Marvel Legends Retro X-Men Beast/Storm review

Last time, we covered the love triangle and a couple that both shaped X-Men iconography. And now we've got two members that further pushed what made the series great, with Beast as one of the original members who went from an oversized human to donning the blue fur that makes him unique and cooler, while Storm was a later addition of the cast that has leadership potential, especially since she is married to Wakanda's greatest warrior, the Black Panther. Now as Marvel Legends with different forms, we shall see if these retro-style versions are worth getting.

Here is Beast in hand. The figure is sculpted with various textures of fur to capture that more monstrous appearance he's known for, which I think Hasbro did well enough. Considering this is a reuse of the figure from a 2019-2020 wave of X-Men Legends (the Caliban wave, specifically), we lose most of the overspray on the fur to make it look shaded, but we at least get painted finger claws as well as hair that is not as dark, almost black, as on the original version of the mold. I do like the way the anatomy turned out on the mold, as I was initially expecting it to be harder to nail the physique of a more animalistic character design considering how organic it is compared to a suited character, but it's a much better effort than the old Toy Biz figure from even earlier. The arms might look a little wonky, though that might be due to the way the fur is textured onto the skin of the character if that makes sense. Of course, Beast wears trunks to keep his modesty intact, with a belt added on to help make the design pop a bit more.

Head sculpt is appropriately mixed between looking predatory like a lion or wolf would if they were to dominate the food chain while also retaining a sense of intellect that Hank McCoy is known for in the comics. I love that the teeth are painted to add to those combined character traits along with the white eyes and the feral yet wise hair of the character, resembling Wolverine's somewhat. His articulation if standard for the Marvel Legends line, as he has a ball-jointed head and a neck hinge, shoulders that move front and back, in and out, there are butterfly joints present, bicep swivels, double-jointed elbows, wrist swivels, and hinges, a diaphragm joint that is very clicky, an ab crunch, hips that move front and back, in and out, tighter than normal thigh swivels, double-jointed knees, and ankle hinges as well as pivots.

One of his alternate display options are two beakers with serums he is experimenting on, with one labeled as the X-Gene. There are also alternate hands that can hold them one by one. He can also wear a lab coat that admittedly does come off as a bit goofy on him with how oversized it looks, even though it is supposed to be like that for someone like him. He also came with glasses to wear, but I don't know where they're at. Sorry. Even without them, this figure is a great way to obtain a version of a character that was available earlier, trading in some of the darker overspray with more accessories that fit Beast's intellect.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

And here we have Storm in-hand. For those who were already aware of the VHS release, this earlier retro version is more standard by comparison. Her uniform is cast in a pearlescent white plastic to convey a blend of white and silver, both colors being associated with her. Apart from that, we have a bit of a metallic yellow detail that goes around the waist and the right side of her torso. We also have X-logos on the shoulder pads, though the paint apps appear to be either chipped or misaligned somewhat; they hold the cape-like materials connected on the back and the wrists; the one on the left is damaged somewhat, which is really annoying when it appears these materials haven't been as durable as one would hope for Legends figures of the Retro variety.

Head sculpt is majestic, and while the face captures the wind rider very well, the hair, especially from the back, looks glorious and captures her power level accurately. We even get white eyes, cultural eyebrows, and lightning bolt earrings. As for her articulation, it's close to the Beast's, though with the elbow joints containing swivels in lieu of bicep rotation, no ab-crunch joint, no boot articulation, and only lightning effect pieces that wrap over her hands. They're fine for what they are, so it's not much else to explain if I'm being honest.

And here are 7 of the 9 X-Men characters from the opening sequence! It's great to have all of these characters come together, though I'm missing Profesor X and Jubilee, and by extension, both Iceman and Colossus. As for Storm herself, she is an alright figure that looks good and does her job well, but she isn't as worth getting at full price compared to The Beast.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