Monthly Archives: October 2011

Oct 14 2011

Ten Random Thoughts From My Toys R Us Excursion:

Some of you may know that I live in a Toys R Us dead zone. There was actually one that opened literally around the corner from my home. Think about how dangerous to my finances that was! Apparently it didn’t do so well because it was converted over to a Babies R Us within a couple of years. That left two more, one north and one south, and each almost an hour’s drive away. Needless to say, I don’t go as often as I’d like, but I do try to make it up there once a month. This time, however, its been quite a few months, so I was excited to see what was hanging around the action figure aisles.

WALKING DEAD by McFarlane… My first thought? Holy shit, these things are tiny. Given the pricetag of $17.99 a pop, I was expecting these guys to be about six or seven inches, instead they’re closer to four inches. On the upside, they look nice and appear to be really well articulated. But there’s no way I’m buying these when they’re priced so high.

REAL STEEL by Jakks… If you aren’t up on your shitty looking movies, Real Steel is the name given to what is essentially Knock-Em, Sock-Em Robots: The Movie. I am literally stunned by the fact that this movie isn’t being instantly received as a giant heap of crap and that a number of people I know are actually going to see it. Jeez. Anyway, Jakks has gone full guns with figures in different scales and whatnot. Between this line, Green Lantern and the piles of Star Trek and Terminator figures that are STILL hanging around from years ago, Toys R Us is going to have to put up a new wing on their stores just for all the clearance.

TRANSFORMERS by Hasbro… The epiphany hit me this week, that I’m done with Transformers until the Prime figures come out. TRU has a rediculous amount of space devoted to the brand and yet nothing was even tempting for me. It’s ironic that when Revenge of the Fallen was out, I planned on buying little and wound up buying a lot. Dark of the Moon was the opposite. Overall, I’ve been happy with the DotM toys I got, but I don’t have the enthusiasm for picking up new figures like I did for Generations.

UNIVERSAL MONSTERS by Diamond Select… I had high hopes for these figures when I saw the first teaser shots online and I was surprised to find them already on the pegs this trip. I probably would have picked up a couple if not for two stumbling blocks. $17.99 is too much and the ariculation sucks. Seriously, unless I’m buying a statue, I’m done buying figures with shit articulation.

GEARS OF WAR by NECA… I’m possibly one of the only 360 owners that hasn’t completely lost his shit over this franchise. I’ve only played the first one. I enjoyed it a lot. I will play the others, but I don’t think it’s the second coming of shooters or anything. Nonetheless, every time I see NECA’s GoW figures on the pegs I I spend a good ten minutes marveling at how awesome they are. They’re big, decently articulated, beautifully sculpted, and priced pretty reasonably. If I was more caught up on the focus points of my collection and had a lot more room to display stuff, I would be all over this line.

GHOSTBUSTERS II GIFTSET by Mattel… Damn, it’s still not on clearance yet.

GREEN LANTERN by Mattel… This stuff is going to be hanging out at TRU on clearance long after we are all dead and gone. Seriously, they have a TON of this stuff. Maybe they’ll get a little boost in sales this weekend when the Blu-Ray/DVD come out, but that’s probably it for this line. It’s kind of sad, because I really do enjoy the movie aesthetic even though I didn’t enjoy the movie. Maybe I’ll start grabbing up some of these when they hit the clearance pile.

GI JOE by Hasbro… The Renegades figures were on the pegs. I think these look terrible, but at least the price has come down to $7.99. That means if you do like the designs, they’re probably among the best deals in 3 3/4″ figures around. I thought it was just Target and Walmart that have cut down the GI JOE stuff to a bare minimum, but there isn’t much Joe real estate at TRU either. I’m really thinking that this line is on its last leg at retail. That’s a shame too, even though I don’t buy much of it anymore, the Pursuit of Cobra and 30th Anniversary stuff really have been quality products. It’s ironic because just yesterday I pre-ordered my Slaughter’s Marauders and Drednoks sets from BBTS.

