Action Figure Review: Wolverine from Marvel Legends Retro Collection: X-Men by Hasbro

 

   I love Wolverine and as soon as I saw this figure I knew I'd end up with him. For one, I'm a fan of the character so it's pretty easy to sell me a new Wolverine figure. I also thought he'd mesh nicely with the rest of the X-Men released this year in these matching outfits. Lastly, I remember wanting this version of Logan as a kid but not getting him. I had a few other Wolverines from Toy Biz (brown suit, talking, Weapon X, yellow tiger stripe suit, and the v5/ spy suit figure) but I liked that this one has the standard X-Men suit. I remember in third grade we had an assignment where we were supposed to draw a picture of something we wanted to find in our stocking and I drew a Wolverine that was kind of a mixture of this suit (Toy Biz called it v3) and the yellow tiger stripe suit (which was v2). That's really neither here nor there but it does make me realize why I was so excited to get this guy. Let's take a look at this version of Wolverine from the Marvel Legends Retro Collection after the break...

The Facts:

Height: 5 3/4ths inches

Articulation: Swivel/hinge ankles, calves swivels, double hinged knees, swivel thighs, ball-jointed hips, waist swivel, mid-torso hinge, swivel/hinge shoulders w/ lateral "butterfly" pecs, swivel biceps, double-hinged elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, hinged neck, and a ball jointed head.

Accessories: 4 swappable hands, 2 portraits, and 6 claws.

Non-Scalper Price: $25

The Positives:

* Wolverine is wearing one of the matching yellow and blue team suits from the cover of The Uncanny X-Men #275 where he and the rest of the team are accompanied by the Warlord. Think we'll get Warlord soon? While Wolverine looks similar to everyone else, Hasbro has stuck with keeping his short height, so Wolverine is only 5 3/4ths inches. He looks great alongside the rest of the team and matches up fairly well with most previous Wolverine figures. The suit has sculpted leg bands, gloves and boots, and the X-logo belt is a separate piece (though it's not removable). 

* Wolverine comes with two swappable heads which is just fantastic. He's a very expressive character and it's always nice to have some options for him. First up is a rather calm head, like he's just chilling out. It's an excellent sculpt with a lot of character and great face printed detail. 

* Wolverine's hair is fantastic on both sculpts. It really flares back dramatically and just looks sharp. He's got some serious sideburns, too. 

* Here's Logan's second portrait and this time he's pissed. Want your Wolverine to go into a berserker rage? This is the headsculpt for you! Too bad we can't get a cigar chomping head for Logan.

* Wolverine has his claws and they look great. They're separate pieces that can be removed from his fists, allowing you to have him unclawed or to swap out 3rd party claws like the Can of Beams claws. I have a set and those are great!

* Since you can remove individual claws you can have Wolverine do that thing he often does where he puts his outer claws around someone's neck or head and threatens them with the third. Or, when he's feeling really cheeky, you can have Wolvie flip the bad guys a most un-Canadian gesture. Not at all polite, bub!

* Wolverine also comes with a standard pair of fists with his claws retracted, so you can just swap them out with his clawed hands rather than having to remove the claws every time. 

* Wolverine has a great build. He's got the pinless arms and legs and smooth articulation, so posing him is a pleasure. Of course, combining his brooding, feral demeanor and his claws in with his excellent articulation, especially those "butterfly" joints, makes him lots of fun to pose and fool around with. 

   Yeah, it's another Wolverine figure, but this Wolverine is probably one of my favorite Marvel Legends releases of the year. He just looks so darn good in this costume, doesn't he? Getting two portraits with the figure is also very welcome. The only thing I'd really like to see is the bizarre black laser pistol the Toy Biz figure came with. It was such an interesting extra and there was something cool about Wolverine with a blaster (I had the blaster because the Wolverine v2 had one as well). Otherwise, this is a Great and a 1/2 figure and a necessity for the full Strike Team set.





I'm actually pretty surprised that the only other Wolverine figure I've reviewed is the Marvel Legends Series Wolverine from the Juggernaut series.

For more Marvel Legends Retro Collection reviews check out the following:

Marvel Legends Retro Collection by Hasbro

Loki

Scarlet Witch

The Vision (West Coast Avengers)

Marvel Legends Retro Collection: Fantastic Four by Hasbro

Psycho-Man

 

Marvel Legends Retro Collection: Spider-Man by Hasbro

Hobgoblin
Lizard
Rhino

Shocker

Symbiote Spider-Man

Marvel Legends Retro Collection: X-Men by Hasbro
Apocalypse
Avalanche
Dark Phoenix
Gambit
Longshot
Spiral