He's the best there is at what he does, and what he does is appear in just about every comic in existence. Ladies and Gentlemen: the hardest working man in comics: WOLVERINE!
It would be a drastic understatement of the obvious to say I have had a love/hate relationship with Wolverine. I genuinely like the character, but at the same time I am SOOOO sick of him appearing in EVERYTHING. There is barely a team he ISN'T a part of and he just seems to be everywhere at once. It kills me to no end. Yet here I am and I have a ton of Wolverine figures.
I of course became familiar with Wolverine as I would imagine most people reading this did, through the X-Men. Wolverine had some of my favorite comic moments ever. For example:
The classic moment where Proteus warps reality around Wolverine to show him how he would be without his healing factor.
When Wolvie, alone and trapped in a sewer, cuts through Hellfire Guards like a knife through butter.
I mean can anyone ever really forget that wondrous moment when Wolvie dies in the future. (and no I am not spoilering cause if you haven't read Days of Future Past by now you shouldn't even bother reading this ;-) OK I kid, but really its a 30 year old story).
And one of my all time favorite covers, but also a great story in which Wolvie is crucified and hallucinates (Maybe) everyone in his life
I think that things started getting screwy with Wolvie when the whole "Implanted memories" thing kept coming up. Now remember, at this point no one knew about Weapon X or anything, just that Wolvie had some sort of implanted memories.
Then came Wolverine #50 (the whole die-cut cover thing) and we expected some solid info after so long and NOPE. Just told us "Yeah, many of those memories aren't real." even though we had that information already. Ain't love grand? Nevermind the infuriating idea that "Oh finally, Wolverine's origin" tagline (either put there by Marvel or the press, but Marvel did let it go if it was just the press) that created a ton of frustration for fans. I really think this is the point Marvel started losing ground as so many long time fans of Wolverine were just so mad at being promised so much and getting so little. Keep in mind this was the point of the pretty hardcore collector too, so fan outrage was a big, big thing. Of course you had some long time readers who were like "Man they will never reveal Wolverine's Origin"
At which point came Weapon X and a mess. While most things were answered there was a lingering issue when Chris Claremont (Who wrote the X-Men for many, many years and essentially made Wolvie such a popular character) revealed he had a plan for Wolverine and his story. While Claremont has been long criticized for taking forever to get to the major points of certain characters stories, he did end up doing something I think modern creators are very bad at doing, building up to a big pay-off. Think of Madeline Prior AKA the Goblin Queen, look at how long Claremont built her story and finally (nearly a decade later) paid off with Inferno where demons invade Earth and it is found that Maddy was a clone of Jean Grey (created by Mr. Sinister) who awoke with part of the Phoenix force within her. Honestly, I found the whole thing to be cool, interesting and well worth the wait. It was a big event but had plenty of background. Today's "Big Events" often just seem to happen with nothing building (or at the least very little building, like a few issues or so). I am left wonder what Claremont might have done with Wolvie and I wonder if it might be simpler, tighter, and overall better than the convoluted mess that Weapon X, the implanted memories and all that other stuff lead to. Them again the other issue is we might not have Deadpool the way we have him now without that connection to Weapon X so who knows.
But when Wolvie hit that height of popularity in the early 90's he seemed to be the vehicle to bring up sales in every comic. Sometime it worked to create some interesting stories. I can remember some cool Alpha Flight appearances for that comic (That while I did like it, Alpha had a great many struggles with consistency of stories over the years).
There was also the whole mess of Magneto removing the metal from Wolverine's bones in Wolverine #75 (The part that made Wolverine unique). While I got why it was done (To give Wolvie some sense of vulnerability). I have also heard this was originally supposed to only last a few issues and was dragged out further. I just felt it ended up hurting him as a character, then of course I also hated the "mutation" he went through in which he wore a bandana and lost his nose. It just made Wolverine look like a joke in my opinion. This is about the point I really gave up on Wolvie, I know most of my friends had given up on him much, much earlier. We were all fooled again with Wolverine #100 into believing he would finally get the metal back, didn't happen AGAIN (as with the origin story) so when on top of that Wolvie turned into a joke I just gave up.
