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Fans of the X-Men and their mutant brethren of the Marvel comics world know that they've been relatively scarce in Hasbro's 3 ¾ inch Marvel Universe line, leaving the X-Men Origins Wolverine line to pick up the slack. Thankfully this is changing with the newest Universe wave (including Jean Grey, Sunfire, Wolverine, and Warpath). One of the most popular mutants is finally making his way to the small action figure world, appearing in not one but two Wolverine products (single and two-pack). He is the mighty Russian mutant and literal man of steel, Colossus!
Born Piotr “Peter” Rasputin, the mutant who would become an X-Man grew up on a struggling farm in the Soviet Union. His first comic book appearance took place in 1975’s Giant-Size X-Men #1, in which Professor Xavier visited the small farm to recruit Peter. At first denying his powers, the mutant revealed his true abilities when a runaway tractor threatened his sister. Transforming into a living steel form with vast strength and durability, Colossus would join the X-Men and serve with distinction, even dying and coming back from the grave.
All of the single X-Men Origins Wolverine figures come in the same package, a standard bubble and cardback. The front is dominated by a huge Wolverine character graphic at the top, with three "cuts" on the right-hand side. Below the figure is the movie title logo, while a stripe to his side places the mutant in the "Comic Series" as opposed to those straight out of the film.
The back of Colossus' card has a great big photo of the figure with a brief bio of the character. At the bottom are images of three other figures in the same line: fellow X-Men Wolverine, Cyclops, and Iceman.
Colossus in his armored form makes a very impressive figure. Basically, he’s huge. At over 4 ¼ inches he towers over most other 3 ¾ inch scale figures, and he’s quite beefy too. The X-Man wears his first costume, consisting of a V-shaped chest harness with shoulder pads, belt, trunks, wristbands, and knee boots. The sculpt on this figure is quite good, and takes good advantage of the mutant’s unique look. In his metal form Colossus’ skin becomes bands of metal. On the figure, these bands are very narrow and have deeply sculpted lines between them. There is also an excellent amount of musculature, which looks even cooler "under" the metal skin. There are several small details that really add to the figure’s quality, including the notched soles of the mutant’s boots, the intricate physiology of his hands, and his stolid head sculpt with completely smooth hair.
Colorwise, Colossus is a very accurate representation of his early comic form. Everywhere his skin is exposed is a smooth metallic silver. His costume varies between bright yellow and red (somewhat reminiscent of the old Windows "Hot Dog Stand" color scheme). Black accents complete the picture on kneepad designs and the "X" symbol on Colossus' belt. His hair is black as well, while his eyes are pure white on black backgrounds.
The Marvel Universe and X-Men figures have extreme articulation, and Colossus continues that trend. He is articulated at the neck, ball-jointed shoulders, ball-jointed elbows, ball-jointed torso, ball-jointed hips, upper thighs, double-jointed knees, and ball-jointed ankles. The good news is that those joints make the mutant quite poseable. But, it’s not all good news. Some of the joints are restricted, including the neck and shoulders (due to the shoulder pads). In addition, the ball thighs are quite unsightly, though this comes down to personal taste.
Colossus also comes with a huge hammer accessory, in case his metal fists aren’t enough to get the job done. It’s a serviceable weapon, and appropriately massive for such a strong character.
Fans of the Russian mutant and X-Men in general will be pretty pleased with this solid figure, and that’s good because there isn’t another on the horizon. There is a second Colossus in the X-Men Origins Wolverine line in a “Fastball Special” two-pack with Wolverine. While that one has a pretty cool look, its articulation is severely lacking due to its awful action feature. So, your best bet is to pick up this single packed Colossus if you can find him at retail. Good luck!
For more images of Colossus, CLICK HERE!
Review and Photos by Scott Rubin