Last year I took a look at the very first figure in the X-Men: The Animated Series 1/6-scale figure line. Mondo chose to start with arguably the most popular X-Man of all time, Wolverine. Fittingly, the second release in the series is the most iconic X-Men villain (and sometimes ally), Magneto.
While this figure doesn’t have a San Diego Comic-Con version like Wolverine had, Mondo did produce an exclusive timed edition that sold out online. There is also a standard version of the Magneto figure, which is available for preorder from the Mondo webstore for $215. The only difference between the two editions is that the exclusive version was more expensive, at $225, and included two additional alternate heads.
The artists for the Magneto 1/6 scale figure are:
- Concept Design – Joe Allard, Alex Brewer
- Sculpt – Alex Brewer
- Paint – Mark Bristow
- Packaging Art – Dan Veesenmeyer
- Packaging Design – Gabe Chicoine
- Photography – Raúl Barrero
The figure is 12″ high and weighs 5 lbs. It’s constructed out of PVC, ABS, and even a few magnets.
Mondo sent me the exclusive timed edition to review.
Packaging
Much like with the standard Wolverine 1/6 scale figure, Magneto comes in a lavishly-illustrated white box. The front of the box is designed to look like the cover of a comic book, with an X-Men: The Animated Series-style illustration of Magneto in the forefront, and reproductions of original storyboards on the back.
The back of the packaging shows off designs for Magneto from the animated series, as well as giving the design credits for the figure itself. The front of the box attaches via a magnetic flap and opens to reveal a plastic display of the figure, as well as a background on the character of Magneto.
To remove the figure from the box, you open a lid at the top, and slide out the two stacked plastic trays.
X-Men: The Animated Series – Magneto 1/6 Scale Figure Mondo Exclusive Timed Edition
Pictured above are the Magneto 1/6 scale figure and all of the accessories that accompany it:
- Standard portrait
- Angry portrait
- 20XX portrait
- Eric Lensherr portrait
- Evil Morph portrait
- Two magnetized energy rings
- Magnetized metal shards
- Bendable metal fragment
- Two open-palm magnetized hands
- Two magnetized fists
- 4 pairs of interchangeable hands
- Figure stand
The Evil Morph portrait and the 20XX portrait are only included in the timed exclusive edition. Otherwise, the contents are identical to the regular Magneto figure.
Besides having a good variety of head sculpts to choose from, the Magneto figure comes with a nice assortment of hands.
Three of the hands have magnets embedded in them, to use with the included magnetic accessories. There is a pile of metal shards, which includes a wristwatch:
There is also a translucent pair of magnetic energy rings, which create a great visual effect:
The magnetized accessories work great. However, the bendable metal fragment wasn’t quite as useful.
While I could get some movement out of it, the metal fragment was not able to hold all of the very twisty shapes as seen in the promotional photos on the Mondo website. That’s definitely a bit of a disappointment when it comes to posing Magneto alongside the Wolverine figure.
Finally, there is a plain black figure stand that ships with the figure. While it’s perfectly functional, it would have been nice to have a themed base. The figures from Mondo’s Batman: The Animated Series all have figure stands with bases in the shape of the bat symbol. A simple “X” logo would have sufficed to add a bit more character when displaying your X-Men figures.
The Verdict
Much like with their previous release of Wolverine, Mondo has managed to nail the exaggerated look of the ’90s X-Men: The Animated Series with the Magneto 1/6 scale figure. The cel-shaded paint effect works well and makes a three-dimensional realization of a cartoon character feel like it has leaped off the screen.
As with the Wolverine figure, you won’t be pulling off too many crazy poses with Magneto. He also possesses oversized muscles which hinder some movement in the joints, and the non-removable cape provides an additional restriction. Still, the character of Magneto is hardly a contortionist, and he looks very imposing in simple, straightforward poses. The joints are stiff enough to hold those poses well, and many different looks can be pulled off without using the included stand.
Speaking of the stand, that’s one of the few disappointments I had with the Magneto 1/6 scale figure. The stand is perfectly functional, but it’s generic. Of course, this is something I could replace if I chose to do so: there are places that make custom figure stands. A quick Google search yielded a few different choices. But as both Wolverine and Magneto have these plain black stands, I don’t expect any future X-Men: The Animated Series figures to come packaged with a better stand.
Not as easily replaced is the bendable metal fragment, which looks-wise fits the rest of the Magneto set perfectly. It sadly just doesn’t function as well as one would want. Thankfully, the magnetized accessories work great and really add to the display factor of this figure.
Despite my minor quibbles, this is another fantastic entry into the X-Men: The Animated Series line. Magneto is a great match for Wolverine, both character-wise and figure-wise. And with the X-Men ’97 animated series and a Jubilee figure from Mondo on the way later this year, it’s well worth picking up the Magneto 1/6 scale figure right now.
If you’re interested in purchasing the X-Men: The Animated Series – Magneto 1/6 Scale Figure, head over to the Mondo webstore. You can also pick up the Wolverine figure, which is almost sold out, or pre-order two different versions of the Jubilee figure.
Mondo sent me a Magneto 1/6 scale figure for evaluation but had no input into this review.
