The X-Factor Marvel Universe is something a lot of people have been excited about since it’s announcement.  With this set we get a really solid brand new character (Angel), and a few repaints, some in excellent costumes that we all remember and love.  This set is a Toys R Us Exclusive and was made available at the San Diego Comic-Con 2012 in the Hasbro and Toys R Us booths (I think Hasbro had it too…).  In any case, for a limited time this was up on Toysrus.com for order which is how I snagged one.  The official release was not / is not to be until 8/1 so keep your eyes peeled it’s a nice little set.  Read on!

The Good:
Cyclops –

  • Cyclops in one of his more iconic uniforms.
  • Nice even paint, clean lines.

Marvel Girl –

  • Marvel Girl in the green and gold.
  • My mom said that if you don’t have anything nice to say…say it in the bad section.

Angel –

  • The wings! Epic! The wings have more points of articulation than Marvel Girl!  The mold and coloring is outstanding.
  • While Angel doesn’t feature the full range of articulation found in the most modern figures, the addition of swivel thighs is great and allows for a lot more pose-ability.
  • The head sculpt here is just excellent with expressive and life-like features.

Ice-Man –

  • Well this is interesting…I truly appreciate the efforts to make a cloudy / clear Ice Man.
  • For the most part the figure looks great…and icey.
  • The smooth feel of the figure also lends itself well to “ice”.

Apocalypse –

  • The bright colors make the features of this figure really stand out.
  • You can see the ‘A’ on the belt!

Mr. Sinister –

  • The contrast of colors is different, interesting.

The Bad:
Cyclops –

  • I don’t know how just my complaints are here, but away they go.  The color of this Cyclops is just a hair off of the color blue of the Jim Lee Cyclops and I don’t care if it’s right or not because…
  • I wanted to do a head swap and here is why.  All the X-Factor I’ve read with blue and yellow Cyke has him without a cowl.  He wore white and blue with the cowl, yellow and blue without.  Outside of the colors though, I found the head to be molded for the newer, smaller hinged neck joint vs. the standard solid ball, couldn’t get the head on and if I did it wouldn’t have mattered because the blue is off.

Marvel Girl –

  • Phoenix, First Class…just not great Jean Grey representation. the face mold just looks wacky and that carries through here, even with the mask.
  • This is based off of one of the very early, if not the first female Marvel Universe molds and it shows.

Angel –

  • This is really an awesome figure but I do have one complaint.  Getting the wings into Angel’s back ‘to stay’ was a giant pain almost literally.

Ice-Man –

  • The clouded ice effect is actually really cool.  It would have been awesome if it was throughout the figure….there is a fully unpainted stripe across the top of his head!!
  • The belt looks …I was going to say just short of ridiculous, but just plain old ridiculous works fine.

Apocalypse –

  • The colors are closer to the classic, but this still isn’t the classic Apocalypse.

Mr. Sinister –

  • There are two Mr. Sinister outfits that I can think of and remember.  One of them is the current suit and the other one isn’t this color combination.

The Rest:

The X-Factor set is a mixed bag.  Angel is an awesome figure but he will be out on a single card this year (probably).  Cyclops is in an excellent outfit but doesn’t feel right because he is wearing the cowl.  Ice Man has his quirks but I feel like he’s an upgrade over what we have already.  Marvel Girl….I wanted more, better, and I didn’t get it.  Apocalypse in this paint is definitely worth owning and Sinister is worth owning if you didn’t find him already.