One:12 Mezco Wolverine Review

Whoa! Three articles in a week? Don’t get too excited. Consider the Mei Head write-up a gift as I get caught back up on everything. I’m also working on getting a Patreon set up as a way to interact with fans, offer behind the scenes info and insight, AMA sessions and giveaways. Look for it soon, I need to find a new web host first. Ready for Mezco Wolverine? Here we go!

In the mid-90’s, the bulk of my comic budget was going to X titles. The guy that always seemed to find the time to be everywhere at once was Wolverine. In turn, his appearance drove sales, and well, it kind of fed into this mega-super-Xtreme-comic vortex that put money in Marvel’s coffers and put Wolverine T-shirts on us nerds everywhere.

Today we are looking at the Brown Suited Mezco Wolverine. I have to notate it is the Brown Suit because there is also the Tiger Stripe suit (which I would have loved to have gotten, but the money and availability didn’t work out in my favor on that one) and the grey X-force outfit, which I have zero interest in owning. They all look great, I just don’t recall ever reading a comic with that uniform and so it has no emotional resonance with me. I’d love to see Cassaday’s Astonishing X-Men uniform, as I think that’s my favorite look on him.

Yet, as it seems to be the standard operating procedure with this blog, I digress. Speaking of digressing, does anyone else remember a time when there wasn’t this sense of immortality with Wolverine? Sure, we know Logan is much older than he appears to be, and his healing factor makes him tough to kill. I just don’t think it should have been so efficient as to remove any real stakes or sense of danger for Logan. I remember a time in an Arcade simulation Mystique was practicing on to kill the X-men (because that’s what sane people do) and she came across Wolverine’s stand-in. They did NOT see eye to eye (get it? He’s short).

slit throat

Granted, this Wolverine was a simulation, but this was pretty much how the character was written back in the 80’s (click here for a full synopsis of the issue). Then the 90’s hit and the aforementioned Wolverine train rolled out of the station. A few miles up the track, it hit “Can’t be Killed-Ville” and never looked back.

“But Darian, they buried him in adamantium and he was dead for real.”

Yeah? And how’s that sticking now?

Exactly.

However, even when this diminutive maniac lost his adamantium and became increasingly more feral in both actions and appearance, I never stopped being a fan. Unlike Deadpool, I was on the Wolverine fan train from day one. You guys will totally laugh, but since I wasn’t actively collecting when Marvel Legends hit the scene, my favorite Wolverine figure was an old Toy Biz one from 1997.

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This will most likely come up in the Iron Man review from the upcoming Black Panther movie wave review, but I haaaaaated these gimmicks. The first thing I did was throw that crap away.
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I even dug him out of storage for this pic. He did not age well. 7 points of articulation.

Things have changed and we’ve had so, so many other Wolverine figures that have come and went. Which brings us to today, and the Mezco Wolverine.

What’s in the Mezco Wolverine box?

We get two head sculpts, and I really don’t have any complaints about either. They both seem to capture his essence. Angry and angrier.

Mezco Wolverine close up
Although, if I’m being honest, this face seems more “pissy” to me than angry.
Mezco Wolverine
Hey bub… you didn’t delete my episodes of Touched by an Angel off the DVR, did you? Because if you did… I’M GONNA GET X-TREME!!!

We get three sets of hands, all of which, I have to say, look really nice. Some people don’t care for what has been nicknamed “tacti-cool” but in some cases, I like it.

Mezco Wolverine
One of these hands holds his Muramasa Samurai sword…
Mezco Wolverine
and the other is your standard face punching fist. In this position he makes me think of cloppers. Also, don’t Google “cloopers.” I tried to warn you.
Mezco Wolverine
I’ve heard negative things about the claws, but I feel they look really nice.

Mezco Wolverine

Mezco Wolverine
Had to crank up the brightness so you could see the front of the fists. Both this set and the neutral set have what appear to be claw holes. They are not.

