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Hot Toys MMS220
The Wolverine
The Wolverine
Wolverine
The 2 Wolverine movies have received mixed reviews and not all 3 of the original X-Men movies were well loved (*cough cough* Last Stand), but there is no denying Hugh Jackman is excellent in the role of Wolverine. I have a feeling when everything gets another reboot in 10 or so years, fans will lament how no one could ever replace him as Wolverine. But who knows, maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll stay on as “old man Logan”.
Hot Toys also seems to love Hugh Jackman as this is the 3rd figure they’ve released of him as Wolverine. Which is fairly impressive given he’s the only X-Men released by them so far. Charles Xavier from First Class has been shown, but only Wolverine has made it to pre-order and delivery. For the 3rd time around it’s an unusual look from the latest film: The Wolverine.
*All scores are out of a possible five stars
Packaging: ☆☆☆☆
Hot Toys never seems to disappoint when it comes to packaging. The only reason this isn’t a full five stars that it is a bit basic compared to the work on the DX series. It has a nice movie poster style poster image on the front and a clear image of the actual figure on the back. Both sets of claw hands, boots and brown pants are in a tray attached to the inside of the front of the box and everything else in a tray in the bottom. It’s all collector friendly, and they’ve included some plastic wrap on the hands, face and shoes to protect from rubs.
Sculpting: ☆☆☆☆1/2
This has been a debated release from Hot Toys because of concerns over the head sculpt. In hand I have to say the sculpt looks pretty spot-on. Aside from the overall structure looking like Jackman, there are many fine lines and wrinkles as well as a believable level of skin texture. They’ve gone for a stern expression with him looking to the left. This can be a bit problematic as it reduces some of the poses you can have him in, but I think was a good choice given the previous 2 version's straight forward gaze. I feel out of the 3 Wolverine’s released it’s the strongest likenesses and sculpt, which I did not expect from the initial images. However, the head is not perfect and I believe it's more related to the paint work.
Paint: ☆☆☆
Overall the paint work on Wolverine is up to the expected level for a HT figure, everything is neat, clean and realistic. The eyes (as always with HT) look glossy and alive, as mentioned before they are looking to the side, but still are aligned. There is a nice color and consistency with the skin tone with just the right amount of little specs and spots of brown to give a realistic look.
However, the paint work on the facial hair does not fare as well. In an attempt to simulate the stubble/bead/chops look he’s sporting they’ve gone a bit heavy on the upper lip and too light on the beard causing everything to appear like heavy stubble and his expression to look a bit pouty. It’s more noticeable in pictures, but even in hand it could have been better.
Body/Articulation: ☆☆☆☆
Like the first release of Wolverine, this figure is sporting the TTM-19 style body. It’s one of my favorites as it’s an excellent blend of aethstetics and posability. So why not a perfect score? I don’t think it was the best choice for this release; when he’s in the suit you don’t need the muscular torso and end up with limited articulation. With the second outfit you do want a muscular body, but I don’t think that will be the outfit of choice for many collectors as it’s a bit too similar to the Origins look. I think the best option would be a dedicated Narrow Shoulder TrueType for the suit look and then keep the muscular body for the other look (or another custom project). At the end of the review I have an image of this figure using a Narrow Shoulder TrueType.
One other point is that the body looks great when in the tank top (due to some additional padding on the side) but looks a bit thin (especially in the midsection) when shirtless. Of the available HT bodies I think this was the best choice, but it doesn’t quite capture the űber-jacked physique of Jackman.
Outfit: ☆☆☆☆☆
Hot Toys went with an unusual look for Wolverine and pulled it off well. This is easily one of the best looking and scaled 1/6 suits I’ve seen. It’s 4 (or 5 if you count the slimming sleeves) total layers on the top (tank top, dress shirt, suit jacket and overcoat) and it all looks incredible together. It would have been very easy for these to get bunched up or bulky looking, but HT was able to replicate his appearance incredibly well. In addition to the jacket, shirt and overcoat; the main outfit also comes with a pair of shoes, socks, slacks, belt and tie. Everything is in black, but there are some differences in the sheen of the materials to give it a bit more visual interest. Underneath the suit is a tank top with a bit of padding on the sides and a thin long sleeve shirt to smooth out the appearance of the articulation.
In addition to the main suit, there is also a 2nd outfit that consists of pants, hiking boots and fabric belt .These also sport a very high quality tailoring and seem accurate to the source material. They’re not quite as impressive as the main outfit, but that’s due to their inherent plainness in comparison to the suit.
Accessories: ☆☆☆
What’s included with Wolverine is all good stuff… but if I’m being honest here he feels a bit light for the price point. He comes with 5 sets of hands, a sword with scabbard and logo display stand. The 5 pairs of hands include relaxed, sword gripping, fists, metal claw fists and bone claw fists. All of the hands match the skin tone of the body and face as well as sport a bit of extra hair painted on to get that “burly” Wolverine look. The only complaint with the hands is they are using the older style relaxed hands and I’m just not a fan of their spidery look. All of the hands pop on and off easily but stay in place when posing. I’d exercise caution with the bone claws as I could see them snapping.
The Sword is an incredible accessory, it’s made of metal (as are the claw hands) has a very high shine and some etched kanji on the blade. It’s scaled well and looks great. It also comes with a plastic scabbard which is serviceable, but looks a bit dull by comparison. And as said earlier the set is rounded out with the display stand.
I really wish this set had come with a 2nd head, I think with that would rounded out the set nicely.
Price: ☆☆☆
For what you get this figure is feels about $25 or so too high. I think the 2nd outfit and hand assortment help a bit, but compared to what comes with the upcoming battled damaged T-800 this feels like more of a $179.99 to $199.99 figure. I imagine the Marvel license is not cheap and that may be a factor in the price point, but still would have liked him to be under $200.
Overall: ☆☆☆☆
HT has put out another solid entry to their Marvel series of figures. If the paint had been a bit better on the beard, the price a bit lower or if he’d come with a second head the figure would have easily scored better. Even with that he’s still a great figure and addition to a collection.
If you aren’t opposed to spending a bit more money, I’d highly recommend buying a 2nd head and a Narrow Shoulder True Type… by spending an extra $100 or so you could end up with 2 great looking figures.
Customizing/General Suggestions:
1) Get a 2nd body for the suit look. As I said before, I think the muscular is body not fully utilized with the suit. I’d recommend a Narrow Shoulder TT to increase the possibility of the figure while at the same time freeing up the included muscular body to be used with the alternate outfit. Here’s a pic using the Narrow Shoulder TrueType:
On a Narrow Shoulder TrueType
2) If you are really ambitious try to knock back the stubble on the upper lip and darken the beard. You would either need to remove some of the paint and touch it up, or subtly paint over the certain areas with matching flesh tones (knock back the stubble) and browns (darken the beard).
This is not my work, but you can see an example of this modification here. (thanks for Ralph_Sutter for pioneering this)
3) Take care when dressing and undressing the figure… the dress shirt’s collar is stitched closed which means to remove it you have to get the arms out first, and then slip it over the neck. Also, the dress belt is a pretty thin material so be cautious not to tear it.
If you have any other suggestions on customizing the figure please post them and I’ll add it to the list
Added tips
4) EarlHickey98 recommends ironing the clothing on a low setting in order to get a cleaner/less bulky look
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I would mess up on my own name... thanks 
