Thought you weren't supposed to be much of a team player, bub?
Wolverine suits up with a new X-Men team to take on
the world's greatest threats to mutantkind.
Taking "not saying anything" to new heights, I see! Which is probably because this figure technically has to split the difference between two "collections" of figures: obviously he's meant to go along with the two Uncanny X-Men #275 "Strike Force" sets, so normally you'd just write something like "trapped in space, Wolverine shocks the other X-Men when he turns on Professor Xavier," and be done with it. But then you realize he also wore this during the Muir Island Saga, which is where that 60th Anniversary Rogue's costume appeared and the Retro Collection Multiple Man, so theoretically he's meant to be keeping them company, too. Thus, you've gotta keep it nice and vague.
Even out here in the real world, Wolverine didn't wear
this costume for long: he got it in Uncanny X-Men #273, and was out of it before #281. And really, that span of issues probably covered like five days of real time, at most? He may have worn the Fang costume for longer than that!
No surprise that Wolvie is mostly made with the existing Wolverine body - that's why they have it, after all. The forearms and shins are new, because they needed to be sculpted with the straps around the wrists and ankles (respectively). The belt and the straps around the thighs are separate, but we'd be remiss if we did not once again point out that, judging by the art, those are supposed to be just above the wearer's knees, not at the top of the thigh.
The new parts of the figure, including the two heads, were sculpted by
man of the hour Paul Harding, who said he was really looking forward to the opportunity. See, the old Wolverine/Forge two-pack Hasbro released in 2008 was also sculpted by Harding, and while he was proud of the work, he recognized that it wasn't his best - part of which was the requirement that the entire job be finished in just 10 days! So this is his opportunity to show how far he's come, giving us two outstanding portraits: one calm, one snarling.
Articulation's the usual spate: balljointed head,
hinged neck, hinged pecs, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, double-hinged elbows, swivel/hinge wrist, hinged torso, swivel waist, balljointed hips, swivel thighs, double-hinged knees, and swivel/hinge ankles. Maybe the knees are the reason Hasbro decided to put all these Team Uniform X-Men's straps higher on the leg than they should be? You know, because the thickness of the band would have conflicted with the knees getting their full range of motion? It's possible, but I wouldn't say it's likely: turns out Wolverine's thighs are new molds, too, with a notch where the strap fits in; same is true on the other blokes, so Hasbro had the opportunity to do things right, but just didn't.
Logan doesn't get any accessories, just the alternate hands he doesn't need. Remember, you can pull the claws out of the slots on his fists, so there's no point in wasting plastic making fists without the
claws on them. If you really want to give us something, do open hands. Still with the slots, because he doesn't need to curl his fingers to pop those out. Is there anything else they could have given him, based on either of the stories where this costume appeared? Short of doing alternate bare arms, no. We'd say "a third head," but the great thing is, since Harding has also sculpted some of the other recent Wolverines, such as the Battle-Damaged one, you can already swap all these piecess around and make each of your figures look however you like.
I wasn't planning to buy Retro Collection Wolverine. Like, I don't think I had the 1992 figure this one is technically homaging, but that's not enough to stop me from getting something interesting; I just didn't want to pay for such a plain figure at such an over-inflated pricepoint. (Extra cardboard is not an added value, Hasbro.) But since there's no way yet to get the updated Banshee by himself, I had to buy that set; and it would be ridiculous to buy half the team without buying the other, so at that point I kind of had to get a Wolverine to finish the lineup. Thank goodness for a Hasbro Pulse sale dropping this down to a price it should have been to begin with.
(Although, this would also have been a perfect opportunity to release figures of Deathbird or a Lilandra body to finally go with that head we got years back. And I wonder if Nico Minoru's dress could be repurposed as Lila Cheney? And I'm sure someone wants the Shi'ar Warlord in his big golden helmet and purple cape. So maybe this set isn't quite as "finished" as we thought...)
-- 07/26/23
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