Many toy manufacturers would cower in terror before turning tail and running away from the prospect of producing action figures for a superhero movie in which only one character has super powers, the main cast is full of civilians and women, and no one wears a costume. Diamond Select Toys is not one of those companies, and is in fact the only toy company to make a near-comprehensive figure line based on this summer’s “The Wolverine” movie–The Wolverine Marvel Minimates Wave 52 figures have now been released in stores!    

Last week I found the newly-released Marvel Select Wolverine movie action figure with ease, but came up short in my question to find the accompanying The Wolverine Marvel Minimates Wave 52 figures. Over the weekend I hit up a few more comic book shops, and finally came across one where I had the opportunity to check out all of the movie Wolverine Minimates in one go. And while they’re certainly not “realistic” movie figures, this series definitely has a lot going for it character-wise.

Most importantly, the Wolverine Minimates series covers almost all of the most important bases as far as the movie cast goes. There’s a monumentally glaring omission in the form of a not-present Silver Samurai Minimates figure, but otherwise the cast is fairly complete. You can even get Wolverine’s noncombatant love interest, Mariko Yashida as a Minimate! Now that’s service.

As usual, Toys R Us and Comic Book Shops/Online retailers will share some of the Marvel Minimates Series 52 figures, while some figures will be exclusives to each. Unusually, the comic book stores/online retailers definitely got the better end of the bargain this time, as if you want the Viper or Mariko Yashida Minimates (or the very cool Urban Yukio Minimate), you’ll have to buy a set of the series online or from a local comic book store.

Toys R Us will be receiving exclusive Kenuichio Harada (the archer) and Ninja Yukio Minimates figures, as well as Wolverine (Yukon) and Wolverine (Prisoner) variants. I’ve been watching for these to hit any of my local Toys R Us stores, but I haven’t seen them come available yet online or in stores. I’ll post an update once I find the Toys R Us Exclusive Wolverine Minimates in person or hear word that they’re starting to hit local retail stores.

What do you think of The Wolverine Marvel Minimates? Does the expansive selection of characters make up for no representation by Hasbro in 4″ or 6″ figures, or do you wish we’d gotten some true The Wolverine Marvel Legends style figures instead?