WOLVERINE JEEP

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“Whether he’s on a top-secret mission with his fellow X-Men or off on his own tacking one of his many adversaries, Wolverine needs a powerful rig to cover any terrain he might encounter! Thus, the creation of this custom-made jeep, designed to operate under the harshest conditions—just about the only conditions Wolverine ever finds himself in!”

In the ’90s, when action figure buying was at a definite high, figures didn’t just function on their own.  Oh, no, they also got stuff to accent.  There were playsets.  There were vehicles.  Oh, how we sang the songs of…something.  Look, it was a different time.  There was a Jeep in every toy line.  Or a Jeep in multiple toy lines, at the very least.  Most importantly (to me, anyway), there was a Jeep in the X-Men line.  And, you know what, I’m gonna look at that today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Wolverine Jeep was added to Toy Biz’s X-Men line in 1995, alongside a similarly scaled Mini-Blackbird vehicle.  For the initial release, it was officially titled “Wolverine Jeep” and sold sans-figure.  It saw three re-releases, all of which changed it to “Wolverine 4×4” (presumably having something to do with Jeep not approving the use of their name), and added a 5-inch Wolverine figure to the mix.  The vehicle measures about 9 inches long by 4 1/2 inches tall by 4 inches wide, and it’s scaled to Toy Biz’s 5-inch line, at least at the earlier end of things.  While Wolverine had driven a number of actual Jeeps in the comics and the cartoon, this particular item wasn’t specifically based on any of them, instead crafting something that is vaguely Jeep like, while also kind of being more toyetic, I suppose.  The later descriptor of 4×4 is honestly a more accurate one, which may have added to the push to re-name it.  The sculpting for this thing was all-new in ’95, but of course it would get the three aforementioned re-releases, and was even repainted for Toy Biz’s Spider-Man line as well.  It’s a pretty decent little set-up.  There’s seating for two standard-sized figures, and even some space for storage in the back, if you wanted to throw some accessories or something back there.  The wheels all can spin just fine, and you can even put the windshield down if you so choose.  In its default configuration, it’s just a pretty sensible car.  But it’s also got an action mode, because it was for a toy line.  All four wheels get adamantium claws that pull out, and pressing the steering wheel pops open the hood of the car, revealing a rotating grinder.  For grinding purposes, I guess?  The box shows Sabretooth getting thrown in there, which feels like it would be pretty messy, but he’s also Sabretooth, so he can probably handle it.  Paint work on this thing is at a minimum; there’s a little bit of base work for the blue and black detailing on the main body, but it’s otherwise just down to decals.  They work pretty well, and I especially like the printing for the headlights.  The Jeep was packed a gripping claw piece that mounts on the back, as well as a missile launcher….which launches a claw missile.  Say, do you suppose they really wanted to theme this thing around claws?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

In 1995, I was only just discovering my love of Jeeps, so I didn’t jump on this one the way you might assume.  I was more invested in the Blackbird, I suppose.  It was actually a good long while before I got this one.  I snagged it from a store in my family’s usual vacationing spot, back in the fall of 2019.  It was still sealed, and it was pretty cheap, so it’s kind of hard to pass-up that sort of thing.  It’s a fun, if perhaps gimmicky, little vehicle.  Now, I just have to find all the variants on it, I suppose.