Tag Archives: Wolfsbane

#4084: Wolfsbane

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

WOLFSBANE

MARVEL HALL OF FAME (TOY BIZ)

“Blasting out of the Marvel Universe are its most powerful heroines, the She-Force! Joining together to fight evil are mutants Marvel Girl, Wolfsbane and Dazzler along with Avengers Tigra and Ms. Marvel. Challenging the threat of the Brotherhood of evil Mutants, the She-Force has what it takes to get the job done. Using their combined abilities, the She-Force takes down the Brotherhood in one explosive battle!”

Last week, X-Men ’97 finally returned with its long-awaited second season, with a whopping three episode drop at the premier.  The season’s structure has the main team split across time, so that gives some space for some of the offshoot teams to shine a bit as well.  Returning following their single episode focus in X-Men: The Animated Series is X-Factor’s ‘90s line-up.  They were one of the few teams that Toy Biz actually managed to finish outright (well, we never got Val Cooper, but she’s not *really* on the team), with figures spread across all sorts of releases.  I’ve actually looked at all but one of them, with the last one, Wolfsbane, serving as today’s focus!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wolfsbane was released in Series 6 of Toy Biz’s Puzzle Zoo-exclusive Marvel Hall of Fame line, as part of the second “She-Force” branded assortment.  This was the first of two Wolfsbane figures under Toy Biz, and this one was based on her then current X-Factor attire.  The figure stands just under 5 inches tall and she has 9 points of articulation.  Wolfsbane is using a modified version of the Deathbird mold.  It’s an odd mold in terms of posing, since it’s got the v-hips, no elbows, and minimal movement on the knees.  It does at least have nice movement in the shoulders.  The body’s been modified to remove the various mounting spots for the wings.  It’s fine on the arms, but the back ends up with this rather odd raised flat spot that’s out of place.  Since the mold has no sculpted fur detailing of any sort, they decided to sort of offset the issue with actual fur (or at least a simulated version of it), glued to the figure’s head, forearms, and shins.  It’s weird, and all over the place.  Honestly, the arms and legs aren’t too bad, but the head is real wonky.  The shaping is just way off, and it’s very hard to get it look right.  Given her hair is already pretty much as it’s supposed to be, I don’t really know why they bothered, but here we are.  The color work on Wolfsbane is fine, I guess.  The uniform is a bit sloppy, and the colors don’t really match the others, but also they weren’t very consistent with those shades anyway.  The brown chosen feels rather on the dark side, given Rahne was usually closer to orange.  She’s also got no pupils, which is a bit odd, and her lips are downright cartoonish.  Wolfsbane’s accessories include five bones, because, umm, she needed five bones I guess?  The Hall of Fame accessories were always kind of weird.  She also included a trading card, in my case a Quasar and Gladiator fight scene.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve had the rest of the X-Factor for quite a while, having finished them up back in 2011 or so.  This one missed me.  Or I guess I missed her?  I don’t know.  I knew the figure existed, and I was generally sort of looking for it, but she just never really landed in front of me.  Back at the beginning of June, I took a trip down to South Carolina for memorial service for Jess, which gave me a chance to revisit some of my old regular spots, including our old comic shop, Power Comics.  They supplied with a good many Toy Biz figures during my time in Conway, so I was delighted to find that they still had quite a large selection of older figures, and I ended up snagging quite a few that I still needed.  Wolfsbane’s not the greatest figure from this line, especially with the weird fur, but I have to admire her from the perspective of Toy Biz actually finishing up a team line-up.

#3642: Wolfsbane

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

WOLFSBANE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0121: This figure is the first time that Hasbro has released a Wolfsbane figure that actually has her name on the package.

Growing up, my absolute favorite episode of X-Men: The Animated Series was “Cold Comfort.”  It’s got a good script, some of the show’s best animation, and a fun delve into the history of the team.  Largely, it’s X-Factor’s presence at the end of the episode that really sells me on it, though.  Okay, largely it’s Havok’s presence at the end that sells me on it.  But, with Havok, there was a whole team, and I’ve grown somewhat attached to that specific team since.  We’ve been slowly piecing together the whole line-up of that team since 2018, and there’s been just one missing member, who I’m finally getting the chance to look at today.  Let’s take a look at Wolfsbane.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wolfsbane is figure 2 in the Zabu Series of Marvel Legends, which is a Fan Channel and Amazon exclusive assortment.  It’s a real grab-bag assortment of characters, with Wolfsbane being the only explicitly X-Men-themed character in the set (though Ka-Zar and Zabu are somewhat X-related as well).  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Wolfsbane is sporting an all-new sculpt, which I’ll admit is a little surprising.  Only a little, since I certainly expected a lot of new pieces, but the total lack of anything shared certainly caught me off guard.  I’d thought we might at least see some Tigra parts mixed in there.  Whatever the case, it’s a good one.  There’s a lot of really solid texture work, and it contrasts quite nicely with the clean lines of her uniform.  The head resembles the art of Todd Nauck, to my eyes, which is fair, since it’s his work that’s on the box as well.  The color work is cleanly handled, with the best of the paint being on the uniform.  The fur largely relies on molded coloring, which looses a little of the detailing.  They do go for a touch of accenting, but it’s not a *ton* and it winds up sticking out a bit.  Wolfsbane is packed with two sets of hands (fists and clawed), as well as the body to the Zabu Build-A-Figure.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

