Patch and Joe Fixit

Undercover as his alter-ego Patch, Wolverine cons Joe Fixit into helping him take down the crime lords of Madripoor. Although the image of Wolverine and Hulk wearing their matching tuxedos is one of the most iconic shots of the pair, I'd never read the comic it covered. Wolverine #8 does indeed contain the story that bio suggests, with "Patch" leading "Joe Fixit" all around town to have the big guy bust up all the illegal operations he couldn't do anything about on his own. Of course, Hulk only wears his white outfit for three pages, and Wolverine never wears anything like it at all (tux yes, white no), but this is still a fun idea for a set of figures. Because this Logan is wearing such nice clothes, he doesn't use any parts from the existing Wolverine body, but he's still appropriately short and the neck is still sized to allow you to trade heads however you like. The jacket means his chest joint is rather limited, however. You may have expected the limbs to come from a figure like Old Man Logan, but nope! And he's too short to use any of the existing suit body parts. Like the rest of the Wolvies in this anniversary line, Patch includes two heads, both with very nice sculpts. One shows him extra grumpy, but having read the issue this set is based on, the one with a smirk is better for him: he just keeps needling Hulk in small ways whenever he can, and has fun doing it. The hair on both is impressively detailed, too: from the shaggy sideburns to the little curls of the tips, it mimicks the issue's art nicely. Patch doesn't include any accessories, just hands with his claws out, or closed fists. We've talked before about how ridiculous it is that nobody recognizes "Patch" as Wolverine, just because one eye is covered, but something this two-issue arc made clear is that Logan goes out of his way to never use his claws when he's "off duty," so to speak: although Logan recognizes Hulk when he sees him, Hulk only thinks Patch is vaguely familiar; guess he'd never seen Wolverine out of costume before. It's not until he hears that famous "snikt" that he starts to put it together. This is, amazingly, the third Joe Fixit Hasbro's made, and the second based on the comics. In fact, you'll recall that when they released the Walmart-exclusive comic version, this outfit is specifically one we said they could have done instead of his pinstriped suit! Most of the molds on this toy are shared with that one, as you'd expect, including the alternate hands. But they're traded his necktie for a bowtie, and the tuxedo jacket is a new sculpt courtesy sartorial tastemaker Paul Harding. Same goes for the John Buscema-inspired heads. This is a Hulk (or Fixit, as the case may be) with a massive brow and that huge upper lip - just the way "Jovial John" drew him. Again, we get two heads, both perfectly accurate to the issue in question: one frowning, the other bellowing angrily. After all, even someone strong and invulnerable can only take so much ribbing from Patch before his temper gets the best of him. What really strains the suspension of disbelief in both parts of this story arc is everyone's willingness to get in fights with Joe Fixit. Even if you want to say the Marvel universe has enough weird guys that you wouldn't immediately clock this as being the Hulk in disguise, he's still like eight feet tall and four feet wide; what about that makes a human-sized human think it's fine to threaten him? The figure has enough articulation for any punch-ups, moving at the ankles, knees, thighs, hips, waist, wrists, elbows, shoulders, and head. And the chest, though like Patch, his tux jacket blocks it. He also gets the alternate hands from the exclusive, meaning you can either give him a pair of fists, or one hand open and one ready to hold a gun. This set came out last year, but the only place I ever saw it was at FYE, and they wanted $80 for it. No way in hell. I've been keeping an eye on online prices, waiting for it to drop to an acceptable level, and that finally happened. Neither of these is a must-have, but they're both very cool variations on classic characters, and the toys really stand out from the crowd. -- 05/19/25 Would you recognize Logan or Hulk if they changed their clothes? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.