X-MEN GIANT SIZED 35th ANNIVERSARY GIFT SET by Hasbro… I almost bought this and I probably will buy it if its still there on my next trip. So long as I can get it at TRU for the reasonable $35 price point as opposed to what it goes for online, it seems like a good deal. The only figures here that are doubles for me are Wolverine and Colossus. Storm looks awesome. Either way, this is a really tempting set.

GREMLINS by NECA… I dig this stuff a lot, but I have way too many other collections going right now to start anything new. I accidently knocked one of the plush Gizmo’s off the shelf and it started singing. That was pretty cool. Anyway, the nostalgia factor here is high for me because one of my favorite toys as a kid was that huge Stripe action figure. It was epic. Maybe if NECA releases something like that again, I’d be on board.
Oct 13 2011

Green Lantern Classics Wave 2: Medphyll and Naut Kei Loi by Mattel

I’m a little short on time today as I’m building some furniture for my den and seeing as how I’ll probably be putting it together while drunk, it’ll likely take me most of the evening. So I’m stopping by with a real quickie today. I made an excursion to TRU today and picked up a bag of goodies, and I’m going to start with one of the figures that I can do justice without having to spill too much electronic ink. Is it Medphyll? Is it Naut Kei Loi? It’s both!!!

Green Lantern Classics package. It’s been a little while since I’ve seen this. I picked up the first wave in one shot and I’ve been dragging my feet on picking up this second wave. I love the packaging, as its basically the DC Universe Classics dipped in a lime slushee. The back panel has the ubiquitous bio blurb and the publication stats for the characters. I consider myself pretty up on my DC Comics trivia, but I was actually surprised to learn that these guys went back so far. Anyway, you’ll note that the package says Medphyll on it and that’s the head that comes attached to the figure. You could also buy this figure with the Naut Kei Loi head attached and with his name on the insert. Yep, just like Low & Maash from the first wave.
The body used here is an absolutely standard and generic Green Lantern buck, with the exception of the forked toes on his feet. The paint is ok and his power ring is sculpted onto his finger. Medphyll’s head is basically a brown cyclopoid stalk of broccoli. Wow, I’m pretty sure I’ve never typed those words in one sentence before! It’s goofy, but it really shows the crazy and creative concepts that DC tries to drum up to convey the diversity of the Green Lantern Corps. Naut Kei Loi’s head is far more complex as you get the head, the cowl and the dome, all of which are three separate pieces. It looks great, and is my favorite of the two, but I have been unable to actually get the head to peg in, which is really disappointing. I’m actually tempted to try to buy the figure packaged to get one with the head already attached.
Unless you count the extra head, the only other thing you get in the package is one of the leg pieces to build the Collect & Connect figure Stel.

Unlike Low and Maash, which had swappable hands as well as heads, Medphyll and Naut Kei Loi’s only have the swappable heads. It still works, but it’s not as impressive or dramatic a change as we saw with Low and Maash. If you’re one of those collectors that wasn’t crazy about this two-figures-in-one concept to begin with I don’t think this one is going to make you any happier about the idea. Next time we’ll check out another one of these combo-style figures that really takes this conceptual gimmick to the next level.
Oct 12 2011

Vintage Vault: X-Men X-Force Warpath by Toy Biz

I’ve been sitting on a whole box full of unopened Toy Biz X-Men figures for a while now and since things have been slow here at FigureFan, I decided to bust some of these open and take a look. I’ll start peppering them throughout the next couple of weeks. If you weren’t collecting toys in the 90’s or perhaps you just collect Toy Biz’s Marvel figures with the Marvel Legends line, then these guys are going to be quite a departure for you.

