Tag Archives: marvel

November 19, 2025

Mondo 1/6 X-Men ’97 Wolverine – Limited Edition

By Joe
The best there is at what he does.

Back in 2021, Mondo unveiled for San Diego Comic Con a sixth scale Wolverine action figure based on the X-Men animated series from the 90s. It was a presale to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the show’s premiere and product went out in 2022 closer to that actual anniversary. At the time, Mondo wasn’t planning on doing more, but the response was so enthusiastic that their one-off turned into a whole line. To sculpt the next figure, Magneto, Mondo enlisted the work of Alex Brewer – a fast rising sculptor in the toy world. Alex would go on to knock it out of the park with Magneto which naturally lead to more work for Brewer. It’s basically been his style and vision that has come to define the line, and as it’s pivoted to include X-Men ’97 as well, the need for a Wolverine to fit in with the style of the rest of the line became more apparent.

Things have improved over at Mondo over the past few years.

Wolverine has the unique standing of being the first in the line and now the 9th. Well, technically this is the third attempt at the character as we did get Wolverine in his civilian attire, but that’s pretty different from his business look. When Mondo had that initial Wolverine sculpted, they weren’t planning on more which meant not much consideration was taken for scale. That Wolverine was nearly 11″ tall, and as the line went on it became pretty apparent that he was too tall. This new Wolverine not only allows for a chance for Brewer to do the character, but also to correct that scale issue. And Mondo has for this new one which stands at about 10.33″ to the top of his head putting him in that 5’3″ – 5’4″ range which feels fitting for Wolverine. Even though the box says X-Men ’97 on it, it’s still adorned with production art from the original series with new artwork by Dan Veesenmeyer that portrays the updated look. Tom Rozejowski, a name we see a lot with NECA products, handled the paint for Wolverine and Tommy Hodges also gets a sculptor credit. I’m thinking he may have done the base, but I don’t know for certain.

This is actually the third Logan in the line. The new, unmasked, portraits are actually different here and are more or less interchangeable.

Mondo has been trying to straddle the line between X-Men ’92 and X-Men ’97 with these more recent releases. This figure definitely has a more ’97 look to it. While the costume is the same, there are some telltale differences and it’s mostly in the body hair. The original series left Wolverine’s chin free of hair for the most part, save for perhaps some close-ups. The hair on his arms was usually done with lines across the shoulders and biceps. For ’97, he has some chin stubble and the hair on his arms is done with several short lines In addition, the angle of the mask fins is slightly steeper and they don’t stretch quite as high. Of course, that aspect of the ’92 series was hardly consistent, but it’s in comparison to the model sheets. The yellow of the costume is also just a little bit darker, a touch more gold, and the same is true of the blue parts. In comparing this figure with the original release, the cel-shading is also less prominent. We have primarily two shades of blue on the new figure compared with three on the original. The same is true of the belt, though the yellow on the old figure only utilized two shades, but there’s more of it. The black portions of the shirt are also sculpted in now. There’s no paint slop, but it doesn’t quite fill the entirety of the sculpted-out area. There is no shading on the flesh, and like the rest of the color palette, it’s a touch darker as well compared with the old figure.

He’s also much shorter compared with his foes.

I have mixed feelings on the updates and changes. I find the overall sculpt more suitable for Wolverine. Not only is he shorter, he’s stockier. The original is very leggy and the torso slightly slender. I think the portraits are an improvement as well even if they have a very ’97 style. There is an included ’92 masked portrait, but the only aspect of it that reads ’92 is the shape of the fins. The stubble is still present. I definitely prefer the more vibrant paint job of the original and the approach to the arm hair. The arm hair with the new release is missing something. The show tended to show his arm hair as always breaking his silhouette, regardless of how much of the arm is visible. That makes it hard to translate to 3D so Mondo just went with these dashes that almost look like a dot pattern. I think they would have been better served keeping the same approach as the first figure. The flesh tone also feels a touch too dark. It’s certainly not bad, I just wish he better fit the ’92 style since that’s how the line began. I’m still going to have this one replace the original on my shelf and that one will be returned to his bed box, but I’m definitely always going to see X-Men ’97 when I look at him as opposed to the original series.

If you have the NECA Flasher Gremlin then your Wolverine will have access to a tall frothy one as well.

Am I being unfair? After all, the box does indeed say X-Men ’97 so it’s not hiding what it’s trying to be, but the line is trying to placate both and is not shy about its intentions so I don’t think so, but I’ve said my piece. Not only is the sculpt redone to conform to Brewer’s style, but the articulation scheme Mondo utilizes has also changed since that first Wolverine release three years ago. This figure embodies those changes, some for the better, and some not so much. This is an aesthetics forward line, but Mondo has room for improvement and this Wolverine is proof of that. The joints are all the the same as Cyclops, the most recent release in the line: head, shoulders, double-jointed elbows, biceps, wrists, diaphragm, waist, hips, double-jointed knees, ankles. The original figure used a different style of double-jointed knees similar to what NECA used to make use of with a hinge above and below the knee. This allowed for some swivel at those joints, but it is a little odd looking, though perhaps only odd because we’re so used to the other style. It also used a swivel joint above the elbow in place of a bicep swivel that was ugly and persisted for quite a few releases. The range at all of the joints present is pretty typical, except for a few places that have become an issue recently.

“Hey Cyclops!”
“Next time I use these!”

If you saw my Egon Spengler review, you will note I had issues with that figure at the neck and hips. Mondo textures the ball joints for a more snug fit, but they may have went overboard. The ball joint inside the neck was stuck on that figure and the hips were pretty stuck too. Wolverine has the same issues. I had to use a lot of force to move the double ball peg in the neck, though the hips required a hot water bath. Out of the box, they just wouldn’t budge and I put more force into it than I probably should have. After the hot water bath they moved better. I applied some lubricating oil to the hips and neck and it didn’t appear that any had been applied by the factory, but once the figure cooled down it mostly went back to the way it was out of the box. In addition to that, the diaphragm joint remains useless. With a lot of effort, I can get the torso to rotate there a click to each side, which is hardly much to speak of. There’s no forward or back. Also of a nuisance, the red belt rubs off onto the abdomen very easily and the blue of the trunks will transfer to the thighs as well. I’ve been able to rub these instances off, but I worry if I let it sit that way then it would become more stubborn.

“Light me up, gumbo!”
“Hey cajun, next time someone tries to save your life have sense enough to let them do it.”

Wolverine is a bit tough to pose as a result, and it’s especially a bummer because he has a lot of stuff to be posed with. For heads, we get that ’92 inspired portrait I mentioned before as well as ’97 masked portraits featuring a neutral, growling, and yelling expression. If that’s not enough, he also has two unmasked portraits: neutral and a teeth gritting/growl. They’re both really similar to the portraits that came with the Logan figure which is kind of disappointing as it would have been nice to get different expressions to share between the two. That figure though was all the ’92 series while this one is updated for ’97. It’s not much of a difference, just stubble and a different approach to the shading. He also has a more pronounced single bang of hair and his ears are fully visible. With how subtle the difference is, it’s kind of shocking they bothered to sculpt new portraits, but they do look good.

“That hurts, Wolverine.”
“Grrr…!”

For hands, Wolverine is actually a touch light. We have fists, gripping, and his “Come here,” gesture from the cover of Wolverine #1. I’m surprised there are no relaxed hands or pointing hands, but I guess most are likely to keep the fists in place any way. Packaged behind the figure is the traditional Mondo figure stand though this one has the X logo painted on it. I only call this out because I sometimes leave these stands in the box since they’re not really needed, but if you want to find Wolverine’s claws you’ll need to remove it as they’re hidden behind it. Mondo provided 8 claws so you essentially get two extras. They’re just gray plastic and they’re the same as the ones that came with Logan. I wish they were white to better match the show, maybe with a touch of light blue, but this plastic may not take well to paint. They clip in easy enough though and they’re compatible with all of the hands in the box. You also get a set of charged claws as seen in the first episode of X-Men ’97. They’re done with translucent pink plastic and they clip into the backs of his hands in place of the claws. There’s also an included mask for draping over his neck when using an unmasked portrait, a similar accessory to what we saw with the Marvel Legends version of the same. Mondo also through in another picture of Scott and Jean from the episode “Captive Hearts,” only this time it’s an enamel pin instead of a picture frame accessory.

The limited edition Wolverine also comes with even more stuff like an entire second torso. Yeah, this is the first figure I’ve ever bought with a swappable torso as there’s a bare one since Wolverine always seems to get his shirt blown off in a big fight. To help sell the damage there’s a strip of the tattered remains of his shirt included made out of a soft plastic. You just place it over a shoulder to complete the look, or you can have him go completely shirtless which is a look from the show. To accommodate this change, the arms need to pop out easily and they do, which you will want to take advantage of when unwrapping the figure anyway as there are plastic bags over the arm pegs. The shoulder pads slot over the shoulder pegs and are conveniently stamped for left and right, should you get them confused. The torso separates easy as well. Unfortunately, the diaphragm joint on this torso works no better than the regular one. Lastly, Wolverine has some Sentinel parts as well including the remnants of a head that serves as a base and a chunk of a fallen robot with wires dangling from it. It has three claws holes to go over one of Wolverine’s hands to complete the look. The base has two, deep, indentations for Wolverine’s feet which gives him a secure base, though does limit things since his stance is left kind of boring. He can kind of crouch on it, but I can’t decide if that looks more dynamic or if it just makes Wolverine look like he needs to poop. The foot holes are designed for Wolverine, but I did find Gambit can fit in them as well. Cyclops and the original Wolverine have feet that are too big.

This is pretty cool, but I wish they worked in more foot-holes for different poses.

For the most part, this Wolverine redo is much like past releases in this line. It captures the likeness well and certainly comes with enough stuff to help justify the hefty price tag of $245. This one was also solicited before all of this tariff nonsense with has really jacked up the price on subsequent releases, but I’ll complain about that in reviews of figures actually impacted. This Wolverine does capture the look of X-Men ’97 very well, just at the cost of not capturing the original series as well. I like the extra torso and stuff, but I personally would have traded it for more ’92 accurate arms and heads. Mostly, I’d rather the figures seek to emulate the look of the original series and make the ’97 heads the one-off for those that want it that way. The articulation issues with the neck and hips are unfortunate and really something Mondo needs to correct. If they want to charge this kind of money for their products then the quality needs to be there. They’re pretty receptive to feedback, and I do plan on dropping them a line regarding it. If you don’t have the previous Wolverine then this one is worth getting if you’re collecting this line. And even if you do have it, I think it’s enough of an upgrade to consider. It does fit the style of the other figures better, but if you’re happy with that one then maybe you don’t feel this is necessary. The limited edition is sold out, but the standard version is still available. It’s slightly cheaper, but may come with tariff surcharges depending on where you buy it from.

The team is filling out.

We have plenty more from Mondo’s line of X-Men, including a couple of Wolverines at that:

Mondo X-Men TAS 1/6 Scale SDCC Exclusive Logan

Mondo has been absolutely killing it with its sixth scale line of action figures based on the now classic animated series X-Men. The company also really ramped up production in 2023 on the line by soliciting five new figures during the year. At over 200 bucks a pop, it was quite the hit to the…

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by Joe

Mondo X-Men TAS Wolverine 1/6 Scale SDCC Exclusive Action Figure

When San Diego Comic Con was cancelled for 2021, many of the entities that would have sold exclusive merchandise at the event pivoted to web sales. And since the 2020 iteration of the famed event was also canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many seemed to expect the same for 2021, or the massive delays…

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by Joe

Mondo X-Men ’97 1/6 Scale Cyclops – Limited Edition

After putting a real hurting on my wallet in 2023, Mondo decided to take it easy in 2024 with its line of sixth scale action figures based on the animated series X-Men which ran from 1992-1997 on Fox Kids. Two figures ended up getting released this year, Rogue and now the leader of the X-Men…

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by Joe

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November 13, 2025

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Logan

By Joe
“You got a problem with my look, bub?”

