Review: SDCC Exclusive Kotobukiya X-Force Wolverine Bust

after leaving my old blog address behind, i will now start over on this address THREECLAWSEACH

My first post on this site will be about my greatest haul to date.
a trial review of SDCC Exclusive Kotobukiya X-Force Wolverine Fine Art Bust

This bust was released around a year ago during SDCC '09, being limited to only 500. I already know 3 other people who have this bust, 2 from ptk and another one from youtube. So i guess there are at most 496 more up for grabs.

Packaging:
I'm accustomed to the Bowen and DST packaging, and i must say Kotobukiya's approach with their packaging is really eye catching. Instead of having big designs on the box, Kotobukiya is almost pure white with very little on it. What's bad about this is that it'll be very hard to clean up. Also not visible on my shots are the sides of the bust, which has that X-Force logo embossed on it. The back of the packaging meanwhile is less clean compared to all other parts, that side shows the promo pic of the bust and it's description while also showeing the pictures of other kotobukiya wolverine busts (if i remember correctly it's the brown and the unmasked).

All 500 busts have their boxes signed by the sculptor and the signature can be seen when you flip the cover of the box. This is another thing that makes Kotobukiya's packaging superior in my point of view, the only other things i see with this type of packaging are Hot Toys.
You could see right there written using silver pen, the signature of the sculptor. Whether or not that'll add to the value of the bust isn't really my concern. At the lower part of the flap you can see two pictures, the first one is the cover to X-Force #1, written beside it is the reason why the sculptor decided to go with this look and pose. The picture below it is the sculptor himself. You can really see just how minimal the design in the box is and yet it has that flair to it.
On the other side, you can see a clear window showing the exposed head of the Wolverine inside. Below it is the plate containing the production number of the bust, mine being 222/500. You need to remove it if you want to display the bust with the production number on it. I was unable to take a picture of it but as you can see, the box looks a bit small in terms of width, this is because the two hands of Wolverine are actually detachable.

BUST:
The only real downside i can think of is that they could have put a magnet inside the arm of Wolverine since they made the arm from the gloves down detachable. It might be a problem down the line since left hand is pointed down, it might come loose and fall down. Other than that, the bust looks great. The base is very detailed with those pillars and a face of Logan sculpted on it (relief is the term for it, right?). There is also a Marvel logo underneath it, at the opposite end of where the plate should be placed. Unfortunately, i wasn't able to take more detailed pictures. The claws are metal the interior side of the gloves have straps sculpted on them. There are very little hair strands painted on which looks just right since it's noticeable and yet it doesn't look like it's overkill. The muscle details are just great, some veins are even visible. The silver paint is just amazing. Some people might argue that the face looks emotionless, i agree. But i think it just adds to the personality of the bust, it's Wolverine ready to strike and do what it takes in a moments notice. Oh, and it's pretty big too, standing around 9 1/2" overall. Possible improvements? If only they made the eyes and the belt buckle light up. That would be sweet.
Final Verdict? If you're into Wolverine, X-Force, or Marvel busts, this should be a must have. I do believe this is the best Wolverine of the three that Koto has released so far. I was not disappointed with this bust at all. I paid a whole lot more for this bust than the SRP but that's what you get for living so far away and having a dirty customs system.

Though if you only plan to collect the X-Men, i think you should either get the Brown or the Tigerstipe version since the X-Force unifrom wouldn't really go together with the mostly bright colored X-Men Uniforms, i think i already saw a Cyclops, Nightcrawler, and a Collossus bust from this line.

*Side note: From what i understand, what was supposed to be the Wizards exclusive Unmasked Brown Wolverine was never released. Only this, the Tigerstripe and the Brown were released.*