Dynamic Forces' Earth X LOGAN Bust

Another item recently uncovered from my eBay "vaults" is this Eart X Logan mini-bust. Logan is the alter ego of the ubiquitous Marvel comics character Wolverine. What makes mini-busts of pop-culture fictional characters cool for me is that they're little nuggets of cool fun you can get away with displaying in the most serious and business-like environments. That this one comes with a wooden base complete with faux brass lettering makes it an even nicer item for the fanboy to display.

Before the rigors of moving to and from Maryland had completely upheaved any sense of style or organization to my DVD-, CD-, and bookshelves, I used to display a couple of mini-busts on my bookshelves placed in front of books I had in them. I had one of the Marvel comics character Deadpool (for a lot of the same reasons why I now have the Stormshadow bust, see post). The other two were of Wolverine in different costumes. As the enigmatic Canadian described succintly as "the best at what he does", his is a look that can be considered singularly iconic whether it be the flared wings on his cowl, the three admantium claws that extend out of the top of each of his hands, or even his 5' 3" stature. Forget Hugh Jackman, that's the movies and something else altogether.

At the same time, Wolverine is just as at home without the costume and has gone for entire story arcs and mini-series in regular clothes and of his own volition. Having your true identity known to the public has been commonplace for many Marvel characters, even before the recent "Civil War" comics event. But none of these other characters really do their adventuring in civilian clothes the way Logan does.

The two busts of Wolverine that I have are of his "first appearance" costume and of his more recent (as of 2000 and before his Astonishing X-Men look) brown costume. While there are plenty of other busts of Wolverine and of Logan out there to be had, I got the Earth X Logan bust next because it depicted an older version of the character who, in appearing to have tired of the whole costume thing (to me) and wholy adopting more practical everyday clothes, made a nice complement to his uniformed looks from different earlier time periods.

In the Earth X and subsequent Paradise X story lines, a possible future for the Marvel Universe is presented where heroes old and new, and villains as well, are called upon to save their entire reality from the "greatest menace they've ever faced". It was developed by multi-talented comic artist, painter, sculptor, and even writer Alex Ross. In this future, Logan and Jean Grey eventually got together and aged not-so-gracefully. I'll leave it to the many venerable websites devoted to the Earth X plots for you to learn more, True Believers. On with the sculpt description.

The sculpting by Alex Ross is phenomenal. It's as realistic as a character bust of its type has been, and that's saying something given Logan's notorious mane of hair in the comics. But then again, Ross has made quite a name for himself helping to flush out the reality of comic characters he draws and or paints through the detail he devotes to their respective anatomies, facial features, and uniforms, often rendering photorealistic depictions of actual humans and how they would look in costumes that had stiches and seams and footwear that had actual soles. He's also worked with many writers to apply the same kind of real-world "acid-test" to comics' story plotting and writing in an effort to deconstruct and then overhaul characters as well as their respective worlds or settings to appeal to an increasingly sophisticated and, sadly, less innocent audience. Back to the sculpt.

This Logan bust accurately depicts the older character from the comic series. He's got the graying hair and the wrinkles and looks distinguished. He's wearing the bomber jacket from the series as well, but I remember from being a longtime fan that the bomber has been a recurring part of his wardrobe for some time, especialy in the 80's. Reminds me of the whole "Days of Future Past" story arc in the X-Men comics of the time. It's a look for Logan that's so iconic as well that other statues and figures have been made as recently as this year that depict him in that look from that arc.

The expression on his face is incredible. Noble, sad, and wise all in one look. This is something that Alex Ross is also known for bringing to his depictions of older heroes: that realistic, for a superhero anyway, look of experience that's figuratively painted on their faces as well as literally. It almost makes one wish that thaey went through those tragedies, losses, and victories that Logan went through to get to where he is now. But then heroes are supposed to inspire us.

This Earth X Logan mini-bust really succeeds in bringing that heroic inspiration out of and beyond the pages of the comic books.

STORMSHADOW bust

The latest addition to The Cluttered Desk has actually been "sitting on the bench" for a number of years. It's a 6" tall resin bust of Stormshadow, the enigmatically cool Cobra ninja from the G.I. Joe franchise. It was made in a very limited run by Palisades Toys of Ellicot City, MD, and is probably one of the coolest mini-busts of its kind. That's saying a lot since there have been a lot made between Marvel and DC Comics and the burgeoning number of other entertainment franchises' characters.

I bought Stromshadow off eBay for what I can only remember was so reasonable amount that I bought two of him. When I received them, they were so pristine in their packaging, that I promptly buried in my small storage unit. My intent was to acquire one of the Snake Eyes busts and display the two together, but for some reason I could never find the Snake Eyes bust either for a reasonable price or at all. And so the Stormshadow bust didn't resurface, and receded to the back of my memory.

