Marvel Legends - STORM!

Marvel Legends - Storm and Thunderbird 2-Pack - Target Exc - Hasbro 2020

The first female superhero I ever saw in an actual comic book was Storm. Sometime in the late 80s my older brother came home from a sleepover with a few tattered issues of Classic X-Men and I was instantly intrigued. A big part of that was because I remembered her fondly from the Pryde of the X-Men cartoon that aired continuously throughout my childhood. By the time I personally got into reading X-Men comics, she was depowered and mohawked, and shortly after she donned her 90's Jim Lee look. But I always loved her classic costume best and have been wanting a Legends figure forever. Especially since that teased prototype 13 years ago in Toyfare. Hasbro really went all out with this figure, giving her alternate heads, capes, and hands like a true deluxe figure. I'm really loving the retro focus on the Legends line. Along with all the ultra-modern MDU figures, there has a been a consistent flow of classic comic gems and I can't wait to see what's next. Let's check out Storm below!

I'm going to start by showing all the pieces Storm comes with. She has two heads (one relaxed and one wind-blown), two capes (one relaxed and one wind-blown), and three sets of hands: fisted, splayed, and lightning.

This Storm is the first figure I have purchased with the new pinless articulation.

While the knees look great, I must admit I'm not a huge fan of the elbows, the hinge is now a large circular disk that looks very machined and catches light. I feel like the old design looked more organic and preserved the illusion better.

Here is Storm with her pack-mate, Thunderbird.

I've heard a lot of people complaining about Thunderbird's small stature. But John Proudstar wasn't ever depicted as the huge guy on the team (that role was reserved for Colossus).

On the flipside, his younger brother James Proudstar, aka Thunderbird II, aka Warpath was always represented as a larger character.

Warpath is a very nostalgic character for me. He first appeared as a purple-clad Hellion in the pages of New Mutants in 1984, and then his big X-Men debut a year later was aligned with the first in-canon appearance of Firestar (an absolute favorite of mine). And to top things off, he went on to join the new regime of New Mutants and X-Force in the 90s.

But looking at these two recent figures below, Thunderbird and Warpath, I'm honestly not a fan of either. Thunderbird has a small body that, although comic accurate, looks oddly proportioned with his fringe. And Warpath has a head that looks glum with oddly limp hair (his fringe even seems to be catching air, but his hair looks heavy and boring).

So despite a slight skin-tone variation, a simple headswap is a great solution for me. In the Liefeld era, James' was always represented with a small head on a massive body, and it just made him look all the more dynamic. I love this hybrid version of the figure.

Here is the picture of the 2007 Storm prototype shown in Toyfare Magazine.

Time for some Group and Comparison Pics!

Here are my modern Marvel Legends Storms: Marvel Now, First Appearance, Mohawk, and 90's Jim Lee.

And here she is with the 2012 Marvel Select figure.

And all my classic Storms together.

Cheers!