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X-Men Stealth Beast

Welcome our reviewer tonight, Warren!  He brings us thoughts and photos on the new Stealth Beast figure from Toybiz - take it away, Warren!

With the third X-men movie tearing it up at the box office, Toybiz unleashed more X-men figures upon the public. The current assortments have three Beast figures--Holy Stars and Garters! Three Beasts? That's right folks, we have a Tech Gear Beast and the variant, Stealth Beast, which has two different heads. I'll be covering the Stealth Beasts. One version is the classic Beast and the other is his new catlike appearance that started in Grant Morrison's New X-men. I'm still not too sure which figure is rarer. 






Packaging - ***
This carding has been covered on this site before. I'm fond of it, it's a blister on cardboard backing, the circle cut out of it makes it stand out on the shelf, there's some good graphics on the front and the back has some text about the character and some line art showing the accessories. I would have liked some photos of the rest of the line, but this way they just have to make one card for each character which must be cost efficient for Wolverine figures. 

Sculpting - ***1/2
Out of all of the new outfits in the new X-men line, I have to say that I probably like this Beast the best. Hank is going for more of a conservative look here with a short sleeved body suit with fingerless gloves and some wicked kneepads. The hair that's exposed on this figure is phenomenal; I didn't know they could get that much detail on a figure of this size. Toybiz did something really cool with the kneepads: they're attached to the shin guards leaving his knees open for full range of movement. 

Both of these heads are also well sculpted. I prefer the cat head over the classic version because it's slightly more detailed, but don't get me wrong, the classic head is still really good.. I could have done without the gun holster and the thee canisters running down his one side. One disappointing note on the sculpt is that the ball joints in the hips are completely smooth with so much small detail on the legs they kind of stand out. 

Paint - ***1/2
Let's get it out of the way first; there's lots of controversy over the wash on this figure. Either you love it, or you hate it, or you think it's ok. I think it works well, and brings out all of the detail in the sculpt. The neon green highlights contrast well with Hank's fur color but are kind of senseless for a "Stealth" figure. Toybiz went the extra mile on this figure by adding a glaze over beasts eyes and a bit around the mouth giving it a watery look, it's just a little thing but it helps the figure. 

On the negative side, (which could be written off due to it being a mass produced figure) there's a tad bit of slop with the green on my feline version. 

Articulation - ****
This figure has all of the articulation it needs. His neck is jointed twice, with both a ball joint and a pin/disk joint, so you can get about any direction out of it . Beast also boasts a mid-torso joint, ball-jointed sholder, bicept, double elbow, cut at the gloves, wrists, and mid hand, waist, ball-jointed legs, double knee, ankle, and mid-foot. If I've counted correctly, that gives the ol' furball a total of 30 points of articulation. I'd say this one's superior to his old Marvel Legends figure , with more movement in his shoulders and the addition of the ball-jointed legs. 

Accessories - Cat -* Classic **1/2 
Ok, maybe I'm being picky; I should probably be glad that ToyBiz gave Beast any accessories in this day in age, that's quite rare. The best accessory is the goggles that only come with the Classic head. Continuing on the good things, there's the removable loop of cable around his torso which has some good detail in it. Now on to the dark side . While these things are sculpted well, they make no sense whatsoever. Beast comes with a pistol and a grappling hook launcher. Yes, you read that right, a GRAPPLING HOOK LAUNCHER. Ok. Lets take a look at the logic of this… Beast can… you know… jump… far… and climb things… and they give him A GRAPPLING HOOK LAUNCHER. Also of note, it looks like this came from a Spider-man figure ; if you look closely at the stopper at the end of the rope it has Spidey's eyes on it. 

Things to Watch Out For - 
The only thing here is going to be the wash on the fur, I think they vary from figure to figure, so find one you like. 

Value - ****
I picked these guys up at Target for $6.99. I think they are a buck more at Toys R Us and Walmart. In a world where figures are pushing $10 or more, this figure is a straight up deal.

Overall - ***1/2
Well, ToyBiz went on a limb and gave us the new Beast's head, and it's on a figure with tons of detail, there's just a little bit of downside (like the gun holster ) but aside from that it's a great figure. 

Score Recap
Packaging - ***
Sculpt - Sirius ***1/2; Harry ***
Paint - Sirius ***1/2; Harry ***
Articulation - ****
Accessories - Cat -* Classic **1/2
Value - ****
Overall - ***1/2

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Figure from the collection of Warren.

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