Towelites it’s been a long time, a very long time. I have neglected one of my passions in life and that’s toy photography. I haven’t stopped collecting or loving toys I just haven’t had the time to dedicate to the hobby. I hope that moving forward I can make more time and share with you my thoughts on the latest action figures to hit my shelves.
To be honest my collecting has evolved since the last time I reviewed an action figure. Many thanks to Casey for putting me on a path of destruction as I have become a little more of a toy snob when it comes to what I spend my hard earned cash on. Today’s review will feature a figure from Hasbro’s Marvel Legends line; a line that has increasingly gotten better over the past couple years but as I will talk about in a bit, doesn’t hold a candle when it comes to quality. Finally, we have a plastic version of the character and it’s one that I hesitated to pick up. Mezco’s One:12 Collective is an amazing line in the collecting world and though it is young, it has produced some awesome figures. Their version of Old Man Logan is due out later this year and I can’t wait to get my hands on it. Hasbro, who we have had plenty of choice words about, also produced a version of the character which I am taking a look at today. I hope to share with you my love for Hot Toys, Figuarts and Mezco’s One:12 Collective in future reviews but I thought that we would start somewhere closer to where my collecting began.
For a LONG time I have collected Marvel action figures. In fact Wolverine is one of the very first figures I ever acquired when I was younger. The classic yellow and brown 3.75 inch Toy Biz Wolverine was a figure I begged my parents for and received for my birthday one year. Since then, Wolverine has gone through many transformations, but only recently has one become one of my favorite versions of the character as he’s now playing a central role in the main Marvel landscape. Back in 2008, Mark Millar and Steve McNiven created Old Man Logan, an alternate future where things went to hell and tell the story of how Logan tried to set it all straight. If you haven’t read that comic get on it. Recently, after the Secret Wars event, the character became part of current cannon and has been one of my favorite ongoing series as of late thanks to the great Jeff Lemire.
I’ve been on the fence about buying it but once Logan hit retail price on Amazon I ordered it and here we are today. Though my tastes have changed, I do find the newer Marvel Legends do look MUCH better than what they were hashing out a few years ago but at the same time I can feel the difference between the materials used when comparing a Hasbro figure to one with a higher price point. Which is why I find it extremely frustrating that people will pay scalper prices for these figures. I belong to a lot of the Facebook clubs and I am amazed at the ignorance of my fellow collector sometimes, but hey it’s your money so I won’t rag on you too much.
I think what has impressed me the most is the attention to the face sculpt, Hasbro has definitely listened to the complaints out there and has been constantly putting faces on figures that actually look decent. One of the best examples is the new Gamora figure from the Guardians of the Galaxy set. Articulation is a funny things these days, I remember how big of a deal it was and now it’s pretty standard. If you don’t have at least 25 points you better pack your bags and go home. Logan has all of the important one so no complaints there but the issue I have is that they become a little shaky after very little posing. When I give the figure a little shake you can definitely sense where you will have issues in the future when the figure “loosens” up, being that it’s in the ankles and knees. This will be a bane when it comes to displaying your figure in various stances. The real test of a great figure these days is joint longevity.
The attention to detail on the clothing is decent, even Logan’s cowboy boots have little carvings in them. The jacket is partial soft goods and it works with this figure, I am not a fan of it usually, the Rogue figure you could see clearly where it met the hard plastic part, Logan is a bit more seamless in the presentation. His outfit reflects his current look in the comics with the short leather jacket opposed to the trench coat he wore in the original series. I actually don’t mind this because Mezco chose to go with the classic look including the cowboy hat so getting the modern look here is fine. I will have to do a side-by-side comparison when I get the other. Logan’s claws are also not too shabby as there have been issues with them over the years depending on the material used to make them. This time around they are more of a hard plastic and keep their form pretty well.
Overall I’m glad that I didn’t break down and pay anymore for this figure than what it’s worth. Could I have waited for it to go under 20 bucks, of course. Most Marvel Legends these days are priced between 10 and 15 dollars on Amazon and this is a price-point where I think they belong. The age-long argument: the figure is worth the dollar the collector is willing to pay for it, and while I agree with that statement you also have to be a smart collector these days. There are a lot of options out there and sometimes spending a little more money on quality is where it’s at.
