Jean Grey & Cyclops (90′s) Minimates

Yes, if Marvel Monday falls on Valentines day there are only a couple of choices for a review, I’m picking the other one. Jean Grey & Cyclops. The tortured couple who seem to need to be together even though the Marvel Universe keeps trying to tear them apart.

You really couldn’t imagine a two pack of these characters without the other. This Minimate pack is the happy couple in their 90’s attire.

Jean Grey:

I’ve never really had a good sense of Jean’s place on the X-men team. When she isn’t in her Phoenix persona, she is little more than a psychic cell phone between Prof. X and the field team.

I will say this is one of the better costumes she has had over the years. At least she looks like a superhero in this one.

As the folks over at OAFE.net have mentioned in Minimate reviews, the non-gender specific bodies don’t really help the female charcters. Her ample curves are represented in comic book form on the front of the body. It’s a a bit odd how the bodies of the Marvel Minimates look comic book like but the faces look more like a block figure style.

To help set her apart from the standard figures, Jean has extra cuff and shoulder pad pieces. The shoulder pads aren’t overly huge, but do give her a bit of an Amazon warrior look.

The face is done well enough. But what really sells this figure for me is the hair. One of the nicer hair pieces I’ve see for a figure this size. The hair adds back the feminineness that the shape lacks.

Cyclops:

To me, Scott Summers has always seemed to be one of those people who ends up being a leader, but deep down doesn’t want to be. He always seemed to carry the weight of the X-Men on his shoulders more than anybody else.

This figure manages to pull off two different looks for Cyclops, just with the change of the head piece. The first is the classic energy blast containing goggles. These tend to give him the Cylon with hair look. By swapping with the straight up hair piece, his ruby sunglasses look is revealed. I have to say civilian appearance looks a little like Captain Jack from Torchwood to me. Probably just the hair style.

Comics in the 90’s were dominated by armor, straps, and lots of costume doodads. There’s plenty of extra pieces here to pull off that look. X-branded web gear, wrist and boot cuffs, and thigh straps.  He might not come with very many accessories, but his outfit is pretty complex, considering the easy way would have been to paint all of that on.

The only thing I’m a little unsure of is the yellow at the top of his legs to give the illusion of a Speedo. I’m not sure it works as well as intended.

Overall:

This is a nifty little set of the tragic X-couple. Maybe because my aging brain will always prefer comics from the 80’s and 90’s.  Whatever reason, These two characters are intertwined in their fates and really are more together than apart. I really wish there had been an alternate head or something to give Jean a more casual look. That’s more of a “nice to have” and there’s really nothing to complain about here.

Engineernerd Score: Cyclops 96/100  Jean Grey 96/100

Tags: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Marvel, Minimate, X-men

Category: Featured, Marvel, Toy Reviews