FLOSI
Nerf Herder
Summer 2013 was a pretty big disappointment for me in terms of movie blockbusters. Man of Steel, Pacific Rim and Iron Man 3 were all big letdowns in my book. On the other hand, The Wolverine was a lone saving grace. Maybe it was the nostalgia of seeing the Chris Claremont/Frank Miller influenced story up on the big screen? That alone was a dream come true for any Marvelite. I can tell you think much, I walked out of the theater one satisfied fan-boy. Lots of action, lots of fighting, lots of Wolverine equals a big win.
So far Hot Toys has given the X-Franchise very little love outside of the Mutant Canuck, so it wasn’t too big of a shock when Wolverine from The Wolverine was announced. Having skipped the Last Stand release, hate that lame costume, I was really excited to add The Wolverine version of Logan to my shelf alongside the Origins figure. Would this release stand up to the much counterfeited grail from a few years ago??? Well, let’s find out.
Initial Reaction:
Standard shoebox style packaging has become commonplace with Hot Toys Marvel releases, and this is no different. Wolverine comes dressed in his black funeral duds while the inside lid contains a second outfit from the film’s final scenes. Two sets of claws, Adamantium and bone, along with an assortment of normal hands and a samurai sword round out the set.
What FLOSI digs:
Let’s face it, most of what makes this figure cool has been seen before with Hot Toys previous Wolverine releases. The Origins version contained a newly created body, of which we have now seen many, many times as a part of subsequent releases. That doesn’t make it bad at all, they just stuck with what works. Now, if there’s one item/accessory that’s new and exciting it’s Wolverine’s bone claws! These things are gnarly. Hot Toys did an excellent job with the paints on these as they look as if they hopped right off the screen! For those who have bought all three Hot Toys Wolverine figures you have the ability to display three very different looks now: X-Men uni, plain clothes and now his very cool bone claws as well.
No Bueno!!!!:
The upper body has FIVE layers of clothing right out of the box. FIVE….
1. A thin undershirt to prevent the body from taking on any black from the clothing.
2. His white tank top.
3. Black button up shirt.
4. Black sport coat.
5. Overcoat.
That’s a hell of a lot of material stacked on top of the already bulky muscle body. So much, in fact, that I couldn’t even get the arms to lay straight down. Instead I was left with something that reminded me of Randy from a Christmas Story. As much as this bugged me the fix was pretty straight forward: Take off some layers!!
There’s no need for the tank top under everything else, so that was first to go. Second was the overcoat, though were I to want to display him with the overcoat I would lose the sport coat. You just inhibit his range of motion otherwise, and that gives you less dramatic posing options.
One last item that has been repeated ad nauseam around these parts is the sloppy, or simply overdone, facial hair paint work. For those of you who have seen the head sculpt repainted sans mustache it’s obvious that the Huge Jackman likeness comes though far more strongly. I don’t think this is a deal breaker in anyway, but it does tend to make a big difference overall.
Overall:
So, should you buy this figure?? For a true Wolverine fan it’s a no brainer, so I say yes. You get two unique looks that both look great on display. The overall price seems a bit steep to me but some value can be added should you buy a few extra parts, body and head, to bash an entire second figure. While this figure falls short of the Origins release it does come pretty close, so those who are looking to pick up their first Wolverine should be very happy with this.
Thanks for reading!
So far Hot Toys has given the X-Franchise very little love outside of the Mutant Canuck, so it wasn’t too big of a shock when Wolverine from The Wolverine was announced. Having skipped the Last Stand release, hate that lame costume, I was really excited to add The Wolverine version of Logan to my shelf alongside the Origins figure. Would this release stand up to the much counterfeited grail from a few years ago??? Well, let’s find out.
Initial Reaction:
Standard shoebox style packaging has become commonplace with Hot Toys Marvel releases, and this is no different. Wolverine comes dressed in his black funeral duds while the inside lid contains a second outfit from the film’s final scenes. Two sets of claws, Adamantium and bone, along with an assortment of normal hands and a samurai sword round out the set.
What FLOSI digs:
Let’s face it, most of what makes this figure cool has been seen before with Hot Toys previous Wolverine releases. The Origins version contained a newly created body, of which we have now seen many, many times as a part of subsequent releases. That doesn’t make it bad at all, they just stuck with what works. Now, if there’s one item/accessory that’s new and exciting it’s Wolverine’s bone claws! These things are gnarly. Hot Toys did an excellent job with the paints on these as they look as if they hopped right off the screen! For those who have bought all three Hot Toys Wolverine figures you have the ability to display three very different looks now: X-Men uni, plain clothes and now his very cool bone claws as well.
No Bueno!!!!:
The upper body has FIVE layers of clothing right out of the box. FIVE….
1. A thin undershirt to prevent the body from taking on any black from the clothing.
2. His white tank top.
3. Black button up shirt.
4. Black sport coat.
5. Overcoat.
That’s a hell of a lot of material stacked on top of the already bulky muscle body. So much, in fact, that I couldn’t even get the arms to lay straight down. Instead I was left with something that reminded me of Randy from a Christmas Story. As much as this bugged me the fix was pretty straight forward: Take off some layers!!
There’s no need for the tank top under everything else, so that was first to go. Second was the overcoat, though were I to want to display him with the overcoat I would lose the sport coat. You just inhibit his range of motion otherwise, and that gives you less dramatic posing options.
One last item that has been repeated ad nauseam around these parts is the sloppy, or simply overdone, facial hair paint work. For those of you who have seen the head sculpt repainted sans mustache it’s obvious that the Huge Jackman likeness comes though far more strongly. I don’t think this is a deal breaker in anyway, but it does tend to make a big difference overall.
Overall:
So, should you buy this figure?? For a true Wolverine fan it’s a no brainer, so I say yes. You get two unique looks that both look great on display. The overall price seems a bit steep to me but some value can be added should you buy a few extra parts, body and head, to bash an entire second figure. While this figure falls short of the Origins release it does come pretty close, so those who are looking to pick up their first Wolverine should be very happy with this.
Thanks for reading!
