As prices continue to rise and rise on large resin statues, we’re seeing a mini-resurgence of Marvel mini-busts this year with new offerings coming from Sideshow Collectibles, Diamond Select Toys and Gentle Giant Ltd. Sideshow kicked off their new line of smaller busts earlier this year with a very cool Thanos, but now they’ve upped the ante with a cheaper—and more impressive—second piece: the Sideshow Wolverine Bust is now available for order! This might be the best half of a Wolverine statue I’ve ever seen…! But they’re not the only ones launching a Logan bust today…

I just down have the space or money to collect the humongous Marvel life-size busts that Sideshow Collectibles has been putting out for the last few years, so I was pretty psyched to see Sideshow being rolling out a far smaller (and far cheaper!) mini bust line with Thanos this summer.

The time was definitely right to strike with the hot iron on Thanos, but for their second piece, Sideshow is moving to a subject that’s near and dear to my wee heart: the X-Men! And as we all know, there’s only one character who can (generally) begin an X-Men series: Wolverine!

I still have several Bowen Designs Wolverine mini busts that are around two decades old now, and while I love them, they’re starting to show their age and aren’t up to the highest levels of Bowen goodness. So when I saw Sideshow was making a slightly bigger (9” tall) updated version of the original arms-crossed Bowen Wolverine mini bust, they instantly had my attention.

And I gotta say: this sculpture really is a beauty. The shape and sharpness of the adamantium claws, the hair and veins and musculature on Logan’s arms, the gritted-teeth scowl… this sculpt is downright awesome. This is a total win for Sideshow—especially at a $250 price-tag that’s well less than half the cost of any Marvel Statue they’re putting out these days.

I’ve seen some folks say they’d like to see legs added to make this a whole statue, but I think the crossed arms pose actually works best for a bust. Frankly, this is the best Wolverine Bust I’ve ever seen—I even like it better than the $1K Life-Size one that Sideshow put out!

Meanwhile—! Sideshow isn’t the only company launching a new bust of Logan today in his most iconic costume: Gentle Giant is soliciting a 1992 X-Men Animated Series Wolverine Bust of the character in his instantly recognizable costume from the classic cartoon!

Make no mistake, this is a very niche and retro-looking mini-bust that won’t be for everyone, but I think fans of the beloved X-Men cartoon might really enjoy this piece. And at an MSRP of under 60 bucks for a 6” mini bust, this piece is basically dirt cheap by modern standards.

The DST X-Men Animated Cyclops and Wolverine busts are now up for order, and are limited to 3000 pieces of each produced. Given the relatively low price-point and the legendary nature of the cartoon, I think Diamond Select Toys has a legit shot of speedily selling out on these pieces. Let’s hope they do and continue the line with Gambit, Rogue, Jubilee and so forth!

Thoughts on these two new Wolverine mini busts from two very different ends of the spectrum? Does the value-pricing of the DST X-Men line catch your attention, or is that style just not for you? And meanwhile, what about Sideshow Collectibles’ vastly more detailed bust at a vastly higher price?