One thing I’ve always loved about Toy Biz’s Marvel figures from this era? The packaging. I mean, just look at that. It takes all the colorful and exciting qualities of a comic book cover and transfers them onto the cardback. You get some awesome character art, Just check that out. The Marvel Universe package art is often good, sometimes mediocre, but this image of Warpath is capital stuff. Not to mention the exposition explosion that tells you what the figure’s special play gimmick was. In this case? “SMASHING POWER PUNCH!” Hell, there’s even a sticker advertising a T-shirt. The front of the card is just bursting with activity. The back of the card has a little bit about the character and photos of some of the other figures in this line.
If your only action figure experience with Warpath is the Marvel Universe version then this guy is likely to shock. His design is deliciously comic book inspired and he’s certainly got that wonderful bright and obnoxious 90’s toy motif that meshes so well with comic book and animated inspired figures. There isn’t even a remote attempt to go for realism here. Warpath is a brick wall of a mutant with a neckline that nearly matches his waistline. The glossy, retina-burning red and blue paint job is just stellar. There’s no way this guy is going to appear in any multi-million dollar live action movie treatment. Nope, he’s straight from the panel of a funnybook.
For a 90’s era figure, Toy Biz’s Warpath sports some pretty decent articulation. The arms rotate at the shoulders and he has hinged elbows. His legs rotate at the hips and he has hinged knees. His roast beef sized neck doesn’t move at all, but this is still better than the standard 5-points I’m used to seeing in figures of this era. Warpath also swivels at the waist, but that’s more a part of his “Smashing Power Punch” gimmick. Swivel him at the waist and his right arm goes up. Let him go and he springs back and his arm comes down. It’s an ok gimmick in that it really doesn’t screw up the figure or mar his articulation.
I’m not knocking the more realistic approach that Hasbro takes with their Marvel Universe line, but from package to figure, Toy Biz’s Warpath represents everything that is awesome about comic books and their characters, distills it, and pours it into action figure form. Granted, as we’ll see in the coming weeks, these X-Men figures could be hit and miss (just check out the fright face on Rogue down there), but when they were great, like Warpath, they were really great. What’s better is you can usually buy these guys carded for next to nothing. Certainly not everyone’s cup of tea, but I absolutely love this guy.
Oct 11 2011

Star Wars: 30th Anniversary Collection: Darth Vader’s Sith Starfighter by Hasbro

Holy hell, folks, we’re actually going to talk some Star Wars this week. It doesn’t happen that often here on FigureFan. Why not? Well, I hit overload on Star Wars a few years back and stopped collecting it with any real gusto. I even wound up unloading about three-quarters of my ludicrously huge collection to make room and generate a little extra cash. Obviously, I still pick up a Star Wars figure or ship here and there when it strikes my fancy, but I sure don’t focus on it like I used to. Nonetheless, I was taking a pass through my toy closet this week, looking for things to feature here during this slow week, and I thought I’d give Star Wars some much needed love. Let’s start out with Darth Vader’s Jedi Starfighter.

The ship came out boxed as part of the 30th Anniversary Collection. The packaging is ok, but it followed after the Original Trilogy Collection, which featured some amazing vintage-style packages that I don’t think can ever be outdone. The deco here gets the job done, but I think the best thing about it is the amazing artwork of the ship on the front. Look familiar? Sure it does! This Sith Starfighter is just another in a looong line of repaints of this heavily reused Jedi Starfighter toy. I first bought this style of ship back when it was originally released as Obi Wan’s Starfighter in the Revenge of the Sith line. I didn’t have any desire to own the slew or other repaints until this one came out. It’s pretty much an Expanded Universe ship as Vader never actually piloted it in the movies, but it seems logical enough that he would have made use of this design in the years before the Tie Fighter came into service. Despite being named as Darth Vader’s personal fighter, I actually use this as a general Sith fighter and wound up giving it to my Galen Malek figure.
I absolutely love the design of this ship. It’s intended to be a transitional design between the Jedi Starfighters seen in Attack of the Clones and the Tie Fighters that would appear in A New Hope. I really dig the segmented front window on the cockpit that would become the iconic Tie Fighter windshield, as well as the way the wings deploy to hint at the solar panel wings of the subsequent Imperial fighter design. There are dual barreled wing-mounted cannons as well as a firing torpedo on each of the wings. Underneith you get retractable landing gear, which supports the ship nicely, but only when the wings are folded up. The ship supports an Astromech droid and actually comes with a convincing enough dummy droid head that can be removed to reveal a socket that holds an actual Astromech figure. I always thought that was a cool option. The cockpit flips open and is roomy enough to hold most figures, but as I mentioned above, mine is reserved for Galen Malek.
Beyond the design of the ship, what really grabbed me about this particular release was the fab repaint. The ship is two-tone black and gunmetal grey, which just looks badass on this design. What’s more there’s some brilliant weathering done on the wing symbols and along the paintwork on the front of the hull. Granted, I don’t buy a lot of Star Wars ships these days, but I’ll still say that Hasbro could benefit from checking out some of this work and implementing it on their newer releases. Naturally, you also get a sticker sheet, which is great for me because applying stickers is something I always love to do. It lets me bond with my new toy.
The Sith Starfighter set ran me $20 back in the day. I don’t think it’s been re-released, but it shouldn’t be too hard to find on Ebay. Nowadays vehicles in this size class go for between $25-30, so even if the price is inflated, you’ve got some wiggle room before you’re paying more than it would be on the shelf today. It’s a great looking piece and loads of fun to display and play with. If you want a great little starfighter with an amazingly cool deco, this is definitely a ship you want in your collection. And screw Vader, I’m sure you’ve got a couple of other Sith figures kicking around that would like a ride of their own.
Oct 10 2011