Honestly, I kept forgetting that we still needed Wolfsbane.  It’s not that I didn’t want her, but, well, I had the four I really wanted, so I sort of checked out a bit.  But, with her announcement, I remembered, and here I am, completing the team.  She’s kind of a quiet send-off to the team.  She’s fairly well put together, and a solid figure start to finish.  I can’t say she thrills me, but I can’t say she’s bad either.

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.

#2273: Wolfsbane & Beast

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

WOLFSBANE & BEAST

MARVEL MINIMATES

Four days into these reviews, you should know what to expect here.  It’s time for one more of these Minimates reviews!  While yesterday’s pairing of characters was perhaps a little off-kilter, the assortment is finishing off with a pairing that’s actually a pretty natural one.  The feral but dignified Wolfsbane and Beast are both offered up in this final two-pack.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Wolfsbane and Beast are the final two-pack in Series 78 of Marvel Minimates.  Like the other sets in the assortment, they also include part of the Build-A-Mate Strong Guy, specifically the torso.

WOLFSBANE

“Rahne Sinclair was originally a member of the New Mutants before joining X-Factor. Her power is to shift into a wolflike form.”

Wolfsbane was a slight odd-man out for the New Mutants.  While most of their number were shunted from New Mutants into its direct replacement X-Force, Rahne was grabbed in the shuffle for a slight upgrade to X-Factor member.  It’s okay, her place in the X-Force roster had to be filled by the thinly-veiled knock off Feral.  They hardly missed her.  This figure marks Wolfsbane’s second time as a ‘mate, after getting released with her New Mutants team mates back in 2011.  This one stands 2 1/4 inches tall and she has 14 points of articulation.  She’s built on the modern ‘mate body, with add-ons for the hair and shoulder pads, and non-standard hands for her claws.  The hair piece is new, and is shared with her pack-mate.  Sensible, I suppose, as they typically had fairly similar hair, though perhaps a bit odd to see when looking at the pack in the box.  The claws and shoulder piece are both re-used parts, which is a sensible choice.  In general, they do a decent job of capturing Rahne’s team appearance.  The paintwork on her is solid work.  It translates the design and has all of the important details.  One of the knee joints was a little stuck from the paint, but at least it didn’t break like with Polaris.  Wolfsbane’s only accessory is a clear display stand.

BEAST

“Henry ‘Hank’ McCoy initially only had large hands and feet, and was a natural gymnast, until an experiment turned him furry and blue.”

There’s been something of a revolving seat for who gets left out of any ‘mate recreation of the various forms of the original five-man X-Men team.  The last time we got a boxed set of them all together, it was Hank who was left out, but this time he gets the nod over Bobby, who was the one member of X-Factor whose costume didn’t change with the others.  Beast actually had three different looks, with two “human” looks and the usual blue and furry.  This one is the usual blue and furry, which we haven’t gotten a ‘mate of since Series 34, prior to the move to the properly bulked up larger characters.  This figure uses those bulked up parts, alongside the feet from the Series 34 figure, the hair he shares with Wolfsbane, and a new set of bulked up hands.  It’s a good selection of parts, and easily the most accurate recreation of the bulked-up Beast we’ve gotten in the line.  The paintwork is about what you’d expect, and it’s worth noting it goes more heavily into that beastly look from the end of his stint in X-Factor, rather than a friendlier appearance.  The color of his fur is a close match to the Series 34 version, however, should you prefer the friendlier look.  Like Wolfsbane, his only accessory is a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This would be the last of the four sets of Minimates I got this year for Christmas from Super Awesome Wife.  It’s an okay set, though it’s probably my least favorite of the four sets personally.  Neither of the two included is really that much of a stand out, but they’re both certainly serviceable.