I knew who the X-Men were when the show premiered in 1992, but I didn’t know much about them. That show really was the proper introduction to the franchise for me and one thing I couldn’t wrap my head around as a kid was that these were heroes who didn’t really have a secret identity. Yeah, when they weren’t on the job they wore normal clothes, but the characters didn’t have any hang-ups about using their powers out in public if the situation arose. That just seemed so foreign a concept to me as someone raised on Superman and Batman. I didn’t realize super heroes could walk a different path.

All hail the short king.

During the course of the show, I got familiar with the non-costumed looks of the X-Men and by far the most memorable is Wolverine. He would ditch the tights in favor of some work pants, a yellow plaid shirt, and a bomber jacket with a furred collar. I don’t know if this look was directly pulled from the comics, but the show definitely made it iconic. It’s just another of the many classic looks for the character and it was immortalized in plastic way back during the Toy Biz era. And since every wave of X-Men figures could use a Wolverine, it’s hardly a surprise we’re getting the look in Marvel Legends.

I don’t have the 97 Wolverine, but it’s essentially the same figure as the 92 one.

This figure is almost entirely reuse. Past Wolverines have utilized these parts including even the head which is reused from the first X-Men ’97 Wolverine. The clawed hands are from the Weapon X release and feature the slightly longer middle claw which is an odd choice as that’s not something carried over into the show. The coat overlay is probably new and the arms might be as well, but that’s it. Does it matter? Yes and no. The coat has that animated look to it. It’s very smooth and untextured while the pants are textured like denim. This isn’t consistent with the source material and it’s a bit frustrating. Yeah, in the grand scheme of things it’s not a big deal, but it just serves as a reminder that Hasbro is not committed to accuracy with this line. It’s also odd to get the same Wolverine head recycled here, though the complexion is a touch redder which is odd. If you want a new unmasked portrait you have to get the new two-pack with Storm (I passed).

“What am I supposed to do with this?”

The figure is compromised, but looks all right. The accessories, on the other hand, are pretty unimpressive. Wolverine has his clawed hands, as usual, and the claws can actually pop off. They’re unpainted, gray, plastic and pretty bland looking. It can be hard to get them straight too and the claws on my figure’s right fist are kind of driving me crazy. The other options include a left fist without claw holes and an optional right hand that’s in a unique shape. That shape is to facilitate the use of a hand of playing cards which is also recycled from a past release. They’re fine? It might be more fun to give them to Gambit, but they don’t add a whole lot to the experience with Logan here.

“Now this is more like it!”

Articulation is pretty standard. Ball-hinge head, ball-hinge shoulders, bicep swivel, double-elbows, wrist swivel and hinge, diaphragm joint, waist twist, ball-socket hips, thigh swivels, double-jointed knees, ankle rocker and hinge. The cowboy boots that he appears to be wearing are kind of annoying. He’s tricky to stand and the coat limits the torso articulation. The diaphragm joint doesn’t really do a whole lot and the collar of the coat also interferes with the head. You’re going to be hard-pressed to get him into a low, Wolverine, crouch. It’s unfortunate this follows the Gamerverse Wolverine because the articulation in that makes this look like a hunk of crap.

“Logan! This is a school!”

Logan is what he is. The figure is only worth pursuing if you have a fondness for this look. Yeah, the pants and the belt are wrong, but it’s also instantly recognizable as Wolverine’s civilian look from the cartoon. That’s what got me to buy this even if I was a little hesitant. It’s also Wolverine so it might appear in large numbers. If you’re unimpressed, and I mostly am, then it may pay to wait this one out to see if it ever goes on sale. It’s October as I write this so the holiday shopping season is pretty much here and things have a habit of going on sale during this time of year. That might be the approach to take.

If you like this review then check out these other X-Men ’97 releases:

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Bishop

We’re going to keep this Marvel/Mutant Monday thing going for one more week! After taking a look at a trio of figures from Hasbro’s new X-Men ’97 line of figures in its Marvel Legends catalog I’ve decided to do one more: Bishop. The first three figures I looked at were basically all missing pieces to…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Nightcrawler

Since we don’t have a post this week for Turtle Tuesday I decided we should have a Mutant Monday. X-Men ’97 has returned the mutant superheroes to the spotlight and one of the main beneficiaries has been Hasbro. Their first wave of Marvel Legends based on the new show arrived last fall and, aside from…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Jubilee

The television event of 2024 for me was none other than X-Men ’97. I loved that show and I can’t wait for the second season to come around. It’s just a shame we may still be as much as a year away, but to somewhat tide us over until then we have this third wave…

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by Joe

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November 6, 2025

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Jubilee

By Joe
The self-professed mall babe is back with a new look.

The television event of 2024 for me was none other than X-Men ’97. I loved that show and I can’t wait for the second season to come around. It’s just a shame we may still be as much as a year away, but to somewhat tide us over until then we have this third wave of Marvel Legends action figures from Hasbro. The first two waves were undoubtedly done based on concept art of whatever Disney and Marvel were willing to share with the toy maker at the time. It seemed to fill-in some of the gaps left behind by Hasbro’s brief dance with the original X-Men cartoon via the VHS style box releases while also getting in a few show specific characters and looks. This third wave feels like a post season one wave. It contains characters we didn’t really know were going to be in it as well as some different looks for those we did know were coming. Up first, is Miss Jubilee.

She’s sized pretty well for what she is.

Jubilee, unlike some other characters, did get a slot in that VHS line based on the original show from 1992. That Jubilee was pretty much a hodgepodge of past Jubilee releases with some half-assed and poorly applied cel-shading. I don’t know if it’s my least favorite in that line, but it’s in contention. This update is based on the end of the first season following a minor wardrobe update. The look, from what I understand, is from the comics when she went through a vampire phase. Yeah, I don’t know. I wasn’t reading and I don’t care to know more than that. It’s basically just an all black, skin-tight suit, with her customary yellow trench coat. It’s not a look I care about, but maybe it has some utility for the ’92 display? Let’s find out!

The stars of the show.

Jubilee is a pretty basic figure. She has a brand new headsculpt that more or less matches the look of the show. I think it’s a little full in the face, but definitely more on model than what we’ve had before. The body is mostly reuse from past Jubilees, but updated with pinless joints. The arms might be new, but I am not certain. I think the upper diaphragm is also new, but it’s basically black plastic with minimal paint near the chest. The arms are yellow plastic while the coat is a thinner plastic. It has some pliability, but it’s also really shiny giving it this very rain coat quality. It’s okay, but cheap looking.

This one is definitely an improvement over the old figure, but not the look I prefer.

Jubilee’s accessories are surprisingly robust. She has a set of open hands, a left fist, and a right C-grip hand. I don’t think any of these are new, but that’s fine. Her C-grip hand is for a soft drink she comes with which looks fine and calls back to her origins as a mall rat. She also has some new effect hands and these are a massive improvement over those little swirly things the 92 Jubilee had. They appear to be a translucent acrylic which ends in star shapes and has this nice transition of colors from purple to blue. They’re permanently affixed to a set of open hands which almost appear to be insert-molded into these things. It’s a bummer because it means it won’t work with other Jubilee figures unless those ones also feature black gloves. And since the fingers of said gloves are inside the effects, it also means that painting them yellow or blue isn’t going to be a perfect solution. They look great for this figure, but only this figure.

This looks better, but that old coat still kind of sucks.

Jubilee’s articulation is pretty basic. She has a double-ball joint at the head, ball-hinge shoulders, double-elbows, bicep swivel, wrist swivel and hinges, diaphragm joint, ball-socket hips, thigh swivel, boot swivel, double-jointed knees, and ankles with hinges and rockers. The lack of a waist twist stinks and the presence of a jacket would have made hiding a butterfly joint fairly easy, but we don’t get either. The double-ball head is okay, but it has that annoying quality where the neck-ball pops out often when removing the head. I had to heat it up and pull that joint out of the head to do it properly. Why did I remove the head? Well…

Ok, yeah, now we’re ready to rock!

Jubilee’s original ’92 look is by far my preference. While I like these new effect parts, I would much rather have Jubilee in her more colorful threads. Swapping heads with the 92 figure is pretty easy. I found the old heads don’t want to go on this new body all that easily, but getting the new head on that old body was a piece of cake once I got the peg out. I also found I much preferred the look of this new coat to the old one. Getting it off was also pretty easy as was putting it on the old figure. Getting the old coat off the old figure was more difficult as that plastic is a bit thicker and less forgiving, but I still was able to do it without popping the arms out at the shoulder. The end result is, for me, a much better representation of Jubilee. She still has the ugly shading on her sleeves, but I could remove that if I so desire. I may yet try to paint the hands in the effect parts, but for now she can continue using the dumb swirly ones. I could also repaint the C-grip hand if I want her to be able to enjoy her soft drink. It’s just a matter of making sure I can match the shade of yellow in use here, but I’m just happy the old sleeves mix well with the new coat.

I obviously bought this Jubilee not intending to enjoy it for the figure it is. If you like the updated look, then it’s fine. The articulation is just so-so and it has a cheaper look than usual, but the new effect parts are nice and she does match the source material well enough. She also makes for a suitable kit-bash if that’s your aim. Do with that information what you will.

If you liked this one then check out these other X-Men ’97 reviews we have:

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Rogue

Previously, on X-Men reviews we looked at Magneto from the upcoming series X-Men ’97. The animated series may have been delayed into 2024, but the action figures from Hasbro are already here. And if you were collecting Hasbro’s line of figures based on the animated series from the 90s, this new line offers a chance…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Gambit

Everyone can relax – Gambit has returned. Or arrived, since I’ve never reviewed a Gambit action figure in this space, but that’s because I haven’t bought a Gambit figure in about 20 years until now. When X-Men arrived on airwaves in the fall of 1992, hardly anyone on that team could be considered a true…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Jean Grey

If you are reading this the day it goes live then Happy X-Men ’97 Day! Today is the day the long-awaited sequel series to X-Men debuts on Disney+. Rather than fast-track a review of the first two episodes to this blog, I decided instead to do what I most often do: review an action figure!…

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by Joe

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October 6, 2025

Mondo 1/6 Scale Spider-Man (Spider-Man ’94)

By Joe
Hi kids, it’s Spider-Man! He has a cold and a bad back so he won’t be saying anything or doing anything.

It took a long time for Mondo’s Spider-Man to get to me. At first, I wasn’t sure if I was going to even buy it. I passed on the Mondo offering in 2024, debated the symbiote costume variant, but ultimately passed on that as well. The X-Men line from Mondo is my true love and I just don’t have room on my shelf for another line of sixth scale action figures. I did get Venom because I love the character, and when Entertainment Earth had a big anniversary sale I decided to take the plunge on Spider-Man. That was in October of 2024 and at the time the figure was expected to ship in January. Then all of the tariff nonsense struck. The figure kept getting pushed out and eventually EE even had to up the price on me because of said tariffs all but wiping away the discount I was originally expecting. As the months went along I started to debate just cancelling it all together. I loved my Venom figure and I didn’t need a Spider-Man to enjoy it any more than I already did. When I received a notification that the figure was, at long last, in-stock I figured “Well, it’s happening.” Then nothing. Then my order was flipped to backorder. I emailed EE which didn’t offer much other than to say they didn’t get enough to fulfill all of their preorders. At that point, I figured I should just drop it and move on, but before I could my order was changed to “processing.” Now I have a Spider-Man from Mondo and I kind of wish I didn’t let my indecision get the best of me.