Doctor Who: Lady Cassandra by Character Options

Folks, it’s been a slow, slow week for new acquisitions here on FigureFan these past couple of weeks. I’ve been diverting funds to some improvements around the house, but I am planning an excursion to TRU this week to get some new toys. Nonetheless, I didn’t want to let things flounder here, so I dug into some unsorted and unopened figures sitting in a tote in my closet and this is what I came up with… a Series 1 Doctor Who figure: Cassandra.

Here’s a blast from the past… the old style Doctor Who packaging. It wasn’t all that special, but it was functional and being a regular card and bubble, it was much easier to get into than those pesky clamshells. The cardback was generic with the swirly orange vortex from the earlier series openers. There’s an insert in the bubble with the Doctor Who logo used on the series a the time and a photo of Cassandra to personalize the packaging with the figure. The bubblie is huge and vaguely shaped like the TARDIS.
Cassandra was certainly one of the most memorable aliens from Series 1. Oh, wait, she wasn’t really an alien was she? In fact, she was the last human. A single trampoline of skin stretched out over a metal frame with a eyes and a mouth. I don’t know that you can really call her plastic version an action figure, since apart form her wheels she has no articulation whatsoever, but she’s definitely a great recreation of her onscreen counterpart. Everything is reproduced here, right down to her little brain in the jar on the base. If you put her up to the light, you can even see the veins running through her. Cool!
In addition to Cassandra, you also get three of the robot spiders that she used as spies in the episodes “The End of the World” and “New Earth” These spiders were also bundled with the single carded version of Rose Tyler. Sure, they’re simple little PVC figures, but they’re decently sculpted and very cool to have scattered around my display shelves.
I missed out on Cassandra when she was first released, but I got a second chance at her recently when the fine folks at Who North America allowed me to tack her on my order for an extra five bucks. She’s a really cool addition to the the earliy NuWho figures on my shelf.
Oct 9 2011

Transformers Encore: Sky Lynx by Takara

I had a whole lot of Transformers when I was a wee lad, but there were still some G1 toys that never wound up in my collection. Sky Lynx was one of those figures. I had ample occasions to ask for him for a birthday or for Christmas, but it seemed like there was always another figure I wanted more. Sure, he was a pretty prominant character in the cartoon, but even at that young age, I couldn’t wrap my head around how bizarre a toy he was. Thanks to Takara’s Encore series, I was able to add him to my collection last year. I never got around to featuring him here, and now that I’m caught up on all the new stuff that’s been pouring in, I thought I’d throw out some Transformers loving.

