This makes a change. Hasbro‘s helmet prop replicas have recently seemed like an infinite flow of variant paint jobs for Star Wars X-Wing Pilot and Mandalorian helmets. The Marvel Studios department, however, has been more selective. Sure, they’ve done their share of Iron Man-style helmets, and probably have several more Spider-Men in the works. But they also like to make new things, and this may be a first — a realistic “prop” representing an animated series. It’s the Magneto Helmet from X-Men ’97.
The Dream of the ’90s
Just to be clear, this helmet specifically comes from the soon-to-debut new animated series, Marvel Studios’ X-Men ’97. That’s not the same as Fox Kids’ X-Men cartoon from 1997, but it is a direct sequel to it. Presumably, the two shows will stay similar enough in aesthetic that we’ll have a distinction without a difference. Regardless, anyone wanting a cool, wearable Magneto helmet can now have one. For a mere $99.99.
Unlike other prop and helmet replicas by Hasbro, this does not appear to include lights or sounds. It’s not like Magneto’s known for that anyway. His powers get visualized in comics because the artist has to draw something, but mostly, he controls magnetic forces that would be naturally invisible to the human eye. In the movies, a similar helmet makes him immune to mind-reading from Professor X, which nobody claims this collectible will do. But since Professor X isn’t real, you can always say it does and nobody can prove otherwise.
The helmet does include a stand for display, when you prefer not to wear it, or have to take it off for such mundane, non-mutant tasks as sleeping. But who’s going to sleep when the new X-Men cartoons all drop? The helmet’s due in September; X-Men ’97 at some to-be-determined date later this year. Time it right and you can look like the coolest mutant separatist leader on the tube. Barring the ones we don’t yet know about, of course.
Take a look at a few more images below:
