Toy Review: Mondo Toys Wolverine – X-Men the Animated Series

When Mondo Toys debuted, the company had big plans. 1/6 scale Ninja Turtles! Masters of the Universe! Superhero Robots! Transformers! G.I. Joe! And multiple figures for each line. As the reality of a pandemic world hit, some of those ambitions had to scale back. The Masters of the Universe line, for one, has revealed a lot more variants lately than brand new characters. Those G.I. Joes and Transformers haven’t materialized yet. But the company has managed to kick of the X-Men: The Animated Series 1/6 scale figure line, with its debut Mondo Toys Wolverine!

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The regular version is up for preorder at many sites right now, including our partners at Entertainment Earth. (Superhero Hype may earn fees for purchases made from Entertainment Earth through our site links.) But the Comic-Con exclusive version from last summer is just now arriving, as our review sample did. The differences to the actual figure are relatively minor: he comes with an extra sad head and a pillow accessory. The differences in packaging, more significant.

Mondo usually packages figures in extremely collector friendly trays within boxes. The exclusive, however, made primarily for display, ain’t that. It will take some judicious scissor-cutting if the goal is in any way to preserve the cardboard bed backdrop. But it can be done.

Shipping-wise, Mondo remains extremely careful. The figure box comes inside its own box, inside a sleeve covered in cartoon-style artwork,  which then gets plastic coasters added to all four corners, then put inside of another padded box for shipping. That’s as close to mint as a company can guarantee in delivery form. And for those buying this strictly for display, it’ll be great. But for our review purposes, opening the package was necessary.

After cutting away the box window, twist ties, and everything else, gently pry up the end of the bed to find all Wolverine’s accessories hidden udnerneath, each in their own connected plastic pouches. These include multiple heads (mouth open, mouth closed, mask off, and Morph) and hands (open hands, holding hands, claw hands, energy effect hands, and one beckoning/pointing left hand), and a turkey leg. The picture frame in the figure’s hands includes a clear plastic insert to hold the included Jean and Scott pic, or any other image of your choice inthat size. Make Logan pine over you and your significant other!

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The coloring on the figure is impeccable. With bright base colors and outlines in all the right places, he literally does look like a 2-D cartoon come alive. Subtle cel-shading details, barely noticeable in wide shots, make him pop even more.

Mondo could have cheaped out and reused their Masters of the Universe base body. They did not, though the muscular thighs look very similar. On the minus side, this one sports less articulation, most obviously missing the shoulder/upper bicep cut. This renders Wolverine unable to properly do the X-Men/Wakanda Forever crossed-arms pose.

He does feature a double ball neck, double ball mid torso, cut waist, cut-and-hinge elbows, disc and pin wrists, ball hips, double ball-and-hinge knees, and hinge/rocker ankles. That said, his shoulder pads and trunks are harder than one might expect, and restrict movement. Don’t try to sit him down without a backboard, or raise his arms high above his head.

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And this is a key issue. Collectors exepect larger, premium figures to have more detail and articulation than any smaller, mass-retail version. Well, Marvel Legends has an animated-style Wolverine coming for around $30. It has way more articulation, including butterfly chest joints and upper thigh cuts. Unlike Mondo’s Masters of the Universe, which offer a unique “ultimate” style incoporating elements from multiple iterations, this is based on the same design as the Hasbro. Is a version twice the size with half the joints worth $239? If Hasbro still made 12-inch collector figures, the question would be absurd. And maybe if they see this one sell well, they’ll restart.

Wolverine includes a stand with an unusual clip. Like a hybrid between Hot Toys’ crotch cup and Kaiser dolls’ waist clip. The Masters of the Universe figures utilized the waist clip, but try that with Wolverine and it cracks apart at the seams. It works in the crotch-cup position, however.

The coolest effect on this figure is the energy slash, permanently attached two two fist-up hands. It catches the light well, and the sparks at either tip look dynamic and sharp.

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Collectors have a choice to make here. This Mondo Toys Wolverine is very good for what it is, and when it was announced, no other company was doing animated-style figures for this cartoon. But now they are, and it makes the question of price a lot more relevant. Since most collectors will display rather than play, additional articulation may be moot. But we just report the details; buyers decide. And Entertainment Earth currently has the regular version for preorder as of this writing.

Take a look through the gallery below for more images.

Recommended Reading: Wolverine: Origin – The Complete Collection

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