Spider-Man comes in a large window box with artwork by Nick Bradshaw and Peter Santa-Maria adorning it. It has an almost dark-deco vibe to the skyline which is evocative of the show’s CG cities when Spidey was seen web-swinging around New York. The figure itself is a sculpt by the renowned Alex Brewer with paint by Mark Bristow. The packaging concept is credited to Jordan Christianson and art direction to Hector Arce.

The ’94 version of Spider-Man could probably be taller, but I like the difference between he and Venom.

Spider-Man stands at about 11.75″ to the top of his head. I’m a little surprised they didn’t make him the full 12″, but I also don’t mind him being that much shorter than Venom. I tried to find some turn-around art from the show’s production for comparison, but the Internet has let me down. I can only compare him to still frames from the show and I have to say I feel like the silhouette is a touch off. Spider-Man in the 1994 cartoon is a pretty big Spider-Man. Pretty much all of the super hero shows back then had one style for all of the male characters. Flash Thompson would pick on Peter Parker for being a nerd, even though Pete was built like a linebacker. Here, the neck is a little slender and sits inside the silhouette of the head, which isn’t really how he was drawn. The shape of the head is also a little narrow which just draws even more attention to it. It was a Saban production and those were notoriously cheap for the time so there’s a lot of inconsistency from episode to episode, scene to scene, and shot to shot. Did Spider-Man look close to this in some shots? Probably, and there’s going to be some subjectivity on the part of the sculptor. For me personally I would have liked a slightly more beefy Spider-Man since that’s what stands out to me about the ’94 design.

Apart from that, the actual design and paint applications for this figure are fantastic. The eyes have that very ’94 shape to them and there’s a lot of empty space around the spider on the chest, as was true of the show. The linework is very clean and the cel-shaded paint job pops as one would expect. It was important to nail the shade of blue and red to make this feel like it’s from the show and Mondo did an excellent job there. There is some light scuffing on the left thigh of my figure which is odd because that area was wrapped in cellophane when packaged. Maybe it was wrapped too soon after painting or it just got too hot during transit? Despite that, the paint is easily the best aspect of the figure and really the entire Mondo sixth scale line and Spidey doesn’t lower the bar at all.

He’s a handsome fella.
The mask looks more like a helmet when held this way.

Spider-Man has a host of accessories, though this particular edition has fewer than the limited run solicited by Mondo initially. For an alternate head we just have the unmasked version of Pete. It looks exactly like the character from the show and the paint job is terrific. He does have a bit of a smile to his face which does present an issue for a different accessory, but not one that actually came with this figure so I guess we can’t really ding it for that. There’s also a mask accessory. It’s shaped like Pete should be able to hold it and have it hang from a gripping hand, but I couldn’t get it to work. I thought it might be intended for Venom, but then I remembered Venom came with his own Spider-Man mask accessory and that one is glued into his gripping hand. Maybe other villains will be able to make use of this one down the road?

Go web!
Long web.

For hands, Spider-Man comes equipped with a set of gripping hands. What he’s supposed to grip, I don’t know. He also has a set of relaxed hands, fists, and thwip hands. Peter also has his trusty camera which is molded to a web splat like it’s stuck to a wall. It does make it hard for him to hold, but I suppose one could stick it to a wall in their display with some tack or even via a finish nail or clear pushpin. Peter also has two thwip hands with short bursts of webbing coming out of them. The hands do not feature any articulation and are on straight pegs, which is fine for what they’re meant to do. There’s also another set with the long web lines attached just like we saw with Venom. There is a bendy wire in these webs, but I’m not really sure what purpose it would serve since the web lines are non-removable. For the ends of the webs, there are two conical attachments that serve as generic ends to the webs. There are also two web splats if you want the webs to be striking a surface or other figure. And lastly we have the typical Mondo display stand which is of limited utility. I don’t ever use these things, but I actually probably will with this figure. For that reason, it’s a shame it’s a plain black stand without any artwork on the base. It’s also the basic doll style stand and not the more dynamic one they have coming with Nightcrawler. I appreciate Mondo finally addressing the quality of their stands, but if you were going to do a better one wouldn’t Spider-Man be a character deserving of such?

It’s even a challenge to do convincing web firing poses.

That is all well and good, but where this figure has really come up short for me is with the articulation. Mondo’s figures are not super-articulated. They’re fairly basic as this is an aesthetics forward line, first and foremost. I’ve always felt it suits the X-Men line very well as the show that is based on featured pretty stiff, limited, animation. Those characters didn’t do a whole lot. Spider-Man wasn’t much better, but it still featured a character who spends most of his time crouching on landings, crawling on walls, and swinging through the city. Mondo correctly recognized that there was a need for more points of articulation with Spider-Man than they might normally do, but unfortunately the execution is lacking.

This is pretty much the extent of his range in the torso.

Spider-Man has a standard double-ball peg head which all Mondo figures seem to have. Unfortunately, Mondo really buried the lower ball joint in the neck which limits Spidey’s ability to look up. This can sometimes be corrected with a lower neck joint and Mondo opted to do just that. Unfortunately, the ball joint at the base of the neck might as well not be there. It’s way too snug and offers nothing when it comes to articulation. The shoulders are the standard hinged ball peg and there’s no butterfly joint. I’m okay with the absence of a butterfly joint at this scale and with this character design, but what I’m not okay with is how tight the right shoulder on my figure is. I could not get this thing to move much at all out of the box and I’m surprised it didn’t snap at the bicep. Even after heating and lubricating the joint, it still barely functions so it’s not a case of needing to just crack some paint that worked it’s way in there. There are bicep swivels, double-jointed elbows, and ball-hinge wrists and they work fine.

If you want your Spidey to crouch, good luck. Here he’s being supported by the stand.

Where things start to take a turn for the worse is with the torso. Mondo typically goes with a ball joint in the diaphragm and one at the waist and that’s what they did here. This combination is ideal for waist articulation even in a character like Spider-Man who is expected to crouch a lot. Unfortunately, Mondo screwed it up. The diaphragm joint does almost nothing. It doesn’t really rotate nor does it really go forward, back, or tilt. It’s just way too snug on the abdomen. As for the waist, it barely moves as well. Even rotating it doesn’t work all that well as the joint feels like it’s fighting me. Did the factory not lubricate any of these joints during the assembly process? It doesn’t feel, or sound, like it and I have noticed zero lubrication residue anywhere apart from what I added. I get it that Mondo would not want articulation that leads to large gaps in the figure or that might cause too much paint rub. They went too far though and basically made the pieces so snug and tight that the articulation is functionally useless.

This is probably the extent of his swinging ability.

At the hips, it only gets mildly better. We have ball-socket hips with built-in thigh swivels. The left hip is okay while the right hip is stubborn. It sometimes snaps back into position when I try to move it. I have popped it off and applied some lubricating oil which has improved it some. It still doesn’t mean Spider-Man can do splits or kick a full 90 degrees. If you try to kick forward, the figure wants to go off to the side. You can rotate at the hip to basically get into a split, but the way the cel-shading is done makes it look kind of dumb as the darker shaded portion of the legs will be forward-facing. The knees are standard double-jointed knees and at the ankles Mondo decided to go with hinged ball pegs like they do at the wrist. This means you can swivel and move those feet all around as much as you want, but it’s not a strong joint which is why I recommend using that display stand with this one. He’s just not going to stand very well. There’s also a toe hinge that’s kind of ugly. It works, but there isn’t enough stability in the figure to utilize the joint without a display stand.

I was not expecting Marvel Legends levels of articulation from this figure, but I was hoping for more. He’s really stuck in vanilla poses which is not befitting a Spider-Man. If the joints just worked he’d be fine. Then you could hunch him forward or having kind of twisting in a swing pose. I was hoping for a basic crouch, not a super low one, but you’re not getting that either. He can kind of do a basic swing pose, but it’s a bummer that he doesn’t have a web line to just grab onto. If they could pop out of the web shooting hands that would have solved that. I’m just really disappointed in what this figure is capable of and it left me feeling that Spider-Man is a poor fit for what Mondo wants to do.

At least this was a pleasant surprise.

There is one other thing to talk about and it’s Venom’s web swing. If you have the Mondo Venom, he comes with a left hand accessory that’s a web swing/harness for Spider-Man. It’s based on a scene straight out of the episode “Venom” where Venom webs up Spider-Man and takes his mask off. He dangles him off a rooftop threatening to expose his secret identity to the world. The accessory is basically a belt and two loops for each hand. I was able to slide it onto my Spider-Man figure starting at his feet. It wasn’t easy and his right leg popped off in the process, but it is doable. The two strands for his hands are simple enough to attach and I plugged the Venom hand portion into my figure to test it out. To my surprise, the thing actually works! I first just had him on a surface and Venom was able to remain standing while holding Peter, but Peter’s feet were on the same surface. I moved the pair to a shelf where I was able to dangle Peter off the edge like in the show. Venom was up to the task and the two remained without issue. I don’t know if I actually have the guts to leave them there permanently like that, but I was sorely tempted. I didn’t think it had a chance of working this well, but credit to Venom’s tight joints and hefty weight. The only disappointment is Peter’s stupid, smiling, face. He really needs an angry expression or a scared one to sell this display. The black costume version of the figure comes with an angry unmasked head which probably would work better for this specific display, but that was a limited edition and has long since been sold out.

The harness accessory working so well was certainly a pleasant surprise, but it doesn’t redeem this figure of Spider-Man for me. This is the first Mondo figure that I regret buying. He looks good enough in a neutral pose, but Spider-Man is not a character for a neutral pose. It’s frustrating to know that Mondo recognized that and incorporated more points of articulation into the figure to address the issue, but nothing they added really worked. Ball-jointed torsos aren’t that complicated even at this scale and if the worry was the figure would topple over well then why hinged ball-joints at the ankles? It’s unfortunate and this is a figure I can’t recommend especially at the price it commands. If you think he looks good and don’t mind that he won’t be doing much of anything on your shelf then have at it. I personally expected more from Mondo and Spider-Man.

If you liked this review then here’s some other related entries you might like:

Mondo Spider-Man ’94 1/6 Scale Venom – Limited Edition

Mondo has had success with its sixth scale line of action figures based on X-Men and X-Men ’97 so it’s no surprise that the company has decided to dip its toe into another 90s animated Marvel series in Spider-Man. And when it comes to Spider-Man, I’m not sure what to call it. I always referred…

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Marvel Legends Spider-Man (Animated)

It was in 2021 that Hasbro released a PulseCon exclusive Venom figure on a Spider-Man retro card. The retro card series is meant to stir-up nostalgia for all of the adults who were buying toys and watching cartoons in the 90s as the retro card is a facsimile of the old cards Toy Biz used…

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Marvel Legends Spider-Man ’94 Spider-Man vs Carnage

Last year, Hasbro celebrated the 30th anniversary of X-Men, the animated series that premiered on Halloween 1992 and would become a ratings hit shortly thereafter for the Fox Kids Network. It was responsible for getting a lot of kids into the X-Men and Marvel comics in general and the first, prime, benefactor of that rise…

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Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Comics, Television, toys

September 17, 2025

Marvel Legends Gamerverse Wolverine vs Silver Samurai

By Joe
It’s the latest from Hasbro’s Marvel vs Capcom Gamerverse line!

Video game inspired action figures are quite the hot ticket right now. I’m not entirely sure why that is, but maybe some of that is owed to Jada Toys and how well received their line of Ultra Street Fighter 2 action figures have been received. Hasbro, for their part, has had a “Gamerverse” subline of Marvel Legends for quite awhile now, but it has mostly centered on the Spider-Man games released for the PlayStation. This year, Hasbro decided it wanted a piece of the Marvel vs Capcom pie without actually saying that outright. Gamerverse has now pivoted to that beloved franchise, though strictly the Marvel side. Despite having a previous relationship with Capcom via its Power Rangers x Street Fighter line a few years ago, Hasbro has shown no interest in actually engaging the licensor for these figures instead releasing a series of two-packs and one-offs of Marvel characters from that line of games. Most of them have not been of much interest to me, but there was one I could not ignore: Wolverine vs Silver Samurai.

