Freedom Reborn

Next we'll look at Jean Grey's 90s costume:
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y246/podmark/JeanGrey_JimLee_Rating_zpsz7tlfwbx.jpg~original)

Again, I know I'm going against the grain here, but I hate hate HATE this design for Jean. It is by far my least favorite of ANY of the Jim Lee designs. I hate the stupid pouches and extra bits on her legs and arms, I hate the weird wristbands, I hate the headdress, I hate the color scheme (which is just a lazy inverted version of the original X-men costume), and I hate the lack of actual gloves.

Call me a purist, but I really dislike Jean in any design that doesn't feature Green as the primary color. Her post-graduation Marvel Girl costume was green, the "good" Phoenix costume was green, her X-factor costume was Green... Like, as much as I'm not a huge fan of Jim's Cyclops design, I will concede that it is instantly recogniseable as Cyclops. But if you removed the "X" on the outfit and paired this design against ANY of Jean's other costumes and ask someone not familiar with the comics whether they were the same person, aside from hair color I sincerely doubt they could tell who she was. Even the 90s cartoon used this costume the least of any of the Jim Lee designs.

It's hard to believe that you're actually going against the grain by saying you hate the costume... I'm looking at it and I can't find a single thing I like about it.

Nostalgia is a powerful thing. For a good chunk of fans, this is the first jean grey design they were introduced to... and as someone who collects figures, this one shows up requested in pretty much every figure line ever (it even beat classic Phoenix to the Marvel Universe line). Personally, I'm a sucker for the Phoenix costume.

The Phoenix costumes were both good, and I kinda liked the X-Factor costume. I grew up with the original costume and its' variations, and the green dress (which I never though was a practical super hero costume).

This one falls into the "meh" for me because she's had so many better ones.  There are things that work like the overall color breakdown, and stuff that doesn't like those thigh padding/pouch things and arm pouch, and a few that work or don't work depending on who's drawing it, like the head sock and the shoulder pads. 

This is literally the only Jean Grey costume I am willing to accept.

HATE with the fire of a thousand suns, and will never accept this as a legitimate Jean Grey costume.

I'd heard people dislike this costume, which I found surprising. For me it's a solid Like.
The pouches don't bother me, I actually find they add some visual interest to the legs. There might be some nostalgia, but I like it.

Personally, I chose Like for a couple of reasons. Nostalgia for one, and in my opinion, I think the reason why she went for the design/color scheme was to reconnect to her roots per say. I think she wanted to distance herself from the Phoenix persona, hence the chance in colors, going more towards the traditional X-Men uniforms of old, yet a style all her own. Almost as if she was trying to remake herself into the Marvel Girl of old. A reboot/restart if you will. Yes, I know that the Phoenix wasn't really Jean, but perhaps, in her mind, it was, or a part of it was. But that is just my take on things. Personally, I liked the design.  :)