Tag Archives: Marvel

#0068: Wolverine

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

WOLVERINE

MARVEL SELECT

It’s honestly surprising how few Wolverine figures I’ve reviewed so far, given how many I own.  Anyway, this is another Marvel Select review, based on the aforementioned Wolverine.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wolverine was released a few years ago as part of the Marvel Select line.  Like all the others in the line, he’s not part of a “series”, but rather, he was released on his own.  Wolverine is based on his look from his early appearances in X-Men in the late 70s.  Specifically, he looks to be based on Dave Cockrum’s interpretation of the character.  He stands about 6 ½ inches tall, giving him the proper stature of an early Wolverine, and he has 17 points of articulation.  The sculpt is handled well.  He’s a tad bit skinny, but not too bad.  The head in particular is great, because it’s spot on to Cockrum’s take on the character.  I also like that the claws are handled better than on most Wolverine figures, and have a nice unique look to them.  The paint is done well, particularly the yellow parts, because yellow can look hideous in some cases, but they’ve added a nice wash to it to bring out the sculpt.  Wolverine is topped off with a display stand, depicting a chunk of scenery from what appears to be Weapon X, which is appropriate to the character.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this guy from my comic book store’s annual end of the year sale.  I’m not the biggest fan of Wolverine, but I love the early Claremont/Cockrum run on X-Men, so I was super excited to get a Wolverine based on that time period.  He’s definitely one of the best Wolverine’s out there, and my favorite in my collection.

#0066: War Machine

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , ,

WAR MACHINE

MARVEL SELECT

Today, I’ll be taking a look at another figure from the Marvel Select line.  This time around, it’s from the small assortment of figures released in the line to coincide with the release of Iron Man 3 this past summer.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

War Machine was released as part of the Iron Man 3 subset of the Marvel Select line.  Like the rest of the Marvel Select line, they don’t have specific “series”.  They tend to just be released on their own, or in pairs.  This figure is of course based on the War Machine 2.0 look from the *Tie-In comics to the* Summer Blockbuster Iron Man 3.  Yeah, despite it’s presence throughout the tie-in toys, the actual War Machine paint scheme is only in the lead-in comic, and makes no actual appearance in the film.  And yet this is the main release figure, and the Iron Patriot is the store exclusive.  Bleh. The figure stands roughly 7 inches tall, and has 26 points of articulation.  The sculpt is accurate to the suit design from the movie, although it’s a bit thin in the waist area.  All the details are nicely done, but some of the armor details are slightly soft.  The paint is adequate.  It’s not that it’s bad, it’s just a bit bland.  It’s lots and lots of greys and silvers.  War Machine comes with a stand that resembles a stall from the hall of armor, and an alternate head sans faceplate, so you can see Rhodey’s face.  The stand is nice, but it takes up a lot of space.  The extra head is cool, and the Don Cheadle likeness is pretty good, although I feel like his skin tone is a tad light for Cheadle, and the eyes are a bit on the wonky side.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Yeah, so right off the bat, this is a figure that ties into a movie where the look presented doesn’t appear in the film.  I like the sculpt, but I think with the more exciting Iron Patriot paint scheme, this figure would pop a lot more.  They actually did make an Iron Patriot from this sculpt, but it was a Disney Store exclusive, and is difficult to find.  And this figure was $12.  At $12, this figure is pretty good.

#0065: Venom Through the Ages Minimates

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , ,

VENOM, VENOM, VENOM & VENOM!

MARVEL MINIMATES

So, yeah, it’s…uhh…Venom.  And Venom.  And Venom and Venom.  That’s 4 Venoms.  What is it?  1995?  Anyway, it’s more Marvel Minimates.  This time around, it’s a boxed set commemorating all the different incarnations of Venom from over the years.  Because Venom’s such a diverse character.  Regardless, that’s the set I’m looking at today.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These guys were released last year, as the “Venom Through the Ages” boxed set.

VENOM UNLEASHED

First up, it’s the real star of the show.  This is the version of Venom that most people think of when they think of the character.  It’s the big, bulky, long-tongued, slobbering version of the character.  If you read my review of the recent TRU Venom, you’ve pretty much seen this figure before.  This one’s got most of the same pieces, only this time, cast in black instead of the dark blue from that figure.  To counteract this, they’ve done the muscle detailing in a light blue instead of black.  It’s all nice and cleanly done.  This one doesn’t have a Spider-Man under all the pieces, instead showing a crazed Eddie Brock.  He also includes a spare mask that is partly pulled back to reveal Eddies face, and an alternate hairpiece to show Eddie totally revealed.