And during that time, something happened to the busts' boxes. The glue holding it together began to fail. When I uncovered them last week during my archaeological dig of my storage unit to find stuff to sell on eBay, their boxes had come unglued and terribly warped with the cardboard itself in a stated of bloated brittleness that comes with age and or exposure to drastic temperature variations. With all my OCD concerns for pristine preservation dashed, I felt free to unbox the bust and display one of the damned things.

The thing is formidable in appearance. The picture I posted truly doesn't do it justice. From the trim of his tunic to the sculpted folds of fabric to the detail of his sash and strap buckle, everything is crisp and cleanly detailed. His muscle sculpt is also impressive as it reflects an actual human physique wearing fabric, which is much more impressive than a lot of sculpts that just paint a costume onto what is, for all purposes, a nude sculpt. Stormshadow's head is also finely done, showing a mask with actual stitching seams and trim over a face tha has a nose, ears, cheekbones, an eyebrow ridge, and flexing forehead. It's been a pet peeve of mine to see characters loose all facial features when donning a full head mask (think Spider-Man or Deadpool). Stormshadow's head sculpt reminds me of the old 50's Italian comic book anti-heroes like Fantomas or Diabolik who later made their way to films and Beastie Boys music videos.

Maybe I'll look for that Snake Eyes bust...

Transformers STARSCREAM

Hidden behind the stacked trays of pens on top of the Good Old Desk is a toy near and dear to my heart, my Takara F-15 transformable plane/robot toy. You might know him as Hasbro's Transformers Decepticon Starscream. Back in the 80's when the Hasbro toys and cartoon were really popular, you could still get their original Japanese predecessors, made by Takara, in Chinatown in NY for much less. Such was the case with a lot of robot toys then and would still be now if trade hadn't opened up between the US and Asian toy markets and allowed more toys to come to the US direct from Asia without the need for US licensing and its associated price markup.

It was from such a Chinatown toy shop that my Mom bought me a Japanese Takara version of the Decepticon Soundwave as a surprise for my 8th birthday. Yes, Soundwave, the cassette player that came with Buzzsaw, the cassette that transformed into a spy-bird a la Laserbeak. What happened to Starscream? I'll get back to him in a sec.

When I got the Japanese Soundwave I was on cloud nine. Ecstatic. Truly one of the few times in my life when I was happy beyond any measure my 8-year-old mind could fathom. Alongside my 12" Mork from Ork figure (my main birthday gift), he became a central figure in my afternoon battles between the forces of the Decepticons and Cobra and the allied forces of my Autobots and 3" GI Joes.

A couple of months later, in September, out of the blue, my Dad bought me the Takara Starscream. And I pouted. It wasn't a "Transformers" brand Starscream, I believe, was the reason why. He had a strange box, and no Decepticon logo stickers. Wah wah. As I look back, we didn't have much money then, though I really didn't notice it at the time. And knowing what I know now about my Dad, I think I really hurt him. At the time I observed the look on his face as I complained, and now I recognize it for sadness and possibly even disappointment in himself for not getting his son, who was acting pretty bratty I must say, a toy he was satisfied with. Times were financially tough and that was the thanks I gave him. I could really kick myself.

It was the last time my father ever bought me anything that I didn't "recommend" or plead for. I'm not saying I was spoiled, but I had a real chip on my shoulder most of my life because my parents were never spontaneous about their gift-giving. It was never a dollar-amount issue, mind you. I realize I can't help but come across as a spoiled brat at this point, but I would have accepted a $1 trinket that they would have given me on their own instead of the standard check for $20 and birthday card that I got all through high school. And yes, I realize that a lot of kids don't get anything at all ever, but I can't stress enough that for me it was about re-creating the spontaneity of my 8th birthday, that's all. Dollar value be damned, I just wanted the feeling and all that the giving of that feeling to me by my parents implied about their love for me. That's all. I think I'd even have been happy to take the item back to the store the next day.

And you know what's ironic? That Starscream became my favoritest toy ever in a matter of days. I would take him with me everywhere. I'd leave his landing gear, tail fins, and missiles home for fear of losing those precious accessories and take him on the subway with me in a stripped-down "robot combat mode". I played with him so much that the sockets where his wings attached to his body loosened up and I had to wrap tape around the wings' mounting pegs to get them to stay wedged in place. That toy is still in my parents' home in a box with all my other toys.

The classic Transformers toys commanded a high premium among collectors until 5 years ago or so when Takara and Hasbro started re-issuing the original Generation 1 toys in assorted levels of packaging and pricing. I picked up the Japanese re-issue for about $44 shipped and, contrary to my collector ways, opened it up and played with it like any grown man shouldn't.

I keep it on my desk as a reminder to me that, when I'm not arguing with him, I love my Dad and miss him very much.