Kre-O Wolverine

by KansasBrawler

Even though I never had it as a kid (or even knew about since this was back in the days before the Internet), I’ve always thought the Wolverine was a pretty cool Joe vehicle. Hailing from 1983, the Wolverine had a very realistic military design, yet since it was an “armored missile vehicle”, it wasn’t just another tank. By 1983, the Joes had your traditional military vehicle bases (tanks, jeeps, helicopters, fighter jets) pretty well covered, so the design team got to take a few liberties and came up with something that definitely fits with the standard military aesthetic but is kind of an amalgamation of several ideas. When I learned that the Wolverine was going to be part of the “Firebat Attack Set”, I was doubly excited. First of all, I think the Firebat is pretty cool and will go great with the upcoming Terrordrome. But what I loved even more was getting a crack at the Wolverine in a scale that’s much easier for me to display in my limited display space.

The Kre-O designers did an excellent job recreating the Wolverine’s signature look. The Wolverine’s main body is a one-seat tank with a twelve-shot missile turret mounted in the back. The design is angular and feels very armored just from looking at it. However, its smaller size has always made me think of the Wolverine as faster vehicle than your standard tank. I’ve always seen it as a vehicle that either gets onto the battlefield quickly and delivers its payload and gets off the battlefield just as quickly or one that lays in wait for the perfect shot, hits the enemy hard and then once again gets out of the way as quickly as possible. I know part of this is because the Wolverine design has always lacked guns, but I think the other fact is that while it’s armored, its design does look pretty fast since it’s so compact. The missile turret can elevate into a higher angle firing position and can rotate 360 degrees. The Wolverine is built mostly out of olive drab bricks and that’s great. That color really helps sell the military look and unlike some other Kre-O vehicles there aren’t random splashes of color that make no sense. The Wolverine uses functional rubber treads and I like them here as much as I do on the Kre-O HISS. It’s a nice, realistic way of handling it, and though it may not be perfect, it definitely works far better in this scale than it did on the regular Joe vehicles that tried this. The right side of the Wolverine has a Kre-O style tow rope clipped in and it’s a great little detail brought over from the classic version. On the left side, there’s a chainsaw clipped in there. I’m not sure why, but there it is. However, a Kre-O chainsaw does make me excited at the prospect of a Kre-O Buzzer coming somewhere in the future. Behind the driver’s seat, there’s a small storage compartment for an axe and an explosive charge. Again, I’m not sure why they’re there, but they’re nice little additions to the set. The stickers recreate a lot of the classic details (like the engine cover with the two duffle bags strapped to it) but there are surprisingly few stickers for the Wolverine. That’s fine since there weren’t a lot of stickers on the original either, but it’s definitely one of the least sticker-intensive Kre-O sets I’ve built. The way the Kre-O designers handled the double rack of missiles is also ingenious. I was sure they’d make them fire, but I wasn’t sure how that mechanic was going to work with a double rack. The missiles are built in pairs and one end locks into the friction-powered missile launcher. That does mean the missiles fire in pairs, but I’d rather have it that way than not have the missiles fire off at all. To me, Kre-O is the perfect melding of play features and vintage designs. If Hasbro could build in working missile launchers into the main line as well as they do with the Kre-Os, I think a lot of Joe fans, myself included, wouldn’t dread seeing the phrase “Firing missile launcher!” written on the side of the box. The driver’s seat of the Wolverine is kind of poorly placed, though. Much like the old-school Cobra Imp, I think the operator would get pretty crispy once he fired off his first volley of missiles. The turret on the original Wolverine sat up a little bit higher and mitigated that problem, but here, I think it sits just a little too low and makes it kind of a danger to the operator.

My only real complaint about the Wolverine is about who the vehicle comes with—or rather who it doesn’t come with. Cover Girl has always been the Wolverine driver. Even though she came with an early-line vehicle, she’s had a surprisingly large following. Why they didn’t include her here instead of Recondo has baffled me since images of this set were first released and it still does to this day. Recondo isn’t a tank driver, he doesn’t have any connection to Bazooka, and a guy with Recondo’s specialty wouldn’t want anything to do with armor. Bazooka’s inclusion makes a lot of sense since the Wolverine, at least originally, was billed as an anti-armor vehicle so Bazooka coming along to add some firepower makes sense, but Recondo’s still a bit of a head-scratcher. Recondo’s inclusion may be a little unusual, but he is a great Kre-O representation of the classic figure. The tampo work is well done and handles his molded details well. however, you’ll notice that I apparently have gotten a hold of rare sleeveless variant of Recondo. The color for his shirt did not get applied to his shoulders as they should have. I don’t mind. Recondo looks pretty good running around sleeveless, though I do have to admire his dedication to his unit since he’s got their insignia tattooed on his shoulder now. The camouflage tampo on his pants is well done and I love that they included the boot wraps into his leg tampos. The green wristband references his original figure’s watch, but I also see it as a bit of a tie to the Pursuit of Cobra version since he also had wrapped wrists. Since this version of Recondo is bald, I also see it as another way to tie it to the Pursuit of Cobra look. I wish that this second set of Kre-O figures had been given hair for their face tampo like so many received in the first set. It doesn’t bother me as much on Recondo since he has rocked a shaved head, but it’s still a little off-putting. For accessories, Recondo gets an assault rifle and his trademark slouch hat. The rifle is a little heavier firepower than I’d expect from Recondo, but it’s still a nice piece. The hat looks great on his head and brings the look together, but interestingly, it’s also got a bit of a bulge in the back that allows him to hold his hat in his hand. I don’t know why, but I find that really cool. It’s a good design and allows Recondo to carry his hat in circumstances where he might not need to wear it.

Bazooka is a great addition to the Wolverine and I like that, thanks to his large bazooka, it’s got one more shot against armored vehicles. I find Bazooka maddening because of his vest. The tampo work on his torso is really great and looks like his classic jersey, but Bazooka looks so good with the heavy vest on and is something I’m sure someone with his specialty would wear in the field, that I can’t really decide how I want to display him. I like the classic Bazooka look, but I know I’ve also seen him in the comics wearing a heavy protective vest like this as well. It’s a great design but I’m a little saddened by my own indecision in terms of how best to display Bazooka. Bazooka’s face tampo is a nice determined look, though at the same time, I can also see it as a bit of a dumb look on his face. It’s nice that this face tampo can pull double duty as either the Sunbow, one-step-above-caveman interpretation of Bazooka but also the comic version where he wasn’t necessarily the smartest Joe on the team, but he was good at what he
did and would do whatever it took to finish the mission. For accessories, Bazooka has a standard Kre-O helmet, which he would need in the field, a bazooka and a Frozen Fudgee bar. The bazooka is a great piece, though I’m a little surprised they didn’t make it a firing piece. I don’t mind that it doesn’t fire, but it was still a bit of a surprise. The Frozen Fudgee is a great Joe artifact and I’m glad to see that Bazooka also gets on it alongside Quick Kick.

Despite its lack of a proper driver, the Wolverine is a wonderful addition to the Kre-O motorpool and Bazooka and Recondo look very good with it. The Kre-O Wolverine replicates the original design perfectly and Bazooka and Recondo are a great pair of Kre-O figures. The set is a great addition to the Kre-O line and it’s amazing to see how many early Joe vehicles have been added to the Kre-O line so quickly. The Kre-O line has a lot of history to pull from and they’re doing a great job at appealing to us old collectors while introducing young Joe fans to some of the classic elements of the Joe line very quickly at the exact same time.