.

It’s the Marvel carton. A windowed box with a back piece that extends up into a J-hook. The only noticeable difference between this and other Marvel cartons is that Cables’ hair breaks the window frame and slightly extends into the window. Other than that it’s a regular Marvel carton.

The son of Scott Summers and Madelyne Prior, infected with a techno organic virus while still a baby and sent into the future in hope of a cure. Naturally he came back as a grim ‘n’ gritty gun for hire type who was already older than his Dad. That’s comics for you.

This is Cable as he was back in the mid-90’s – a time of big shoulder pads, and even bigger guns. The figure is based on the art of Rob Liefeld hence the massive amount of line work on the face, the gnarly grimace, and pouches. Pouches everywhere. Be thankful that DST opted to include the feet!

I actually like what’s been done here. This Cable does look just like the character did back in the day. Lots of over-textured hair and that mad, mad linework. I do like the gold detailing around Cable’s cybernetic left eye. It’s a lot better than the usual yellow star effect though it doesn’t shine out perhaps as much as it should.

Now check out that chest piece. What an amazing bit of kit this is. It’s just pouches, bandolier straps and bullets. I’m very impressed by the cut-out section in the centre and especially by the socket in the left shoulder for a gun to be mounted on. The back of the chest piece features pegs to attach guns to, a dagger sheath, and a holster. It also continues down to cover the ‘T-piece’ and give the impression of body armour. The figure can be displayed without the chest piece too. Underneath the armour the chest block has been detailed with a kind of vest with a cutaway section that reveals part of Cable’s techno-organic side. It’s a nice touch, and a great print, but it’s a shame this detailing doesn’t continue around the side and back of the chest. Still who’s going to display this figure without that massive chest piece?

It’s worth noting that the figures left arm, as well as presenting his cybernetic side, has a different glove to the tried and trusted gauntlet on the right arm. For some reason DST have gone for a kind of cuff piece, complete with a kind of cloth fold and a Minimate claw painted to match. This looks so much better than the usual painted wrist/claw combination, and as it’s a regular claw it works better than the gauntlet too. The legs have the bootfront inserts that we’ve been seeing a fair bit of lately. No complaints here. They look so much better than the chunky full boots of old.

Cable is accessorised with a veritable arsenal. First there’re those two massive silver guns, both of which look to be based on the source material. They have pegs and peg holes which mean they can be mounted on the back of the figure, be pegged together to create a WMD, and can be mounted in the shoulder socket of the chest piece. The only negative thing to say about these weapons is that the handles are claw killers, they really stretch the Minimate’s hand. Thankfully using the shoulder mount means this shouldn’t be too much of a problem. There’s also a dagger and the ubiquitous BSG pistol, this time in silver. These can be stored in the sheath and holster on the back of the chest piece, but they don’t fit too well and I’ve already lost one pistol. Thankfully my extra Kree Soldier from this wave gave up his own weapon. What a nice chap! The only solution for the loose accessories is to pack the holsters with some kind of poster tack, or simply stash them away.

In conclusion: An excellent rendition of this version, and a much needed update of the wave 11 figure. I’m a big fan of this ‘mate.

MMC Score – 9 out of 10

X-23 is a female clone of Wolverine. The X refers to the female chromosome, the 23 to the batch number. This is X-23 as she appeared in X-Force volume 2. Her costume has a very muted palette as X-Force became a kind of black-ops team.

The face is okay, but it suffers from that generic female face that so many female Minimates end up with. It also isn’t helped by having the same hairpiece as Athena from the Toys R Us BSG exclusive waves. I don’t think the hair sits right on this character, and feel the ‘mate would have been better served by having a piece specifically made for it. The hairpiece also locks the head into one position as it comes down the front and back of the chest block.

The costume is primarily grey and black. Nothing really ‘pops’ visually, the chest detailing is fine though she does look a touch overdeveloped in certain areas when compared to the comic book version of the character.

Of note are the clawed hands. X-23 only has two claws on each hand. At first I thought DST had created a new piece for her but upon close inspection it appears that these are the same hands as used on Daken (Dark Wolverine) from the Dark Avengers box set with the wrist claw simply cut away. Fair enough as it’s hardly noticeable but I still feel a bit cheated. X-23’s boots are crafted in the same fashion as X-Force Wolverine. It does appear that the entire bottom section of X-23 is exactly the same as that Minimate. Again fair enough, but a tad on the cheap side. Also a bit annoying that X-23 has no foot claw as it’s a fairly important part of the character. So that’s Tarantula and now X-23 missing signature parts of their appearance.

X-23 has no accessories though she does have alternate clawless hands, and bizarrely, an alternate head. I’m struggling with the logic of including the alternate head. Sure it’s great to give her an alternate look, and the face is great. I love the mask and the little bit of furrowed brow, but this should have been a print on the back of the Minimates’ head. The hair piece would easily have covered either face print. Using this method would have maybe saved a little bit of cash that could have gone towards tooling the clawed feet. A missed opportunity there.

In conclusion: ‘Meh’ rendition of the character. I’d like to see her revisited and done properly.

Review and pictures by Rad Kerrigan

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