Call yourself a ‘90s X-Men fan? Then you are going to want to slap your peepers on this post, because this weekend I received the first in the brand-new set of Marvel Legends figures. The set is the ‘90s X-Men animated collection, and the figure is Wolverine.
There are a couple of things which set this figure apart from other Wolverines, which I’ll come to in a moment, but before I get to that I’ll tell you that this figure is now available from Hasbro Pulse and will be hitting retail stores shortly. I’m not on commission from Hasbro, so don’t think I’m pocketing any coin for this nugget of info; I’m merely letting all you X-Men fans know when and where you can get one.
I pre-ordered this figure last year, with an expected release date of early May. However, he has shipped early, so if you have pre-ordered one of these figures, it should be with you soon.
OK, so let’s talk about the figure and what makes this guy special from the million other Wolverine’s which pop up on shelves. Wolverine is a fairly common character in toy lines, so what is so different this time around?
Well, the first big difference is to do with the packaging, rather than the figure itself. As you can see, this figure comes in very different packaging to standard Marvel Legends toys.
As you will have seen from other Marvel Legends reviews (The Thing, Hobgoblin, etc), Hasbro have a thing about releasing Marvel toys in old school packaging. The toy company has been doing it for a while now, with many releases acting as a call-back to the ToyBiz years.
For this new Wolverine figure, Hasbro has switched things up by releasing Marvel Legends in packaging that looks like an old VHS case. Collectors who grew up during the ToyBiz years also grew up during the VHS-era, so there is a similar kind of crossover appeal here.
So, the box art here is designed to look very much like a VHS case for an episode of X-Men: The Animated Series. Back in the day, episodes of the X-Men cartoon were released on home video, in cases very much like this, and anyone who grew up in this era will instantly recognise what Hasbro are aiming for here.
As someone who did grow up during this time, I can confirm this type of packaging really pulls at my nostalgia strings. With just a glance it sends me back to a happy time in my life and I expect other collectors will feel the same way too.
In terms of the packaging, the artwork is designed well, and the box is sturdy. This is a thick outer case, which is quite chunky and looks great.
The good thing here is that not only has Hasbro managed to find yet another way to entice collectors to pick up this figure (the crafty devils), but they have also found a way to make the packaging plastic free. There’s no bubble or window on the box, meaning the company is doing something to reduce non-essential plastic in their packaging.
And this carries through to the inside of the box too. What impressed me most about this toy is that once I opened it up, I found the figure encased in a cardboard tray and wrapped in paper, with no plastic ties required.
I would very much like to see more figures released this way. Cutting down a bit of plastic here and there is important.
With regard to opening up the packaging, it is a simple case of snipping a bit of tape at the top (or bottom) of the box to gain access. The flaps on the box can then be opened up to remove the figure, and then closed again with ease, and (most importantly of all) without damaging the box.
This is great, because the one thing that bugs me about the other retro releases is that I have to destroy the packaging to get to the figure. Here that’s not a problem at all, and the figure can be removed or reinserted into the box without any hassle.
I must admit, I would have perhaps preferred Hasbro to have made the box into a slip case, so the figure could have been pulled out from the rear, similar to how VHS tapes could be pulled out of their cases back in the day. However, this is a nit-pick on my part and nothing more.
OK, so that’s the box out of the way – now onto the figure. And once again, I’m highlighting the difference here between this Wolverine and countless others.
The difference is in the shading. As this figure is designed to look like his animated counterpart, not only does he sport cartoon-accurate colours, he also includes some shading around parts of his body, to make him look more cartoony.
For the most part this works rather well. My only gripe here is that it is a bit inconsistent, as this shading technique has not been used on his boots, despite appearing on his mask, gloves, torso, belt, etc.
Again, it’s a minor gripe, because boy-oh-boy does this figure look good. He looks just like he does in X-Men: The Animated Series. As you can see, his colour scheme is predominantly yellow and blue, with black, red, and flesh tones thrown into the mix. He has a little bit of white for his eyes, and some silver for his claws too.
With regard to movement, Wolverine boasts plenty of articulation, with joints at his ankles, shins, knees, thighs, the top of his legs, waist, torso, shoulder, arms, biceps, and wrists. A ball joint at the top of his neck also allows movement in the head, as well as the ability to remove it and swap it out for another.
This figure comes with a replacement head, as well as a set of (non-clawed) hands. He also comes with a photograph of Jean Grey and Cyclops – something used in both X-Men: The Animated Series and countless memes.
This Wolverine figure is the first in a collection of X-Men VHS-style releases, which so far includes Jubilee, Storm, and Mr. Sinister. If these sell well, and I expect they will, more will follow.
Don’t be surprised if the likes of Gambit, Rogue, Beast and the rest of the core X-Men are released in the not too distant future. Although, I personally would love to see the likes of Morph, Eric the Red, and Corsair if anyone at Hasbro is reading these words.
But for now, Wolverine is the only figure I’ve picked up and I have to say I’m quite impressed. I do have a couple of minor quibbles, and I’m not quite sure why the alternate head in this release is another Wolverine mask, rather than a Logan face, but this is me just being super picky.
The figure and the packaging have been designed well and they certainly make me feel very nostalgic. If you want to experience a similar feeling, then maybe this is a figure to add to your collection.
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