Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not.
- Yoda, the Jedi Master; Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
Hi guys,
With all those spectacular, grail like full size statues which are released on a very regular basis by more and more companies, it is easy to overlook the art, beauty and appeal of mini-busts.
They are much smaller than full size statues or PF’s, they do not have mixed media attributes or fancy light-up features and are, because of this, often considered to be less sexy and funky.
I think it’s would be fair to say that in general mini-busts are less popular and less sought after than their bigger polystone brothers and sisters.
In my humble opinion mini-busts deserve much better however. For starters much more known and less known comic book characters have been captured for the centuries to come in mini-bust format than as full size or Premium Format statues. Characterwise you have a much broader choice in mini-busts than you have when looking at the larger statues or busts.
Furthermore mini-busts are also much more practical and economical since they are (far) less expensive and demand far less real estate in your display room.
Just like there are real gems and grails amongst the bigger pieces, there are also treasures to be found amongst mini-busts and I think they can easily be a very important part of any collection and any display.
The way I see it, mini-busts have a lot going on for them and as such they deserve much more time in the spotlights.
The beauty is that this hobby should not, and fortunately also is not, only about the large legendary scale figures or premium format statues.
No, there is beauty and pure art to be found in mini-busts as well and a mini-bust can just as much be a proud part of someone's collection as a large piece can.
After all it's not the size of the piece but rather the quality and presence of the piece that matter, would not you agree?
That’s why I have decided to to start a series of reviews under the ‘BUSTed!’-moniker in which I will regularly review two or three mini-busts.
In this fourth edition we will focus on three busts of Jean Grey, Storm and the Juggernaut as seen in the blockbuster movie X-Men III: The Last Stand!
I am currently working on my final verdict with regards to these busts and would like to invite you to visit this review again in a couple of days in case you would be interested to see if your own views of these busts match with mine or not.
I will try to focus mainly on the pictures and try to avoid long pieces of tekst. In my verdict I will not judge each mini-bust on its own but in comparison to the other two mini-busts also included in the review.
Alright then guys and girls, let’s go!
Have fun with the pics and please let me know which of these three mini-busts you think rules the most!
Background Information
Evolution will make a last stand.
- X-Men III: The Last Stand
-1.
Jean Grey
Phoenix: a legendary bird which according to one account lived 500 years, burned itself to ashes on a pyre, and rose alive from the ashes to live another period.
- Merriam-Webster Dictionary
The younger daughter of history professor John Grey and his wife Elaine, Jean Grey was 10 years old when her mutant telepathic powers first manifested after experiencing the emotions of a dying friend.
Her parents took her to be treated by Professor Charles Xavier.
When Xavier introduced young Jean to the astral plane a part of her mind manifested as a Phoenix raptor and touched the mind of Scott Summers in the orphanage.
Later, Xavier erected psychic shields in Jean’s mind to prevent her from using her telepathic powers until she was mature enough to control them.
Eventually, using her telekinetic powers, Jean was a founding member of Xavier’s team of mutant trainees the X-Men as Marvel Girl.
Upon a mission in outer space Jean was noticed by the Phoenix Force which took note of her unlimited potential.
At this moment Jean had a vision of becoming the Phoenix but the vision faded from her memory as it ended.
This vision was however a warning and an omen for things to come.
After Jean and the X-Men defeated scientist Stephen Lang and his robotic Sentinels on his space station, the heroes escaped back to Earth in a shuttle through a lethal solar radiation storm.
Dying from radiation poisoning, Jean was saved by the cosmic entity known as the Phoenix Force who created a duplicate body complete with memories and personality,
absorbed a portion of her consciousness and cast her into suspended animation in a strange cocoon at the bottom of Jamaica Bay.
The Phoenix Force, as Jean Grey, emerges in a new green and gold costume and adopts the new codename "Phoenix", with immense cosmic powers.
Meanwhile, the cocoon containing the real Jean Grey sinks to the bottom of the bay, unnoticed.
Phoenix continues her life as Jean Grey with the other X-Men, joining them on missions and saving the universe.
During the "The Dark Phoenix Saga", Phoenix becomes overwhelmed and corrupted by her first taste of evil and transforms into a force of total destruction,
called "Dark Phoenix", consuming a star, inadvertently killing the inhabitants of the star's planetary system, and jeopardizing the entire universe.
However, Jean's personality manages to take control and Phoenix commits suicide to ensure the universe's safety.
Powers
Jean Grey possessed telepathic powers enabling her to read minds, project her thoughts into the minds of others, initiate astral travel,
and mentally stun opponents with pure psionic force, among other talents.
She also possessed telekinesis, allowing her to levitate and manipulate objects and others, generate force fields, fly, and stimulate heat molecules to generate concussive blasts.
Her powers were magnified to near-infinite levels while she served as an avatar for the cosmic Phoenix Force.
She was able to manipulate matter and energy on a molecular scale, although this varied on the Force's status and how much power it chose to allocate to her.
Jean Grey is an Omega-level mutant, and with the Phoenix Force she was able to defeat even Galactus.
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-2.
Storm
Storm: a disturbance of the atmosphere marked by wind and usually by rain, snow, hail, sleet, or thunder and lightning
- Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Ororo Monroe is the descendant of an ancient line of African priestesses, all of whom have white hair, blue eyes, and the potential to wield magic.
Her mother, N'dare, was an African princess who married American photojournalist David Monroe and moved with him to Manhattan, where Ororo was born.
