Best Wolverine

[Trekker 42]

Wow it's been a whole like... day without a single post on Minimate Multiverse.

Maybe this'll bring back a small spark of life.

Which Wolverine is *THE* Wolverine? 

This is one of those characters I imagine it was hard to figure out exactly how to bring him new and exciting versions every time he needed to show up. After all, how many times can you do jeans and flannel and make it interesting? And the fact that we never got a skeleton... Actually @Barry was Skelerine ever an option? Also as The Creator I'd like to know which of your Wolverine designs you're proudest of.

As usual, I'm going to do 3: one classic, one movie, and one WildCard.

Classic Wolverine: It... it's Wave 28. Every detail was perfect: the mask, the hairpiece, the belt under the belt, the fact that he has spare hands for retracted claws, the facial expression... for me the best Wolverine by far. If I wasn't dedicated to doing those categories, the post would stop here. And paired with that Deadpool, it's honestly one of the greatest individual Minimate Two Packs ever.

Hugh Jackman: Man this one's hard. I hate the hands on all the XMOW versions, but the one that came with Blob (with the classic jacket and giant belt buckle) otherwise looks good as hell. Bone Claw Wolverine from DOFP is also quite nice (love the bullet riddled torso) but I'm not enthusiastic about it. And the black trenchcoat is a bit plain on Suit Wolverine from The Wolverine. I think, in the end, I have to give it to the XMOW one. It's the one time that movie will be best at anything. Except maybe "Best live action Blob." By default.

WildCard: I... it's Weapon X. Look, I love Age of Apocalypse with all my heart. Wastelands Wolverine has some cool options to make a great Old Man Logan. Brood Wolverine is *Fucking Terrifying.* WWII Wolverine's claws look great and the outfit has so many fun options. But Weapon X... now that is a masterpiece. Excellent facial expression, the helmet looks incredible, the hair is really damn good and makes him look even more unkempt and dead-eyed, he has so many tubes... It's a truly perfected rendition of such a long awaited look. 

[Barry]

An adamantium skeleton was an option for Wave 72 / TRU 23, but wasn't picked and I forget why.  We'd also discussed a wolverine with his adamantium actively getting removed from Fatal Attractions, but it was bumped for too much new tooling.  I tried to make one (no art, just parts on a blank sheet) with some of the Venom and Carnage tendril pieces, but it didn't seem very good.  We also had a text listing for Fatal Attractions wave at one point but dropped it.

I like a lot of different Wolverines for different reasons, so it’s tough to pick just one favorite. Here are the ones that stand out for me:

Honourable Mentions:

TRU 22 First Appearance Wolverine – but only without the mask.  The face tampo is super clean but I was always disappointed that we couldn’t give him a proper new sculpted mask.  The “ears” being flat doesn't quite feel right even if they weren’t very raised in the comics.  Maskless though he's a great figure.

Wave 74 Old Man / Young Man Logan – I’ve always been a sucker for figures that can be two-in-one with a few swap-out parts (especially when I went crazy and made Chameleon turn into Mary Jane) since it's not something a lot of toy lines can do.  This one is a nice figure all round, no matter what combination you use to make him old or young or jacketed or in his tank top.

TRU 23 Tactical Wolverine – minus the tactical gear, it’s just a nice reliable brown suit Wolvie.

A funny one to mention is the WWII Wolverine with Final Battle Deadpool from X-Men Origins, only because Hugh Jackman put a picture of it on social media with a graphic of two hearts sharing a milkshake between them, and he tagged Ryan Reynolds in it.  Figure's not great, but I was very excited to see that he did that.

 

If I follow your categories from above:

Classic Wolverine - Wave 72 Ninja Attack Wolverine. This I'm fairly certain was Boyd’s idea, and I’m a bit surprised we were allowed to do it since it's a somewhat violent image even though we know Logan will be okay, (which is probably why we were allowed).  The chest cap with the arrows looks great (even if they bend a bit), and without it you’ve got solid angry Wolverine.

Hugh Jackman Wolverine - Logan.  It’s nothing earth-shattering, but I'm happy with the wistful face and the double-duty alternate parts.

Wild Card - Wave 72 Weapon X.  The gear on this one came out really nicely and I love whenever we get to use vinyl tubes.  He also works as a really nice feral Wolverine without the gear. No idea why it took us so long to finally do him, but I’m glad we did.

 

Although maybe my favourite is a cheat pick, so I'll separate it from the rest - the unreleased X-Men Animated Wolverine.  I’m very proud of all those designs, but its hard not to make them nice since they’re based on such iconic art.  If he had been released, I think he’d be one of those “tough to beat” figures.

[buttheadsmate]

A very difficult 'ask' , there are several faces I adore , several costume versions that are outstanding.    