One of these figures is more desirable than the other.

I have enjoyed the Capcom fighters going back to X-Men: Children of the Atom in arcades. The hyper fast fighting games were a sight to behold and it felt awesome to finally be able to take control of the X-Men in a setting that felt worthy of them. The games only became more popular when they were eventually paired with Street Fighter, then eventually it expanded to include all of Marvel and all of Capcom. The designs from those games always came across as rather unique for the Marvel characters and many years ago Toy Biz made a half-hearted attempt at characters in that style with a series of two-packs sold at KB Toy Stores. They weren’t great and I never actually bought any, but I’ve always wanted figures that match the art style presented in those games.

“Let’s go, bub!”

For Hasbro’s collection, we get the usual mixed bag from the company. Some of the figures in the line do a really good job of matching the games, while others very much do not. And considering most of the releases are two-packs, it probably comes as little surprise that one figure in each set appears to get more love than the other. That is certainly the case with this two-pack featuring Wolverine and Silver Samurai. Wolverine practically looks like he was yanked off the side of the arcade cabinet with his bulky frame and elongated claws and mask fins. Silver Samurai…just looks like the previous Legends release, but in a muted color. I’ll say upfront I do not care about Silver Samurai at all. He’s always been a D tier Wolverine adversary for me and his figure doesn’t offer much. I got this for Wolverine, and considering the set comes at the inflated sticker price of $60, there’s a good chance I way overpaid for a Wolverine figure. Now, I’m going to help you decide if you should do the same.

The presence of dark gray lines on the chest appear to be entirely random.

We might as well get the Silver Samurai out of the way. As best as I can tell, this figure is mostly a straight re-release of the prior Legends figure, but with a new torso and expression. The previous figure had a riveted look to the armor where as this one is pretty smooth. Both the arms and legs feature pinned joints owing to their age so if that’s something that bothers you then you may be disappointed here. The color this time around is a very bland gray. The only paint on this guy is reserved for the exposed part of his face, the white of his eyes, and the red on his crest and sun pattern on his chest. The rest of the figure is that lame attempt at metallic plastic Hasbro likes to use. All it does is create random lines or swirls in the plastic while adding zero luster. The chest on my figure almost looks cracked, but it’s just streaks in the plastic. The character in the game was damn near white by default with gray-blue shading. Hasbro didn’t bother to try and match that sprite or the art from the booklet and instead gave us this ugly lump of plastic.

He looks like a kid posing for a Little League picture.
It’s fine.
Looks cool, but it’s a little heavy for the blade.

For articulation, the Samurai is also not up to snuff. He’s very basic with a ball-hinged head, hinged-ball shoulders, bicep swivel, double-jointed elbows, ball-jointed diaphragm, waist cut, ball-socket hips, thigh cuts, double-jointed knees, boot swivel, ankle hinge and rocker. His wrist hinges are at least the proper vertical hinge for sword wielding, but his lack of a butterfly joint means he can’t hold his sword with two hands in a convincing fashion. You can get two hands onto it, but it looks kind of dumb. The shoulder pads are pegged into his traps and are annoying to deal with and tend to pop off a lot. For accessories, he has his katana which is done in a translucent blue plastic. It looks fine, but mine has some black paint on the blade. It’s also very flimsy which stinks because he also has an effect part for the sword that looks pretty cool. It’s bubbly and done with blue translucent plastic with hits of a dark blue or purple. The swords slots through it, but the weight of the part will cause it to droop. He also has his energy shuriken made out of translucent orange plastic and a flimsy plastic stand to peg into it. The weight can be a bit tricky to get it balanced because the stand is so poor, but it can be done. However, Jada this is not.

Bring it on!

Which brings us to the real reason I wanted this set: Wolverine. What attracted me to this figure wasn’t just the stylization on display, but also some engineering choices Hasbro made. They have not, to my knowledge, made an action figure like this Wolverine and some of the choices they made are ones that I’ve been wanting from them for years. We’ll get to that with the articulation portion, but first the elephant in the room must be addressed: this is a big Wolverine.

He’s a pretty big Wolverine.

Wolverine stands at just a touch under 6″. Wolverine runs taller in those games, probably because his sprite is always crouched, but if you wanted to slide him into your comic collection this may pose too big a hurdle to climb. The X-Men animated Wolverine by comparison comes in at 5.75″. Is slightly less than a quarter of an inch a big deal? Kind of, considering that older Wolverine is probably a little on the tall side as well (mostly owing to the really long neck of that sculpt). What really stands out as different though is just how much bigger all around this new Wolverine is. Line up any part of the body and compare it to the prior one and it’s a stark contrast. His biceps, thighs, fists, are all quite a big larger. It’s almost as if this Wolverine is in a different scale from its predecessors. Marvel Legends is thought of as a 1:12 scale line while this Wolverine almost feels like it’s in between 1:12 and 1:10 scale (I guess that would be 1:11). He’s a little big for 1:12, but not quite 1:10.

Even though he has a single hinge at the elbow, the range is pretty much the same as the prior double-jointed version.

As for the sculpt, this thing is entirely brand new. We have the new head with the exaggerated fins, or ears, or whatever those things are on his mask. He has just the one expression which features a gritted teeth look like the cabinet art. The body is also entirely new with the much beefier proportions. The shoulder pads are separate and looped onto the peg going into the torso as opposed to pegged into the shoulder itself. The black on the torso is painted and not sculpted in while the fins are black plastic. The face also appears to be painted onto black plastic and the opacity is not as thick as it needed to be. The left side of my figure’s face has some black showing through, which is a shame. The overall proportions and sculpt are all very nice, but other paint issues include a yellow speck on the left side of my figure’s abdomen and some blue smudging on the left thigh. The middle claw on the left hand (geez, everything is on the left side) has some excess plastic around the tip which I’ll need to trim. Silver Samurai’s left pauldron has a similar issue as well which I failed to note earlier. The knees also suffer from miscolored plastic, a frequent issue with Legends in the pin-less era, as they’re noticeably darker than the yellow used for the thigh and shin. It may also bother some to know that the back of his ankles feature a black rectangle since the figure is using black, plastic, for the ankle hinges. Unlike other Wolverine designs, the black trim on the boots doesn’t continue onto and down the center of the back of the boot so it does create an eyesore, but better it be there than on the front.

The effect part is whatever, but the torso articulation is aces. This twisting crouch wasn’t possible on older figures.

From a quality control standpoint, this Wolverine certainly doesn’t have a premium feel, but even with the minor paint imperfections I still think it looks pretty good overall. I love the sculpt, I really love the elongated claws, and I’m really happy with what we’re about to talk about next: the articulation. Hasbro did some good stuff here while also making some trade-offs. How the overall package is received will be somewhat subjective, but what is present works pretty well. They did keep the hinged-neck joint. Wolverine being a croucher needs a lot of range to look up and down and Hasbro has yet to find a better way to pull that off so it’s hear once again. We lose the nuance of a double ball, but the joint at least does what it set out to do. The joint some will likely miss is the butterfly joint. Instead, Hasbro has gone with a ball peg shoulder which is the sort of joint McFarlane is known for utilizing. Import companies use the same, but they’ll affix it to a hinged apparatus inside the torso to get that butterfly joint, but here we just get the up and down, in and out, that the ball peg affords which isn’t a ton. They either didn’t have room in the chest for the joint, or didn’t want to cut up the sculpt. Considering it means we don’t have those silly low shoulders many Legends figures suffer from, I’ll consider it a worthy trade-off. Wolverine can still cross his claws in front of his face and has some room to rear back with his arm. Would I have made the trade to cut out a little more on the back so he could really reach back? Yeah, probably, but I am otherwise okay with the range.

It’s too bad stands weren’t included with this set.

The arms also contain another surprise: single-hinged joints at the elbow. Ordinarily, this is something to be frowned upon, but given that it’s Wolverine it’s honestly a nonissue. The arms are always so bulky that even the old, double-jointed, Wolverine can barely bend his elbow past 90 degrees. This one can’t either, but the single joint is cut in such a way that it’s far more pleasing to look at so I consider it an improvement. There’s also a bicep swivel which is more like an import figure in that the piece is floating independent of the elbow. It’s basically just a cover over a straight peg. The elbow also swivels since it pegs into whatever is under the bicep and the wrists feature the standard swivel and hinge.

I wouldn’t come in high, if I were you, Samurai.

The torso is where I was most eager to get my hands on this guy. Most of the old Wolverine figures go with an ab crunch, a big old hinge right in the middle of the figure and a standard waist cut below it. Some of the newer ones use a ball-joint in the diaphragm and retain the ab crunch below it, but at the expense of waist articulation. The thinking from Hasbro is you get rotation in the diaphragm and bend at the waist, but why settle for that if you don’t have to? For this Wolverine, Hasbro went with the ball-jointed diaphragm and paired it with a ball-jointed waist. You know, like all of those import companies making figures that articulate better than the rest. The result is you get forward and back tilt at both spots plus rotation. He crunches forward very well, arches back a decent amount, and can twist and turn with the best of them. And somewhat to my surprise, there’s very little gapping on display at both the waist and diaphragm. They did a really good job with this torso and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t become the default approach going forward. And since it’s a big large and doesn’t feature any sculpted costume details, I suspect we’ll see it reused for other characters in the future.

Tag!

The rest of the articulation below the waist is your standard ball-socket hips, thigh cut, double-jointed knees, and ankles with hinges and rockers. There’s no boot swivel which is a bit of a surprise. It looks like the boot is a separate piece so I can’t fathom why it doesn’t just peg-on. Like the gloves, it’s possible the boot is just a sleeve glued into place. It’s not a huge omission, but if it could be there with no impact to the budget then why not go for it? For accessories, Wolverine comes with a set of fists and two slash effects. The slash is done on transparent plastic with some blue shading in the center. One can peg onto an included stand, the same, cheap, style one as Silver Samurai’s, and the other slash can then slot over that one to form an X. Wolverine has multiple attacks that make such a pattern with his claws in the game, plus his super move which just makes a big X on the screen that he jumps in front of. It’s a decent accessory, but I wish we got more for the price. Wolverine could really use a stand of his own to sell that effect part and I would have loved a second portrait. A yelling head would have been great or an unmasked one.

Wolverine (and Ken) most definitely wins.

This is a hard set to rate. Subjectively, I love this Wolverine. I love the proportions, I love the new articulation, and I just love messing around with him. He’s not one of those overly gummy Hasbro releases and I like that they went for it in making this sculpt really evoke the game. On the other hand, I can’t ignore the minor problems with the paint and I’ve heard of others having similar issues. Those knees are also an eyesore and the accessories are just okay. If we’re to split the price of the set between the two figures, he’s a little iffy at $30. I’d still recommend him at that price, but I wouldn’t feel like I’m getting a real steal or anthing.

Unfortunately, Wolverine is not a $30 figure. He’s sold in a $60 set with a thoroughly mediocre Silver Samurai. By Legends standards, there is nothing special about this Silver Samurai. Nothing interesting about the presentation, the articulation, and the accessories do not overcome that. I like the sword effect part, but I don’t know if I can use it since it’s so heavy. The shuriken is fine and at least it’s from the game. He has no extra parts and I find he looks dumb with two gripping hands at all times. Couldn’t we get one extra set of hands? His articulation isn’t good enough for a sword wielder and he doesn’t look like the character art or sprite. He’s a total dud for me.

One thing is for sure, Marvel vs Capcom fans are eating good!

