I stole the idea for this team from Marvelous Minimates over on Instagram. The versatility of Minimates lends themselves to a ton of quick customs that simply require part swapping to create entirely new characters. I love Minimates most for this reason. Polaris uses a She Hulk hairpiece with a Polaris head. The bodies are from the New Mutants. I want to build a comprehensive X-Men team with custom Marvel Legends but I think Minimates is definitely the more cost effective way to make that happen.

Dark Phoenix is similar to the Phoenix custom, I hated her hair. The paint effect on her face gives her an evil enough look, she didn't need exorcist hair so I gave her a new X-Men Jean Grey hair and a Rachel Phoenix base to make her look more comic accurate.

Phoenix was released before Diamond Select Toys started going accessory crazy. Over the past 5 years they've really packed in the accessories to increase the display possiblities of each mate. Phoenix was released with one of my least favorite female hairpieces. It didn't make her hair appear long enough so I switched it out with the New X-Men Jean a grey hair piece. It's the original hairpiece that all of the first released females in the line used but really gives her a classic look, in my opinion. I used a variant Rachel Summers Phoenix for the Phoenix Fire base to complete the look. I'd prefer the yellow version over the gold accents but this was the first release and it's not worth the extra money for the upgrade.

Face Customs' 1st appearance Psylocke started me on a mission to have a representation of all of the incarnations of the X-Men from the Cockrum era thru the Jim Lee era. Nightcrawler is a character who's costume has remained the same throughout the years. He has moved from team to team a couple of times through the years. I want to represent him with the Cockrum team since that is where he first appeared, but he is a founding member of Excalibur as well. Since his figure is too expensive to just run to eBay and pick up another I decided to use a laminated print out of his BAMF effect to represent him in multiple displays. This is not a figure technically but it gives the appearance that one was in the display until he teleported away so we're going with it. What I like about the effect is that it works with Minimates, Super Hero Squad, Marvel Universe, Marvel Legends & Toy Biz 5 inch scales without looking out of place. I don't have the Marvel Select Nightcrawler although I'm sure it would work with him as well. Even when I don't need a stand in Nightcrawler, I wrap his tail around the effect to display it with him as though he just teleported in.

This figure is one that I admired by the great TitanTrap Customs for a while. He recently posted a new one for sale and I jumped on it. After Yvonne Craig, a Lynda Carter action figure was high on my wish list. Although the likeness isn't too close, the costume makes this figure instantly identifiable. I would love to find a motorcycle helmet for her to easily create the motorcycle look. She fits in well with my Batman 66 collection.

Rachel is another quick custom, she uses Nova's chest and crotch. She needs a Phoenix on her chest to be accurate but I'm terrible with graphic design so she stays like this.

I was so excited when Toy Biz announced Phoenix for the 5 inch Marvel line. That excitement died when she was released. They decided her power feature should be a light up forehead with translucent hair and eyes. That didn't do so I repainted her to make her accurate.

Dazzler was an easy repaint for Toy Biz to do but never did. She was released in her Disco Dazzler outfit in the Puzzle Zoo She Force line but never in her current for the time blue unitard. The Strike Force Jean Grey figure is the base a great many customizers have used before me that inspired this one.

Disco Dazzler. I was nearly killed over this custom I added glitter to her boots and wrists, I also added her necklace. . An old friend gave me her rolling skating Smurfette from her childhood collection and I cut the skates off the make this figure. She wanted my head for it.

But they fit so perfectly and completed the figure better than this ridiculous Jubilee roller blades.

Outback Psylocke, the incarnation that made me fall in love with the character. The Outback X-Men is my favorite era of the team and she is my favorite Marvel character. I've had this custom sitting unfinished for decades. I can sculpt a suitable hood and anything I've found just floats on her head and looks odd. I'm very happy with every other aspect of the figure. The metallic finish really makes her. Just have to get the right hood. I've tried dozens, this is the best of the worst.