By Ahmad Chaudhary
I don’t remember how much I paid for this Wolverine two-pack, but I bought it brand new at retail price from my days of generally severe Toys “R” Us scouring and suspect I paid somewhere in the $20- to $40-dollar range. I was obsessed with X-men: The Movie. The fact that I was extremely pleased with 20th Century Fox’s adaptation of my favorite Marvel superhero team was in no small part due to Hugh Jackman’s excellent – and career-making – performance as my favorite Marvel character, Wolverine. Although Jackman, at six feet two inches tall, was nearly a foot taller than the man eventually revealed to have been born as James Howlett, he cleaned up on the screen thanks to real acting chops, no doubt gained from stage experience in his native Australia and a ripped physique he achieved exclusively for the role.
As far as these figures go, they were not the only X-Men: The Movie–related figures I bought, but they remain by far my favorite ones due to the inclusion of Classic Wolverine (who wears the same costume he did on the legendary Fox Saturday-morning cartoon that I grew up on), general accuracy and those wonderful separated claws.
The individual claws were rare back then on Wolverine figures as most were single pieces of plastic that looked like crap because they were fused together with absolutely no spaces in between them, or they were sculpted more individually but not completely. Compared with the more appropriately proportioned, also Mego-style currently released Spider-Man Origins Wolverine (who has harder, smaller claws that appear to be stiff), the claws on my two old Wolvies leave a bit to be desired. They’re much too long to be stored in the forearms, a minor albeit legitimate complaint, since Logan always had a little more ’tude than the rest and is therefore a forgivable sin. Also, the claws are made out of rubber and it’s hard and nearly impossible to make them stay parallel, as opposed to Spider-Man Origins’.
Additionally, the articulation on both figures is pretty good, with fourteen points on a nine-inch body. They move at the neck, ankles, knees, legs, waist, arms, elbows and hands. On the Jackman Wolverine, which bears an excellent likeness of the Aussie, movement is constricted due to the vinyl costume. Furthermore, the leather-look “X-Suit” appears dated, and for the record is slightly inaccurate from the final movie version. No fault again to the people at toy companies like Toy Biz, who often must deal with preproduction images when designing movie toys – another reason why movie tie-ins, figures and otherwise, are, for the most part, terrible. Aside from missing the big “x” across the chest and the purple stitching that could have been done without, the figure is well designed.
The only faults I have with the Classic Wolverine are the lack of the red belt, which makes his midriff look a little bare, and the lack of hair drawn on the backs of the arms. I always envisioned Logan to be a hairy guy and am I to believe that before he dons his tiger-stripe duds that he waxes his arms??? It’s a completely unreasonable request of the man who is “the best there is at what he does,” and, as everyone knows, Logan’s specialty does not concern anything metrosexual.
Also, you will notice that Classic’s torso is a bit more comically muscular and that his movements are much freer due to his spandex costume, which makes him perfect for mauling Cyke or Sabertooth! Another note concerning the costume is that his boot tops are spandex and not rubber or plastic, which looks a little dopey but considerably less lame than the removable mask of the earlier Mego-style Wolverine doll (from the Famous Covers line), which was ridiculously too huge for the head. Thankfully, the Classic Wolverine has no removable mask and therefore no error.
If you’re a Wolverine fan or like Mego-style action figures, you can pick up this set online for anywhere from $30 to $75. If you weren’t a big fan of the X-Men: The Movie costume designs but still like the Mego look and can deal with the Astonishing X-Men costume change, pick up the Spider-Man Origins Wolverine (and others in the line), currently retailing at $14.99 each.