VENOM – EDDIE BROCK

Next, it’s another version of Eddie Brock.  This time around, it’s based on his more svelte look from his earlier appearances.  He’s built on the basic Minimate body, with all the usual articulation.  In place of regular hands, he’s got a pair of clawed hands, which have been used for Venom a few times before.  He’s also got a torso cover that’s been used a few times in the past for some of the more bulky characters.  It’s not my favorite piece, due to its blockage of the figures shoulders and neck articulation, and its overall odd shape, but it works okay, I guess.  Instead of a sculpted head, Venom’s face is all paint on this one.  It looks pretty accurate to the material, and fits the minimate aesthetic a bit better.  The rest of his detailing is similar, though not identical, to that on the Venom Unleashed figure.  Venom also includes an alternate Eddie brock head, this time with a more calm expression than the last one.

VENOM – ANN WEYING

Next, it’s Ann Weying, one of the attempts to make a “She-Venom” back in the 90s, when everything Venom sold millions.  She was Eddie Brock’s ex-wife, or something, and had the symbiote for a little while, during one of Eddie’s many breaks from the role.  Quality story telling there.  She’s on the typical Minimate body, though with the same clawed hands that the Eddie Venom used.  Like Eddie, she has a painted face instead of a sculpted one.  The only other sculpted piece she has is a tendril piece that goes over her neck.  She’s detailed similarly to the Eddie Venom, though a bit more simplistic, and of course, more feminine.  She includes an unmasked head with hair.

VENOM – FLASH THOMPSON

Lastly, it’s Flash Thompson’s Venom.  This one’s kind of the outlier of the set, being form the last few years.  He’s also the only one that’s not a variation on the same basic look.  And he’s heroic to boot.  Flash’s design is of course based on his look from his series that’s been running the last few years.  For him, the symbiote is used more as a tool, and not a controlling force.  It’s an interesting take, and that’s actually not sarcasm.  Anyway, he’s on the usual body, but he’s got a whole bunch of add-ons.  He’s got a mask, vest, gloves, a belt, a holster, and boots.  With the exception of the mask, which has been used several times before, all the pieces are new to this figure.  They all look accurate to the source material, which is good.  Flash has minimal detailing, but it’s all well done.  The eyes and logo stand out nicely, and there’s a nice pattern representing the texturing on his arms.  Flash also includes an assault rifle, a handgun, and a hair piece to display him unmasked.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m honestly not the world’s biggest Venom fan, but my usual online store had this set marked down during their Black Friday Sale, so I picked it up.  Eddie and Ann aren’t gonna win any awards, but Unleashed and Flash are both really cool, so I’m glad to have picked it up.

#0062: Silver Surfer

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

SILVER SURFER                   

MARVEL SELECT

Previously, I’ve taken a look at a few odd figures from DC Direct, a company that produced DC Comics figures meant to be sold directly through comic book shops.  This allowed them to do story specific looks and some of the more obscure characters.  With that company’s success, Marvel wanted to get in on some of the action, so they licensed Diamond Select Toys to do a line of “specialty” figures of their characters.  It took a while, and some of the early figures weren’t so great, but their line, Marvel Select, has started to pick up some decent coverage, and put out some very nice figures.  They just recently put out a Silver Surfer figure, which I’ll be taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