Today, though, I often find myself sick of Wolvie. I try my best to hold on to the older memories of the little runt scrapper who was just plain tough and not the uber-regeneration master who cannot die. I know I have heard of Wolvie getting torn in half by the Hulk and coming back from it. My point is that (as I remember him) Wolvie was tough, could put a lost limb back on (as in Wolverine-Havok Meltdown) but was NOT invincible as he has become. That non-invincibility fact made Wolverine really desirable as a character in my opinion (at least to me). Now it is no longer there and the genie is out of the bottle, you can't go back.
But I can continue to enjoy what I enjoyed about Wolverine back then at least.
Now we finally get to figures (Yeah, I can go on and on about superheroes all day LOL).
We start off with the Toy biz Superhero Showdown figure.
Wolverine made his first appearance in Incredible Hulk #181, in made his first appearance as a 1:18th scale figure in Superhero Showdown 2-pack with The Incredible Hulk-you got to love symmetry. This version I kind of damaged myself, I was outside and messing with him and popped off the shoulder pad. It flew into the abyss that is my yard and never saw it since. So in case anyone is wondering that is why he hasn't got one. I have long maintained that Toybiz's SHS/MLS line is underrated, but this is not one of the figures I will argue for in that way. He isn't bad but could be tons better. There are many things I could say wrong about him (muted colors are too muted, claws are linked and look odd, the mask should be white eyes like in the comic and not eyes like here, ect), but the whole story is that this figure isn't as great as he should be. Toybiz really hit a good stride later in the line and I think if they revisited this design they would have a winner, as it is it just feels very close but off the mark.
Some argue the Secret Wars Wolverine was the first 1:18th scale Wolvie, but you have to keep in mind those figures were actually too tall (even by today's standards) to effectively mix in with Joes, Star Wars, ect (Believe me I tried) and at no point were they ever listed as 1:18th (3 & 3/4 inch) scale.
This is not a figure (nor the Hulk he is packaged with) to go out of your way for. If you want to go back and grab him I would suggest only doing so just because he was the first 1:18th scale, otherwise I think you would be very disappointed (which is rare for the SHS/MLS line, but happens and when it does it's bad).
SHS/MLS also produced a couple of more Wolverines but many of them were less than desirable. The Motorcycle one especially who had a hat that looked like he stole it from a little kid.
After SHS/MLS was a good long while before we saw another 1:18th scale Wolverine, when we finally did it was when Hasbro debuted the Marvel Universe line.
This is one of those figures that I was semi-impressed by in press pics but felt letdown by in hand. The major issue is the scale since this Wolvie is so much taller than he should be. Thing is I kind of like the costume and the separated claws on him. It was a tough call. There is a shorter X-Force version coming in the X-Force team pack. I probably will end up getting it the major thing I already don't like is the silver being replaced by a dull grey.
The Silver is one of my favorite aspects of this figure and to me is the saving grace for this figure. I doubt I would have given this figure a second glance if he had been gray like the X-Force pack is. It is probably the only reason I keep this one in my collection now since there is so much about the scale I simply do not like.
However (for whatever reason, I am not sure myself) some really like tall Wolverine's so here is a great one for that purpose. I am not sure if this one will stay in my collection but he is staying for now JUST because of the silver.
At the same time as Marvel Universe we also got X-Men Origins: Wolverine which yielded many great figures and a few not so great.
Try though I might, over the years I have never been able to like the Yellow and Blue Wolverine costume that much. I know it's an iconic look and oddly I feel the need to actually have it in my collection, but I still don't like it. However one thing that bugs me about this figure is the attempt at muted colors. YES, it's weird for me to say that but I just think that if you are going to make the figure, go the full yardage and make him as he appears in the comic even if I don't like it in the comic. Yeah I know, call me crazy but this idea of muting the colors to make him more "desirable" bugs the crap out of me. Still he is one of those essential looks to Wolvie and I am glad I picked him up.
As you can see the scale is a bit more accurate too, which is a major win in my book in relation to this figure.
Another major issue I have with the figure is the fact that shoulder pads seriously mess with the ability of the figure to lift his arms up past shoulder level. There seems to be a dozen ways to avoid this but for whatever reason it was done this way. Truth be told though it is more comic accurate so you gain a little and lose a bit.
This one depends on how you feel about Wolverine. If you like him short, well he works, however for those who like a taller Wolvie there is a yellow outfit in a Target 2-pack that should work if you haven't grabbed the Giant Sized X-Men set.
Next up, often the outfit referred to as the "Fang" costume:
This is probably my favorite outfit for Wolverine. It's simple and the colors look like they could pass in real life. When the X-Men movie had the black leather outfits and the line "What you want yellow and blue spandex" I did think to myself something closer to this outfit would work on film. I got the lack of use of the Yellow and Blue outfit (seriously, Google some cosplay on that outfit, it never works) but the brown did seem to be able to work in that realm.
I had one, minor, gripe about the figure: The expression. OK he honestly looks like he is pushing out a bad dookie rather than looking vicious as intended. I actually held off on this version until the FIRST clearance of $7. Speaking of I still believe that was the part of this line that made it hang around so much. At the time most 1:18th scale lines were a maximum $6 and this (along with MU) came along at about $9. Granted prices on the regular lines shot up quickly after that, but the point is that the line was a bit too expensive for it to sell as good as I think everyone believed it should. When the line dropped to $7 it began moving around me quite well.
So for this figure, I have to say fans of the shorter stature Wolverines need to grab it, no doubt. I think if Hasbro had repainted the Yellow Wolvie's head and put it on this paint job it would be the PERFECT Wolverine. Still despite the expression its a cool figure that works I think.
The next one works on paper but falls short IMO.
On paper this is a great, great figure. However, ideas do not always pan out. Now I already know fans of the larger scale Wolverines are going to give me six degrees of Hades for this one, but the flaws with this figure go beyond that. Before I get to flaws I will say that the separated claws are preferable to the solid ones of the other Wolverines.
Of course the scale is a huge issue, but what's more is the neck looks like it belongs on a giraffe rather than a superhero. The same neck is on the X-Force version as well but somehow is less pronounced. Perhaps because of the black but whatever the case the flaw REALLY sticks out on this figure. Any way you cut it the few flaws on this figure with the first release are ultra apparent on this one.
Next is one of the figures that caught me off guard of the Wolverine Origins line.
As I said I just don't like the Yellow and Blue costume, so why would I even get near this figure. Well for one thing it was a bit more honest than the first attempt as the colors were not muted this time. Here is the costume in all it's glory of florescence LOL.
The Unmasked head isn't the greatest Wolverine head in the world, but not terrible either. There is a bit of wind shear going on with it that I am not sure is totally on purpose or not. Because of the head sculpt I do have to knock a few stars off but it's still not a terrible figure, but not one to rush out for.
Unfortunately not EVERY Wolvie can be a winner.
Often referred to as Lumberjack Wolverine, this figure is notable for being one of the few Wolverines that has regular and clawed hands. Sadly the rest of the figure is kind of a let down. The head sculpt does kind of, sort of, slightly resemble Hugh Jackman if you look at it sideways. But also the mold shows of every single flaw of the current type of articulation Hasbro keeps aiming at. It wouldn't be so bad if the figure hadn't come out later in the series, but at the point he was released chest bumps and elongated torsos should have been eliminated.
With his claws, there is a spread between them that creates a very weird webbed effect. To be blunt the claws would work better with an Aquaman villain than Wolverine. The claws are slightly longer than the normal figure's claws just heightening the effect. It's a pretty poor design after what had already been seen from Wolverines. Either the claws were separated or there was an effect that makes the claws look a bit better, but this design is weak as possible.
If you can pass on this figure, do it. I only got it because it was a gift, but even then I wondered if someone secretly hated me or something.
