flaws.

With Forge, I looked diligently to find some issues and had to give up. His paintwork is really nicely applied. I like the subtle darker skin tone he’s got.

If I had to come up with a “problem,” it’d be that his cybernetic leg got a darker wash.

Jubilee could have used a bit more yellow paint applications on her shoulder and gloves.

The face printing definitely added another layer of detail to her head sculpt paint.

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Scale: Storm is drawn to be slightly shorter than Forge in most cases. The figure is just a tad shorter compared to Forge though this sculpt’s slighter frame makes her look too small next to him.

Forge is appropriately the tallest in this set and eye to eye with Gambit and Banshee.

Jubilee is done on a smaller body though she’s still too tall. She should come up to Wolverine’s chest, but she’s eye to eye with him. At least her smaller frame makes her look younger compared to Wolverine.

Articulation:  Like the previous three-pack, the articulation is terrific for two of them while one figure gets a little shortchanged.

Storm gets bicep and double-jointed elbow articulation but lacks the butterfly shoulder joint. She’s able to hit a strong variety of weather-channeling poses thanks to better range in her torso as well.

Forge has the full articulation complement, which helps for aiming and tinkering poses.

The butterfly shoulders make weapon clutching even easier.

Jubilee is lacking compared to her teammates. She doesn’t have the bicep articulation and just has single-joint elbows. Her torso has little range and seems like a case where the connection piece needs to get some more clearance via a Dremel.

Storm, Forge and Jubilee have:

• neck
• ball-jointed shoulders (butterfly shoulders for Forge only)
• bicep (except Jubilee)
• elbow (double-jointed)
• wrist
• wrist hinge
• torso
• hip
• thigh
• knee (double-jointed)
• ankle

Accessories: Storm could have benefitted from an extra head with a different expression. She comes with the lightning stemming from her hands set with the translucent blue effects.

They’ve still got those wrinkly bumps in the fingers that look very weird. Additionally, she’s got a swappable set of fists, which was a very welcome inclusion, so she doesn’t always have the power gesturing hands as her default.

Forge comes with a swappable set of fists and he gets the rarely used larger blaster last seen with Nuke. The color scheme is different enough that it looks like a new blaster.

Forge of course isn’t limited to any one weapon so he’s eligible for any sci-fi, futuristic gadget in your weapons bin. Or those weapons that came with the early waves of G.I. Joe Classified Series.

Jubilee gets the most in terms of accessories. She’s got two small pink/purple translucent energy trail to simulate her fireworks. For her alternate hands she’s got a right fist and an open left hand. Jubilee also has the extra portrait with her blowing a bubble.

Finally, she’s got the pink sunglasses that can be used with both head sculpts.

Worth it?  Originally this set was $77.99. That was more than buying three figures at $24.99. Hasbro Pulse dropped this set down to $37, which made that an easy purchase for me. Ollie’s has had the set for even cheaper at $25.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Storm could use a taller, less lithe mold while Jubilee could use the updated articulation. Forge is great though and it’s very cool to have the Uncanny X-Men #275 team fully assembled.

Where to get it?  You can still get this set at Amazon.

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