As I said above, Silver Surfer was just released.  Marvel Select doesn’t use the typical “series” structure that many other lines use, instead releasing the figures one at a time.  Surfer’s not exactly a character with a huge variety of looks, having just the one, but this figure appears to be based on Surfer’s more classic 70s-80s look.  He stands roughly 7 inches tall and has 22 points of articulation.  Surfer’s sculpt is simplistic, but that’s not a bad thing in his case.  That’s also not to say there’s no detail work.  In particular, I like that they went the extra mile to put wrinkles on the waist, denoting the shorts that the Surfer was typically shown wearing until the 90s or so.  The head has a great look of calmness that characterizes the Surfer very well.  If I have one complaint about the sculpt, it’s that the abs are perhaps a bit too defined to match the rest of the figure’s aesthetic.  Surfer comes armed with a fair number of accessories.  He’s got his trusty Surf Board, a spare set of hands, to hand-blast pieces, the Infinity Gauntlet, and a display stand made to look like the Surfer is hovering over a rocky surface.  The board is well done, with nice clean line work.  It suffers from the common problem of figures of the Surfer in that it has to have foot pegs to hold him in place.  The hands are only minor variation, he’s got the flatter hands for basic “surfing” poses, and a pair where the fingers are slightly curled to allow the energy blasts to fit properly.   The Infinity Gauntlet is a cool add-in.  You have to remove the Surfer’s hand to put it on, and it doesn’t have a peg or anything, so it just kind of has to be wedged on just right.  It looks cool, though I don’t know of a time when the Surfer actually had it in his possession.  The stand is interesting.  It has a blue swooshing effect that the board slides into, but it also has foot prints and a foot peg to allow the Surfer to stand directly on the rocky surface.  It’s nice in theory, but there’s no way to remove the swoosh effect, leaving it looking a bit odd.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This guy was picked up from my favorite online store, Luke’s Toy Store, during their Black Friday sale.  I had been wanting the figure, but wasn’t sure about paying full price.  Luke’s had it for $16, which was good enough for me.  I’m a moderate fan of the Surfer, and I’m glad to see a decent figure of him.  It’s not perfect, but it’s much better than a lot of his recent figures!

#0059: Rescue & Robot Hulk

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , ,

RESCUE ARMOR IRON MAN & ROBOT HULK

MARVEL MINIMATES

Today marks the final entry from the most recent Toys R Us exclusive series of Diamond’s quite expansive Marvel Minimates line.  For the last review, I’ll be looking at not quite Iron Man, and not quite the Hulk.  So, maybe it’s not quite a review…

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of the 17th Toys R Us exclusive series of Marvel Minimates.

RESCUE ARMOR IRON MAN

First up, it’s Iron Man…according to the box anyway.  In actuality, it’s Pepper, Tony’s on-again-off-again-love-interest.  She recently (okay, in the last five years or so) got her own suit of armor and took up heroing under the name “Rescue.”  I guess Toys R Us wasn’t interested in a figure just called Rescue, but add Iron Man to the end, and their on board!  That ends up being a little awkward for Pepper, who really doesn’t qualify as Iron MAN, but if anyone can bend gender stereotypes, it’s Pepper Potts!  The figue is built on the basic Minimate body, with a few sculpted add-ons, so she’s got 12 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall.  She’s got sculpted boots and gloves, as well as a slip over mask.  All these pieces have been used before, but are put to a good effect.  The paint on Rescue is quite well done, with no noticeable slop, smudges or fuzziness, and lots of fine detail work.  The metallic red and silver are also nice and consistent.  Rescue includes a blast off stand, a clear display stand and a spare hair piece to display Pepper unmasked.  That last accessory is great because, Pepper’s unmasked face is one of the highlights of the figure.

ROBOT HULK

Next, it’s Robot Hulk, the robot approximation of Hulk.  Yeah, it’s a complicated concept.  He’s based on…the minds of toy makers everywhere.  Robo Hulk is based on the basic Minimate body with sculpted parts, so he’s got 12 points of articulation and stands a little over 2 ½ inches tall.  He’s got sculpted hair, torso cover, hands, thigh covers and feet.  All but the hair were previously used on the Marvel vs Capcom Sentinel, and the hair is taken from one of the recent Colossuses.  The reuse is warranted and gives him a nice angular, robotic look.  The paint work is all nice and sharp.  Like yesterday’s Venom, Robot Hulk also has a whole nother Minimate underneath all of his sculpted parts.  This time around, it depicts a terminator like rob-suit, piloted by long-time Hulk and Iron Man foe the Gremlin.  It’s a great touch and really adds a lot to the figure.  Robot Hulk is topped off by a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As with the rest of this series, the two were ordered from TRU’s online store, with a shocking amount of ease.  Rescue gives us a great comic styled Pepper, which has been a long time coming.  Robot Hulk is kind of filler, but he’s really cool filler, and his importance is helped by the little image of Gremlin piloting, kind of making this a new character.

#0058: Nova & Alien Symbiote Venom

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , ,

NOVA & ALIEN SYMBIOTE VENOM

MARVEL MINIMATES

Today, it’s another entry from the Marvel Minimates line.  Like the last two reviews, this set comes from the most recent Toys R Us Exclusive series.  This time around, it’s the latest incarnation of the character Marvel really wants to take off Nova, and villainous Spider-Man knock-off Venom.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of the 17th Toys R Us exclusive series of Marvel Minimates.