I googled, “Can I remove Mezco Wolverine’s claws?” and didn’t get much of an answer. I then asked the various action figure Facebook pages I frequent and the general consensus is no, they are glued. Do not remove them unless you have replacements because you will more than likely wreck these taking them out. Did I confirm that with Mezco? No. Do I want to risk it? Also no.

Mezco Wolverine
Included for free: Arm hair.

We also get a really nice Muramasa sword with the usual amount of Mezco attention to detail. The blade itself is red, which I think is very unique.

Mezco Wolverine

Mezco Wolverine
It’s actually a solid red, but the light caught the edge in a way that looked cool to me.

Finally, he comes with a standard Mezco display base and display arm. Let’s take a look at some other pictures.

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Mezco Wolverine
This is a problem area. I’m glad they listened to fans and changed up the shorts from the prototype, but those seams do not look good. Fortunately, when you’re not zoomed in on it with a microlens, it’s not as noticeable.

Mezco Wolverine

Mezco Wolverine
Again, I am not anti-tacti-cool. I am, however, anti-design-decision-that-not-only-hampers-movement-but-also-would-have-made-a-wider-range-of-motion-had-they-stuck-with-the-comic-shoulders.
Mezco Wolverine
The belt buckle is a reflective red, slightly reminiscent of the rear car reflectors on a bicycle.

Mezco Wolverine

Mezco Wolverine
I’ve never said this about a figure, but I think the boots are my favorite part of the whole thing. Now I have a foot fetish. As if I wasn’t socially reprehensible enough. Neat.

What doesn’t work with Mezco Wolverine?

The shoulder pads look kind of cool to me. However, the range of motion it costs us is too damn high! I’m not a seamstress (2nd time I’ve mentioned seams) so I don’t know how they could have done that with the same faux leather on the rest of the Mezco Wolverine, but that would have been my preference.

I think it was a missed opportunity for display purposes to not make those claws removable. You can’t use the “it could get damaged/lost” argument when we are given batarangs and hand grenades on the regular. I mourn the poses I could have had.

Lastly, and the most egregious, is the seams (ding ding ding, third time! I’m a weirdo.) on the boy shorts. As I mentioned, you don’t immediately see it (unless you read a blog that’s pointed it out to you… no one’s blog in particular) when you grab the figure. It’s only after you’ve had a chance to examine it that you see it. I may try to add some brown paint to it. I’ll see how I feel about it when I go back downstairs and look at it. My point is, I shouldn’t have to consider doing that, Mezco.

What works with Mezco Wolverine?

The overall aesthetic of the Mezco Wolverine costume is very nice. The shoulder pads don’t detract from the overall representation of the character in my eyes. The sword is a nice display option, but I don’t have enough nice Wolverine figures to consider posing one with a sword. The few options we get work. His ankle pivot is better than the bulk of the line. His scale and girth both help sell the character.

Should you get Mezco Wolverine

This is another tough one for me to give an emphatic “yes” to when thinking someone may actually base how they spend their hard-earned cash on this review. What I come down to is, do I regret my purchase? No. Will I display him upfront of the display for a while? Sure. Here’s what I would say… if cash is an issue, I say hold off because I think since he was the mass release, his prices may hold steady when compared to the tiger stripe or the X-force one, similar to how the Red Deadpool is trending. If cash isn’t a concern, I’d say you would NOT be wasting your money if you picked him up somewhere. As of this writing, you can still get Mezco Wolverine here:

Here are some more pics to help you make up your mind either way:

Mezco Wolverine
I am sure I probably come off like a Mezco stand hater. It isn’t that. I think they are a brilliant marketing strategy and I love how they look. I just don’t have space for them. Maybe one day.
Mezco Wolverine
The “flight stand” in action.

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Mezco Wolverine
A shot for scale with the Marvel Legends posse.
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Next to the Juggy wave Wolverine. I didn’t notice it until I was editing my photos, but the way Logan’s head is cocked, it tells me he is a strong, independent woman that doesn’t need no man.

Last, but certainly not least, a really fun series of pics I did with Daredevil.

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Are you planning on grabbing him while he’s still available? Or take your chances on the aftermarket?

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