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I'll start off with the Weapon X figure from the comic series of the new X-men Origins Wolverine line. Yes, that's right, not only are we graced with figures from the up and coming movie, but Hasbro also threw us a bone and gave us some(I use that term lightly) comic book versions of Wolverine.
Although the figures are different, the packages are pretty much the same. The small little lettering on the side stating it's from the comic book series is about all that's different, so let's hope Granny and Aunt Melba pay attention while picking out lil' Johnny's B-day present based on his favorite movie line this summer.
After ripping poor Weapon X out of his plastic prison(I actually cut him out, but shhh, same thing), first thing I noticed was how small he was. Granted, I'm not a comic book guru, but I do know that Wolverine is known to be on the small side, but still, he was pretty tiny. Besides his height, I was really digging the figure, I think though, due to his character specific costume, there will probably be only a couple uses for him on the toy shelf, and that's probably in some sort of Lab of some sorts... and if I remember correctly, I think there's a deluxe figure coming out later this year, with a tank of some sorts for this exact kind of set up. WAIT? Then why did I buy this one? Damn Hasbro, they got me!
Well, I guess since he's already opened, I'll finish reviewing him. First off, lets take a look at his accessories. He comes with some leg binders already on him in the package and he also has a set of arm binders not on him. Now the cool thing about these are they can be put on him as if he's being well, bound up, or they break apart in the middle of the chain and you can act like he's bustin' out, about to take out some evil doers that have been doing some oh-so bad things to him.
He also comes with a helmet and some type of harness on him, and while it doesn't look like it's made to come off him. All it took was some careful pulling on part of the belt and it came apart. While I can see it was glued and not meant to come apart, it still goes back together fine. I just wish they made it so it was supposed to come off, that way people didn't feel like they were "breaking it".
Now that we got all that crap off him, lets look at the figure sculpt, which to be honest is not all that bad. Well, for a naked man in his boxers that is. Actually, the more and more
I played with him, I was really enjoying him(not the whole naked man part)... as a figure I meant. He was really well thought out, and as a customizer, like all figures, I started thinking of a thousand different projects I could use him with.
But lets not get ahead of ourselves, let me first concentrate on his articulation points. The good, the bad, and the so-so. Let me break them down for you, and then I'll go through them a little more in depth joint by joint.
Articulation breakdown:
Neck-Ball joint
Shoulders- Ball hinged
Elbows- ball hinged
Wrists-Swivel
Mid-torso-some weird plug combo socket joint thingie...
Hips- Ball socket/hinged
Upper thighs-swivel
Knees- Double hinged knees
Ankles- Ball hinged
Okay, now as with some of the last figures I've reviewed, the same goes for the neck ball. HASBRO, PLEASE FIX IT! Okay, I got that out. Seriously, what's the point of having a neck ball joint, if it can't even be used. Like I said before, it doesn't work. Go grab a Star Wars figure, pop a head off, see how huge that ball is? It's like that for a reason, it works, most Star Wars figures can move their heads around all over, look in all sorts of directions. This guy, well, he can look at you, and that's about it. What makes things worse is the hair sculpt. His hair's sculpted to a point where you can barely move his head, even left to right. He has these little pegs all over his torso, and the hair's sculpted around those, so even when you do get the head to move a little, it gets stopped cause of the little pegs. You'd think they would have looked into something like that, sigh...
Moving on to the rest of the figure, where the head and neck really upset me, I think the rest makes up for it. The shoulders and elbows are really well sculpted, and I love the detail painting of the hair on his arms, too cool. He also has some well needed wrist articulation. I can see a lot of these figures being bought just for the bare arms alone.
The torso is pretty cool too. I know I have "some weird plug combo socket joint thingie" listed as his mid-torso joint, but that's cause I really don't know what else to call it. From the outside, he looks like a normal everyday figure with a mid torso joint, but as you'll see later, it's constructed a little different, but hey... it works. I think it actually works real well, almost better than some mid-torso joints in the past. The problems with some, like the one used on Spidey, or the 25th Anv. G.I. Joes, is they have this side to side rocking motion(some of them at least), and while cool, sometimes they get stuck in a weird awkward tilted angle and they just don't look right. Well, with this guy, I didn't find myself having that problem, it felt a little more smooth while moving his torso around.
