Eaglemoss CMF X-23 review

This will be my first non-Wolverine review and also my first CMF review.

looks good even inside the box.

The CMF collection made by Eaglemoss is a small figurine that's painted/cast with lead, which makes it dangerous gor anyone who still likes to put everything they touch into their mouths. It's around $14 each and it's around 3 inches. this is called by a friend of mine as a rich man's PVC or the poor man's Statue. The Marvel line's already up to around 160 i think, X-23 being #117. This thing comes with a book that kinda gets you up to speed with what's currently happening with the character. As always, i don't intend to collect every single one of these things..just the following..

- #002 Wolverine (my lcs has this but it's $20.00 already since this was ordered online instead of diamond)
- #035 Gambit (maybe? always thinking bout starting Gambit but never really pushed through with it)
that's pretty much it, unless of course they release x-force versions of the other characters. What's nice about this line is it really has a very wide range, as far as i know only Spider-Man has been released more than once and very rarely does a variant come along. What i don't like bout this is the sloppy paint apps, i know it's in three inch but they can do better. Remember the Bandai Wolverine figure i reviewed a while back? Now that one has real nice paint apps. This figure i have was pretty much the best painted of the four that was available.

Part One: THE MAGAZINE
Basically, the main part of the magazine called "Histoty of a...TEST TUBE TERROR!" sumarizes X-23's short history in the Marvel universe, this is a good read for those who haven't read comics with X-23 for a while or for those who only know her from her current X-Force role. There's also this nice part on the bottom wherein they show certain key issues for X-23 such as her first appearance and her first encounter with the X-Men but since her history is short, it felt like some of the issues were being pushed such as "first encounter with Wolverine retold." and "X-23 aquires Legacy virus, tries to kill herself". The middle part of the magazine named "Artistic Lisence" (which is probably the generic name for the entire line) shows different artist sketches of the character, nothing special here as most of these made the different comic books anyway, no rejected idea for her looks. 3rd part is entitled "Daddy's Girl" is a more in depth summary of how she was created and raised and then there's a basic comparison between him and Wolverine, her genetic progenitor (new word for me). "Department X..." then deals with her life together with Wolverine and the rest of the X-Men, now this is the part that gave me a lot of new knowledge since i only read about X-23 in X-Force then read scans of X-23 and X-23: Target X. I never had a lot of knowledge about her earlier X-Men days until the start of Messiah Complex other than those that are still talked about until now. Tidbits about how she attacked Bishop after a heated training session with Wolverine was nice to know. The only problem is that it felt like almost all the storylines she was in was written here in order to have more to talk about. "To Clone a Legend.." for me is the best part of the book, it talks about how she was conceptualized by Craig Kyle and Cristopher Yost and how she has grown as a character.

Overall, the book's a good read that would add a lot of knowledge to the casual fan of X-23 and might even get them interested in her, though if you already know a lot about X-23 this wouldn't really add anything. My only problem with this book is that the summary of her story ends in X-Force #19, the issue wherein Kimura cuts of her arm. They end the summary with X-23 having no arm, so that means someone who doesn't read X-Force and any X-book for that matter would think that she's actually handicapped right now (she regrew her arm and reattached the adamantium). Other than that, i good read that's actually nice to have as a freebie (or is the figurine the freebie?).

THE FIGURINE:

nicely simple pose.

Sculpt:

I have no problem at all with the sculpt of this thing, it's not really very detailed but you can see that it's not that bad either. There are some nice details such as the lines on her top, the pendant she's wearing but the best part is the detail on her boots, with the straps and everything. As for the pose of the figurine, I'd imagine that X-23 would actually stand up like this. She's they type of person who wouldn't walk like THIS or pose like THIS. Yes Sideshow, i don't like those poses, do it better next time. She would never do that unless her mission is to be a catwalk model or to seduce someone. Some might say that the pose is pretty plain but it's the only way i can actually see her standing up, ready to fight but not in an action pose kinda way since it won't be uniformed with the others. This is actually the only problem i have with the sculpt:

stupid insects getting in the shot.

The claw is bent. I know it's probably not a problem with all the figures but still, they could've taken better care of it. I know it's not going to be straightened with the hot-cold method and i sure as hell won't try to bend it. If that thing breaks i'm throwing $14 out the window. Other than that the figure is pretty good.

who's a good photographer? not me.

PAINT:
This is the part where i have issues with the figure, it's a bit too sloppy and this one's already the best one of the lot. I know this is a 3 inch statue but they could still have done better. This is probably machine painted instead of hand painted that's why it's a bit sloppy. Good thing though the slops are very minimal, almost non detectable unless you actually try to examine it. It's pretty much acceptable othher than one big out of place paint.

this one.

There's black paint where there's no black paint near that part at all. Other than that it's pretty good other than that tiny speck of flesh you can see on the glove. you could see in the pictures below that the black spot is very disturbing once you take note of it.

Other than that, there's not really anything else wrong other than the usual smudging of the colors. It's a good thing i got one that has pretty good paint apps, you can actually see that the eyes look straight instead of being lazy eyed. some figurines that were brought to the comic book shop actually had half an eyebrow missing, unpainted eyes, etc. Knowing that, having that little smudge doesn't seem that bad now, does it?

I believe this was worth the money i shelled out. It's a nice addition to my growing X-23 collection. I think that if you're a character themed collector, you wouldn't go wrong with getting one, just be careful about the paint apps. It's better if you buy this in person instead of online since you have to be real picky about the paint apps, though if you're talented you can actually repaint it yourself. I actually thought about repainting it into the X-Force version since it's actually the most current uniform and it's the one she's wearing at the current age they're portraying her as. If i get a chance to buy X-23 for around P400 ($8), i would definately consider repainting whichever has the worse paint apps into the X-Force version.