Well hey there, Toyhounds! After taking a week off from Toy Bloggery, I’m back in full force with a brand new Marvel Monday! And since I took the last Marvel Monday off, today I’m doubling up on some X-Force Action with a look at two Mutants from the Strong Guy Wave… Let’s check out Warpath and Sunspot!

If you’re keeping track at home, I already dipped my toe into this Wave way back when I checked out Pirate Deadpool! I’ve got nothing new to say about the packaging, except that you get the mighty X-Force logo emblazoned on the front of each window box. To my surprise, I was actually able to find this pair at my local Target… and on clearance!!! Let’s start with Sunspot!

A Mutant with a sunny disposition and money to burn, Sunspot breaks into the Marvel Legends lineup looking absolutely fab! The buck features a combination of paint and colored plastic to make up the mostly red and blue suit, with some added black for the gauntlets. The deco looks great and the paint lines are pretty clean. You do get some unpainted pins rearing their ugly heads, with red ones on the interiors of the elbows and blue ones on the interiors of the knees. These don’t really bother me, but I know it sticks in some peoples’ collective craws. Overall, I think this deco looks fantastic!

And if that’s not enough, the costume does introduce a splash of added color and original sculpted parts in the form of raised yellow striping on the sides of his boots, yellow bangles on his wrists, and a yellow collar with the X-emblem stamped onto it in red. Damn, this is a cool looking suit!

And Roberto’s portrait is no slouch either! Cast in black plastic, the ebony head sculpt is illuminated only by the bright red mask and his white pupil-less eyes. It makes for a really cool effect. The mask is augmented by a pair of sculpted ties that fly off the back of his head down toward his back. The portrait is rounded out by black energy effects protruding from behind his back to simulate the corona effect of his awesome powers.

There are no surprises here when it comes to articulation, although Sunspot does feature the extra swivel cuts down in the lower legs that we see every now and then. Those are always welcome! He also comes with a pair of effect parts, which we have most certainly seen a few times before, but now they’re cast in a very cool looking black plastic. These hook onto the wrists and blend nicely with the effect parts coming off of his back. OK, let’s turn our attention to Warpath!

If you were with me a few Marvel Mondays back, you may remember that I was ultimately a bit disappointed with Thunderbird and I was hoping that his brother Warpath would turn out better. And for the most part, he did! Built on a larger and more powerful buck, Warpath features a similar costume to Thunderbird’s, and the same beautiful red and blue colors we just saw on Sunspot. His top is short-sleeved, allowing him to show off his mighty guns!

Once again, the colors are crisp and the paint lines are clean. While the fringe on the tops of Thunderbird’s boots annoyed me to no end for their habit of sliding down to his ankles, I’m happy to report that Warpath’s are sculpted in place and stay put! Why couldn’t you have done that the first time, Hasbro? On the other hand, Warpath features some large shoulder pads with matching fringe, and these have a habit of popping off when you try to raise his arms too high. So, it’s really one of those “two steps forward, one step back” scenarios. At least the shoulder pads look pretty bitchin’ when they are staying put. Warpath’s costume is rounded out by a red belt with sculpted pouches running around it, and gold bracers on his wrists.

I absolutely love the portrait here. Proudstar sports a stoic expression, with a firmly downturned mouth, a strong nose, and some chiseled lines in his face. His red domino mask is part of the sculpt, framing his two pupil-less eyes. He has a sculpted red headband, which is mostly obscured by his black coif that cascades down each side of his face. The hair is sculpted so as to add a lot of depth and dimension to the portrait, even to the point where you can make out part of his ears buried in there where the hair parts at his shoulders. The head sculpt is rounded out with a white sculpted feather protruding from the back, behind his right ear. Really, my only complaint here is the bit of mold flashing that’s evident on his chin.

As with Sunstorm, there’s no surprises to be found in the articulation. Warpath sports all the usual points and the joints are solid, making him fun to play with. At least until I knock his shoulder pads off with his arms. Sadly, there are no accessories here, and I think it’s a major bummer that Hasbro did not include his fighting knives. And as if that omission wasn’t bad enough, they actually included a pair of accessory holding hands to swap out with his fists. Seriously, Hasbro? Hands to hold the knives, but no knives to hold? Are you just trolling me on this one? Egads.

Sunstorm and Warpath are two excellent new additions to my X-Men shelf and all in all I have few complaints. I’m always torn on whether I prefer this gorgeous red and blue over the blue and yellow when it comes to my Mutant costume colors. More than anything, these costumes remind me of the good old days of collecting the Toy Biz figures, and these really capture all that magic only with the added articulation and excellent head sculpts. Sunspot is pretty much perfect, but I still have to hammer home the point of how ridiculous it is that we couldn’t have had some knives with Warpath. Hell, even the 4-inch Marvel Universe release got some cutlery. I’ll have to dig through my totes of accessories and see if I can accommodate him.