One of the founding members of the X-Men, X-Factor, and The Champions as well as a member of the Defenders Iceman sure gets around. He is probably one of the more recognizable characters in Marvel with appearances in X-Men films and the ever popular Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends (Who’s popularity is often ignored for introducing many to the Marvel Universe). Even if people are indifferent to his character, his powers do stick out and make him noticeable. So even though he is just under being a household name, I was kind of surprised to see him getting yet a third figure from Hasbro.
Up front I want to make something perfectly clear, many reviewers have said this is a repaint of the X-Men Origins Wolverine version of the figure, it’s not. It’s actually a repaint of the TRU Exclusive Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends version. The two figures are strikingly different and the only reason I can think someone might make a mistake like that is they just did not get a good look at the XMO version.
I will say I slightly prefer the XMO version and really if you have that one you really aren’t missing much with this latest one. That isn’t to say he is bad, but nothing new. The costume is clearly his X-Factor uniform and that is why I wanted to grab him. X-Factor is one of those books I really enjoyed back in the day and would love to see X-Factor versions of Angel, Cyclops, Jean, and Beast in the near future.
He comes with one of those blasts like Iron Man has had over and over. A huge part of me wants Hasbro to do a new blast because this one was boring when they first started producing it. I suppose it could be worse though.
The silver highlights the figure well without clashing on the translucent parts. It’s a great color choice for that part of the figure to bring out that X-Factor uniform without destroying the look of the figure. There were other ways to have handled it but I think most of them would have not given us the cool effect the silver has. Iceman feels to be frosted over as well, which is fine but unexpected. The feel of the figure is something to get used to and not the smooth feel you would expect.
The verdict, if you don’t have an Iceman in your collection, he is a great one for your X-Men. If you have the X-Men Origins version you really can pass on this one, he is cool but not as cool as that release. However he is slightly better than the TRU pack version which is something to consider if you have that version.
GRADE: 4 Stars