Is this set worth $60? Absolutely not. This Wolverine is good, ignoring the scale issues it’s easily Hasbro’s best Wolverine. Considering I don’t really care for the proportions on the MAFEX Wolverine it might even be my favorite Wolverine of all time. It’s still not worth $60 or even $40. And if he’s not worth that then what’s Silver Samurai worth? I honestly wouldn’t pay $20 for him, or even $10. I just plain don’t like the figure so it’s worthless. Despite that, I think this set will sell well because Wolverine is, in case you haven’t heard, very popular and toy collectors get pretty geeked up about new articulation schemes. Even though nothing this Wolverine does is truly new, just new for Hasbro and Marvel Legends. And I’m having fun with it, so while I think it’s stupid to pay $60 for this Wolverine, I don’t hate myself for doing exactly that.

If you liked this review then maybe you’ll like these as well:

Marvel Legends X-Men Animated Series Wolverine

The toyline of my dreams was announced last October. In celebration of the 30th anniversary of the television series X-Men, Hasbro is doing a dedicated line of Marvel Legends with figures based on the look of the show. The show was obviously inspired by the designs of Jim Lee, but there are differences in the…

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Storm Arena Street Fighter Alpha 3 Ken

One of my most anticipated releases of 2025 came out of no where. I was a kid during the early 90s and into video games so I know a thing or two about Street Fighter. Street Fighter II was everywhere and is pretty much the reason why the one-on-one fighting game became a huge genre…

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Jada Toys Mega Man

We just had 11 consecutive weeks of action figure reviews on Super7’s line of figures based on The Simpsons. Things were getting pretty negative in that sphere as that line went out with a whimper. I don’t like reviewing bad figures and it’s mostly because everything I review here I buy for my own collection.…

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Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Comics, toys, Video Games

August 14, 2025

S.H.Figuarts Deadpool & Wolverine Wolverine

By Joe
Another figure from last summer’s blockbuster. We like to stay current here.

It feels like a theme this summer for me is buying action figures I previously deemed unworthy of my money as they go on clearance. Sometimes that’s a dumb thing to do. If I didn’t want something six months ago why should I want it now just because it’s cheaper? In the case of today’s review, the answer is because I think it’s a good figure. The S.H.Figuarts Wolverine from the movie Deadpool & Wolverine is probably the best figure yet of the character from that film, with the caveat it’s the most expensive and technically isn’t from the film. Both of those aspects of the figure is why I cancelled my original preorder, but when I saw I could get the figure for 40% off I decided that was good enough to get this imperfect representation of Wolverine.

Probably the best figure from the movie so far, even if he never looked like this in the movie.

Let’s cut to the chase – this figure is not really from the movie. It depicts Wolverine in full costume which includes the mask and the sleeves. At no point in the movie did we see Wolverine look like this. By the time he put the mask on he had ditched the sleeves. Unfortunately, Bandai didn’t base their figure on this look nor did they include an unmasked head like the Marvel Legends release. There could be reasons for that which are perfectly valid. Bandai may have been going off of concept art released to them by Disney which is probably the most likely reason. They may have also not wanted to pay for the actor likeness to include a Hugh Jackman head which would make them cheap. It would have been nice if such could be included, or if there were bare arms also included (or just made the default look), but we can only judge the figure on what is present and what it’s trying to achieve. It just meant that it wasn’t worth $85 to me. As imperfect as the Legends release is, I was mostly sated in having it, but the lure of a better price has brought me here today.

And for those wondering, no, you can’t use the Legends unmasked head with this one.

Wolverine stands at approximately 6″ to the top of his head, or just a little taller. Hugh Jackman is 6′ 2″ so that little tick over the 6″ mark basically puts him at an accurate 1:12 scale, assuming the boots he wore in the film didn’t add an inch or two. He is shorter than the Legends version which I had at 6.5″, but that’s pretty consistent for Legends which tends to run a little bigger than true 1:12 scale. He seems a little shorter than the SHF Deadpool though that seems to mostly be in the head. That Deadpool has an oversized melon that becomes more apparent when placed with this figure (for the record, Jackman and Reynolds are both listed as being 6’2″). The costume is textured all over like the one from the film and it’s comprised mostly of colored plastic. The yellow is a pale yellow, especially compared with the more saturated Legends release that is more like honey colored. This shade looks more accurate to my eye. The blue and black is what’s painted, as well as the tiny silver buttons, and everything is pretty clean. The finish is nice and on the blue of the gloves, boots, and shoulder pads there’s a bit of a glossy finish which reflects the look of the film as well. The claws are a nice, metallic, silver and quite pointy. Be careful swapping hands as those claws are rigid and will hurt if you’re not careful.

Deadpool is actually a little taller this time.
It works.
They don’t like each other.

What stands out the most with this release vs the Legends ones are the proportions. The head size, shoulder width, and leg length all look pretty accurate to the film. The Legends one was pretty stumpy despite being a taller figure and it was my main peeve with that release. There’s a solid amount of mass as well in the torso, legs, and arms, though I would have liked the chest to be pumped out just a little more, but that’s more of a nitpick. The details of the costume are all captured well and I like how they did the folds of the neck portion. The Jackman likeness also looks fine to me. Granted, it’s just the area around his mouth, but the paint is clean where it could have easily gone off the rails with all of the facial hair. The fins on the head are also a rigid plastic which likely helped keep their shape in transit whereas the Legends one is a little warped.

He comes with three sets of non-clawed hands, but I bet most will never use them.

Wolverine is much lighter than his co-star when it comes to accessories, but he also doesn’t demand the sort of weaponry that Deadpool does. For portraits we get two: neutral and teeth gritting. I like the personality of the teeth gritting head more, but both are fine. For hands, we get fists, open, and relaxed hands. For clawed hands, there are fists and open and that ends the accessories. It’s light, but in terms of hands I’d say we’re set. Yes, we should have bare arms and an unmasked head and that’s a shortcoming of the figure. If they couldn’t give us an unmasked head they could have given us a yelling one. It was five dollars cheaper than Deadpool so at least that appears to be reflected in the price, but it’s still an $85 figure so if you wanted more from it then I think you’re entitled to such feelings.

If you find fists boring there’s these hands.

Since this is a SHF release it should also make this Wolverine the best articulated figure of this version of the character and for the most part it is. The head and neck work together allowing Wolverine to look up and down, but maybe not down as much as some would want. It has all of the rotation and nuance you would expect of a SHF setup. The butterfly at the shoulders doesn’t allow for much, but the figure can do the claws across the chest pose. The shoulder pads are pegged into the front of the shoulder and can be moved out of the way. The shoulder can raise a little past 90 degrees and it rotates fine. The double-jointed elbows and knees bend past 90, and the wrists, thigh swivels, and toe hinge do what they’re supposed to.

The articulation isn’t amazing, but is probably good enough for this version of Wolverine.

The torso is a little more mixed. There’s a ball joint in the center which allows for some forward and back. In conjunction with the ball-jointed waist, the figure can bend forward a decent amount, but it adds nothing going back. There’s no rotation in that upper torso joint, but there is tilt. The waist is where the rotation comes from and even more side-to-side tilt. The hips go out to the side almost to full splits, but kick forward a tick shy of 90 degrees and have no range going back. The ankles can go back a little ways, but have little to no forward movement. The ankle rocker works fine at least, but there’s no boot swivel or swivel at the glove. In terms of visuals, none of the joints are ugly. The thigh swivel is pretty apparent, but not to the degree it has been on some of Bandai’s Dragon Ball figures. The elbow joints stand out a little because they are a slightly brighter yellow and bending them all the way will produce small gaps. The same is true of the knees.

It’s not the Wolverine I want, but it is pretty fun to have.

This Wolverine from the film is basically what I expected of the figure. It’s articulated reasonably well and for the look it’s going for it pretty much nails it. It’s just not the look I wanted and wasn’t willing to buy for full price. And that was my mind set when I cancelled my original preorder: why buy something I really don’t want? I want a sleeveless Wolverine. If he was that way and still lacked the unmasked portrait I would have paid full price. Ideally, we’d get a figure that comes with both. In a way, I place almost no value on the sleeved look. I’d happily ditch those arms in favor of the bare arms look and that’s how I felt with the Legends figure as well. I just think the costume looks better that way. At a reduced price though, this is fine. It’s very functional and I’ve had him on my desk for about a month and I mess around with him when I have some downtime. He’ll look good with my Deadpool, and if Bandai comes back with the version I want I’ll have to consider that one was as well. Since they’ve apparently had trouble moving this one though I’m not holding my breath. If this is the look you want for Wolverine on your shelf, then you’ll probably be satisfied with this release provided you feel it’s worth it vs the cheaper Legends release. And since basically everyone seems to have this one on sale, you probably won’t have to pay full price for the pleasure of finding out for yourself.

Here are all of the other Deadpool & Wolverine reviews we’ve done up to now:

S.H.Figuarts Deadpool & Wolverine Deadpool

Despite the fact that I own dozens of them, I don’t really consider myself a fan of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends series of action figures. They largely are able to get a purchase out of me thanks to Hasbro’s exclusivity agreement with Marvel/Disney which basically makes them the only game in town. Despite that, I will…

Keep reading
by Joe

Marvel Legends Deadpool & Wolverine Wolverine

It might be hard for the young folk to believe, but once upon a time movies based on comic book characters were treated like box office poison. Unless you were Superman or Batman, you just didn’t belong in cinema. Even those characters weren’t bulletproof. Superman had a nice run, but fizzled out with the fourth…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends Deadpool & Wolverine Deadpool

Despite the amount of reviews presents on this blog, I still do not consider myself a Marvel Legends collector. That’s because my interests are somewhat narrow when it comes to the Marvel brand. Over the years I’ve developed a fondness for Deadpool as depicted on film by Ryan Reynolds. I think the comic book character…

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by Joe

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August 8, 2025

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

By Joe

As a kid, I did a lot of my comic reading in the early 90s and as a kid in the early 90s that largely meant X-Men. The X-Men were the “it” team of the moment and seemed so far and above the rest of the pack in terms of coolness. Batman was still in style on the strength of the Burton films and the animated series and Spider-Man (and Venom) was also pretty hot. When it came to comic and comic card trading with friends, those all commanded top dollar. One franchise that did not was The Fantastic Four.

It could have just been my little corner of the world, but The Fantastic Four were regarded as your dad’s comic book franchise. They were pretty lame. If you went to Toys R Us hoping to score a Venom, Spider-Man, or Punisher action figure there was a decent chance you would have to settle for the Fantastic Four instead. I personally never settled, though I was a little interested in The Human Torch. Even though I didn’t particularly care about the franchise, my earliest Cartoon Network memory is becoming aware of the channel by seeing a listing for a Fantastic Four cartoon in TV Guide airing on the network. We didn’t have access to the channel in my market, but it was about a year later that we did and I wanted to check out that damn cartoon. Too bad it was pretty bad, but not as bad as those lone cartoons based on The Thing where the character was a kid who activated his Thing power via a magic ring: Thing Ring do your thing!

I will say they have a good tailor.

Despite my feelings on The Fantastic Four growing up, it’s hard to argue that they’re not Marvel royalty. Created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, the group is one of the oldest superhero teams with a memorable rogues gallery headlined by Dr. Doom. When comic book movies exploded in popularity, 20th Century Fox threw The Fantastic Four into the mix with a pair of films in the 2000s that made money, but didn’t seem to make a huge cultural impact. Fox decided a reboot was necessary and the franchise returned in 2015. Again, it made money, but not the kind of money that gets studio executives excited. Fox was reportedly still kicking the tires on more movies, but the acquisition of 20th Century Fox by Disney in 2019 put an end to that. Now, Marvel and Disney are back with what it hopes will be the definitive take on the franchise in film. Ever since Avengers: Endgame basically put a bow on the massive story begun with 2007’s Iron Man, Marvel has been searching for that massive hit that catapults them into the next big event film. Attempts via Disney+ and other films have been met with mixed results, but can The Fantastic Four get audiences as hyped as Avengers did back in 2012?

