Scott Summers was the first X-Man officially recruited by Professor X. He was just a teenager when he was brought in to lead the team, but eventually grew into a stalwart field commander.
Scott’s mutant ability kicked in when the Summer family were flying in father Christopher’s plane and they were attacked by aliens. Chris and his wife, Katherine, strapped their two sons, Scott and Alex, into the single parachute they had on board. As the brothers were falling, their parachute caught fire. Scott’s eyes emitted a concussive force blast that somehow slowed their descent. Scotty took the brunt of the impact, protecting his little brother, but the harsh landing gave him a bit of brain damage. Later, when he joined the X-Men, it was learned that the landing damaged the part of Scott’s brain that allowed him to control his mutant optic force blasts. Only by looking through ruby-quartz glasses can he hold back the endless force blasts that emit from his eyeballs.
Or something like that, there’s retcons in comics all the time.
That’s why early Cyclops figures often have light-up visor effects, as a way of replicating his optic blasts. More modern toys have clip-on effects, which is about as cool, but I definitely prefer the lights.
Unfortunately, this 30+ year old figure’s batteries have died, so his eyes don’t light up, nor do I have clip-on effects, so now he’s just a normal toy who can’t turn his neck.
Speaking of joints turning, this figure was amongst the better ones in Toy Biz’s 90s release, with swivel joints at the shoulders and hips, and hinges at the elbows and knees. I suspect he would’ve had a swivel joint at the neck if not for the little bulb and battery compartment stored away in his torso for the light-up effect. Maybe even a swivel waist? That would be cool.
Cyclops is featured in his X-Men (1991) #1 costume, designed by comics legend Jim Lee. This went on to become his look as the X-Men hit the mainstream with the cartoon and the Capcom video games.
This particular figure has some yellow paint chipped away on his gloves, so I’ll have to touch that up sometime. Also, Cyke’s trunks at the top of his thighs often went unpainted, so I’ll add some yellow paint there, whenever I get around to clearing him up. That’ll really bring out the underwear-on-the-outside look.
I had this figure as a kid, and I loved having a then-modern Cyclops to lead my X-Men into battle against the other toys in my collection. Cyke’s changed his outfits every few years in the 21st century, so by the time a new toy comes out, it’s already out-of-date.
But this will always be MY Cyclops.
And for millions of kids who watched the 90s cartoon, it’ll be their Cyclops, too.
Come back soon for more 90s X-Men Toys!
