Well, it took me a little longer than I hoped to swing back and finish up this second Age of Apocalypse themed wave, but there’s an old saying when it comes to timeline-altering narratives: Better late than never! So, let’s wrap things up with a look at the last packaged figure, Shadowcat, and the Colossus Build-A-Figure!

It feels odd to be looking at the Earth-295 Shadowcat before our own version, but that’s more my fault than it is Hasbro’s. They have already released the Earth-616 Shadowcat in a three-figure boxed set with Meggan and Captain Britain, I just haven’t gotten around to opening that set yet. Maybe I’ll push that to the head of the line, and look at some multi-figure packs before diving into the next wave of figures. Either way, Kitty has some cool character art on her box, and they managed to squeeze Colossus’ torso in there with her. Let’s rip this package open and let the cat out of the bag!

Oh my, Yes! I do have a thing for many of the redesigns that the ladies got for Age of Apocalypse, and that goes doubly so for Shadowcat! She comes sporting a metallic blue bodysuit, segmented with cut lines to make it look like some kind of flexible armor, and ending at her chest. The sleeves are separate, with more segmented cuts, and terminate at her biceps, giving her a dystopian-chic bare shoulder look. Her hands are sculpted with fingerless gloves, and she has a pair of silver wrist bracers, which are meant to contain her retracted kitty claws. Her ensemble is finished off with a silver utility belt, complete with pouches and branded X-Men logo on the belt buckle! The belt and bracers are all separate pieces.

I think the portrait turned out great. Kitty looks a bit displeased, and while I’ll admit the expression falls short as you punch in close with the camera, it looks fine with the naked eye. The face printing is crisp and clear, They did an especially nice job painting the glimpse of teeth through her lips. The hair sculpt is also fantastic. It’s sculpted separately from the head to give it a clean hairline, and I love the way it hangs down over her right eye and sweeps back behind her left ear. She has a sculpted choker with a single red oval stone. The choker is painted to match her bodysuit, although this is one area where the paint could have been sharper.

Shadowcat’s articulation is standard stuff for the Legends ladies. The legs feature ball joints in the hips, swivels in the thighs and lower legs, double-hinged knees, and hinges with lateral rockers in the ankles. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and elbows, with hinged pegs in the wrists. There’s no waist swivel, instead you get a ball joint under the chest, and a hinged ball joint in the neck. Kitty comes with two pairs of hands: One pair of fists, one right hand with splayed fingers, and one left accessory holding hand.

She also comes with a second set of wrist bracers that have her kitty claws extended. These are a bit thick, and look more like tendrils than claws, but overall, they’re a decent accessory and make for some nice poses. Let’s move on to the Build-A-Figure, Colossus!

Colossus is comprised of the standard six pieces: Four limbs, torso, and head. I suppose you can say it’s seven pieces if you count the ties for his mask, which connect to the head with a ball joint for some added articulation. Colossus’ AoA redesign represents some of the best and worst aspects of the character redesigns. Colossus has exchanged his one-piece for a pair of shorts and yellow suspenders, which means he’s showing a lot more of his metallic body. And boy the sculpting for all those metal sinews that make up his torso is absolutely fantastic! He’s also sporting a bunch of additional armored pieces, including guards for his knees and lower legs, elbows and forearms, and a giant piece of armor over his left shoulder. Why does Colossus need added armor? Because… Shut up it looks cool!

The colors on this figure are stellar. The mix of bright red armor, bright yellow suspenders, and the gorgeous silver finish of his skin all blend together as a feast for the eyes. You even get some pale red metallic paint hits on the studs of his shoulder armor. I think a lot about this design is just plain dumb, but I can’t hate on it, because it just looks so damn good!

The portrait is probably my favorite thing about the redesign. Piotr looks absolutely savage and just a little bit terrifying here. He’s got a pirate-style mask covering the upper half of his head. As mentioned

Colossus is sporting some excellent articulation for such a big, bulky guy! His arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders, hinged elbows, swivels in the biceps, and hinged pegs in the wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double-hinged in the knees, have hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles, and swivels in the thighs and lower legs. There’s a swivel in the waist, an ab-crunch hinge in the torso, and a ball joint in the neck. You get two sets of hands here: One pair of fists and one pair of grapple hands.

I think Hasbro did a superb job bringing these two from comic page to plastic, and boy do they look great together. The detail on Colossus’ body is some of Hasbro’s best work, and Kitty is just all around gorgeous. But the colors are what really make these figures stand out to me. Even on a shelf full of colorful superheroes and mutants, this pair still manages to grab my eyes! Simply beautiful!

And that’s a wrap for the second Age of Apocalypse Wave. I’ve made it no secret that my enthusiasm for Marvel Legends has been wavering lately. I think most of Marvel’s current books are garbage, and I think I’ll be tapping out of the MCU movies after the next Doctor Strange. That leaves just cherry-picking the line for whatever classic characters they haven’t done yet. But when you add the price increase into the fold, well that’s just another nail in the coffin. With all that having been said, this Colossus Wave had me super excited, so there’s still hope. Not to mention, I have a huge backlog of figures still waiting to be opened and given the spotlight here!