It’s Marvel Monday again and I have a powerful urge to build another BAF, folks! That means I’m going to toss randomness to the winds and dig into the wave that I am the closest to finishing. And yup, it’s the Caliban Wave, and that means I’m headed back into X-Men territory and opening Forge!

It’s weird, but I think I actually associate Forge more with action figures than I do with the comics. That’s probably because I was so into Toybiz’s Uncanny X-Men figures and Forge was up there among my favorites. I also thought his tech skills made for an interesting, if not terribly flashy, Mutant ability.

A good chunk of Forge’s costume is achieved with paint, and I’m happy to say we’re back to the glorious blue and yellow deco. This outfit just reaches right into my brain and wiggle its fingers in my nostalgia nerves. As always, the deep blue and bright yellow makes for a snappy combo, looking every bit as fantastic on an action figure as it does in the comic panels. Toss in the brown accents to ground it, and you have a great looking color palate.

Some original sculpting includes the exaggerated cones on his gauntlets, the fringe around the tops of his boots. The boot fringe is only held up by friction, but mine seems to stay put quite well. They’re certainly better than the straps on Cyclops’ legs, which are always falling down. Moving up, Forge has a brown holster strapped to his right thigh, a red belt with the X-logo painted on the buckle, and a brown shoulder harness with sculpted pouches. I totally dig how they sculpted his cybernetic leg, which consist of some circuit-like panel lining and a metallic blue sheen. It’s much better than just having it silver.

The portrait consists of another fantastic head sculpt, which features some well-defined cheek bones and a serious expression. The mustache is particularly well done, as is the red headband that’s tied off to the side. The head is punctuated by a copious ponytail. I also dig the darker complexion that they went with for his skin-tone.

Forge comes with a pair of weapons: One rifle and one pistol. The pistol is cast in gray plastic and fits into the holster on his right hip. It’s design is a bit of traditional automatic with a little bit of sci-fi mixed in.

 

The rifle is cast in the same gray plastic and has even more of a sci-fi vibe to it. No doubt these are weapons Forge cooked up and I think they suit him well. My one big gripe is that I wish they included a peg on the rifle so it could be attached to his back. I like when my figures can carry or wear all their weapons.

The articulation holds nothing new. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, and double-hinges in the elbows. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have swivels at the thighs and the tops of the boots, the knees are double hinged, and the ankles have both hinges and lateral rockers. There’s a swivel in the chest, an ab-crunch hinge in the torso, and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed. The wide gauntlets do inhibit his elbow articulation a bit, but I’m pleased that I can still get him into a firing position with the rifle up to his cheek.

I feel like Hasbro put just a little bit of extra love into this guy. The fringe on the boots is a nice touch, the bionic leg came out beautifully, and the portrait is as solid as the day is long. And with Forge, another fine X-Men joins my Marvel Legends shelves. Boy does Hasbro seem to be loving these guys lately. Not only do I have quite a few to go before I’m caught up, but Toy Fair showed us that the X-Men train is going to keep on rolling. Forge puts me at five down and two to go in the Caliban Wave. Next week I’ll take a look at Skullbuster!