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With these being the first new Marvel Minimates to hit the specialty market in over a year, the packaging has undergone a slight tweak along the lines of the exclusive Professor X and Magneto, putting a lighter blue and slight line detailing in the background.

The back of the packaging is new and shows off all the figures in waves 12 and 13.

The first Minimate in this set is the leader of the X-Men, Cyclops. No stranger to the world of Minimates, we have had a large number of Cyclopi in the line to date; not quite Wolverine or Spidey-level, but close.

The design for the Astonishing costumed Cyclops harkens back to the original look that he had when the X-Men first appeared. In each incarnation Scott seems to swap between having the visor attached to a mask, or just stuck to his face, and here he has the mask. It is the same piece that the Giant-Size X-Men Cyclops used. The facial detailing is very reminiscent of the Dark Tide version of Cyclops, with the gritted teeth of the mouth. When the visor is removed, the red eyes that are revealed have been done well, but the eyebrows seem unusually high on the head block.

Cyclops’s costumes are never overloaded with detail and this one also doesn’t have a lot, although the muscular detailing is quite prominent on the chest. Black with yellow trim, the costume looks OK but isn’t as showy as his New X-Men costume. The problem with the lazy paint apps continues here. The lines on the boots do go around the sides, but not the back. Cheap.

Cyclops doesn’t come with any accessories. He never has, to be fair. He does have a hole in his head and C3 feet.

Overall, it’s another Cyclops. There isn’t all that much you can do with him to differenciate him from the multitude of other Cyclops Minimates. His inclusion in the wave makes sense as he’s the leader of the team, but he’s not the best version of Cyclops we’ve seen, not by a long way. Not a bad figure, just uninspiring.

MMC Score – 6 out of 10

The second Minimate in the set is Emma Frost, making this the second Cyclops/Emma pairing in the line so far. In Astonishing X-Men, Emma and Scott jointly run the School for the Gifted, so it makes sense for them to be paired up.

Emma’s face is more streamlined and elegant than her previous Minimate, with thinner detailing lines. She certainly is a looker. She sports the purple lipstick seen in the comics. This version of Emma uses the Ultimate Storm hairpiece, which is painted a very fetching blonde colour and will be in demand by customisers as one of the few long blonde hairpieces available.

The chest detailing is really nice. The crop-top looks great and is well detailed with her voluptuous curves. Like the others in this wave, she suffers a bit with lack of detailing on the side and back. For example, the belt is only only picked out on the front. The arms and legs are almost purely white, with only a couple of detailing lines on the legs. It’s very simple costume, a simple look, but it still works well in Minimate form. The only flaw is that usually Astonishing Emma Frost is pictured with a small cape (smaller than the fur-lined one on the original) but as part of the re-use wave there was nothing similar to use in its place.

Like every other figure in this wave, Emma has no accessories, but does have a hole in the head and C3 feet.

Overall, this is a lovely version of Emma, simple yet very effective! 

Review and pictures by Danny Mills

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