WOLVERINE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“A broken and shame-fueled Logan reluctantly joins Deadpool’s side to fight for their survival — and a shot at redemption”

I discussed Deadpool & Wolverine very briefly when I reviewed the Legacy release Colossus, but didn’t really get into the whole film proper.  In general, my experience with the Deadpool movies was one that improved as they went along, going from not personally caring for the first film to being thoroughly entertained by the third.  In particular, the return of Hugh Jackman to the role of Wolverine after his departure in Logan was something I really enjoyed, especially since it was accompanied by him finally getting to wear the “yellow spandex” we were teased with 24 years prior.  And now, it’s time for the toys.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wolverine is part of the three figure Deadpool & Wolverine tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends.  He’s one of the two Wolverines included, this one being the more “standard” of the two, since he’s wearing his actual hero suit from the movie.  Or…well, it’s sort of an idealized version of it, since we don’t ever see the mask and the full suit on screen at the same time.  Look, it’s close enough.  The figure stands a little over 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  The articulation’s interesting.  He gets a more unique style of shoulder articulation, which is sort of like a butterfly joint, but in all directions, being something more akin to the types of joints we see on McFarlane figures.  It’s a tighter connection, though, so it doesn’t feel like it’ll fall apart the same way.  It was a little tricky to get it posing at first, especially with the shoulder pads, but the range definitely improved after messing with it a bit.  He’s got a ball-jointed neck, with all the range that affords, but then a rather limited crunch and waist swivel on the torso, which feels…reductive?  Out dated?  It’s an all-new sculpt, so it was a choice for sure.  The sculpt is itself generally nice, but not without its drawbacks.  We get the full version of the suit, sleeves and all.  It’s a pretty good recreation of the film’s Astonishing-inspired suit, with its smaller details worked out pretty well, and plenty of texturing, so he looks as much like a basketball as he should.  He feels either too narrow at the shoulders or too wide at the hips; his proportions feel a little off either way.  Otherwise, things are pretty solid.  I do really love that masked head.  In terms of color work, he’s certainly garish, but in the way that he’s supposed to be, what with the clown suit and all.  Application is clean, perhaps a touch too clean, but clean.  Everything more or less goes where it should.  He would definitely benefit from at least a little accenting, but that’s not where Legends are these days.  He’s packed with two pairs of hands (fists with claws, and a clawless fist/gripping combo) and an unmasked head.  The gripping hand’s weird, since he doesn’t have any accessories to hold, but it gives you the option, I suppose.  The unmasked head’s as good a Jackman likeness as we’ve seen previously, so good on them for that.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was pretty excited for Deadpool & Wolverine.  It was really great to finally get to see Jackman in a proper Wolverine costume, and, if I’m honest, I was excited to see him get a better send off than Logan, a film that really didn’t work for me.  *ducks to avoid getting hit*  The yellow suit’s inclusion was certainly an interesting experiment, and it really worked in some ways, and not so much in others.  The figure sort of meets that assessment itself.  In both cases, I’m happy they gave it a go, and I enjoy the end result.  And, with this Wolverine and the previous Colossus, I can create my fantasy world where those two actually interacted the way they unfortunately didn’t in the movie.  And perhaps I’ll further that fantasy by hoping I might some day see more movie X-Men of a similar style.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.