Tag Archives: X-23

#1797: Wolverine

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

WOLVERINE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Laura Kinney uses assassin training paired with powerful claws to take down anyone who makes the mistake of crossing her.”

X-Men fans have had it pretty good this year when it comes to Marvel Legends.  In years prior, we’ve been lucky to get a single X-based assortment, but this year we got not only a proper X-Men assortment, but two heavily X-Men-packed Deadpool assortments as well.  It’s looking like those floodgates are finally opening!  The second Deadpool assortment is even more X-Men heavy than the first, even including usual X-Men staple Wolverine.  Sure, it’s not Logan, but is that really the point?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wolverine is figure 4 in the Sauron Series of Marvel Legends.  As with her presence in the first series, Laura’s connection to Deadpool is tenuous at best, but she definitely feels more at home in this assortment than in the last one.  As noted by her name, this figure of Laura represents her look from after the death of the mainstream Logan, when she officially took over the mantle.  It’s a more current look than the last figure, and is definitely a prominent design, well worth the inclusion in the line.  As I noted in my X-23 review, it rivals the X-Force costume in definitiveness.  The figure stands 5 1/2 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  She’s constructed from a lot of the same pieces as the X-23 figure.  She uses the Spider-Girl body, and the clawed hands from X-23.  She has a new head, boots, and belt add-on, replicating her Wolverine costume nicely.  Like the X-23 figure, Wolverine’s head is sculpted in a rather dynamic fashion with wind-swept hair and all.  It looks quite good; there’s a lot of room for error with this sort of look with the hair, but Hasbro’s two-for-two on Laura’s head sculpts.  The head’s expression is calmer than the X-23 one, representing Laura’s increased maturity at the time of taking over the Wolverine mantle.  The new boots have the usual Wolverine shaping, and include her foot claws, which had been left off of the last figure.  They can easily be removed as well, if you’re like me, and think the foot claws are kind of dumb.  Off to the cup of random accessories they go!  Wolverine’s paintwork is bright and bold, and pretty cleanly applied for the most part.  It’s quite a striking look.  Wolverine is packed with an alternate unmasked head.  This one’s much more reserved, both in expression and the hair styling, which is decidedly not dynamic.  Also included is the left arm of the Sauron Build-A-Figure, who I’ll be reviewing at the end of the week.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was pleasantly surprised by last series’ X-23, so I wasn’t sure what to think of this one.  I wasn’t really looking to have one figure of Laura, let alone two, but I do rather like this design.  And, more importantly, I wanted Sauron, so there was that.  While she didn’t catch me off guard the same way the X-23 figure did, but I do still quite like Wolverine.  She’s certainly a fun figure.

I picked up Laura from my friends over at All Time Toys.  If you’re interested in buying other Legends figures, or are looking for other cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay Store.

#1592: X-23

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

X-23

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“A female Wolverine clone, X-23 slashes out uncontrollably when exposed to a deadly ‘trigger scent.’”

I have an extensive enough knowledge of the Marvel universe that these days it’s unlikely for Hasbro to stump me with one of their line-up choices.  That hasn’t always been the case, though, and especially during the Toy Biz days, there were a few times where the announcement of a Marvel Legend was my first introduction to the character depicted.  Perhaps the most extreme case of this was X-23, who joined the line in Toy Biz’s twelfth series, to the chagrin of most of the fanbase, myself included.  She was, at the time, a rather untested character, but Laura’s stuck around over the years and now that she’s gotten her latest Legends release, she seams to be living more up to that Legend-ary status.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

X-23 is part of the Sasquatch Series of Marvel Legends, which is a series loosely themed around Deadpool.  As with Deathlok yesterday, X-23’s ties to Deadpool are somewhat tenuous.  They were both on the covert-ops incarnation of X-Force, but not actually at the same time.  But, as counterpoints for Wolverine, it’s not like the two have never interacted.  This is only the second time X-23’s gotten a Legends release, following her Toy Biz variant from all the way back in 2006, meaning this is the first Legends X-23 we’ve ever gotten from Hasbro.  That genuinely surprises me, given how many Wolverine and X-Force-themed assortments we’ve gotten over the years.  This X-23 is based on her X-Force costume, which is a decent enough choice.  For one, Hasbro’s released a lot of the other members of the team in their matching costumes, and as her first proper costume, it certainly got a lot of recognition.  I’d say only her Wolverine costume even comes close to this one in terms of definitiveness.  The figure stands about 5 1/2 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  She’s built on the Spider-Girl body, with a new head, hands, and boots, as well as an add-on belt piece.  The Spider-Girl body is one I’ve always liked; it’s well-proportioned and moves really nicely.  Definitely a good starting point for any figure.  The new pieces are all really top-notch as well.  Her head is definitely the star piece here, sporting a teeth-bared, grimacing visage that much more fits the character than Toy Biz’s expression of boredom form their X-23.  The hair is done in a dynamic fashion, which doesn’t always work (Hasbro’s own Ultimate Spider-Woman figure is a good example of it holding back an otherwise pretty great figure), but I think it looks really good here, especially in conjunction with the expression on the face.  I also appreciate that it’s sculpted in such a way as to impede neck movement as little as possible.  X-23’s new boots are definitely a lot of fun as well; all those buckles make for some intriguing detail work, and there’s just a nice uniqueness that’s added to the figure by these boots.  The hands work in pretty much the same way as the most recent Wolverines, which is to say they continue the trend of being much better than earlier Wolverine claws.  The belt is a decent enough piece, but I definitely wish it were a little less free-floating.  In terms of paint, X-23 is another solid figure.  The application is all very clean and crisp, and the contrast between the black and grey looks quite nice.  While the color scheme is definitely monochromatic, I admire that Hasbro kept her from looking too washed out.  Perhaps the only downside to this figure is the lack of any real accessories.  She comes with the torso of Sasquatch, but that’s it.  No extra hands without the claws, no extra feet *with* claws, and not even an unmasked head.  Surely there was something they could have thrown in there?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t intend to buy X-23.  She’s never been a character I’ve had a ton of interest in, and I don’t have any of the other black and grey X-Force members.  So, why do I have her?  When I found Deathlok, Toys R Us was running a “Buy one, get one 50% off” sale.  The only new Legends they had were the Sasquatch series, and they only had half of them at that.  Ultimately, it came down to either Paladin or X-23 at half price, and X-23 just looked to be the better of the two figures.  She’s a pleasant surprise, to be sure.  I went in expecting nothing, and I got a downright cool figure.  Hasbro definitely put in the effort on this one, and, apart from the slight issue with the lack of accessories, this is a top-notch offering.