Despite a number of comic versions and a wealth of films to pick from, Diamond Select have only ever done two figures from the X-Men film series - both of which were the iconic Wolverine. The first was in 2009 and based on Logan's appearance in X-Men Origins. This early figure, in jeans and white T-shirt, was updated in 2013 with a brand new version as seen in the standalone Wolverine film of the same year. Wolverine, in both instances, is becoming a real grail figure for MS collectors and in particular the newer version which was a huge improvement on the first in terms of sculpt and articulation. I was lucky enough recently to get hold of this newer Logan and I am so pleased to be able to review him for you today. Wolverine comes packed with a plethora of options which means from one figure you can achieve a quantity of different looks. There are 3 heads in the pack, one is neutral, one is snarling and one is screaming. You can then choose classic Wolverine "bone claws", or the more iconic Adamantium claws. And if neither of these are too your liking, you can stick with normal hands. Normal Hands? I hear you cry, why on earth would we - well the normal hands are there to hold the samurai sword which also comes packed in. With all these accessories you can forgive DST for not packing any background pieces which was included in the original 2008 figure Starting with the sculpt and this is probably the best Movie Select that Diamond have done to date (May 2015). The heads are all a striking resemblance to Hugh Jackman, and all three of them capture an iconic look for Hugh from the films, The chest is sculpted really well with lots of definition on the muscles, this continues down the arms and to the hands which are all well designed. Hand set one is the bone claws (pre Weapon X), set two are the classic Adamantium claws and set 3 are plain to hold the Samurai sword that is also packed in with the figure. The trousers, are fairly plane but work well and the figure is finished off with some nicely done army boots. The only criticism you could heap on the sculpt is the decision to do Logan as we found him at the start of the movie, rather than in say a white vest or leather jacket. Paint is superb also, bringing out all the detail in the face, particularly the eyes and teeth. There is subtle shading on the skin and hair is painted on the chest and arms which at this scale, and on what is essentially a £20 figure, is really well done. The pants are painted green with a brown wash to dirty them up and there is a similar highlight layer on the boots. Articulation, and we still haven't found a downside. The head is ball socket for swapping out with the 3 options, but can also revolve a full 360 degrees and look up and down. Arms are on a ball jointed shoulder so can be moved 90 degrees out from the body and then swing back and forth with a good range to get them to either straight out, straight back or even straight up over-head. After the ball joint shoulder there is a biceps swivel to further aid movement and a standard pivot elbow. The hands are then on a standard joint but also rotate. The chest is jointed, and here is a niggle as if you lean Logan too far back on the chest joint you can see a noticeable gap - not that you will ever use that position as Logan will always be leaning forward menacingly. The hips are ball on a two way joint, and without any bulky armour or cloaks this is the first select figure you can get into a true sitting mode. There is then a thigh swivel, double jointed knees and ball jointed ankles. All in all this allows Logan to get into plenty of dynamic poses. So what's the downside? Well nothing really, Movie Wolverine is as close to a perfect figure at this scale and price point as you will get. In fact I will go as far as say that the head sculpt is knocking on the door of some of the higher end product in terms of quality. I can gripe a little about the choice of outfit, but then again if you stuck a jacket and vest onto Logan you would love the articulation which is as much of a contributor to this figure as the sculpt. The only downsize is getting hold of the figure, which is already circa £60-£80 boxed and around £30-£40 loose (prices as of June 2015). Wolverine deserves nothing less than 5 out of 5, and I hope that at some point in the future that Diamond / Marvel / Disney (whoever is restricting the range) can see their way to give us both additional Wolverines (this head would have worked great on a Days of Future Past Wolverine) and some more of the great characters from the X-Men Movie Universe.
