Back in 1995
Marvel Comics launched a mega
X-Men crossover event titled
Age Of Apocalypse. The project featured many of the greats in the comic book industry including names like
Scott Lobdell, Mark Waid, Fabian Nicieza, Jeph Loeb and
Larry Hama. The event kicked off with a one-shot book titled
X-Men: Alpha and then carried over into the regular X-Books of the time, all of which were actually renamed during the crossover.
X-Calibre replaced Excalibur,
Gambit and the X-Ternals replaced X-Force,
Generation Next replaced Generation X,
Astonishing X-Men replaced Uncanny X-Men,
Amazing X-Men replaced X-Men,
Weapon X replaced Wolverine,
Factor X replaced X-Factor and
X-Man replaced Cable.
The story was based on an alternate timeline where Legion (David Haller), a psychotic mutant travels back in time to kill Magneto but accidentally kills Professor Xavier instead. This in turn causes Apocalypse to accelerate his plans 10 years sooner than he did in the regular Marvel Universe. In doing so Apocalypse is able to take control of Earth and hence altering everything that happened from that point forward. In the story Apocalypse is opposed by several factions of mutant resistance fighters including the largest group led by Magneto. Eventually they send Bishop back in time to prevent Legion from murdering Professor X and putting everything back to the way it was.
The crossover event was so massive that
Toy Biz even launched a line of 5" action figures based on it the same year the comics came out, and continued to make figures based on the characters from the story even into their 6" Marvel Legends line years later.
Now to celebrate next years
25th Anniversary of the event,
Hasbro is dedicating an entire wave of their
X-Men themed 6" Marvel Legends figures to the story line. This past weekend the entire list of figures for that wave were revealed, except for the Build-A-Figure. The wave will include figures of
Dark Beast, Weapon X, Jean Grey, Morph, Nathan Summers, Wild Child and
Sunfire.
Hasbro Marvel Legends X-Men: Age Of Apocalypse Wave
So the question on everyone's mind after this weekends news, who will the
Build-A-Figure for this wave be???
We've narrowed the list down to the 6 most likely candidates to warrant the Build-A-Figure treatment, and put them in the order we feel is least to most likely. Keep in mind this is simply our speculation, as Hasbro has not provided any info for this wave beyond the regular figures being released.
6. Mr. Sinister
Like with most of the characters in this storyline, Mr. Essex here sported a different look from his regular Marvel Universe one. The character sported a lot more red in his outfit and had a different hairstyle. While we do think it would make a cool figure, being the regular Mr. Sinister Hasbro recently released in the line was done so as a regular figure, we feel the chances of this version being a Build-A-Figure are slim-to-none.
5. Colossus
Colossus sported quit a different look in this Universe, but like with Sinister, Hasbro just recently released a Colossus figure which was done as a regular release and not a Build-A-Figure.
4. Holocaust
Holocaust was a very cool character who first appeared in the Age Of Apocalypse storyline. He was originally named Nemesis and was the son of Apocalypse in this timeline. After being badly injured in battle by Magneto, his body was placed in a near-indestructible crystalline exo-armor by Dark Beast and renamed Holocaust . In this exo-armor the character is quit large making him a perfect candidate for the Build-A-Figure treatment. He also had close ties to both Dark Beast and Sunfire, two of the regular figures in this wave. On top of all that, this character's story didn't end in Age of Apocalypse because he was able to escape into the regular Marvel Universe.
Hasbro's First Nemesis Build-A-Figure
The biggest reason against him being the Build-A-Figure for the wave is that Hasbro already did a Marvel Legends Build-A-Figure version of him back in their early days of getting the license from Toy Biz. It was one of the better early figures they did but we certainly wouldn't mind a modern update.
3. Sugar Man
A grotesque character who like with Dark Beast and Nemesis managed to make the crossover from the AoA Universe to the regular Marvel Universe. He is essentially a large head with 4 arms and 2 legs. He's not really super tall but being a big head with four arms does make him kinda wide and therefore would probably make a good fit for the Build-A-Figure treatment. Toy Biz did a 5" version of him back in the day so it would be interesting to see what a mordern 6" Marvel Legends version would look like.
2. Sabretooth
The only reason we have ol' Sabretooth here on a Build-A-Figure list, and more so ranked #2 is because we know we are getting Wild Child as a regular figure in this wave. In the Age of Apocalypse story line Sabretooth and Wild Child went hand-in-hand with one another. Wild Child was always seen riding on the shoulder of Creed and the two were practically inseparable. We don't really feel Sabretooth is deserving of the Build-A-Figure treatment simply because he's not that big of a character, but as we saw with the recent
Demogoblin announcement, that's not always a criteria. Since we know all the regular figures in this wave and its hard to imagine Hasbro would give us Wild Child without Sabretooth, we felt we had little choice but to include him on this list. Of course Toy Biz did give us a Marvel Legends AoA Sabretooth without Wild Child back in the day so who knows, maybe Hasbro just figured we could use that one.
1. Apocalypse
While Hasbro did just recently give us a regular Apocalypse Build-A-Figure for the line, his look in the AoA storyline was quit different from his regular look, and we just can't see an entire wave being dedicated to this story line without featuring a figure of the man himself headlining it as the Build-A-Figure.
On ?11?/?10?/?2019 at 9:21 PM, enzosaurusrex said:That would be really cool if every figure in the wave comes with a half-transformed Skrull head, and the other half of the head is of the figure in the box!
