Mutants...since the beginning of time, they have been quite remarkable for their astonishing powers...some wondered if they were the missing link in the evolution or would replace the normal human race. Either way, we get to see two distinct approaches of humanity between Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr. The former approaches his beliefs that mutants and humans can co-exist peacefully while the latter sees humans are an inferior race and would want to bend them at their knees. Now, inb4 people try to add that these guys are totally like IRL people with different political beliefs, we must remember that Charles was born in a rich family despite having some unstable relationships with his relatives while Magneto experienced the Holocaust as a boy. And no matter what, fictional politics are not the same as IRL politics. Okay? Now go outside and play after you're done reading this review.
Here is Magneto in-hand. This guy is based on his appearance from Days of Future Past, which is already a plus for me because of my love for the movie. The sculpted details used for the armor as well as the pants give the suit an added form of essence that mere paint apps on a flat surface wouldn't do justice. The proportions work well, the cape adds a lot to the suit and looks somewhat like fabric despite it being a molded piece of plastic (it's also removable yet doesn't look as good without the cape because it looks naked and makes the neck look weird so don't). The lower legs have boots to them that stand out from the leg region of the suit by having them in a shinier black on top of having distinct texturing. The same can be said for the gloves; while they're already in black to match the hands, they're sculpted as such to look like they're actual gloves rather than just be painted black.
Head sculpt is based on an angry Michael Fassbender likeness with a Jim Lee styled helmet on him, which looks wicked as all hell and is undeniably Magneto. He doesn't look quite angry in this shot and does look like he's trying to take a dump, but at least Hasbro made both the eyes, eyebrows, and mouth look realistic, which is something that I wouldn't quite say for Negasonic Teenage Warhead. And the articulation on this guy is quite good, with a ball joint and hinge at the head, shoulders that move front and back as well as in and out, bicep swivels, bends at the elbows that don't really go past 90 degrees, and wrists that swivel as well as hinge in and out. There is a diaphragm joint that flexes around like on some older Legends and on the Lightning Collection, hips that move front and back as well as in and out, thigh swivels, knee bends, boot swivels, and feet that hinge up and down as well as rock side to side...and if you can't tell, my Magneto broke at the bicep because the shoulder joint for moving it in and out was EXTREMELY stiff; while I was able to hinge it in and out, it resulted in the bicep swivel tearing off at the peg, and as we saw, it tore off. I know that the employees working in the factory have to get their money out, but wouldn't it hurt to test out joint tolerances? This defective one wouldn't normally leave the factory!
There are some alternate heads and hands; the hands are just mirrored ones of the ones already on him, but these new heads are where things get interesting; apart from an alternate unhelmeted Michael Fassbender Erik Lehnsherr head, we have two heads with similar display options yet contain the likeness of Ian McKellen's portrayal of an older Magneto first seen in the original X-Men trilogy Sadly, the Ian heads don't have different expressions and the helmet on the old Magneto head kind of makes the face look like it's not wearing it properly, but at least they gave him a different helmet that better matches his look in the original trilogy...that being said, it's colored to fit in with a suit that the older Magneto never wore; Magneto's suit was more black with a dual-sided cape while he wore some chest armor in Days of Future Past.
And here is Charles Xavier, or as he's commonly known, Professor X. This figure appears to be a reuse of the suit and tie body first used with a Chameleon figure from years ago, and it's a good choice to go for; while I did complain that the Negasonic Teenage Warhead figure didn't feel quite as refined when it combined new tooling with the smooth surfaces or a normal comic figure, Professor X does at least work well thanks to the sculpting used on the figure by comparison. There are plenty of wrinkles on the sleeves and trouser legs, which make sense for the figure to have those sculpting details to go with the creases on the back and the rest of the suit; it could be a little more ironed out given how Xavier isn't the rugged type, but it's less of a sneaky tooling and has worked well with the likes of J Jonah Jameson, Tony Stark, Nick Fury, and plenty of other characters that haven't worn spandex or armor in the past.
Face sculpt for this one is based on the James McAvoy portrayal of the younger Charles seen in the First Class style of X-Men movies, which include DOFP, Apocalypse, and Dark Phoenix; the likeness works well yet does look like a smooth cut, G. Does have a slight lack of James McAvoy but it looks like him better than NSTW's does. His articulation is the same as with Magneto's aside from the torso, which has a waist swivel and an ab-crunch; the joints are a little hard to work with because of the PVC used on the suit.
And here is the wheelchair disassembled on one pic and assembled entirely on the other! Professor X has some alternate hands as well as an older Professor X head with a better likeness to Patrick Stewart than the James McAvoy head. The wheelchair's rear wheels roll decently if you plug the pieces in properly, but the front wheels don't. I kind of wish he had a more custom wheelchair that screams X-Men (no, I don't want it to look exactly like the animated series), especially when this one is pretty generic. Also, I don't like that he can't be securely placed since there is no peg hole or strap to hold him in there.
And that covers this 2-pack; it's kind of a mixed bag because both figures look good, the options for displaying the two mutant leaders as either First Class-era Charles and Erik or original trilogy-era Prof. X and Magneto, and the Magneto figure sculpting is tremendous (with the Charles Xavier figure looking good despite being a reuse of the suited figure), but some things about them just feel a little underwhelming; it's mainly the wheelchair being somewhat decent yet does feel a little cheap (also doesn't help that he can't be secured properly) while the quality control I experienced with Magneto hurts the set quite a bit. I'll give two ratings for the set: With and without the quality control issues I experienced.
Final ranking 1: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Final ranking 2: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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