Standing out in the very crowded Wolverine statue/bust market, DST's Wolverine as Brood statue (sculpted by Ken Usanami) is nothing if not eye-catching. However, it is also carries a very pricey MSRP for a very small sculpt, never a good combination. Does the sculpt justify the high price? Can a statue based entirely on a single cover stand out in the 3'd world? Hopefully, this review will help. And, in my on-going effort to improve these reviews, I am adding one review category and redefining another. The four categoris will be: Statue Concept (is the sculpt inspired? does it "fit" with the character), Sculpt (the execution of the concept), Paint Job, and over-all value (are there known issues such as breakage? is it worth the msrp?). Hopefully these will give a very clear idea about the statue. Also, I will grade on a 1 to 5 scale, with one being a statue of absolute crap, and 5 being as perfect a piece as can be. On to the review.
Statue Concept
Based entirely on the cover to Uncanny X-men #234 (attached at the bottom of this review), this statue tackles the tremendous problem of bringing a 2-d piece into a 3-d world. As you can readily notice, while the cover does show the majority of Wolverine's left front side, the sculptor had to imagine what the back and part of Wolvie's right side looked like, and make it fit with the known part of the source material. Mr. Usanami could not have sculpted the statue any more faithful to the cover. Its a fantastic translation of a drawing to a sculpt.
But therein lies the problem. Being based on the cover, the sculpt itself is limited to that artist's intepretation. Every aspect of the cover is in the sculpt, and that includes Wolverine's claws. These claws on the cover seem more like adamantium-covered toothpicks than the blades we see many times in the comics. And, as you might have guessed, the statues's claws therefore resemble metal painted toothpicks. While someone familair with the source material may forgive this, it unfortuantley is the sculpt's design's greatest flaw. The base is also the "spotlight" circle that is presented on the cover. While its a simple base, it does nothing to add to the piece. Finally, the sculpt's concept may not be intriguing for anybody but die-hard Wolverine and X-men fans. The sculpt, therefore, can best be desribed as a niche piece.
The Sculpt
While some may want to argue the concept of the piece, there is no denying the quality of the execution. The appears of Wolverine screaming in pain as he becomes something different, and his body seems to show the signs of the change. His arms are given a scaly feel and his veins are popping out of both his arms, his neck, and his forehead. His legs and back show the various degrees of turning into scales. As far as his height and build, the sculpt is also near perfect. He is muscular, but not overly so, again reflecting the build of Wolverine on the cover. While the sculpt is monstrous in appearance, that is its intention, and this sculpt is a beauty in that respect.
But it is not perfect. Some of the "fill-in" areas of the sculpt don't work. For instance, and most notably, the veins popping out near Wolverine's left eye and forehead region extend all the way to the left flap of his mask. However, how is the vein extending ot the mask, when there is presumably no part of Wolverine's head there? And while the upper row of teeth are as menacing as can be imagined, it also seems as if they wer esomehow glued to his mouth in some manner. It just doesn't connect to his mouth as perfectly as it should. And, as mentioned before, the claws resemble toothpicks, even if it does match the cover. Though it should be mentioned the claws are straight, and not slightly curved as shown on the source material.
The Paint-Job
This is probably the best paint job as any DST piece I've seen. This is more amazing considering how difficult of one it must have been. Wolverine's costume is the classic brown one, and is painted beautifully. Highlights of a sickish gray and black abound on the areas of the costume where his skin is changing. His eyes are a great shade of red, too. The only section of the piece perhaps painted a bit lazily are the claws. While metallic, I would have preferred a lighter shade of grayish metal. Also, the base is painted a very simple blue with black shading underneath Wolverine, which is to represent his shadow (again, see cover). While very faithful to the cover, the painting of the base doesn't really set this piece off very well.
Over-All value
Undoubtedly the main concern with this statue would be is astronomcally high MSRP ($175.00). While this is indeed the going rate for full-size statues, many would argue this deserves to be in that category. Measuring only 7.5 inches tall, it is no taller than your average mini-statue. If this piece were standing instead of having Wolverine on his haunches, it would undoubtedly be taller, but even then the sculpt does not merit such a high MSRP. This becomes even more apparent when you consider the overly simplistic base, which is easily the least complex one you will find. I even feel the piece is expensive at the discount rates you can find on ebay, as it just is not in the same league as other FS statues. It simply does not have the necessary bang for your buck, especially at retail. However, there is little chance of getting one broken, except for maybe the claw, which extend far out.
Conclusion
So, should you buy this piece? The answer is a solid maybe. Any die-hard Wolverine or X-men fan would probably strongly consider this piece, especially as it will stand out in the collection. However, it is an extremely niche piece. Anyone with just a passing interest in Wolverine or the X-men may want to check out other more classic versions of these characters. Also, search for a decent price on ebay, as this is no way worth $175.00. While I'm a huge fan of the concept and Wolverine, the overly simplistic base, the smallness of the piece, and the high price tag, I can only give it a
3 out of 5 stars.