NOVA

First up, it’s everyone’s favorite Galactic Law enforcer!  No, it’s not Ryan Reynolds, it’s actually Nova, specifically of the All New variety.  It’s Sam Alexander, the most recent incarnation of Nova.  He’s built on the usual Minimate body, so he’s got 14 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall.  He’s got a sculpted helmet, shoulder pads, and gloves.  The shoulder pads are reused from Wolverine, but the helmet and gloves are new pieces.  They look to be accurate to the source material, which is good.  The paint isn’t terrible, though there is some noticeable slop and a few fuzzy lines.  It’s not terrible, but it keeps the figure from being “great”.   Nova also includes an extra golden helmet to replace his regular one, an extra head w/ hair to make the figure into Sam’s dad, a clear blue blast off base, and the usual clear display stand.

VENOM

Next, it’s everyone’s favorite Topher Grace role!  …okay, not really…look, it’s Venom, okay?  Happy?  Venom is based on the look that Venom’s pretty consistently had since his introduction.  If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, I guess.  The characters size has varied over the years, and this figure’s meant to show him all ‘roided out like he was towards the end of the 90s.  The figure’s built on the basic Minimate body, with some sculpted parts which bring his articulation to 12 points and his height to a little over 2 ½ inches.  Venom’s got a sculpted mask, torso cover, pelvis cover, thigh covers, feet, upper arm covers and clawed hands.  The bulked up pieces have been used on several of the larger Marvel characters before, and the Venom specific parts have been used before in the Venom: Through the Ages set.  Venom is usually depicted in black and white, but for this figure, Diamond’s replaced the usual black with a dark, semi-metallic blue.  It’s not a huge difference, but it makes the figure different from previous releases I guess.  The paint is pretty good overall, with less of the slop that’s present on Nova.  As a cool bonus, if you remove all the added on parts, and give him the included normal hands and feet, you can assemble a black-costume Spider-Man.   Venom also includes a tendril that can be swapped out for one of his hands, and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like the rest of this series, I got these two from TRU’s online store, with no real issues for a change.  This set is a perfectly fine addition to my collection, even if it isn’t necessarily.  The ability to use Venom as a Symbiote Spider-Man adds a whole lot to the set, as I think it might be my favorite take on that particular version of the character yet.

#0057: Hawkeye & Black Widow

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

HAWKEYE & BLACK WIDOW

MARVEL MINIMATES

Today, it’s another entry from the Marvel Minimates line.  The two are once again from the recently acquired Toys R Us Exclusive series.  This time around, its Hawkeye and Black Widow, two characters who received a lot of notoriety from last year’s film The Avengers.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of the 17th Toys R Us exclusive series of Marvel Minimates.

HAWKEYE

First up, it’s nobody’s favorite Avenger, Hawkeye (okay, that’s not true.  He’s actually one of my favorites)!  Hawkeye is depicted here in his most recent costume, prominently featured in his current solo series.  I follows the tradition of changing a character’s look to be more in line with their movie look of which Marvel’s grown so fond.  It’s not a terrible look, and it translated well, so no complaints here.  Hawkeye’s built on the basic Minimate body, so he stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  He’s got a fair deal of sculpted bits, including:  hair, gloves, utility harness with a quiver, a belt, and leg bands.  The hair, belt, leg bands and harness are reused from previous figures, but they are chosen well, so no issues there.  The quiver and gloves appear to be new.  The quiver looks appropriate to the character, and the gloves are a might in the bulky side, but not too bad.  The paint on the figure is a bit hit and miss, the face looks perfect for the version of the character they’re going for, and the change in finish to designate the boots looks cool, but places like the edges of his sleeves are rather fuzzy.  It’s not enough to ruin the figure, but it’s annoying.  Hawkeye is topped off by a bow, three arrows, and the now standard clear display stand.  These pieces are all reused, but if it works, it works.