Not a half bad idea!
Get it?
BWHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
But seriously, I like it, I hope to see it done!
I bet the release dates will also be affected by whether or not they have other waves already lined up and ready to go. Hasbro may also need to push future waves back if they need to focus on MCU stuff (especially with all the streaming shows about to drop).
Benn -
2019-11-11 @ 8:57 pm
6 hours ago, JayC said:I bet you money we seeing them out by end of year
Hey, if you have some sort of inside info, I'm not trying to be argumentative. I'm going off of reporting done by this site (here) and the factsthat 1) wholesalers have not yet solicited for this wave, which they would have had to do in order to get it out in the next month and a half, unless Hasbro is dramatically changing its business model; and 2) we don't know half the figures in the wave yet, which would be unusual (but not entirely out of the question) for a wave coming so soon.
JayC -
2019-11-11 @ 2:23 pm
13 hours ago, Benn said:The Deadpool wave with the Strong Guy BAF is scheduled for fall 2020. We get Spider-Man and Fantastic Four January 1st, then Age of Apocalypse and (presumably) Black Widow should be March to May sometime, and Deadpool is the last of the five waves we know about for next year.
I bet you money we seeing them out by end of year
On 11/8/2019 at 5:16 PM, Psychosomatic said:Enzosaurusrex I have had a few things at the top of my list...A Skrull Boxed set (or a few waves where every character gets an additional Skrull version head), some Age of Apocalypse figures (never would have guessed we would get at least two waves), and any figures based on Madureira art work...ANY!!!
That would be really cool if every figure in the wave comes with a half-transformed Skrull head, and the other half of the head is of the figure in the box!
Benn -
2019-11-11 @ 12:43 am
3 hours ago, JayC said:I'm not saying they didn't but I dont remember them really hinting to more than one wave of AoA and honestly think it would be a mistake if they did do more. I just don't see enough demand for it out there regardless of the Anniversary. If they do more AoA characters beyond this wave my guess it wouldn't be a full waves worth. I cold maybe see them sticking a few here or there in other X-Men waves or maybe something as a store exclusive.
As for the X-Force wave with Strong Guy, thats gonna be out this year by years end I believe, so I wouldn't really count that as next year.
The Deadpool wave with the Strong Guy BAF is scheduled for fall 2020. We get Spider-Man and Fantastic Four January 1st, then Age of Apocalypse and (presumably) Black Widow should be March to May sometime, and Deadpool is the last of the five waves we know about for next year.
JayC -
2019-11-10 @ 9:28 pm
On 11/5/2019 at 1:25 PM, Jmacq1 said:First off, I said I "wonder." Not that I believe it as incontrovertible fact.
Second, whatever amount of AoA stuff they're giving us next year is not stopping them from making other "regular x-characters" as we already know the Strong Guy wave is coming.
X-Men are evergreen. Unless Hasbro's losing the license they can make more regular X-Characters every year. Next year is a significant anniversary for the Age of Apocalypse, though, and it's probably more savvy marketing to put them in their own sub-assortment than to try sprinkling them into future waves if it can be avoided.
I'm not saying they didn't but I dont remember them really hinting to more than one wave of AoA and honestly think it would be a mistake if they did do more. I just don't see enough demand for it out there regardless of the Anniversary. If they do more AoA characters beyond this wave my guess it wouldn't be a full waves worth. I cold maybe see them sticking a few here or there in other X-Men waves or maybe something as a store exclusive.
As for the X-Force wave with Strong Guy, thats gonna be out this year by years end I believe, so I wouldn't really count that as next year.
On ?11?/?7?/?2019 at 12:13 PM, enzosaurusrex said:IMO It would be incredibly boring to have Sabretooth be the BAF. He looks exactly like one of the figures, Wild Child, in the wave but in a bigger buck. He's literally Wild Child with a pony tail.....
That said, I still have yet to complete Sauron because I can't get myself to buy X-23/Wolverine at MSRP ...
Yep, I hear you! Its exactly why I couldn't finish Kingpin; those other figures (I got Puma and Night Thrasher) just aren't worth my money. How on earth did they go from the Black Cat Spider-Man 2 Legends Infinite version,to this cheap knock-off looking thing? I don't even like Black Cat ( laughable rip-off of Catwoman ) but if youre gonna have the figure, make it accurate!
Also think youre on the money about AOA Sabertooth. More and more I'm thinking BAF will be Holocaust.
Enzosaurusrex I have had a few things at the top of my list...A Skrull Boxed set (or a few waves where every character gets an additional Skrull version head), some Age of Apocalypse figures (never would have guessed we would get at least two waves), and any figures based on Madureira art work...ANY!!!
IMO It would be incredibly boring to have Sabretooth be the BAF. He looks exactly like one of the figures, Wild Child, in the wave but in a bigger buck. He's literally Wild Child with a pony tail. I would still get the wave, eventually, because I only collect the X-men.
That said, I still have yet to complete Sauron because I can't get myself to buy X-23/Wolverine at MSRP (I got Lady Deadpool and Boxers Deadpool on Clearance) and I still haven't completed Wendigo (waiting for a Black Friday sale for X-Force Wolverine, [Ok] Boomer, Cannonball and Guardian).
The only thing that would make get me excited to complete a proposed BAF Sabretooth if he comes with two heads, with one as an alternate Madureira-styledhead. Longshot (pun intended) I know. Here's to hoping the BAF is Sugarman or Nemesis or the Big A.
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