I always liked the late-80s era costumes for the original five X-Men when they were known as X-Factor. While the black-and-yellow 1963 costumes evoked the radiation symbol, I liked the big “X” costumes with the unique color palettes. Marvel Girl/Jean Grey’s red-and-yellow that evoked the Dark Phoenix costume always felt particularly striking.
Using a Carol Danvers figure from the Marvel Legends Retro 3.75” line — because the mask was already sculpted on — I made myself an 80s Jean. I used electrical tape that I folded over in half, and wrapped around and superglued in place for the glove and boot cuffs.
Both red and yellow paints are pretty tough to work with, as science hasn’t found a great way to make those pigments work since lead paint was outlawed. So there’s some slop on here, but whatever. I’m not trying to sell this toy, it’s just gonna stand on a shelf with some of my other toys.
I included a trading card from 1991 below to use as an example of Arthur Adams’ interpretation of this costume. I dunno why his glove cuffs are where they are, but the rest of the art is cool. I definitely tried to match the coloring on the hair with my figure.
Marvel Girl, Jean Grey, X-Men, X-Factor, and all related characters and concepts are owned by Marvel Comics.