The setting is practically a character on its own.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is a film that has been in the works basically ever since Disney acquired 20th Century Fox. It took some time to get right, but once it did we ended up with a picture helmed by Matt Shakman with a screenplay by Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, and Ian Springer. The film stars Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing. The film is set in 1964, but a futuristic take on the era. This is a world where technology has advanced by leaps and bounds thanks to incredibly smart people like Richards. When we find him early in the film he’s working on teleportation just to give you an idea where we are as a society. As such, it doesn’t look like 1964 other than some design cues and the setting is really it’s own character. The closest example I can think of is Batman (1989) and it’s not 1940s setting that also kind of looks like 1940s America.

She does not bring tidings of great joy.

When we meet The Fantastic Four we’re informed right away that this film starts with their fourth anniversary as a team. Their origin is relayed via montage delivered by an in-universe television special and includes some cameos of their more famous adversaries though with one notable omission. When we actually meet the team, we learn right away that Sue and Reed are expecting a child, something they had been trying for with little success for years. This also sets off massive amounts of anxiety for the father-to-be who can’t help but wonder what effect their cosmic-induced mutations will have on his unborn child. Concerns have to be dismissed for an unusual individual soon reveals themself to the world: Shalla-Bal (Julia Garner), aka The Silver Surfer. She comes baring the unfortunate news that Galactus (Ralph Ineson) has marked Earth for consumption. This naturally comes as a surprise to all involved and it falls on The Fantastic Four to journey into space and barter with the world-devouring entity in hopes of sparing the Earth. They do manage to make it all the way to where Galactus dwells for a face-to-face with the massive entity and find a being who actually is willing to make a deal. The only problem is Galactus desires but one thing: the unborn son of Reed and Sue.

The shadow of Galactus looms large.

That becomes the central conflict of the film: would a parent give away their own child to save the world? It’s a pretty unfair question to ask, but I’m sure you can guess what Reed and Sue want to do and also guess that the rest of the world has a different opinion. The film mostly keeps its focus on that, but also finds time to show Ben trying to find his place in the world and Johnny’s obsession with trying to uncover more information on Shalla-Bal. The film is a tidy 114 minutes and never loses sight of the fact that this is The Fantastic Four’s film. It sounds cliche, but they do a great job of maintaining that family element without resorting to terrible sitcom tropes. This isn’t Full House, but it’s also not some anti-Full House either. There’s conflict between members of the family, but it’s organic. These characters know each other extremely well and love each other. They can annoy each other, but they also rely on each other. And I like that the film remembers that these are all super smart astronauts. Johnny isn’t some dumb jock spending all of his time trying to pick up chicks and The Thing isn’t a big grump who just wants to smash stuff. There’s nuance to all of them and I found it really gratifying to see them rally around a young Franklin Richards (Ada Scott and what Wikipedia refers to as “several other babies”) because that’s what The Fantastic Four should do.

Putting young Franklin at the center of the plot works well for a film emphasizing the family element.

When you have a cast that includes a rock man, a silver woman, and a planet devouring god-being you’re going to need some special effects. Marvel Studios does a solid job bringing characters like The Thing to life. You’re not going to forget that he’s a CGi being, but he doesn’t look out of place. Silver Surfer is also handled rather well and the film is pretty confident about placing this ridiculous being into the film and not making a big deal out of it. Galactus hews pretty close to his classic design with some modern embellishments, but the film definitely doesn’t shy away from showing the being. The colors are muted, but not removed or replaced and I suppose he looks as good as he probably could. The sets look like real sets in many places which is a nice touch over the green screen sets the MCU traditionally relies upon. H.E.R.B.I.E., the resident helper robot, looks like a mix of practical and CG elements and will likely be a crowd pleaser. Maybe not on the same level as Krypto, but kids will enjoy the little robot.

Your kids are going to want one of these.

The film does move fast which may have some questioning if it should have been longer. It’s a bit of a double-edged sword as I think audiences have superhero fatigue and the two and a half hour movies have become exhausting. I very much like how the film gives you the cliff notes version of the origin, though I can also understand some people wondering just what exactly Sue Storm’s powers are? Mr. Fantastic doesn’t get to show off his powers much and the crew really doesn’t get to engage with villains for much of the film. It’s a more procedural film with most of the action reserved for the last act. For action buffs, that’s a bad thing. For me personally, I wasn’t bothered by it. I think it helps set The Fantastic Four apart from more action-heavy franchises. I’m interested in these characters more as characters than as superheroes. It’s an approach that I think will serve the X-Men well whenever they finally get to run wild over the MCU.

The film decided to go the CG route for The Thing and the results are mostly fine.

One final point of criticism I have for the film resides with the ending. If you want zero spoilers about that ending (i.e. when we can expect to see The Fantastic Four again) then skip the rest of this paragraph as I’m going to talk about the mid-credits stinger. Yes, this film has a scene during the credits meant to hype the next adventure. Throughout the film I was quite content with how contained it was. There wasn’t any homework and I didn’t feel like Marvel was setting up another movie. Nothing felt sacrificed or incomplete for the sake of a larger narrative. Then came that mid-credits scene. I won’t actually spoil wht happens in the scene, but it concludes with “The Fantastic Four will return in Avengers: Dooms Day.” I don’t know if I let out an audible groan, but I felt like it. This film did such a good job of making me care about these characters that I don’t want to see them quickly thrust into an even larger ensemble. Now, the scene did follow a “Four years later,” message so it gives Marvel Studios a chunk of unexplored time they can go back to for later films, if they want, but I’d much rather see another Fantastic Four film before seeing them integrated with the Avengers. I know this Dooms Day thing is what the studio is hoping will do Infinity War/Endgame dollars, but I think Marvel and Disney are chasing a dragon there.

Hopefully we get to see a lot more from this group. There are always issues for The Fantastic Four to deal with.

Such concerns could be all for nothing. We’ll see. It also doesn’t really harm First Steps as a movie experience which is one I had a lot of fun with. I don’t think it’s in contention for best comic book adaptation or anything, but it’s a solid B+ theater experience. For the first time in my life I actually care about The Fantastic Four. I want to see more of these characters, this cast, and this really fun setting. Hopefully we do get more of that and hopefully this movie kicks off a new era for The Fantastic Four. The devoted fans have certainly waited a long time for this.

To my surprise, I don’t have any MCU reviews on this blog so here’s the best I can do for related posts:

Superman (2025)

James Gunn’s highly anticipated Superman has finally arrived in theaters. Is this the film Superman fans have been waiting for? The start of a mega franchise executives are hoping for? Or is it just a nice movie about a super guy and his super dog? Read on to find out!

by Joe

Dark Phoenix (2019)

What is it with the X-Men film franchise and its aversion to simple titles? We couldn’t just have X-Men 2, we had to have X2. The third film was billed as X-Men: The Last Stand in some places, but the theatrical poster seemed to imply it was X3: The Last Stand. At least the reboot…

by Joe

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Over the years, the comic book movie has changed immeasurably. Prior to the year 2000, you could basically count the successful superhero movies on one hand and the only heroes able to really break through were Superman and Batman. This meant Marvel was completely shut out despite feeling like the hotter publication for a long…

by Joe

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August 7, 2025

Marvel Legends Professor X (Savage Land)

By Joe
You can’t wear a business suit for every occasion.

It feels like lately I’ve been getting swayed by clearance and discounts when it comes to my action figure purchases. Such is the case for today’s post on Professor X from the Marvel Legends line of action figures. Target had an exclusive version of Xavier featuring the character in his jumpsuit which showed up in the spring. Having recently purchased a different, more traditional version of the professor it wasn’t something I felt I needed. I wasn’t entirely satisfied with that figure though, so I was a little interested in this new one. Plus, the jumpsuit look feels like it’s pulled straight from the old animated series as this was the look Xavier sported for the entirety of the second season. And in that season, he and Magneto found themselves stranded in the Savage Land where a device Mr. Sinister had negated mutant powers, but somehow managed to cure a paraplegic like Charles Xavier. Of course, the X-Men destroy the machine to get their powers back thus dooming the world’s paraplegics to a life of paralysis. Seriously guys, you probably should have thought that one through a little better. I know this outfit showed up in the comics as well, but the combination of the look plus Hasbro’s decision to release it on a retro card definitely has me thinking X-Men ’92.

This is definitely a more 90s interpretation of Charles vs the older figure.
Xavier definitely has some size to him.

When I buy one version of a character that I’m not crazy about I hate to compound the issue by buying another version of the same character. Especially when I don’t love that other version either. And with this Xavier it’s the face I don’t love. Xavier is often illustrated with pronounced cheek bones, but in three dimensions that makes for a bit of a lumpy appearance. Hasbro has also introduced more detailed face printing in recent years and sometimes they overdo it. That strikes me as the case here with Chuck as his eyes are rimmed with black and his lips are painted. The shade is almost like a slightly metallic peach and doesn’t look like a natural lip shade to me. It actually reminds me of a shade of lipstick my grandmother used to wear. I feel like he’s a wig away from being able to cosplay as a Golden Girl. This is in contrast to what I would want him to look like which is the animated series which took a very plain look to its character designs with mostly smooth features and no shading for the lips.

Some like this face, some don’t, but all can agree that Chuck has some crazy eyebrows.

Basically what I’m saying is that, apart from the bald head and the pronounced eyebrows, this portrait doesn’t scream Xavier to me. As for the rest of the sculpt – it’s fine. I think this body is reused from a past release, but I can’t be certain. The legs may be from Wonder Man though I’m not sure about the arms and torso. I don’t have enough Legends figures to know. Whether they are or are not, it doesn’t matter so long as they work for this figure and in this case I would say that they do. Most of the figure is colored plastic with paint reserved for the black undershirt and the belt. There are some black buttons painted onto the shirt and the rolled up sleeves were painted a lighter shade of green from the rest which is a nice touch. And we get some X logos printed on the shoulders. The greens are mostly consistent, but the legs and arms appear to have a touch more yellow to them than the torso. The knees and elbows are also a little off which is typical of these pin-less joints from Hasbro. This figure is not the worst offender in that regard and the difference is pretty subtle.

He’s got the helmet, even though he’s not supposed to have his powers in this state.

Xavier comes with just a few accessories, which is often the case for Legends these days. He has two sets of hands: fists and trigger hands. I have no idea why Professor X would come with trigger finger hands, but I guess if you want him to wield a gun he can. He also has a fifth hand which is a two-finger pointing left hand for doing mental power poses. It actually has some sculpted in lines to make it look like an actual glove which is surprising. It may be the same hand that came with the Age of Apocalypse Gambit so that may be how they justified the tooling cost. Chuck also comes with a new Cerebro helmet. At least, I think it’s new. It’s different from the one that came with hoverchair Charlie and it’s fine. It’s that swirly, gray, plastic Hasbro favors over shiny paint for metallic objects and it fits on his head just fine. There’s a hole on the back which had me thinking that was for X-Men ’97 Jean’s ponytail, but the helmet really doesn’t fit on her head because of her hair.

“We must fend them off, Magnus!”
So much for pacifism.
It’s a tight fit, but he can get into this chair and wear the former helmet.
“So we meet again, old friend.”

Xavier’s articulation is pretty standard Legends fair, though it has its own quirks. The head is a double ball peg and it’s actually the best double ball peg setup I’ve seen from Hasbro. The lower ball isn’t as deep as it normally is in the neck and he gets good range looking up, down, and tilt thanks to another joint at the base of the neck. Of course, the lack of any hair to work around is playing a role, but good is good. From there we have typical shoulder ball pegs, bicep swivel, double-jointed elbows, wrists, ab crunch, waist twist, hip, thigh, double-jointed knees, boot cut, and ankle hinges and rockers. The range on the ab crunch is pretty poor going forward and back, but aside from that the other joints are fine. The two-finger pointing hand and the trigger hands all have vertical hinges which is interesting. Not so much the trigger hands, but the two-finger gesture is an odd choice. I’m not sure which direction I’d want the hinge to go in this case. The waist twist being above the sculpted belt is a bit unfortunate because it’s ugly. If they could have set it inside the belt it would have looked better, but also cost more.

