"Illyana."

Most guys would probably be intimidated that Illyana has a big brother that's an insanely protective, seven-foot-tall, slab of metal beefcake; but she's actually plenty intimidating on her own. 

X-Men '97 has, in my probably solitary opinion, maybe done too much to rehabilitate the rep of Cyclops. Everyone thinks he's the bee's knees all of a sudden, 'cause he can what, electric slide using his eyebeams now? I say, he probably maintains a running mental total, of demerits for all of the X-Men, and probably himself. Only took out two Sentinels instead of three? Demerit! Not wearing a clean uniform after a three-issue fight? Demerit! Abandoning your wife and kid for your ex? Demerit, but only one.

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"Lesson."

Two recently picked up figures this week: Spider-Boy and Magik! I saw the latter at a Wal-Mart, and kinda figured it was now or never. We'll see her again next time and have a halfassed explanation why she's in her old New Mutants uniform. Then, I wanted Spider-Boy to serve as a foil to both Miles and Pavitr, who are both at that awkward age where most everyone older than them is a geezer that doesn't understand them, and anyone younger is still a baby and doesn't understand them. It also frees them up from just arguing with each other, to argue with Bailey instead. Either Spider-Boy is weirdly tall, or that Miles figure is a bit short? Read more!

"Hair."

This probably isn't supported anywhere, but I'm using Pavitr as a bit more of a foil: I don't think he's quite as wholesome or innocent as he might present himself, he might be the Eddie Haskell-type. If you're too young to remember Leave It to Beaver, or a great Toyfare character assassination of Biggs Darklighter; he's the shifty, rotten kid-next-door who sucks up to parents and authority figures to maintain a butter-wouldn't-melt-in-his-mouth facade. That and he's aggressively competitive with comparable Spider-Men, like Miles. Any Spiders older, Pavitr probably pretends to listen but mocks them behind their backs as out-of-touch geezers. I bet a lot of Spider-Women see through him, though.

That's like maybe the most recent Miles Morales Spider-Man figure, and he feels short? Especially next to somebody we'll see later... 

 And, something I'm surprised I don't have an answer for right away: where did Nightcrawler learn to fence? Who taught him? Not every little detail needs to be explained with a ton of backstory, or as often used in comics, continuity patches: I'm pretty sure the Swordsman or Baron Zemo didn't teach Kurt. (If you remember Solo Avengers, they backfilled the new character Trickshot as Clint Barton's trainer before he was Hawkeye; because somebody thought it was suspect that the Swordsman trained Clint in archery.) But, he got pretty good if he just learned to fence from watching old pirate movies and waving sticks around in the woods. I think Kurt probably learned somewhat more formally in the circus; we'll leave it at that.

Oh, and this is annoying: I had this in my head for some time, because the "Saracen pig! Spartan dog! Turkish taffy!" is a Chris Claremont/Alan Davis bit from Excalibur #14, "Too Many Heroes,", but that's riffing on a bit from...ugh...Woody Allen's What's Up, Tiger Lily? Ick!  

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"Cup."

I'm not a soccer fan, but it is fun to see some people having fun. (Even if FIFA is a racket!) 

I only read Miles's book here and there, but yeah, he can make swords now! In-continuity I think Colleen Wing is his trainer; but of course she has yet to get a figure--unless there was an MCU Iron Fist one? (There was, in a box set!) Miles is sadly probably too young to know the Thundercats--unless he liked the all-too-brief reboot from Cartoon Network a few years back. I'm also fairly certain he doesn't make swords appear with a 'pop!' either.

"Focused totality" is Psylocke's old phrase, often used as a shorthand recap before she shanked someone with her psychic knife. 

Kurt's had both the Soulsword and the 'Hopesword' inside of him. Where did his sword come from this time? Um...gotta go!  

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"Stifle."

And that's a wrap for the Collector, and some of our Spider-friends! Maybe not all of them, though. I was also kind of hoping to keep Kurt in this costume for a bit, for a change coming hopefully in August...

The Hulkiverse and the Riderverse maybe aren't in regular continuity, but also feel like just a matter of time: I know there's a bunch of Venomverse stuff already. Some of those Hulks we haven't seen here before, but I bought the new Red She-Hulk a bit ago, and still haven't opened her: I really do like the old one! This is more of a space concern, but I've also bought the last two Legends Ghost Riders that came with their bikes, and haven't opened them either. The upcoming Robbie Reyes is short his Hellcharger, which will doubtless lead to still more 'Ghost Walker' jokes; but I'm looking forward to that wave and expanding Alpha Flight.

Also, if the Riderverse included not just Ghost Riders but Kamen Riders; that'd be a bit of alright! The Masked Rider there was a recent model pick-up; although I have a Shin Kamen Rider coming. I haven't actually seen Masked Rider--I believe there was an attempt to localize it, back in the Fox Kids days, that might have gone way younger and jokier than Mighty Morphin Power Rangers shows did. That didn't really seem to stick, and Kamen Rider maybe hasn't broken big in the states, but there's been a ton of versions, and some of the costumes get way out there. 

And, it's long been established, the Hulk likes beans! Like, a lot.

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