The Wave 28 / Heroes & Adversaries version* is almost my favourite but I am totally in agreement with BB .... TRU 22, 1st. appearance is my total favourite . I am astonished that Barry feels exactly the same as I do about the mask , the designer & the fan in total agreement  Sculpted-masks ,so divisive .

* Hail Ivan but why does the TRU Wave 3 version get a place as 'different ' ? Is it ?  

 

 

[Trekker 42]

1 hour ago, buttheadsmate said:

A very difficult 'ask' , there are several faces I adore , several costume versions that are outstanding.    

The Wave 28 / Heroes & Adversaries version* is almost my favourite but I am totally in agreement with BB .... TRU 22, 1st. appearance is my total favourite . I am astonished that Barry feels exactly the same as I do about the mask , the designer & the fan in total agreement  Sculpted-masks ,so divisive .

* Hail Ivan but why does the TRU Wave 3 version get a place as 'different ' ? Is it ?  

 

 

Yes actually. If you go to "alt front" on each figure you'll see that the Wave 28 version has a red normal belt under the X-Men belt and the TRU 3 version has a blue belt. 

[elhonez]

GSXM (Wave 68) is my favorite Tiger Stripe for all of the relevant details, but I of course augment it with accessories from all over the place.

But sometimes I like First Appearance (TRU22) more. For the hairy arms and darker blue. And it's easy to swap the mask between the two versions.

Honorable mention (for Tiger Stripe): Ninja Attack (Wave 72). Just awesome.

 

Brown Costume? I'll need to think on that one.

[Nessex]

Tactical Wolverine from TRU23 is a pretty decent version of the brown costume. 

[Padrino]

3 hours ago, elhonez said:

GSXM (Wave 68) is my favorite Tiger Stripe for all of the relevant details, but I of course augment it with accessories from all over the place.

But sometimes I like First Appearance (TRU22) more. For the hairy arms and darker blue. And it's easy to swap the mask between the two versions.

Honorable mention (for Tiger Stripe): Ninja Attack (Wave 72). Just awesome.

 

Brown Costume? I'll need to think on that one.

I think Wave 68 was the best X-Men wave, period. Classic characters. New parts. Amazing execution. Every character is perfection.

[buttheadsmate]

12 hours ago, Trekker 42 said:

Yes actually. If you go to "alt front" on each figure you'll see that the Wave 28 version has a red normal belt under the X-Men belt and the TRU 3 version has a blue belt. 

[WookieFodder]

I like the Age of Ultron Wolverine with the hoodie. The two WWII movie mates are some of my all time favorites Minimates because we only got so many solider outfits. 
 

X-Force uniform is one of the coolest too. Not the one from the boxset though because that mask looks like bird. 

[Shanester]

Wave 28.  I appreciate the design looking straight out of a comic.  Simple but detailed.

[karamazov80]

My favorite Wolvie is also the wave 68, Giant Sized X-Men version. Iconic Wolvie, terrific design, mostly clean tampos, and whether it was by design or just wishful thinking, he seems to have a Dave Cockrum styled mouth that I appreciate. I echo Padrino, in that this may be my favorite wave of any Minimates ever. Iconic representations of classic comic characters in one of my favorite comic runs with bold, basic colors. Just everything I want from Minimates.

My second favorite is the TRU wave 22 Wolvie. And I think part of the reason actually is the slip on mask/helmet deal. I had the Secret Invasion one, and used a wash to highlight the paint details that were lacking on the production figure, but it still looks a bit clunky. The control they had over the TRU 22 version made it look so damn good.

The thing that saddens me is that we never had a brown Wolverine that could match up with the greatness of those figures, or the wave 22 or Greatest Hits figures (both really good, by the way, but I'm not as keen on the colors, and eye placement on the wave 22 version). Wave 47 was OK, and before that I cobbled together one using parts from Daken and another brown Wolvie, but this is my favorite design of my favorite Marvel character.

I think Tactical Wolverine passed me by completely somehow, so I'm thinking I need to pick that guy up.

[cylonchaney]

I was always partial to Secret Invasion Wolverine.

[Trekker 42]

1 hour ago, karamazov80 said:

 

I think Tactical Wolverine passed me by completely somehow, so I'm thinking I need to pick that guy up.

I want both in that two pack. Tactical Wolverine and Black Magneto both rule.

[TheMinimateKing30]

Yeah, I can't lie, the Wave 28 Wolverine is honestly a peak figure in my eyes. With the exception of the outdated claws, it nails everything it needs to. Colors, mask, hair, etc. It's glorious.

Runner up... if I'm being honest, my runner-up would be the first appearance Wolverine figure from the 2016 Deadpool comic wave. If it had a different mask, it'd be peak Wolverine for me, only because of the claws.