Here is Magneto based on his appearance in the Age of Apocalypse storyline. He ditches the purple trunks and cape for red ines to go with his already red suit (which is inaccurate to his design for the red trunks). The gauntlets and boots gain more purple, though the cape's design adds purple shoulder pads to go with the collarpiece/cape attachment. This figure uses the same Family Matters tooling, but with the new parts added on for this suit. There appears to be no major use of paint beyond what little there is, though the bolts for the cape are rubbing off.
Head sculpt is mostly good, with the helmet being kore dynamic in design than the more traditional helmet he has, and he has his hair much longer and even parts of it braided to resemble dreadlocks. Certainly a 90s design trait in terms of being radical, but not really fitting for a Magneto that is meant to be the leader of the X-Men in this timeline. I do wish he had his face shrouded in darkness when the helmet is on him, but he ends up looking cheap with no real definition for the whites of his eyes. His articulation consists of a somewhat limited ball and neck hinge combo, shoulders that move front and back as well as in and out, biceps that swivel, double-jointed elbows, wrist swivels and hinges, ab crunch, waist swivel, hips that move front and back, in and out, thigh swivels, double-jointed knees, boot swivels, ankle hinges, and pivots. His alternate hands go very well with the purple effect pieces that make the display options more varied than before.
His alternate head is better made than his helmeted head due to the face looking more refined as a normal human face. And for a size comparison with the other X-Men, he fits in well and can be made into a custom classic Magneto if you don't mind getting him for $10 and breaking out the purple paint. One of the better AoA releases but that doesn't say much.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Up next, it's Sabretooth. This guy is not to be confused with the 2013 version, which has a different head sculpt and different suit details in addition to being on the Hyperion base. This figure uses the Grim Reaper mold, which has also been used for characters like Captain America, Whirlwind, Punisher, and Kraven the Hunter, ong other reuses. It's not a terrible reuse, though I'm positive the figure is outdated in the eyes of some collectors, especially when this is a 2022 wave while Grim Reaper debuted back in the 2015 Ant-Man wave. And I say dated because of the pinned elbow and knee joints being present when most Legends opt to instead give them pinless joints of late. Still, the figure looks good apart frm the slightly off-color hips and the aforementioned pins. There is no dry-brushing on the fur of the suit, but they are sculpted well, and the hands and feet are equally sculpted well in addition to having more paint added.
Head sculpt is where people are mixed on the figure. While it's made well and is pretty expressive, it does feel a little weird for the character. It looks more like the love child between Wolverine and Willem Dafoe. There also appears to be an underbite. His articulation is mostly the same as Magneto's, but he not only has no boot swivels, but he also lacks alternate display options.
Well, his mane can be removed if you really want to, but he has the engine, waist, and bonnet of Bonebreaker. Much like Magneto, Sabretooth is only worth getting if you see him for cheap because he isn't really the most convincing figure to go for the whole value-for-money motif.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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