When Ororo was six months old, she and her parents moved to Cairo, Egypt. Five years later, during the Arab-Israeli conflict, a plane crashed into their home.
Ororo's parents were killed, but she survived, buried under rubble near her mother's body.
The resultant trauma left Ororo with severe claustrophobia that still affects her today.
Ororo managed to escape the rubble of her shattered home with nothing but the tattered clothes on her back and her mother's ancestral ruby.
Homeless and orphaned, Ororo was found by a gang of street urchins who took her to their master, Achmed el-Gibar.
Achmed trained Ororo in the arts of thievery and she soon became his prize pupil, excelling in picking both pockets and locks.
During her time in Cairo, Ororo picked the pocket of an American tourist.
The man proved no easy mark, however, as he was Charles Xavier, a powerful mutant telepath who used his abilities to stop the theft.
At that moment, Xavier was psionically attacked by another mutant and Ororo used the opportunity to escape.
Finally, Ororo reached her ancestors' homeland on the Serengeti Plain in Kenya.
She was taken in by an elderly tribal woman named Ainet who taught her to be responsible with her powers.
Ororo soon came to be the object of worship of the local tribes who believed her to be a goddess due to her gift.
Years later, Ororo was forced to battle the threat of a fellow mutant weather manipulator known as Deluge, who sought revenge against humanity.
With the help of several members of the team of mutant heroes known as the X-Men, Deluge was seemingly destroyed and Ororo returned to her life amongst the tribal people.
The X-Men subsequently told their founder, Professor Xavier, about Storm but he declined to contact her at this point, not wanting to shock the young woman with the true nature of her powers.
Months later, however, Xavier was left with no choice but to recruit Storm and other mutants from around the world into the X-Men in order to rescue his original students
from the threat of the sentient island being known as Krakoa. Xavier explained to Ororo that she was not a "goddess", but a mutant, and as such she had a responsibility
to use her abilities to help the world just as she had helped the local tribes. Curious, Ororo accepted Xavier's offer, and was given the codename "Storm".
Powers
Storm is a mutant who possesses the psionic ability to manipulate weather patterns over limited areas.
She can stimulate the creation of any form of precipitation such as rain or fog, generate winds in varying degrees of intensity up to and including hurricane force,
raise or lower the humidity and temperature in her immediate vicinity, induce lightning and other electrical atmospheric phenomena, and disperse natural storms so as to create clear change.
Storm can direct the path of certain atmospheric effects, such as bolts of lightning, with her hands. She has also demonstrated the ability to manipulate ocean currents,
though the extent of this ability is still unclear.
==========================
-3.
Juggernaut
Juggernaut: a massive inexorable force that crushes whatever is in its path
- Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Cain Marko’s mother died when he was very young, leaving him to live a life of psychological and physical torment at the hands of his abusive father, atomic researcher Doctor Kurt Marko.
Following the death of his colleague Doctor Brian Xavier, Kurt married Xavier's widow Sharon and he and Cain took up residence in the Xavier's Westchester mansion with Sharon and her young son, Charles.
Kurt seemingly preferred Charles to his own son, which consumed Cain with jealousy and he took to bullying his stepbrother.
Cain's father continued to beat him, but Cain did not suffer the abuse alone.
Inexperienced at the use of his emerging mutant telepathic powers, Charles shared the pain and inadvertently learned of Cain's jealousy towards him.
This only ensured that Cain would forever hate Charles for his unwitting betrayal.
After an argument with his father, Cain accidentally caused a fire to engulf his father's home laboratory.
Kurt saved Charles first, and then went back for Cain, reinforcing Cain's belief that his father loved Charles more than he. Kurt died of smoke inhalation, but not before warning Charles to always beware of Cain.
Soon after, both Cain and Charles were drafted into military service and served in same unit.
When Cain deserted under fire during a mission in Asia, Charles pursued, hoping to convince his stepbrother to return of his own accord.
Charles followed Cain into a cave that housed the lost temple of Cyttorak, a powerful mystical entity.
Therein, Cain unearthed the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak and, upon touching it, was transformed by its mystical energies into a human juggernaut.
Cain’s violent transformation caused to cave to come crushing down. Xavier managed to escape before the entrance collapsed, but Cain was left buried in the rubble.
He stayed there, slowly digging himself out for years as the betrayal of his step-brother's abandonment festered.
Now, fueled by hatred and powered by a burning desire for revenge, the Juggernaut is UNSTOPPABLE!
Powers
The Juggernaut possesses untold mystical power which enhanced his strength to an unknown degree and made him a seemingly irresistible, unstoppable being.
Once he begins to walk in a given direction, no obstacle or force on Earth is able to stop him.
Some obstacles, for example many tons of rock, or forces such as plasma-discharge cannons can slow his pace considerably, but nothing can stop him permanently from advancing.
The Juggernaut is, however, vulnerable to magical forces of sufficient strength.
Besides giving him vast superhuman strength making him one of the strongest being ever to walk the face of the Earth, the mystical energy of Cyttorak also gave the Juggernaut
an extraordinary degree of resistance to all forms of injury.
The Juggernaut can also shield himself even further from injury by mentally surrounding himself with a force field.
Enveloped by this field, the Juggernaut has been seen to survive the fiery explosion of a truck transporting a huge quantity of oil without any injury whatsoever.
The Juggernaut can survive indefinitely without food, water, or oxygen thanks to his being sustained by his mystical energies alone.
Rainer
