WOLVERINE – BROWN COSTUME, WOLVERINE – BROOD-INFECTED, & THE BROOD
MARVEL MINIMATES
Okay, it’s time for another review from the wonderful world of Minimates! Once again, the figures in today’s review hail from the flagship Marvel Minimates line, which is a pretty huge line of figures. This time around, it’s two versions of Wolverine and the alien race the Brood from the X-Men side of things. Let’s have a look!
THE FIGURES THEMSELVES
Wolverine, the Brood, and Brood-infected Wolverine were released as part of Marvel Minimates Series 47, which was based around the “Outback” era of the X-Men comics during the 80s. Basic Wolverine was the basic release, with the Brood-Infected Wolverine as the one-per-case variant. One Brood was packed with each of the Wolverines.
WOLVERINE
This was this series’ normal Wolverine. He’s based on Wolverine’s brown costume, which he quite prominently wore for most of the 80s and a short period of the 90s. The figure is built on the standard Minimate body, so he stands about 2 ½ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation. The figure features a sculpted mask, belt, boots, and hands. All of these pieces have been used on previous figures, but given the similarities between this and other Wolverine looks, this is a completely understandable practice. Generally, they are the best available Wolverine pieces, so that works out well. The paint work on Wolverine is okay, but not the greatest. There are a few sloppy lines here and there, and my figure was missing the upper part of his left glove entirely. Obviously, the last one was an isolated incident, but it speaks poorly for the general quality control of this series. Wolverine includes a spare hair piece and a pulled down mask to hang on his shoulders. Both are new, which is impressive for a figure that is otherwise re-use.
WOLVERINE – BROOD INFECTED
The Brood infected wolverine is a tweak on the basic Wolverine in the series. He is meant to depict Wolverine in the midst of being transformed into one of the Brood. He’s in the brown costume, like the normal Wolverine, but this time around it’s a lot more greyed out, to match his different skin tone. Like the regular Wolverine, this one is built on the standard Minimate body and features a sculpted mask, belt, boots, and hands. The belt and hands are the same as those seen on the regular figure, but the mask and boots are different and in fact are brand new to this particular figure. Both pieces represent slightly more exaggerated proportions than the regular versions, which lend themselves more to the Brood-transformation. The paint work is okay, but not great. There aren’t any outstanding issues like with the normal version, but he still suffers from some fuzzy lines, and a few misplaced details. This Wolverine includes a pair of Brood tentacles, which can be put on in place of his normal hands.
THE BROOD
The Brood are one of the more prominent alien races to grace the pages of X-Men. They have quite a few similarities to the Xenomorphs of the Alien franchise, though, interestingly enough, I’m not a huge fan of them. This is meant to be a basic Brood drone, which is the most common design choice, and the one that is best to army build. The figure is sort of based on the base Minimate body, but he does not make use of anything below the waist. The figure makes use of several unique sculpted bits, and sits horizontal, so it measures a little under 2 inches in height and about 3 inches long, with 20 points of articulation, thanks to his six arms. The figure features a sculpted head, torso cover with ball joints for two extra arms on either side, a tendril on each arm, and a tail that plugs into the bottom of his torso. All of these pieces are new to the Brood, though the tendrils are shared with the infected Wolverine. They all work pretty well, though the head is more like a hat piece to the normal head, which makes it look odd when viewed from bellow. The paint work on the figure is mostly just the basic green-brown, with a few details on the head and tail. Everything is pretty clean, though there are a few instances of slop. The Brood includes no accessories.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
As with many other Marvel Minimates sets, these two were purchased, along with the rest of their series, from my local comicbook store on the day of release. I was excited for the series overall, but these two sets were probably my least favorite. Initially, I hadn’t even intended to pick up the Brood-Infected Wolverine set at all, but when I saw them at the store, I figured they looked cool enough. I’m still not the biggest fan of the Brood, and that figure in particular pushes the use of the base body almost to its breaking point, but I can’t think of another way to translate the design. These sets gave us a pretty great version of Wolverine’s brown costume, a neat Brood-Infected version, and a decent Brood figure for those who are fans. All in all, I’d say these sets are a pretty decent win for the line.
The Figure In Question 