X-Men Movie Busts

[nexus]

Just picked up three of 'em today -- Wolvie, Beast & Storm. And before anyone starts wailing, I'm too lazy to take and post pix right now. Maybe this evening. Anyhoo, they are actually pretty nice.

Here's my Q&D mini-review. Only looked at them in the display case, so they're still in boxes -- soon to go into storage until new space is built out. From memory though:
Wolverine -- still looks like he's trying to give you a big hug. The face is not menacing enough and he looks more like he's smiling than growling. I think if he'd been sculpted with an open mouth and a different arm position, this would have been much nicer.
Storm -- They went with the windblown hair as opposed to the moptop. It works quite well actually. The sculpt is quite nice from what I remember.
Beast -- The sleeper of the bunch. This was the one that caught my eye. The blue really pops and he's pouring some bright green goo into a beaker I recall. It's really cool.
Overall, these definitely have that Gentle Giant style to them, even though I think they are released by DST. I don't recall if they are the standard GG 1/6 scale, so I'll haveta check that too. The interesting thing that occurs to me is how these actually demonstrate how the X-Men movies are "interpretations" of the comics. So the line is more pieces of movie memorabelia than comic collectibles.
Gentle Giant really have become masters at this category. I think they should just start pitching all the major genre Hollywood flicks and TV series, and just make these lines left and right -- all in same scale. They've already done this with SW, Matrix, Terminator and HP, and I am now looking forward to LOTR (will probably sell the SS line). There are tons of licenses they could go after, movies like The Mummy, Van Helsing, Fantastic Four, Spiderman, Alien, Predator, Rocky, Indiana Jones, you name it. Too bad they didn't get Superman or Batman, because I probably could have seen buying those. On TV, you've got Star Trek (all 5 series), Battlestar Galactica (current and retro), Munsters, Gilligans Island, the list goes on and on. I could really see folks getting into this, many of whom might not be interested in collecting comic statues and busts.

Anyway, I had figured I'd buy the line anyway, but I'm glad to report it's quite a bit better than feared once pix started showing up -- at least in my opinion.

Unfortunately, there is a death knell to this though. The run is 5,000. 5,000!!! What are they thinking? So these are gonna be showing up on ebay for cheap because it's gonna take forever to move 5K of these things. In a few months they'll probably be selling for $25 (reg retail is $50). So, now I'm worried they won't be able to get to some of the other characters -- Angel, Rogue, Colossus, Iceman, Prof X, Mystique, Magneto, Pyro, not to mention others from the first two flicks, like Nightcrawler, Sabretooth, and even Stryker. But maybe these will catch on and we'll see a phase II.

Well, I'lll try to post pix later.

*UPDATE BELOW*

[riderV3]

Juggy out there yet?

[nexus]

Juggy is 'spose to be out, just wasn't in the store.

HERE'S THE UPDATE:

Well, you know what they say ... everything looks better until you get it home and really take a good look at it in the light of day. or is that just women in bars close to closing time? Hmmm.
Anyway, took 'em out of the box for another look. And... well... they've come down a couple of pegs. First disappointment -- 1/8 scale as opposed to 1/6. And yeah, I should've realized they weren't 1/6, but I was in a hurry and really just decided to pick these up on a whim. While 1/8 puts 'em in scale with BD busts, they are smaller than the GG busts for SW, HP, Terminator and Matrix. That kinda lets some of the air out of the GG movie memorabilia balloon -- at least as far as X-Men is concerned. Second disappointment -- the sculpt quality on Wolvie's and Beast's faces. I knew Wolverine wasn't that great from the get-go. He looks too young and kinda goofy. This is definitely one place where 1/6 scale would have made a tremendous difference in detail and likeness. While I still think the blue on the Beast still pops and the green goo is cool, his forehead is too high, his eyes are beady, and his expression is weird. Storm is actually a pretty nice sculpt. But again, the 1/8 scale really harms this line.

Overall, still a line worth getting as they really aren't bad. They just aren't great or big enough. Get 'em if you see 'em and like 'em. I'm planning on getting the rest. Otherwise I'd recommend picking 'em up cheap on ebay.

[Meteor Man]

Originally Posted by nexus

Juggy is 'spose to be out, just wasn't in the store.

HERE'S THE UPDATE:

Well, you know what they say ... everything looks better until you get it home and really take a good look at it in the light of day. or is that just women in bars close to closing time? Hmmm.
Anyway, took 'em out of the box for another look. And... well... they've come down a couple of pegs. First disappointment -- 1/8 scale as opposed to 1/6. And yeah, I should've realized they weren't 1/6, but I was in a hurry and really just decided to pick these up on a whim. While 1/8 puts 'em in scale with BD busts, they are smaller than the GG busts for SW, HP, Terminator and Matrix. That kinda lets some of the air out of the GG movie memorabilia balloon -- at least as far as X-Men is concerned. Second disappointment -- the sculpt quality on Wolvie's and Beast's faces. I knew Wolverine wasn't that great from the get-go. He looks too young and kinda goofy. This is definitely one place where 1/6 scale would have made a tremendous difference in detail and likeness. While I still think the blue on the Beast still pops and the green goo is cool, his forehead is too high, his eyes are beady, and his expression is weird. Storm is actually a pretty nice sculpt. But again, the 1/8 scale really harms this line.

Overall, still a line worth getting as they really aren't bad. They just aren't great or big enough. Get 'em if you see 'em and like 'em. I'm planning on getting the rest. Otherwise I'd recommend picking 'em up cheap on ebay.

Sorry, Nex, but based on this pic of the Beast, I gotta say he looks too Muppetish for my taste. His fur looks like a guy in a fur suit, kinda like the Banana Splits. He looks better than this in the movie clips I've seen, so I'm just refering to this MB. I really want ot see what Juggy looks like, so if you get one, would you please post some pics?....Thanks.

[Lynxje]

Wolvie looks weird indeed. Correct me if I'm wrong, but when does Beast carry around tubes in the movie?
I kinda like Storm though....

[Daredevil]

Yikes!

[Vince-Vell]

Storm looks ok if you cut off the head, but over all not impressed wit these at all. Looks like your typical movie merchandise thats pumped out fast, knowing people will buy it cause its based off a movie.

[demonhunter]

Holee Kow! No! I can't believe they are 1/8 scale! Dang it! I was hopin they would go well with my GG Matrix Persephone bust. Dang. Judging on the pics shown online so far, they look not as what I expected after having been blown away with the GG Matrix busts.

Thanks for the review and pics.

[Vince-Vell]

if i ever see a cheap storm on ebay or at a convention i may just snag it. Looks like a decent one to customize or fix it up.

[wolverinejedi007]

I just got my Wolverine delivered and I really like it but the face is a little off.
If you look at him from the side he is good but straight on his face looks like its squeezed together.