Marvel Universe: X-23

Presenting X-23 from Series 4 of the Marvel Universe 3.75" series. You'd think that Marvel would bother to match her stand number with her name but no. X-23's stand marks her as the 20th figure of the 15th Marvel Universe 3.75" action figure series - not that it matters and it doesn't really affect the figure, but... Hey! She has a number in her name so why not go ahead and match the base!!!??

To the uninitiated, X-23 or Laura Kinney is a clone of the Canadian Berserker Wolverine (James "Logan" Howlett). Despite the fact that Wolverine is practically bleeding like a sieve in almost every comic book he appears in, the Weapon X program (The Super Soldier program that created Wolverine), only had a copy of Wolverine's Y chromosome. Dr. Sarah Kinney joins the program and suggests creating a female clone of Wolverine since they did not have a complete DNA sample. 22 attempts were made to substitute a male chromosome to create a new Wolverine. 22 failures later, Dr. Kinney decides to ignore her orders and proceed with discarding the donor X chromosome.


For disregarding her orders, Dr. Kinney is made X-23's surrogate mother and names her Laura. At the age of seven X-23 is experimented on further and she extrudes bone claws identical to those of her donor father - except she extrudes two from each hand and one from each foot. These claws are removed, coated with adamantium and reinserted. She is then trained to be an assassin, and given a trigger scent for her berserker rage, and rented out as a killer for hire.

Years later thanks to her donor father and the X-Men, X-23 ended up as a member of the New X-Men and later a member of the covert X-Force hit-squad. Today X-23 is a member of Avengers Academy.



Marvel Universe Series 15 X-23's blister card reads: "X-23, the young clone of Wolverine, is one girl you don't want to mess with. Created as a living weapon by the mysterious Facility, she has been rescued and adopted by the mutant protectors of Utopia. Despite her dark past, she has found a place with the X-Men and X-Force, serving as a powerful soldier in defense of the mutant species."

What's to like about Marvel Universe X-23?

Well for a 3.75" figure, the Marvel Universe X-23's sculpt is quite incredible. Especially when you hold it in comparison with the Marvel Legends X-23 which can't even stand straight. The Marvel Universe X-23 also comes in her X-Force uniform - which is still similar to what she wears today sans the mask and the gray/silver stripes

The Marvel Universe X-23 comes with two claws on each arm and the detailing - despite the size is so good that you can actually twist or adjust her arm-bands. Despite how spindly her arms may be, they are finely articulated and should they break away, putting them back in is not a problem.

Without a doubt she is one hot teenage figure. A definite fine figure especially if you are into completing a Marvel Universe X-23 series. She can even act a a template - should you have more than one - for a modern X-23 or even one in a New X-Men uniform.

What's NOT to like about Marvel Universe X-23?

There are two things I despise about the Marvel Universe X-23. First is her hip articulation. She hardly has any. It looks like she has a hip joint, but she can barely move her hips past maybe 15 degrees. Laura Kinney cannot kneel. What you see above is more or less all that she can do in terms of crouching or lowering herself.

The other problem is that she doesn't have a navel. I'm not sure if this is a detail wrought by the fact that she's a clone  and her designers thought that therefore she shouldn't have a navel, or an oversight because I'm 100% sure that the comic-book Laura Kinney has a navel. To prevent seeing this error, just stop adjusting her belt which covers the area where he navel should be.

I lucked out on X-23 in Toy Kingdom in Megamall, Philippines at the retial price of PhP 499.75 (Roughly US$ 11/30). She's available on Amazon for as much as US$ 12.50 (Roughly PhP 550).

Let's close with the Marvel Universe X-23's donor father.