Wolverine Wednesday EXTRA: Marvel Legends 12″ Wolverine Review
This is my first ever toy review, but then again this isn’t a toy. It says on the box ‘Ages 4+’ no way at the price I paid for this I would give it to a four year old. It should be ’30+’. Then again at the height of X-Men the animated series’ popularity I would have loved a twelve inch Wolverine. As soon as I saw this online I knew I had to have it. It may seem a bit pricey so it is worth shopping around. Due to its size postage can be a little high, but I managed to find one with free postage. Your first thought might be that it will just look like one of the 3 3/4 versions made big.
Going back to the 90’s I had the 6 inch Wolverine based on the cartoon and there was a 10 inch one that looked exactly the same, just bigger. Obviously action figure manufacturing has come a long since then and this incarnation of Wolverine is something else. It looks impressive in the box, despite the fact Wolverine is meant to be short, when it comes to this figure he cuts an imposing figure. When you take it out of the box (if you are going to), it feels solid, not like an Action Man. Which is the only other twelve inch figure I can compare it to. You know this is going to be a great figure just by looking at the box. I love an aesthetically pleasing box. It evokes memories of old Marvel trading cards. With Wolverine suspended in the plastic moulding being the trading card image. Framed in sleek black glossy card. With ‘Wolverine’ in metallic font on one side of the ‘image’. The sides and back of the box are adorned with glossy metallic images depicting the figure in different poses. The plastic moulding holding the figure is encased in a cardboard sleeve. This allows it the slide in and out easily. I have slid mine out two or three times for photographic purposes and you can’t really tell. The cardboard sleeve is blue with claw marks. I used the cardboard sleeve for my photos so you can see it there. It makes the yellow costume pop when on display.
Lets look at the finer details… When you consider this is a plastic figure the level of sculpting means it doesn’t look out of place next to something from Bowen Studios or Sideshow Collectibles. He’s got defined muscles, bulging veins and snarling teeth. It has over 30 points of articulation so fans can recreate all their favourite Wolverine poses. The joints do seem a little stiff at first but once you have moved them a few times they are easier to manoeuvre. The figure comes with three different heads. There is one masked to match the costume and one unmasked. The detail to Wolverine’s hair style on the unmasked head is brilliant. It is like he has just stepped off the page. And those eyebrows! If you choose to display your figure (or play with it I guess) with the unmasked head on then a nice detail they have added is an additional flat mask to hang down his back. On other smaller/less expensive figures where Wolverine is unmasked this feature is usually painted on or left off altogether. The third head is a battle damaged variant. Again the attention to detail leaves you wondering all about the battle with Sabertooth he has just walked away from. Sometimes when they do battle damaged variants it can get a bit OTT, as you can see from the pictures it is just right. After Wolverine can fight who’s gonna take much out of him anyway?
The heads are very easy to change. They just fit on a large ball and socket joint on the top of the neck. Once attached they move rather freely. To accompany the battle damaged head are two battle damaged shoulder pads to swap with the regular ones. Again nothing to outlandish. Claw marks on one, bullet holes on the other. The last of the accessories are two hands with the claws retracted. I found these the hardest parts to swap. I didn’t want to use the claws for leverage in case I damaged them. Wolverines claws are hard to get right on a plastic figure… Where it is packed away you often find one set is splayed out more than the other. Unfortunately this is the case with mine. As I said it is to be expected. There probably is a way to get them even again, but as I am keeping it in the box it is not a major issue for me. Once you’ve changed the hands a few times you get used to how much force you need to pull them off.
In summary this is one of the best Wolverine products I have ever brought. Like I mentioned it is worth shopping around for a lower price and lower P&P. I justified the price tag by saying I haven’t brought anything of this size for a number of years. Having the changeable heads makes it very appealing for people who like to update their displays every once in a while. Equally keeping it in the box and displaying it that way still shows off all the accessories. I think I am going to mount mine complete in box on the wall. I’ve taken my pictures and played about with the different looks so now it is time to keep it in one place. I would recommend this as a must have to any Wolverine fan.