In the chair where he belongs.

The articulation is fine and it’s probably plenty for Charles Xavier, a guy who traditionally doesn’t walk. The figure also can fit into the hoverchair if you wish and he did sport that look in the show as well. This is a pretty fine Marvel Legends figure. If I liked the portrait sculpt then I’d be pretty happy here and probably would have paid full price. Since I don’t, I still question my decision to buy it as I don’t think it’s an improvement over the other Xavier I have. At any rate, he’s another addition to the animated shelf and he won’t look awful. And if I display him with the helmet I’ll probably barely notice the face. Plus, the new X-Men ’97 Morph is coming with a head for Henry Gyrich and even the Legends team had that head on the hoverchair Xavier body. Perhaps I’ll do the same eventually leaving this as my default Xavier. Even though this has been discounted for a couple of weeks now, I still see this one at Target so you may be able to find it if you’re interested. I paid $17 for it, but if they keep lingering maybe they’ll go even lower? That might be a gamble worth taking.

Professor X isn’t much on his own, so here’s some other figures that might catch your fancy:

Marvel Legends Professor X with Hoverchair

Most view superheroes as idealized versions of people. Superman has all the power he needs to mete out justice as he sees fit. He’s a man who is super fast, super strong, basically invulnerable, and he even has laser eyes for good measure. Not every character can be Superman though and as the stable of…

by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Magneto

It was two years ago that Hasbro made the announcement that it was wading into the weeds of X-Men, the cartoon series that aired on the Fox Kids Network from 1992-1997. The line was released across eight installments in 2022 (plus a ninth if you include the obviously animated-inspired Apocalypse released on a retro card)…

by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men Animated Series Mr. Sinister

This week, the long wait for an in-person San Diego Comic Con comes to an end. For the first time since 2019, attendees, creators, and the like will be invited back into the city of San Diego for a celebration of all things comics, movies, and general “nerd” culture. One of the many panels this…

by Joe

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July 28, 2025

San Diego Comic Con 2025 is in the books!

By Joe

San Diego Comic Con is always an exciting time of year for toy collectors. Even for someone like me who has never considered actually going to the event, I get up for it because I know the coverage is going to be coming fast and furious. Some years are bigger than others, but for me I think I can say that the 2025 edition has been the most surprising. I went into it with certain expectations some of which were met, but some were not and that’s not unusual. What was unusual for me is that some of the things I basically considered a “lock” did not come to pass and I left the event being perhaps most excited about a company and a product line I definitely didn’t see coming. Let’s start with the familiar though and my bread and butter franchise: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

TMNT

NECA is heading down the 2012 TMNT rabbit hole this fall.

As has been the case most years, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had no shortage of coverage this year at the convention. There was even a dedicated brand panel that covered releases from several companies. We still have Playmates for vintage re-releases and some modern takes, NECA is hitting on the toon, Archie, and Mirage, Super7 has the 2003 edition of the show, and now we have Mondo doing sixth scale stuff. Mondo’s line is their own take on a post 1990 film franchise and it looks interesting, but isn’t really on my radar for the time being. I don’t have the space or funds for another Mondo sixth scale franchise. Super7 also reaffirmed its commitment to 2k3 by unveiling silhouettes for the next wave which will include Hun, April, and a motorcycle Raphael and Shell Cycle. This would seem to be the nail in the coffin for the vintage inspired figures Super7 started off with which is really frustrating considering the figures missing (topped by Heavy Metal Raph). I’m done with the 2k3 series after Shredder, and possibly done with Super7 after that as well.

NECA has been the company at the forefront for TMNT the past several years, but their showing was surprisingly light. They did announce a line of turtles based on their appearance in the game Fortnite, but that might have been the most noteworthy. There was a leak the week before SDCC of one of their reveals for the toon line, granny Bebop and baby Rocksteady, though that release wasn’t going to blow anyone away (even if it is entertaining). The only new figure shown for the toon line otherwise was a beach Slash. There was also no big display with dioramas and such, just figures in a case. It’s pretty clear that NECA wasn’t going all out for SDCC. Is that a shift in strategy? It certainly costs money to put these big displays up and staff a booth plus rental space isn’t cheap. Are they going to pivot more to social media for reveals? Is New York Comic Con considered their flagship event? Or did the reappearance of Toy Fair earlier this year just mean all of the stuff that would have been revealed at SDCC was instead shown there?

NECA didn’t have a lot of surprised in their booth, but this certainly was the most standout one.

I don’t know the answer to any of those questions, but I was very surprised at the lack of Tempestra. She has become the biggest missing piece for the toon line, even if she is very much a B-tier character in her own right. I’m not sure why they’re slow-walking that one. They mocked up an arcade cabinet accessory for a still unreleased movie April variant more than two years ago that most assumed was really made for a Tempestra. What I did like, even though none of the figures shown were new reveals, was how the 2012 TMNT line is shaping up. The sculpts look fantastic and they’re all dated for this year and will be sold as single releases so no four or two packs. I don’t think it’s been confirmed where we’ll be able to buy them, but they’re among my most anticipated releases for the second half of 2025. The only other showing that excited me was Garfello, i.e. Garfied cos-playing as a ninja turtle, which was unexpected. It looks great and comes with Odie and is the sort of silly release I’m very likely to get.

As for the rest, there wasn’t much to be excited by. Playmates is re-releasing its remastered turtles minus the bumpy texture a lot of people didn’t like. We actually knew about that going into SDCC, but that was basically the official launch. Mezco also showed off 1990 movie turtles for its One:12 line. They look worse than the NECA releases (which are coincidentally being re-released in single packs this year), but will probably cost more than twice as much.

Mondo

No one does animated X-Men better than Mondo.

We’ll pivot from an IP to a company here as Mondo had a lot to show off. Perhaps more than any other company, though I confess I’m not interested in everything they do (like Masters of the Universe and ThunderCats). What gets my attention first and foremost when it comes to Mondo are their plans for their X-Men animated line of sixth scale figures. It’s a line that is becoming much harder to collect because of the tariff situation in the country, but I’m in too deep to dump it. Heading into the event, we knew the next figure to be solicited was likely to be Mr. Sinister who had already been shown. There was also the reveal of an event exclusive Savage Land Rogue which went up for preorder before the show. They were both at the event along with the next figure: Storm. She looks awesome and was my guess for next up. It didn’t end there though as we also got to see concept art for the next figure and it’s Beast! I’m glad he’s a little ways off since he might be an expensive one. Perhaps things can improve economically before going up for order, though there’s always the chance things get worse. Little is likely to change before Sinister goes up though which is happening in August. I love the look of the figure and he’s an A-list villain from the show, but I do not look forward to the sticker with that one.

That was a hoot!

That’s the only sixth scale line I’m in, but Mondo did reveal more Marvel and DC figures (Superman, Two-Face, Dr. Doom, Lizard) in their other lines which all seemed solid. What really caught my eye though were their Mondo Squads which are more statuesque figures with swappable parts and sold in bundles of characters. Previously, they had done a set of characters from the Nicktoon Aaahh!!! Real Monsters and now they’re moving onto Rocko’s Modern Life. I love Rocko and this set of the titular character plus his mates Heffer and Filbert is pretty much an automatic buy from me. We don’t have a lot of Rocko merch out there so the scarcity will help. Also shown is a squad of Beavis and Butt-Head with their couch and the four fellows from King of the Hill (Hank, Bill, Dale, Boomhauer). Similar to Rocko, I may have to get King of the Hill since there’s so little out there for the franchise that I have really grown to love in recent years after previously dropping off around Season 5. Mondo also teased future squads based on Rugrats and The Ren & Stimpy Show.

The last of the real Ghostbusters makes his debut in Ray.

Mondo is also heavily invested in The Real Ghostbusters, which was probably the biggest reveal of the 2024 show. We’re still waiting on the first release to drop (once again, thank you tariffs), but we have now seen all four of the busters and their companion ghosts. And, to no one’s surprise, everything looks great. I still have reservations about the price, but it is what it is and we’ll talk more about that when Peter finally arrives (hopefully sometime in August). Mondo also revealed that Janine will follow the boys and she’ll be in her more traditional secretary attire. To sweeten the package, she’ll come with her desk and an alternate lower half for a clean cross-legged sitting position. I’m guessing all of this extra stuff means she’s going to retail for $202 like the Ghostbuster + Ghost package we’ve seen up until now, but maybe that won’t be the case. That will be a tall ask and is probably something I won’t be interested in.

Marvel Legends

It’s all X-Men ’97!

I knew Hasbro would have some X-Men ’97 stuff for us, but I wasn’t prepared for just how much and how much I’d like it. We learned what wave three will be and those figures were all on-hand for folks to gawk at: Morph, Jubilee (final suit), Sunspot (final suit), Emma Frost, Cable (first outfit), Wolverine (classic civilian clothes). All of them looked pretty damn good. I’m mostly looking to supplement my ’92 display with these so Cable and Wolverine were locks. My dissatisfaction with the ’92 Jubilee puts the ’97 one on my radar, though I’m disappointed she’s in her black jumpsuit. Maybe I’ll swap heads with the ’92 one? Maybe even arms and coat? Emma just looks great though a classic take on the White Queen was enough to get me to put in a preorder and I love Morph so I’m in for the ’97 version. The only one I didn’t preorder was Sunspot. Nothing against the figure, I just don’t really care about Sunspot.

Gambit, what did they do to you?!

That wasn’t all though as we got a nice look at the made-to-order Sentinel which went up last year and there were some two-packs announced. We can look forward to a finale Cyclops and Jean (Marvel Girl), finale Wolverine and Storm, and a pairing of Rogue and Gambit from their basketball scene in the first episode. None are essentials for me and I don’t think I’ll be getting any, but I love to see how all-in Hasbro is with X-Men ’97. The one set that I would have had the most interest in is the basketball two-pack, but it is unfortunately the worst looking set of the two. That’s because it looks like Hasbro repurposed its Starting Lineup body of NBA players for its shirtless Gambit. That sculpt has a very unpleasant looking ab crunch in the middle of it. It worked okay for Starting Lineup because all of those figures had a jersey. Gambit doesn’t have that luxury and it looks terrible. It’s honestly one of those “How did this get approved?” moments that comes along once in awhile.

Aside from that, I had little to be critical of with Hasbro’s panel. They also revealed their next made-to-order figure: Mephisto. Mephisto was previously released many moons ago by Diamond in their Diamond Select line. Marvel Legends has not touched him though because he’s basically Marvel Satan and not afraid to show it. There was going to be one attached to the Engine of Vengeance HasLab if it hit a certain number of orders, but that product didn’t even fund. The Legends team had previously stated Mephisto could not be released any other way, but there was almost certainly some gamesmanship in those statements. Something obviously changed and now Mephisto is on the way, though he won’t be showing up at Walmart or Target. He is coming with his own throne and this thing sure looks familiar.

Hey! I know that skull!

Crystar fans can probably spot where this thing is from and the Legends team was not shy about stating it’s based on the cover of issue 8 by artist Michael Golden. We’ve covered that issue here and that’s because it’s also the cover musician Glenn Danzig stole from to come up with a logo for his band Samhain which then became the logo for the band Danzig. The Legends team, once again, was not at all shy about pointing that out and might even be hoping for some cross-sale appeal with that fanbase. As for Danzig, no comment has been made. The item was shared in the official Danzig fan group on Facebook and has since been removed so either he’s not happy or the moderators for that group think he would not be happy to see it. Fans have frequently traded and sold issues of Crystar there so it’s not like the group hides from the connection, but maybe he’s salty that he won’t get a cut? He probably thinks he made the image famous, and he probably did, but he has also made a lot of money off of art he never owned so I think we can call it square on this one, Mr. Danzig. Especially if Marvel never came looking for a cut of those t-shirts. Either way, the throne looks awesome and yes, I’m buying it. I don’t even care about Mephisto, but this thing looks too good to pass up. It’s an open preorder that closes August 26th and will set you back $80 when it ships next year.