BLACK WIDOW

Second, it’s the best former Soviet spy turned kick-ass Avenger Marvel’s got: Black Widow!  Widow’s rocked the black skintight catsuit quite a few times over the years, but this figure is based on the look she has currently in particular.  It’s a look that’s lasted for so many years for a good reason, so its use here sees no complaining from me.  Like Hawkeye, she’s on the typical Minimate body, so she has 14 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall.  She features sculpted hair, wrist bands, and leg holsters.  The pieces are all reused, but they all work appropriately for the desired look.  The paint on Widow is a bit better than Hawkeye, though there is a tiny bit of slop on her neckline.  Widow includes two silver handguns and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like the rest of this series, these two were gotten off of TRU’s website, with no real issues this time around.  I’m really glad because these two are definitely the set from the series I was looking forward to the most.  These two definitely didn’t disappoint.  Widow is a grate update to her traditional look, and while Hawkeye’s not my favorite of his looks, the Minimate is really well done.

#0056: Superior Spider-Man & Ultimate Electro

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , ,

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN & ULTIMATE ELECTRO

MARVEL MINIMATES

Hey look!  More Minimates!  Yes, it’s Ethan’s favorite line to review, up for review once again.  Unsurprisingly these are from the Marvel Minimates line.  I just recently acquired the latest Toys R Us exclusive wave from the ever stubborn Toys R Us website, so I’ll be taking a look at them over the next few days.  First up, it’s the flagship set of the wave:  Spider-Man and Electro.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of the 17th Toys R Us exclusive series of Marvel Minimates.

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN

First up, it’s the man himself:  Spider-Man.  Okay, actually that’s a lie, and I’ll get into that in a second.  Spider-Man is built on the typical Minimate body, so he stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  So, why isn’t he the man himself?  Because this figure is based on his most recent look from the current Superior Spider-Man series, where Peter Parker’s mind has been over-written by longtime foe Doctor Octopus.  So, that happened.  Anyway, good or bad, it’s made for some interesting designs, so here we are.  This look in particular is SpOck’s second look, which is somewhat based on Alex Ross’s proposed design for Sam Rami’s first Spider-Man movie.  SpOck’s look is completely conveyed via paint.  All the paint work is pretty good, although some of the red areas are a bit thin, but nothing too bad.  There have been reports of the eyes being misaligned with the web pattern of the mask, but mine doesn’t seem to have that problem.  SpOck also includes an extra unmasked head, a strand of web, and a clear display stand.  The unmasked head conveys the smugness of the new “Peter Parker” well.

ULTIMATE ELECTRO

Second, it’s one of Spidey’s foes, Electro.  Like SpOck, Electro is built on the usual body, so he’s got 14 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall.  Electro is based on his look from the Ultimate line of comics*.  Like Spider-Man, he’s just the basic minimate body with no additional sculpted details.  He’s got a few details, and a really great evil grin, all on a really neat clear blue body.  I love me some clear plastic.  Electro is packed with two clip on electricity parts for his arms, a power base, 2 electricity “whips”, and a clear display stand.  Everything but the “whips” is reuse, but it all works well for the character, so no complaints here.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, like most of the Toys R Us exclusive Minimates, I got these from the TRU website.  Fortunately everything went smoothly this time, so yay!  As far as the set itself, it’s a really cool set of Minimates, but not of looks that are my favorites.  But well-made toys are always really cool.

*The Ultimate universe was Marvel’s attempt in the early 2000s to create a more realistic, and easily accessible line of comics to lure in new readers.  It was a success for a few years, but has recently gotten incredibly bogged down in continuity and has more recently become Marvel’s place to do more “daring” things that they don’t want to do in their regular universe.

#0055: Angel – Savage Land

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

ANGEL – SAVAGE LAND

X-MEN (TOYBIZ)

The 90s X-Men line!  Now there was a line.  I haven’t really looked at this line yet on the site, aside from the Original Members Boxed Set, which wasn’t actually part of the line.  But in the 90s, the X-Men were the big thing.  They had a TV show, their comics sold millions, and they had one of the most comprehensive toy lines to date.  There was a Cho’d action figure for God’s sake!  Towards the end of the line, they began to run out of new characters to release, so they started doing these theme waves with rereleases of the main characters.  One of those theme waves was a set of figures based on the X-Men’s many trips to the Savage Land.  It featured figures of the X-Men in tattered “Savage Land” uniforms.  Today, I’ll be looking at the Angel figure from that line.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