I really like the Encore Collection boxes because they try to mimic the pure nostalgic goodness of the original G1 packaging that we really haven’t seen outside of the TRU exclusive reissues. And even then it was heavily revised and modernized.  Sure, the writing on the Encore box is all in Japanese, it is a Takara product afterall, but I still get a warm, fuzzy feeling from this box. There’s no fancy velcro flap revealing a window or anything like that. It’s just a good old fashioned box containing a tray and the toy. Besides the deco, you get a ton of pictures of the toy itself.
While the cartoon version of Sky Lynx was mostly depicted as one entity, the figure itself is designed as two components that turns into two robots. The space shuttle portion changes into his bird mode and the undercarriage turns into the cat. Of course, then you can combine the two, into some kind of bizarre cat-bird creature, which is the version most often shown in the cartoon. As if trying to up the ante on strangeness, the Sunbow cartoon had him talk with a highbrow british accent.
Sky Lynx doesn’t feature a lot of paint apps, but he does have a good old fashioned sticker sheet for your applying pleasure and/or frustration. A lot of these are foil stickers, which are hard to find still fresh on the surviving vintage toys. It also means they’re doubly hard to get on without screwing them up. Particularly the enormous Autobot emblems for his wings. That having been said, once they’re all in place, they do look nice.

The Encore version still has all the electronics from the original toy. That means if you load this thing up with batteries, it’ll slowly lumber across the floor. Not terribly exciting, but cool all the same.
                               
When Encore Sky Lynx was first released, he was a bit pricey to import. As in over $100 kind of pricey. He didn’t sell quite as well as some of the other Encore editions because he was eventually clearanced down to around $40-50 at many online retailers. Nowadays he tends to split the difference between $50-75. Is he worth it? Sort of. He’s definitely a creatively designed toy, and extremely faithful to the original toy. It’s a lot of money for what he actually is, but if you’re actively looking for him, you should definitely check this version out. Considering the original toy can be tough to come across without yellowing to the shuttle, worn out stickers, or crapped out electronics, this reissue is a decent alternative.

Best of all, this original mold is extremely faithful to Sky Lynx’s animated counterpart, and since there’s probably zero chance that he’ll ever make it into the Classics/Universe/Generations line, it’s nice that he displays well with those figures.
Oct 7 2011

The Real Ghostbusters: Retro-Action Janine Melnitz and Samhain 2-pack by Mattel, Part 2

Ok, we mulled about with the packaging on this set long enough. Let’s get to the goods inside and we’ll kick it off with Janine Melnitz.

As a Mego-style figure, we’re mainly concerned here with the head sculpt and the outfit. Overall, I’m fairly happy with the head sculpt. I don’t think she quite stands up to the likenesses achieved by the rest of the Ghostbusters, but there’s no doubt who this is supposed to be. The glasses are similar to Egons, in that they are soft plastic and permanently attached to her head behind the ears. Some folks have been reporting issues of the paint on her hair rubbing against the package, but mine seems to have weathered it ok. The body is what it is and while loose joints are often a concern with these style figures, Janine can stand fine on her own. I think what upsets me the most is that the hands aren’t sculpted to work well with her accessories. In fact, she can barely hold her proton stream properly. If you have any of those clear rubber bands left lying around, you may want to avail yourself of them.
Janine comes in a completely new orange jumpsuit. It’s close to the jumpsuits worn by the guys, but there are some subtle differences. There aren’t any cuffs on the legs of her pants. She still has the foamy elbow pads and the Ghostbusters emblem on her shoulder. It fits the figure quite well and looks good when displayed with the rest of the team.
And then there’s Samhain. If you’re not familiar, he’s a dude with a jack-o-lantern for a head. He sports a typical Mego-style body with flowing purple robes over it. The pumpkin head is large and decently sculpted, but it still feels kind of cheap. There’s not a heck of a lot else to say about him. His joints are a lot looser than Janine’s, but he can still stand up pretty well. Don’t get me wrong, I do like him a lot and it’s very cool to have a ghost in this style for the team to fight, especially one as popular as Samhain.
In addition to the figures, this set comes with every piece of busting equipment that was issued with the other figures. You get Janine’s proton pack, a ghost trap, a PKE meter, and the ghost sniffer. There’s nothing new here, and it’s a lot of gear for Janine on her own, but it’s great to have to hand out to the rest of the team and it certainly pads out the set nicely. And then there’s Slimer. He’s a cool little sculpt with some arm articulation and pretty faithful to the animation design, but he’s way too small to be of any use with these figures.
This 2-pack rounds out my Real Ghostbusters collection really nicely. I’m glad we finally got a Janine figure, especially since she was pictured on the back of the carded figures and it’s certainly nice to have at least one baddie for the Real Ghostbusters to fight. Now the bad news. The set is a TRU exclusive and retails for $50. Now, I’m not prepared to call that highway robbery, since the other figures sold for $20 each and the extra $10 for this set can easily be tallied up to include all the extra accessories, Slimer, and the Firehouse backdrop. There’s certainly a sense of sticker shock, but I can’t say I feel ripped off with the set in hand. I wanted to make sure to get it, so I jumped at it pretty quickly, but some may be better served waiting for sales or clearance prices.
Oct 6 2011

