The second figure in my new Toy Biz X-Men/Marvel collection is Weather Fury Storm, also from the X-Men Water Wars assortment that Hydro Blast Wolverine came from.
I chose this storm because it’s sculpt is basically exactly as perfect as a 5″ Toy Biz figure would get to her costume designed by Jim Lee, appearing in 1991’s X-Men (vol 2) #1, with that tight top and poofy upper sleeves, and the mid-thigh-high boots:
Storm has decent articulation. She’s got a waist swivel, hinge-and-swivel shoulders, swivel hips in that awful V-Crotch formation, and hinged knees. She has a swivel joint at the neck, but her hair prevents any sort of movement there. The one downside to this figure is that, while her cape looks great, it doesn’t stay attached to her wrists very well…
In the 90s, toys were generally cast with their legs in either a “T-Crotch” or a “V-Crotch,” named after whichever letter the hips looked more like. Most make characters had a T-Crotch, and most women, like Storm, had a V-Crotch. But, this particular figure came with what was left of her packaging — And the illustration for the instructions on the back of the figure depict her with a T-Crotch. Weird! I wonder if that was an early design idea that got changed somewhere along the lines during production, and they never updated the illustration?
It also depicts her shoulder pads, which are noticeably absent from this figure.
Weather Fury Storm is cast in a pearlescent white, which is certainly a choice! One thing about this particular costume is that nobody can seem to agree on what color it’s supposed to be. The above Jim Lee illustration, to me, looks like a shiny black leather/pleather outfit. But some people see that as white with heavy shadows.
In fact, depending upon who you ask, the costume is either white, or black, or silver, or grey! And there are enough variations of official sources to back up any argument!
Whatever color she is, and despite the figure’s shortcomings as a toy, this Storm figure LOOKS the most like a 90s storm. She’s going to stand on my shelf next to Wolverine and whatever future X-Men toys I get, and look great doing it!
