Some of you guys requested that X-Men Origins Wolverine: Cyclops be my next review and so here he is. I'll confess to never being much of a Cyclops fan as I came up in the era when there was serious beef between Cyclops and Wolverine. At the time you were either a fan of one or the other. Which interestingly at the time Cyclops held his own.



Nowadays of course Cyclops is practically an afterthought in the X-Men and no longer the once prominent character he was. Although I haven't cracked a X-Men comic in a good decade so he could be the new herald of Galactus for all I know... But I never hear anyone talk about Cyclops.

UPDATE: Several people have commented to let me know that Cyclops is indeed still a important part of the X-Men universe. Some say he's the most important mutant in all of the X-Men... While I tend to think that's probably fanboy hyperbole to some extent, and I still stand by my statement that no one ever mentions Cyclops to me, I'll concede that he's obviously as prominant as he ever was.



Although Cyclops is a pretty powerful dude when you think about it. His huge blasts of energy from his eyes is a pretty incredible power. I could see a whole movie or comic series around a character like that. Unfortunately Cyclops is part of the Marvel universe and sadly an X-Men member which means powers like that are instantly overshadowed by guys with ridiculous amounts of "mutant ability".

The Wolverine Origins line from Hasbro is a 3 3/4 line, although Cycke himself measures in at a little over 4 inches. Actually most these figures are over 3 3/4 but Wolverine himself is around 3 3/4. Hey 4 inches is the new 3 3/4 inches!

Packaging:
As I said in my Iceman review, the Wolverine Origins packaging is far less impressive than it's Marvel Universe counterparts. With a realistic cartoon picture of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine on the front and a rather generic bubble. On the back is a brief bio including a few pictures of other figures in the series. The words "COMIC SERIES" are clearly printed on the front so you know where this guy comes from. Inside is a little paper foldout telling of other Wolverine toys.



Articulation:
Cyclops has a fair amount of articulation and can hang with almost any figure in this scale, but he's not perfect. Hasbro's two separate design teams for Marvel Universe and WXO use different articulation. One hopes that when the WXO dies off the two teams will come together and form the perfect articulated Marvel figures.



Cyclops' most disappointing feature is probably his ball jointed neck (At least I think it's a ball joint) that operates like a cut joint. He can look side to side, but up and down don't really work. He also has ball jointed shoulders, ball jointed elbows (or Hasbros), torso swivel/mini ab crunch, ball jointed legs, thigh swivel, and double knee joints. I find the ball joint legs and thigh swivels that this line uses a bit of a hassle. You have to turn the ball joint one direction to move the legs closer together or further apart, then turn the ball joint again to move it forward and backwards. If you're not paying attention you could snap a leg off.



Cyclops has plenty of articulation, but he could really use a waist cut and wrist cuts in my view. Some might call for some articulation on the ankles, as Cycke has no articulation below the knee but I personally feel that's often just wasted articulation.



Sculpt:
This is where this figure shines. Using the Astonishing X-Men Cyclops costume that really combines all the greatness of some of my favorite Cyclops outfits, 2nd, 5th and 6th respectively. With a skintight dark-blue outfit with a skull-cap and yellow accents. It's current and yet could easily be displayed as a classic look as well. The plastic used on this sculpt also make it appear as if it's a vinyl or heavy leather outfit and that really suits the character well.


X-Men versus Alien!

Since most of the outfit is costume we don't have to worry about much face. We just see the bottom of his mouth and nose but it looks quite good. The visor is sculpted with a somewhat strange feature that allows for a "blast" to be plugged into it. That means that this visor is actually a hole in his head. Originally I thought this would be a bad idea, but it creates a 3-D effect that almost makes the visor look like it glows.



The inside of the visor is painted red which helps give it the light glowing effect. It's all an eye trick and isn't perfect from some side angles, but for whatever reason I really like it. The rest of the paint lines are few but very crisp and sharp with no slop at all on mine. Especially in the straight line areas. The yellow is all accented well. Even the red X belt buckle is painted nicely.


"We could totally beat the Avengers, Tony!"

Accessories:
The X-Men Origins Wolverine figures tend to have more accessories than the Marvel Universe line but I'm starting to notice that they're scaling back a bit, which is disappointing. Cyclops only has one accessory and that's his optic blast. Thankfully, the optic blast is one of the coolest accessories to come down the line. By plugging into his visor it looks really good and works much better than you'd ever expect.



One of the nice things with the optic blast is that kids will enjoy it for what it is, whereas adults and collectors can modify it to look great in pictures. I'm no Photoshop pro and spent no less than 3 minutes on this picture, yet it looks great. My blast is a little bent but could be straightened out in a couple minutes.


Stop blasting me in the crotch!

Additional Notes:
I find myself liking Cyclops more because of this figure. Why did I ever hate this guy? He's got a cool power, a neat look and his figure is excellent. I wish he came with more accessories but as I often find myself saying, I have no idea what else he needs.



Value:
Just like Marvel Universe, these guys are right at $8. With only one accessory and packaging that isn't as pretty this feels a bit more rough than the Marvel Universe counterparts. However and this is a big however, Cyclops is one of the nicest figures in either line and definitely warrants a purchase from any X-Men fan. Even if you're not a big supporter of Scott Summers, you've got to love this toy.



Score Recap:
Packaging - 6
Sculpting - 8
Articulation - 7.5
Accessories - Optic Blast
Value - 6
Overall - 7.5 out of 10



Much like Iceman before him, this figure is a treat for old school X-Men fans. Cyclops hasn't had dozens of figures before and this one is his only incarnation at this scale to my knowledge. Thankfully he's a real winner with a excellent representation of the character and lots of fun for kids and adults alike. With this figure I'm slowly building my perfect 1990's incarnation of the X-Men.