Stryfe

Stryfe, the Chaos Bringer, is the evil clone of the popular character known as Cable, and one of his deadliest enemies. I knew that creating Stryfe would be a challenge, but he is such an important villain, and so visually striking, that I thought I would give it a try, and make him my third Eaglemoss custom figurine.

As a baby, Cable was sent into the far future by his parents (Cyclops and a clone of Jean Grey--it's a long story) in the hopes of halting the techno-organic virus ravaging his body (another long story). As a precaution, baby Cable was cloned. This clone was kidnapped by the godlike, tyrannical mutant Apocalypse, who named him Stryfe and raised him as a successor until ultimately rejecting him as unworthy. Thus the adult Stryfe harbored a great many grudges, and traveled back in time to gain revenge not only against Cyclops and his fellow X-Men, but Cable and Apocalypse as well.

Like many of Rob Liefeld's creations from the early 1990s, Stryfe sizzled on the page with an exciting and unforgettable look, but was given very little personality or character depth at first. His backstory would only be revealed later, in the X-Cutioner's Song saga of 1992 (which culminated in a titanic battle with Cable on the moon) and the subsequent standalone Cable series. Revenge on his extended "family" remains Stryfe's primary motivation to this day. Stryfe possesses all the same powers as his “brother” Cable, including telepathy and omega-level telekinesis, and is powerful enough to take on Apocalypse.

....and again.

Stryfe battles Cable...

....again...

Over the years, Stryfe would die and return many times, often with no explanation at all. (He is, after all, a time traveller--some of his recorded deaths may in fact be future or alternate versions of himself.) Stryfe's popularity cooled in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but he returned in a big way as the primary antagonist in 2009's excellent "Messiah War" and 2014's "Vendetta" crossovers, which re-established him as one of the X-universe's greatest and most powerful threats.

Stryfe flexes his muscles and wrecks the entire X-Force team during the "Messiah War."

Liefeld’s original design featured an unwieldy thicket of spikes and armor plates that often varied haphazardly from one panel to the next. Subsequent artists tended to make his armor more streamlined and “realistic,” but despite its implausibility, I wanted my figure to resemble Liefeld’s original design for Stryfe, with the giant silver-winged helmet, a full complement of spikes, and a blood red cape.

Choosing a base figurine is always a fun process. In this case, I wanted a powerful- looking figurine with a flowing cape in a suitably villainous pose. The Parallax figurine (from the DC Blackest Night collection) was perfect—with his cape whipping behind him, his arms flexing to the sides, his fingers curled and seething with energy, it was easy to imagine him as Stryfe summoning a telekinetic storm. However, I didn’t like Parallax’s maniacal, Joker-esque grin (even though Stryfe does appear like that sometimes so it could have worked). I preferred him to be enraged and shouting with a desperate, unfulfilled lust for revenge, ready to tear down the gates of hell itself (literally, in one story arc) to wreak chaos upon his enemies. Since I had to buy a Marvel base anyway, I obtained a Wrecker figurine whose open-mouthed roar better matched my idea of Stryfe, and replaced both Parallax’s head and base.

Stryfe was much more difficult to sculpt than my previous two figurines. I had to remove Parallax’s cape before beginning, in order to paint it thoroughly and to sculpt the armor underneath properly. But this meant there were multiple pieces in various stages of completion for most of the process, which had to be dealt with separately and then recombined at the end, like a jigsaw puzzle. Building up the spikes and armor in Milliput was often tricky too, because if I didn’t let one spike completely dry I would invariably bump into it while working on another. The huge helmet wings had to be made separately and allowed to dry before affixing them with glue or Milliput. Then every single component, however small had to be sanded diligently before proceeding, because of the physical overlapping of various parts. One unexpected advantage of the Parallax figure, however, was that he already had the same horizontal striations on his arms and thighs that Stryfe does.

The last pieces I added were the big shoulder spikes and the rivets on his chest. After more sanding and a final application of paint where needed, I glued him onto the Marvel base, and Stryfe was now ready to bring chaos to my Eaglemoss collection.

For the Eaglemoss-style cover, I used artwork from X-Force #14 (Jun 2009) by the incomparable Clayton Crain. Stryfe's distinctive logotype was used frequently in the 1990s, such as on the cover of Cable #63 (Jan. 1999).

* ESSENTIAL READING *

1. Uncanny X-Men #296 (Jan. 1993). During the X-Cutioner’s Song saga, Stryfe torments his alleged parents, Cyclops and Jean Grey, in his futuristic base on the moon.

2. X-Force #74 (Feb. 1998). Trapped in Blackheart’s Hell, Stryfe battles the newly-deceased Warpath for a chance at resurrection. Warpath’s allies arrive to help him defeat the villain.

3. X-Force #14 (Jun. 2009). In a thrilling battle on the scorched Earth of the year 2973, Stryfe decimates Cable and the new X-Force team, and abducts the mutant Messiah, Hope Summers.

See you next time... yes, YOU

Next up: The Southwest's greatest hero, Texas Twister!