Wolverine/Phoenix

ToyBiz wasn't the only company to make a figure based on Frank Quitely's New X-Men designs: Art Asylum has a whole cadre of the little buggers in their Marvel Minimates line. The first pair showed up in Series 6, alongside Gamma Hulk, the Leader, Iron Man and Ghost Rider: Wolverine and Phoenix. Wolverine is sporting the same "homeless matador" look as his larger X-Men Classics counterpart, though he actually has more detail than that figure. Not sculpturally, of course (all the Marvel Minimates share the same blocky body with different paint decos) but in terms of paint. Instead of complete black, this Logan is painted grey, with black lines surrounding the detail on his costume - particularly the yellow X's on his lower legs. New X-Men Wolverine is shirtless, of course, and he's wearing his leather jacket with all the yellow highlights. He's got a pair of dogtags painted on his hairy chest, and a bit of stubble on his face. It's impressive that, although they have eight Wolverines out now, Art Asylum still manages to keep coming up with new faces for him. This is a new hair piece, too. To ramp up the sexual tension, Wolvie's paired with Jean Grey for this set. The easy option would have been to give us Cyclops and Phoenix together, but this set shows that Art Asylum was paying attention: one of the major themes of Morrison's run was how Scott and Jean were drifting apart, so she spent as much time with the little Canuck as she did with her husband. Phoenix, too, is in her New X-Men duds: grey pants, grey sweater, grey coat. Psst! It's a last name, Jeanie, not a fashion mandate. It's a shame that she didn't decide to wear the same kind of shirt that Logan did. There was some discussion about just what the horizontal black stripes on Jean's shirt were supposed represent: were they actual stripes, or was it more a thick, cable-knit look? For the record, it's the second; that's just the way it's drawn. Plenty of detail on this figure: yellow X's on her legs, black stripes on her sweater and lots of yellow on her arms, coat and gloves. Her hair is huge, but it fits over her coat perfectly. AA chose a very nice shade of red for it, too, so little Phoenix is looking great. Hard to believe this is only the second Jean Grey Minimate to date. Say what you will about Frank Quietly as an artist, the guy has a good sense of design, and it's a shame that we only got one figure of his New X-Men. But hey, that's why we have Minimates; with one set, they've doubled the selection. What's your favorite Jean Grey costume? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.

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