Moving down the bottom, we have his thigh balls, um, er, joints. Like the movie figures, they're using the older Marvel Legend type of hip ball socket/joint thingies. While I like them, and I think they help a comic book character get that little extra flexibility and over all look, I think they really have to be careful on them so they don't just look like two balls connected to the guys hips. To stay away form this, they've gone to the length to actually sculpt them to actually have wrinkles and folds like clothing would, and I think that really helps take you away from them being joints and more like part of his body. Till, you start to pose him. Now,
I don't know if maybe it was just my figure, but it seemed like his joints were real tight, almost to the point where they felt like they were going to break if I forced them too much. It only took a cup of boiling water to fix this, but still, it shouldn't be needed, so like I said, I really hope it was just my figure and they're not all like this.
Once I got past my stiff joints, I found it easier to pose him and was having a lot of fun with him. I think what helped this was the double knee joints. These along with jointed ankles I think are almost a must on figures these days. While I'm still thinking there might be a better way to do the double knee joint, cause while bent they still look too thick, I'm still loving them and they add tons to the figure.
Now to tear him apart. While it's not that time consuming to do so, I recommend a real, REAL hot cup of boiling water. I usually microwave my cup for about 3 minutes, but for this, I found myself doing it for more than that, sometimes up to four and a half mins. I know it probably doesn't need to be said, but seeing they're technically kids toys, please be careful while doing this, if you're a kid, um.. DON'T. Go get your parents, even though they'll probably yell at you for popping apart your figures, then again, they probably bought them, so I guess they have the right. So, if you're not old enough to buy these on your own, maybe you should just wait to boil some water and pop them apart. ;)
If you are old enough, which I'm sure most reading this are, if you haven't done it before, you'll need the following items. Microwave safe cup with some water in it, some type of mini flat head screwdriver and well, some patience. Microwave the water without the figure in it(I know, but hey, you never know). Like I said, I went up to about four and a half mins on my cup, mainly for the legs and the torso. I'd recommend doing those first, then move on to the other parts, as they don't need the water to be as hot.
Below is a picture that I'll be referring to in the next couple of reviews. Like I said, it's not hard, it took me about 15-20 minutes to be honest, and that was mainly cause I had to reheat my water a couple times. I think the next go around will be faster, but just remember when putting the knees back together, get it real, real hot, or you're gonna struggle with it, and I wouldn't use any type of pliers to squeeze them together, if it's not hot enough, you might ruin the plastic smashing them together. I almost forgot, the flat head screwdriver was for the little pins in the knees. While not really needed, it helps pop them out of the legs when you do try to take them apart. Again, not needed, but made it a little easier on the finger tips. Each knee joint has two pins, I only took apart one on each knee for the example, hopefully you get the idea.
Ripping this guy apart, I could see him being used for a lot of different customs. His arms are nice and bare. His chest can be a good starting point for almost anything, and I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure those pegs actually come out. Yeah, you'd have to cover up some holes, but hey, if you're ripping them out, then I'm guessing you're skilled enough to do that. The legs and heck the whole body can be used for some blank canvas for any type of custom really, and I can't wait to see these guys integrated into all sorts of customs out there.
I mentioned the mid-torso joint, and while you can't see in the picture(maybe I'll take a better one), the peg that sticks out of the lower part of the torso, actually looks like it can come out, it's like a peg, sticking in both the upper and lower part of the torso. I think that's what makes it work well, so you have this real cool realistic motion you can move it around with.
Okay, I guess I lied about the review not having any meat to it, but I guess it's cause it's my first of many Wolvies, trust me, my pre-apology up there will be warranted when I get to my sixth one. Thanks again and see you in a little bit with, you guess it, more Wolverine figures.
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