The next one is a bit better as a version of Logan though:
First he has a more proportioned frame and (of course) he is a bit shorter too. While the claws have a similar webbed effect as the movie version, the fact that they are not spread out lessens the effect and makes for an overall better presentation. The outfit is simple, as it should be with such a figure.
If one is looking for a "Civilian" look to Wolverine, I have to say this one is the first choice over the movie rendition. Also this figure was often overlooked by collectors as the prices of the XMO: Wolverine line were less than desireable.
But moving on to a figure that actually fits the moniker "Wolverine Origins"
Weapon X is a surprisingly cool figure. I totally love the "breakable" shackles and the gear that looks as if it was taken right out of the art of the Weapon X storyline. I have two really big knocks on this figure: First the helmet will not sit right on Wolverine's head. The other is the odd "Spikes" that come out of Wolverine's chest-WHY!!!? Was there some extra Adamantium in the process that left the pores of his chest but fell off later?? The world may never know.
But even with those huge negatives the figure is fun and that is the point of any figure. He has some VERY limited uses, but is still a figure I find myself just playing with on and off cause it is so unique, odd and kind of cool.
Then came the Deluxe version:
Again you have the weird spikes, but this time with a face that kind of resembles Elvis' last concert. Not sure if the sculptor had a hunk of burnin' love he needed to get out when he sculpted the face, but he looks like he is ready for a round of jailhouse rock.
Of course I only have this figure due to the fact he came with the tank, but really I would have rather have had the single pack version. This one has all the flaws of the single pack without all the good parts.
He is a bit unavoidable if you want the big tank for Weapon X. In a way, some might call this smart business on Hasbro's part, but to me it was a valid reason to wait for a better clearance price on the deluxe sets, which I didn't have to wait long.
While on the subject of the deluxe sets, the Colossus & Wolverine pack has recently shot up in price on the second hand market. I find it ironic since I saw that pack hanging around the clearance isle for a few weeks. I just couldn't bring myself to buy that crappy Colossus statue (which is ironic in itself when you think about it). The mask off accessory on the Wolverine was neat but not worth the extra price of the Colossus, but then again Marvel Universe is releasing an Astonishing Wolverine soon, we will see how that goes.
Speaking of Marvel Unvierse, Hasbro started incorporating Wolverine Origins molds into the line, with mixed results.
Some have called this the worst Marvel figure ever, I think that title is more applicable to the Lumberjack Wolverine I already mentioned. Still the "Team-X" look is not one I have been a huge fan of and only got this figure as yet another gift. I won't say he is terrible but he is defiantly not the greatest Wolverine ever too. I doubt I would have went out of my way to buy him even if he hadn't been a gift.
This one is an easy avoid for most I would suppose, but if you got a friend who get you figures for your birthday I suppose they could do worse.
But next is probably the biggest surprise Wolverine in my collection.
Of course this figure is based on Wolverine's appearance in Incredible Hulk #181
This was a figure I was going to completely pass up and then I got him in a deal, then a funny thing happened-I couldn't put him down. There really are no major changes from this to the previous yellow and blue Wolverine, and yet he was a great deal of fun somehow.
While not exactly comic accurate, the figure does indeed have a slightly altered set of shoulder pads that allow him to lift his arms over his head. The head sculpt is accurate even though it is kind of funny looking. But there is a kind of pureness to this figure. Sort of like "Yep, some of the designs for Wolverine are off the wall, but here they are." Which makes Wolverine still viable in the MU line, which means we will keep getting more of him as well go, I suppose that will piss some people off, but that is a pretty accurate statement in my opinion.
Again, just my thought, but this is a fun figure and well worth owning. Not all of the Wolverine's are but this is one of those rare odd occurrences that makes this hobby kind of enjoyable if not surprising.
And that wraps up the Many faces of Wolverine. Join me next time as I dive into the GI Joe world once more to look at that king of the snakes: Cobra Commander.
Until Next Time: Remember, shaken, not stirred.