So, as I said above, Angel here hails from the Savage Land series of Toybiz’s 5-inch X-Men line.  He stands roughly 5 inches tall and has 11 points of articulation.  If you read the review of the Fallen, you’ve seen a lot of this figure before.   He shares all but his head, arms and feet with that figure.  The head was actually one that saw frequent reuse over at Toybiz, and I know this wasn’t the first figure to use it, but I honestly don’t know what was.   Anyway, it works fine here, though it might be a bit scowly for a pre-Archangel Warren Worthington.  The figure’s look is mostly done through paint, which depicts a tattered version of Angel’s blue and white costume from the silver age*.   It’s cool to see this costume here, but a bit disappointing that the costume never got a proper release.  Angel at one point featured a pair of (very small) wings, a gray vest with an X-logo, and some weird claw thing that attached to his wrist, but I lost most of those pieces many years ago.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this figure on one of my many trips the KB Toys outlet in Rehobeth Beach.  I was very excited to get it because Angel figures were a bit of a rarity in the 90s.  I know I really liked this guy, and for reasons I can’t fathom at this point, I know he spent a lot of time in my Ghostbusters Ecto-1.

*In super hero -comics, the first 40 years or so are divided into three “ages”:  The Golden Age, The Silver Age, and the Bronze Age.  The Sliver age, at Marvel any way, is believed to start with Fantastic Four #1, and end somewhere around Giant Size X-Men #1.

Read the Flashback Friday Figure Addendum here!

And there’s a second one here!

#0051: Wolverine & Yukio

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

WOLVERINE (YUKON) & NINJA YUKIO

MARVEL MINIMATES

Today, I’ll be taking a look at yet another set of Minimates.  Like the last Minimates review I did.  These also come from the tie-in line from this year’s The Wolverine.  Once again, it features a variant of the title character, this time packed with his trusty companion Yukio.

THE FIGURE THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of the Toys R Us tie-in series for The Wolverine.

WOLVERINE (YUKON)

First up, it’s our hero Wolverine.  He’s depicted in his “Yukon” look, from early in the film.  This is the look that Logan sports for the first half an hour or so of the movie.  It’s a very different look for the character, and is important to the character’s story in the film.  It’s also really unique, which makes it stand out pretty well on the shelf.  He’s built on the basic Minimate body, so he stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  He has sculpted pieces for his hair, jacket and claws.  The claws are the same as those used on the rest of the Wolverines in the wave.  The hair and jacket are new pieces.  They are sculpted well, and accurately depict his look from this point in the movie.  The paint is well done on the figure.  In spite of it not being a default look, I think that the likeness on this Wolverine may be the best Jackman likeness so far.  The paint on the coat could possibly be a little better, with so noticeable slop on the edges, but nothing too bad.  There’s some great detail work on the pants, with the wrinkles and such all being present.  And underneath the jacket piece, there’s also chest detailing, showing Logan in a brown turtle-neck.  I don’t recall him wearing it in the movie, but I could be wrong.  Regardless, it’s a nice touch.  Yukon Wolvie is rounded out with a pair of spare normal hands and a clear display stand.

NINJA YUKIO

Next up is Yukio, who fills a role that would conventionally be referred to as the “sidekick”,   but that doesn’t seem quite right for Yukio.  Were it not for the fact that the title of the film was “The Wolverine”  I feel like she’d fall more into the hero role.  Anyway, she’s depicted here in her “ninja” look, at least according to the package.  I’d personally describe it more as a formal look, since it’s what she wears during the funeral sequence.  It’s one of her two main looks from the movie, so it makes sense to see it here.  Like Wolverine, she’s built on the base Minimate body, and has the standard 2 ½ inces of height and 14 points of articulation.  As far as sculpted pieces, there’s her hair, her forearms, her skirt, and here boots.  The forearms are shared with Mariko from the specialty wave, the hair was previously used on the Amazing Spiderman Gwen Stacy, and the boots have seen numerous previous uses, including the Urban Yukio from the specialty wave.  Near as I can tell, the skirt is a new piece.  The paint is all fairly well done, though there is a bit of slop on the hair.  The likeness is better here than on the Urban Yukio I feel, but still a bit off.  Rila Fukushima, who plays Yukio in the film, has a very uniquely shaped face, which seems to be difficult to translate to the cylindrical Minimate head, so I think Diamond did a pretty good job.  Yukio is accessorized with a sword and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set was ordered online via tru.com.  Unlike Wolverine & Harada, I had no real issues acquiring this one, so that’s good.

I really like this set, it has a really unique Wolverine, and a very well done version of Yukio, who is one of the best characters in the movie.  While I don’t think either figure is going to be the definitive version of the character for me, it’s a really fun little set!