I certainly did not expect that line. Well played you-know-who-you-are.
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So I discovered something cool during a recent rewatch of X-Men which I didn't manage to catch previously.
Based on opinions I've heard from other fans, I think I'm not the only one to overlook it.
So, here on this (24th) anniversary of when X-Men premiered on Ellis Island (a perfect day for revisiting it), I'm sharing this cool little discovery:
From the start, their uniforms are not simply black leather.
Now, I've heard others cite The Last Stand as when the uniforms became more individual, and I was under the impression it was X2 (as just evidenced by this promo shot):
You can mostly see it in the (X)'s with Jean's red, Wolverine's yellow, and just visible Cyclops' and Storm's blue and white respectively. Also just discernable is the "piping" of Storm's uniform likewise being white, and Wolverine's brown. Presumably the others follow suit (e.g. Cyclops' piping being blue) though it doesn't display in this lighting.
It largely depends on the lighting, which is how I think I failed to see it earlier. When I did I happened to be sitting up close to my high def. television while watching X-Men from DVD. Though afterward (knowing when to look for it) I was able to notice it just as well playing the DVD on my laptop via VLC Player. From which I gathered the following shots for the evidentiary value of it all. You'll probably still wanna' turn up your screen brightness and look closely as it's hardly ever obvious; mostly subtle (and I think best viewed while actually watching instead of in screenshot).
Anyway, we'll begin with X-Man # 1, Cyke:
Most of his piping is blue, though you can make out gold/yellow on the cross sections of
the "X" on his chest, which brings to my mind the Jim Lee Cyclops aesthetic. Nice touch.
Glove/arm and collar example:
Unplanned, all of the expressions in these shots are perfect for the topic of trying to see scarcely visible details.
Next up, Wolverine, who (true to movie form) I think is the most noticeable, so I grabbed just one quick example shot:
His (X)'s -and if memory serves, other bits- are gold, where as the piping is brown, referencing the John Byrne costume style. I also only have incidental shots of Storm, as here, because hers is actually the most-most noticeable and I didn't feel it needed to be pointed out. Even out of focus in background you can clearly see the white or silver detailing on her collar.
Jean was the trickiest. At first, going by the jet scenes, I thought hers was the same as Storm's and they were being lame making the ladies' outfits identically coloured (I shoulda' known!) then was excited to catch the difference later:
Green!
You detail sticklers may've just caught the double-cool fact that Jean's colour scheme changes between X-Men and X2 from green to red, reminiscent of her costume change
in the comics between Phoenix and Dark Phoenix (even though here she hasn't yet
reached Phoenix level, and in X2 isn't yet Dark Phoenix).
You probably also caught how all these shots are from the end of the movie when the team gathers in the head of the Statue of Liberty, including this final, semi-3-shot:
You can just make out the individual colours of the (X)'s.
It's that point in the film where I found the colouration most noticeable. Though there is a neat earlier example (I neglected to grab -I mean, I'll leave you to see
for yourself) when Wolverine breaks away from his medical examination, pausing in front
of several glassed-in suits.
There are three male and three female ones, and interestingly one of the male ones also appears to have a green scheme (Cyke and Jean could match! Ha ha).
In a deleted scene set before the jet, Cyclops gives the order for Wolverine to put a uniform on, and we get the exchange: "Who's is it?" "It's one of mine." Meaning the brown and gold one we see Wolverine sporting is one Cyclops has worn or at least had as an alternate
(not sure how that fit works between them, but there we are).
Just a cool aside that the X-Men not only have individuality across their stealth leather uniforms, but presumably each one of them has variety as well.
Now, the uniforms did get a redesign in X2, with less piping/a different piping arrangement. This promo shot of Cyke, to my eye, does proves the blue and gold/yellow colour scheme is still in place; just visible above the "X" across his chest:
Though I can't recall if the colour schemes (outside of Storm) are ever much visible in the actual movie, besides Jean's red which I do think stood out to me (though perhaps not before I spent time incidentally looking over it while making my fan video).
I guess I'll have to rewatch X2 to get the definitive on that. .
. .*sigh* the tasks one must do. 😎
Later, X-Fans!
(Enjoy your "Ellis Island X-Men Day"😉)
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