As for other odds and ends, I continue to be impressed with the offerings from Jada Toys, even if the IPs they traffic in have little or no appeal to me. Except for Frosty the Snowman, I will get that. Big Bad Workshop had a variant of its upcoming action figure of The Tick on display and he might already be my most anticipated for next year. I love The Tick and it’s been at the top of my most wanted for a few years now and I hope the line is a success. We also know who will be the next character: Chairface Chippendale. The Naughty or Nice collection is also continuing and we’re finally getting a Mrs. Claus. I assume she will go up for preorder around Christmas time and hopefully will fund. She’s not the design I would have gone with, but I’ll be happy to have a Mrs. Claus join Santa on my shelf some day.

And that’s a wrap! Thanks to all of the people who cover this event every year and whose videos I snipped screen grabs from: Pixel Dan, Toy Anxiety, Robo Don’t Know. Toyark.com also has some great coverage if you prefer still shots. All of the folks involved help people like me who can’t make it to the con enjoy from my home or wherever I happen to be.

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April 30, 2025

Marvel Legends Professor X with Hoverchair

By Joe
All right kids, back in your seats. Teacher is here.

Most view superheroes as idealized versions of people. Superman has all the power he needs to mete out justice as he sees fit. He’s a man who is super fast, super strong, basically invulnerable, and he even has laser eyes for good measure. Not every character can be Superman though and as the stable of superheroes increased over the years there was more room for nuance. I’m sure some folks in marketing at Marvel Comics scoffed at the idea of a team of superheroes being led by a middle aged paraplegic, but that’s the direction Stan Lee and Jack Kirby went in when they created the X-Men. That team was founded by Professor Charles Xavier, a powerful, telepathic, mutant (which is basically used to mean a superhero born with their powers) who just so happens to be confined to a wheelchair. Unlike a character like Daredevil, a blind superhero whose enhanced, super, senses essentially negate his disability, Xavier’s powers do not help him walk. Sure, some writers have played around with that over the years, but at his core Professor X is a man with a disability able to thrive in a world of super powered individuals.

He’s a bit of a little guy.

I don’t know for certain, but in a world where even female characters were treated like radioactive material, I can imagine folks at Toy Biz not being too excited about doing a Professor X figure. It took a little while for the head man to make his debut in that old toy line, but I was honestly pumped when he did. I think he may have been the final character from the cartoon series X-Men to be released and complete the team. I know we had to wait awhile for Beast and Morph, but I can recall getting those two figures on Christmas (1994, I want to say) and the following Easter Chuck was sitting beside my Easter basket (along with Ahab, a figure not exactly high on my wants list). And aside from having a blue suit instead of green, he was pretty faithfully depicted as he was in the show complete with his 90s, stylish, hoverchair. Because of the cartoon and Jim Lee’s run on X-Men, it’s the hoverchair I most often associate with Xavier. Hasbro certainly knows that’s the case for many which is probably why they released Xavier in a deluxe package with his famous chair.

Hope you like this gesture, because it’s kind of all he can do.

This figure was released a few years ago, but in 2024 Hasbro made it available once again to preorder. Having since acquired several characters from the cartoon in Marvel Legends form, I felt like I needed Xavier to pull it all together. The addition of the chair does make for additional cost. This thing was a whopping 50 bucks, by far the most I have ever spent on a Marvel Legends figure. I was pretty skeptical it would be worth that in the end, but when you’re basically one figure short of a full squad it’s the kind of thing one will extend themselves on. Toy companies are aware of this phenomenon, which is why I fully expect Xavier to be the last release in Mondo’s very awesome, but very expensive, line of X-Men figures. Trying to imagine what a sixth scale Xavier in his hoverchair will set me back is already giving me anxiety.

His chair comes loaded with a TV and some games so he doesn’t get bored.

That is a topic for another day, today we’re in the more familiar realm of 1:12, or there about. Xavier comes in an oversized window box and is featured prominently in the center. His chair is amusingly split in half so we can see one half of the chair on each side of the figure. The backdrop contains artwork of the entire, animated, team in a style that resembles the cartoon. Beast, for example, has pupils. It displays well, but I could not care less about that fact. Once removed, the chair requires some assembly. There are four pieces to it: each side, a backrest, and a cushion. The backrest slides onto either half while the cushion plugs into a slot in the center of one of the pieces. Then you just push it together. It’s pretty intuitive and most probably won’t need to consult any instructions. Not that there is any. I’m surprised they didn’t print some on an inside flap of the box.

I like the thought of this base, but not so much the execution.

The chair looks pretty good from a sculpting standpoint. It’s not painted though, so you get some of that swirly plastic effect Hasbro seems to love when it’s trying to create the illusion of a metal material. There is a big seam down the middle which is unfortunate. It makes me wish that at least the front was a third piece that snapped over the assembled halves, essentially the same concept as the backrest, to at least get rid of the seam there. On each armrest there’s a control panel that slides out. One has a monitor while the other a keyboard and at least those two parts are painted. Even though the artwork seems to be evocative of the cartoon, the design of the chair is from the comic. The most obvious distinction is the shape of the front and lack of headlights. The chair sits fine as-is, but there’s also an included base. It’s a white post with a transparent piece of plastic over it in the shape of smoke, I guess? The transparent portion is frosted over with white paint and the plumes are pointed so, to me, it looks more like ice. I don’t think ice is what they’re going for here, but it gives the figure a little height.

Cool hat, bro.

As for Xavier himself, he’s depicted in his green suit with white shirt and blue and black tie. He has a very serious expression on his face with his signature, arched, eyebrows. His right hand is in a two-finger gesture while his left hand is open, but curled. He has no extra hands which is unfortunate. He should at least come with another right hand so he doesn’t always have to be making this very specific gesture. And because the damn thing cost 50 bucks – throw in some hands! Outside the chair, Charles stands just a tick over 6″. He has a slight build with a very big head relative to his body. It strikes me as a little off as Xavier from this era was usually portrayed as being rather broad shouldered. This figure makes him look like a weenie. Most of the figure is colored plastic with the belt and tie being where the most paint is utilized. The jacket portion of the torso is an overlay while the sleeves are part of the sculpt. This is pretty standard, but the small shoulders means some white sticks through the gap between the arms and jacket. There is also a slight discoloration to the arms vs the shoulders with the shoulders being noticeably darker and shinier. This is an older figure so it does feature pins in the joints. I don’t find them particularly distracting, but there must have been suit guys made over the past few years on pin-less bodies, no? I’m surprised he didn’t get a minor cosmetic upgrade as a result.

Hey professor, you got some…ugh…stuff…squirting out of the back of your head.

Articulation for Charlie is pretty typical stuff for Legends. We have: ball hinge neck, ab crunch, ball-hinged shoulders, biceps swivels, wrist swivels and hinges, waist swivel, ball-socket hips, thigh swivel, ankle hinge and rocker, double-jointed elbows and knees. Range at the hips and shoulders is mediocre and the ankles are pretty limited too, though I guess that doesn’t matter much for a character who will be seated. He’s going to do what you need him to do, but if that’s something you want him to do is outside Professor X’s typical wheelhouse then you won’t be impressed. Like standing. This guy is really hard to stand because the range on the ankle hinged is poor and his feet are tiny. Again, for this guy it doesn’t matter, but if you wanted to swap in a different Xavier and use this body as a custom for someone else you may be disappointed.

If you’re curious, it can kind of fit the head of the X-Men ’97 Jean.

I have critiques for the presentation and articulation on this set, but the bulk of my criticism is going to reside with the accessories. I suppose one could consider the hoverchair itself an accessory, but since this is a set that’s double the price of a typical Legends release I think of it more like a two-pack where the hoverchair is almost like its own thing. And the hoverchair has the effect part stand and also a little blankie that can go over the lap of its occupant. That’s all fine, but for Xavier himself the accessory count is slight. He has his Cerebro helmet which is more of a classic design than one that’s evocative of the 90s or animated series (if you want a more TV helmet, the new Target exclusive Savage Land Xavier comes with one). It fits on his head fine though you may have to mess with it to get it aligned just right. It also has an effect part that plugs into the back. Its done in white plastic with a pearlescent coating. The shape is like a splatter effect and it’s supposed to represent his psychic powers which are sometimes illustrated with such a shape. For me, I think of them as being colored pink or blue (even the box art opts for pink), though I’m sure someone colored them white at some point in the comics. It’s just this color and this shape make it look like he’s getting hit in the back of the head with a balloon filled with milk, or a substance that’s much more disgusting.

Obviously, this is how everyone is going to display this guy.

For optional parts, we have the head of the Shadow King. Your mileage may vary, but for me, the Shadow King was always one of the lamest characters associated with X-Men. I loathe his episodes from the show so this isn’t an accessory that’s going to appeal to me. That being said, the sculpt and paint on the head is fine. There’s more paint on this thing than probably on the entirety of the rest of the set. It’s also just a head and it’s not meant for this figure. My understanding is that this head is designed to fit on the Kingpin body so if you want to create a Shadow King for your collection you need to go out and get yourself another Kingpin. Which is fine as a throw-in if they had room in the budget, but this head is the only other accessory in the box. We don’t get a second portrait for Charles, we don’t even get any extra hands! I wish he had some neutral hands for just when he’s sitting in his chair or at least one alternative to the pointing fingers hand. A portrait where he’s calling out commands to his X-Men would be appreciated too and I would happily trade this Shadow King head for accessories for Xavier that flesh him out. That’s the character I want. That’s what’s driving my purchasing decision. Not a random part that’s only useful if I go out and buy a whole other figure.

This set may be more expensive than your typical Legends release, but the end result is pretty much the same. This Charles Xavier figure is what you buy if you have a collection of Marvel Legends X-Men and you just want an Xavier. It’s going to slot into your display and anyone who sees it will know that’s Professor X. It’s not going to “wow” anybody though and there are a lot of shortcomings. The actual figure strikes me as a better representation of a 60s and 70s Xavier who was drawn more like an older guy. As a 90s Chuck, this guy is too small and slight. The chair looks fine, but the lack of paint also makes it look cheap. And if they had just done the thing in three pieces where the front portion that covers the characters legs was one piece it would have cut out that hideous seam right down the middle. The accessories are a bummer because the figure feels underbaked, and given that this is a re-release it’s an added bummer because they could have improved the figure at no added expense. There are better suit-guy molds at Hasbro they could have used or just more hands. It’s almost like they want you to go out and buy that Savage Land Xavier in the flight suit if you’re unsatisfied with this one and toss him in the chair instead. I prefer my Xavier in his green suit though, and I don’t like the portrait of that new Xavier. Plus, his assortment of hands are almost as bad as they are here (he comes with trigger finger hands – why would Xavier need trigger finger hands?!).

Obligatory, “To me, my X-Men,” shot.

Should you get this one? I don’t know. It’s really just to fill out a collection which is honestly the worst reason to buy something. I try not to do it because money and space are precious resources and I don’t like wasting either on something I don’t love. And to get this guy into your display it’s going to take some work since he does demand quite a bit of shelf space. It looks okay, so I don’t hate it. I would like it a whole lot more if it were $35 instead of $50 so maybe I should have held out for a sale. One may come, one may not, as X-Men are pretty hot right now thanks to X-Men ’97 so anyone waiting for a sale somewhere is probably taking a risk.

There are more reviews here of X-Men action figures if you’re looking to fill out a shelf:

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