This finishes off the “squad leader” batches, with the inclusion of Mystique, who is a fantastic addition to Brotherhood. Where to start with Mystique and Beast? While I really like both of these characters individually in the comics, like a lot, and while I liked their portrayal in earlier movies, I feel like they were mishandled in recent movies, especially when they were shoehorned into being a romantic pairing. Very iconic characters, though, and characters I definitely wanted to have on my squads since I love 90’s Beast, and since Mystique has some fantastic leadership and Team Tactics abilities to flex in-game.

With Beast, I might have gotten a little bit lazy on the painting, but I’m still decently happy with the results. I used a lot of the Vallejo Air Blue color as a sort of glaze and wash after doing drybrushing all over the body and hair to bring out details, which has been a pretty staple approach for me in doing deep blue colors in the past. I applied an extra layer of it over the shorts to separate that from the “fur” tone, but I think in the future I’ll have to get a little more creative with extreme highlights on things that are…well, blue. But I love this sculpt, and I love the glasses and the little book that he has.

Mystique is also a great model – my only complaint with her is that compared to the other X-Men and Brotherhood models she seems like she’s a little on the short side. That aside, though, she has some great detail on her, which…I probably covered and caked over with my somewhat blotchy paint job in an effort to bring out the fabric texture and the white tones. Still pretty happy with the results on her all the same.

Overall, I really liked this kit, though I kind of wish Beast had basing that was a little more inventive and Mystique was just a little taller. I would seriously shell out, though, if they ever made an Xavier’s School basing kit since…if I’m being real, the school gets wrecked like every dozen issues or so of the old comics anyways. These are another couple of models I definitely look forward to running on the tabletop.