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Corsair is a character I kind of got off on the wrong foot with, as my earliest memories of him are me as a kid shoving aside piles of his 90s Toybiz X-Men figure while searching for the (stupidly shortpacked) first Phoenix/Jean Grey figure ever. I never bought that vintage Corsair, and never had much desire to own a toy of him. But Hasbro decided I’d need to buy Marvel Legends Corsair to complete the Ch’od Build-A-Figure (who’s already been discounted on Amazon), so here he is! Is this a definitive toy of the Summers family patriarch? Here’s my review…
Intergalactic space pirate Corsair also happens to be the father of Cyclops, Havok and Vulcan, for those who weren’t aware. The captain of the Starjammers gained notoriety with kids from his appearances in the 90s X-Men cartoon, which helped earn him a Toybiz 5” action figure in 1994.
That figure was heavily packed in the Phoenix Saga sub-line, and notoriously warmed shelves for years while Phoenix herself remained in far smaller supply. I sort of formed a bias against Corsair as a result, and never really included him on a wish list until Hasbro announced his X-Men Legends figure last fall. But now that I do own Cyclops’ daddy, I’m tremendously glad that I do.
Corsair comes in the current standard plastic-free packaging, for better or worse. Read any of my other recent ML reviews for my thoughts on this style of box packaging.
As this is a character mainstream X-Men fans may not be intimately familiar with, I wish he had a little bio on the back of his box, alas.
Corsair comes wrapped in paper with a heavier than usual baggie of accessories and the right arm of the Ch’od BAF.
Corsair gets more accessories of his own than any other figure in the wave: a whopping four! He’s got a sword, a space pistol and interchangeable fists/grasping hands.
Hands are sometimes kind of a weak extra, but for a scoundrel who can throw a sucker punch at any time and also wield two different weapons, I’m definitely glad to have the quartet of appendage choices.
Corsair can hang his sword from his belt, and also has a working trigger finger for his gun (unlike poor Quentin Quire). These details greatly increase the playability of the toy and make him fun to pose and play with. Speaking of posing—there’s tons of it possible because of the excellent modern articulation scheme. The full set includes:
—Ball-Hinge Head
—Ball-Hinge Shoulders with Butterfly Swivels
—Swivel Biceps, Waist, Thighs and Boots
—Pin-Less Double-Hinged Knees and Elbows
—Swivel-Hinge Wrists
—hinged Feet with Ankle Rockers
The fully pin-free figure looks awesome aesthetically, and the butterfly swivel shoulders keep Corsair flexible for sword-wielding and gun-aiming poses. There’s no gummy plastic, so Corsair stands up great in a huge variety of poses. There’s no shortage of ‘action’ in this action figure—it far exceeds my expectations.
The head sculpt works neutrally, and the expression was the way to go if there was only going to be one head. I’m surprised there’s not a second head with classic blue headband, but I visualize Corsair with the modern red headband in my mind anyway. The headband would be an easy custom job to repaint, although all the paint that is present on the toy as manufactured is already pristine.
Overall: While I was never dying for an action figure of Christopher Summers, I can’t imagine a better 6” Corsair figure than this one. The plastic quality and paint deco are ideal, his articulation set is exactly what I wanted and his accessories loadout is easily the best in the whole Ch’od Series. There’s lots of fun posing options, and he pairs well with many characters both classic and modern that Hasbro has released. He’s not as revolutionary as that Spiral Retro figure I reviewed in the winter, but this ML Corsair figure earns top marks nonetheless. Let’s hope Hasbro fast tracks Raza and Hepzibah now to complete the Starjammers.