How I Made My First Marvel Legends Custom Figure

Something different for today! I’ve had a recent desire to get back into a childhood hobby of mine: Marvel Legends! With the march of time, the toy line of Marvel figures has changed hands from Toy Biz to Hasbro and there’s been many improvements in how these toys are made. With that said, I found a bunch of heavily discounted Marvel Legends figures, many of them X-Men related, and on a whim, I snapped them up with one goal: make custom MC2 Marvel Legends figures!  Here’s my first attempt, making the leader of the Uncanny X-People; Jubilee as she appears in the MC2.

 

To start off with, I had purchased the X-Men ’97 series Jubilee figure which has a great head sculpt and detailing. Normally Jubilee figures portray her rocking her iconic 90’s clothing with the blue gloves, rolled up yellow jacket, pink shirt and blue shorts, but the figure here reflects her costume change from seen at the end of X-Men ‘97’s first season. Fortunately, I also picked up the Husk figure from the Nemesis Build-A-Figure series, which has the now-classic Generation X red body suit I needed. I learned as a kid that hot water and Marvel Legends don’t mix, and thus with a ‘boil and pop’ I hit what I thought was my first stumbling block.

 

Oh no! Are the heads not interchangeable? Turns out the pegs are designed the same, and with a little adjustment I was able to swap them over. Some blue tack was required as one head socket was bigger than the other. The boil and pop let me take Jubilee’s coat and arms out and re-place them on the Husk figure’s torso.

 

The second problem, and again it was very minor, was the hands. Jubilee in the MC2 wears yellow gloves, the 90’s version had blue gloves and neither of these figures had either. Enter the Age of Apocalypse Rogue figure which was part of the Colossus Build-A-Figure series. Marked down a ridiculous 80%, I got this and several others in a bundle very cheap. And she has yellow gloves. Everything came together and all is right with the world, folks!

 

Anyway, I’m extremely happy with how this turned out and how easily the parts came together. I’m looking forward to making more in the (MC2) future so stay tuned!

 

Until I figure out how to paint figures, manufacture my own accessories and make my own dollies, I remain

 

frogoat

Wild Thing in X-Men '92: House of XCII

 I’ve taken a hiatus from the blog recently and today’s post will only be brief. With the X-Men ’97 animated series releasing soon as a continuation of the iconic X-Men: The Animated Series, I thought it might be nice to take a quick look at an MC2 character who made a surprising appearance in that world…well, sort of?

 

The X-Men: The Animated Series has at this point had various continuations which inevitably exist as alternate universes. In 2022 Marvel Comics published one such example in the form of the mini-series X-Men ’92: House of XCII which sees the story of the cartoon continue by adapting elements from the recent ‘Krakoa Era’ of the numerous X-Titles.

 

We learn in X-Men ’92: House of XCII #1 that the sentient island Krakoa became a safe-haven for all mutants following the tragic death of Jubilee. However, the account of Jubilee’s death is greatly exaggerated, as she is kept hidden on the island by Professor Xavier and Magneto, maintaining her status as martyr.

 

As it turns out, Jubilation Lee aka Jubilee discovered she had the secondary mutation ability of ‘Explosive Reality Reset’ (meaning she lived multiple lifetimes) after she was initially killed by Sentinels. Having died multiple times by the mutant hunting machines and learning that her remaining lives were finite, she faked her final death and in the process unified Mutantkind against the Sentinels (X-Men ’92: House of XCII #2).

 

During her ninth life, Jubilee led a Generation X team whose members included the recently deceased Morph (aka Kevin Sidney), Genesis ( aka Evan Sabahnur, a clone of Apocalypse), Cable (apparently Nathan Summers merged with Krakoa), Diamondheart (aka Emma Frost), another unidentified member and Wild Thing aka Rina Logan (X-Men ’92: House of XCII #2).

 

 

When the Generation X team faced the Nimrod Sentinels, it was revealed Jubilee had only one remaining life left, leading to her aforementioned final bid to ensure Mutantkind survived. Inevitably, Jubilee’s own survival in her last life was revealed and she ultimately sacrificed herself using the Phoenix Force to reset the universe once more, albeit with no recollection of her past lives. Series writer Steve Foxe intentionally left the ending vague, with one potential interpretation being that Jubilee reset the universe to the one of X-Men: The Animated Series (X-Men ’92: House of XCII #3-#5).

 

So, a version of Wild Thing exists in an X-Men: The Animated Series-adjacent universe, if nothing else! Artist Salva Espin does a fantastic job rendering Rina in a style which is so close to the animated series, it’s uncanny.

Until I get back on my feet and give some attention to this blog, I remain

 

frogoat