The Real Ghostbusters: Retro-Action Janine Melnitz and Samhain 2-pack by Mattel, Part 1

Mattel really gave Ghostbusters fans the shaft last month. The 2012 Ecto-1 subscription has been cancelled, and noone seemed to even know it was in danger. Nonetheless, fans of the Retro-Action line got a nice little bone with the release of this special TRU exclusive 2-pack of Janine Melnitz and Samhain. Maybe it’s really a 2 1/4 pack since it also includes Slimer. I’ll confess it’s been a while since I picked up any Ghostbusters figures, but the moment I came across this set I knew that I had to have it. Today we’re just going to look at the packaging and the something special the packaging turns into. I’ll get to the actual figures tomorrow in Part 2.

Now, I haven’t seen The Real Ghostbusters cartoon since I was a kid, but I certainly remember Samhain as being one of the better baddies, and I can even vaguely remember the episode where Janine insists she wants to go bust ghosts and dons the jumpsuit and proton pack. I didn’t think both were part of the same episode, but the package seems to suggest they were.
The set comes in a nice, big window box that does a great job of showing off everything that you get inside. The top corner proclaims it to be a “Retro-Action” set, along with The Real Ghosbusters logo. The bottom edge has the animated portraits of both characters as well as Slimer and the firehouse backdrop. But wait, what’s this? There’s some kind of snowflake pattern running along the edge of the window as if to suggest this set is some kind of Christmas release. And here I was just thinking Mattel was clever to get this set out for Halloween. Not sure where Christmas fits in. But… anywho… the back panel shows more illustrations of the characters and the Retro-Action Ray and Egon figures standing by the “GIANT” 22-inch Firehouse display. All in all, I think the packaging suits the line pretty well.

The Firehouse backdrop will likely delight some and disappoint others. It really depends on what you were expecting out of it. I didn’t give it much thought until I got it out of the package, so it was a rather nice surprise for me.
On the plus side, it’s really tall, well illustrated, and even has a bit of depth to it. When assembled, it’s just an inch or so thick, but the ledges pop out of the front as does the Ghostbusters sign, all to give it depth. The front doors also open to show the Ecto-1 parked inside. On the downside, it is rather flimsy and you can easily see that it doesn’t want to stay erect in the middle, even when it’s propped up against a wall. The middle ledges also came out of the box a little smooshed.
If I were planning on keeping the Firehouse on display, I’d likely wrap it around a piece of styrofoam board, and I think that would make for a pretty nice and sturdy piece, but chances are I’ll be folding it up and putting it back in the box for storage. Also worth noting, despite being an impressive 22-inches tall, it’s still way too small for The Real Ghostbusters figures. The regular 5-inch movie figures work a lot better, and if I were keeping this thing on display, I would definitely use it as a backdrop for these guys.

Cool stuff, so far. Tomorrow I’ll be back with Part 2 to look at the figures and the other goodies in the package.
Oct 5 2011

Tomb Raider: Lara Croft 1:6 Scale Talking Figure by NECA

So long as I was looking at two 1:6 scale video game queens this week, I thought I might as well make it a trifecta by digging out Ms. Lara Croft herself. Lara’s been no stranger to the action figure and collectibles market, and much like her games, her history in plastic has been pretty hit and miss over the years. Today we’re going to take a gander at NECA’s large scale talking figure. But, before we get started, let’s get some semantics out of the way first. NECA calls this thing a figure, but in reality it’s more of a statue with limited articulation. With that out of the way, let’s see what we’ve got…

Lara comes in a pretty nice window box. It’s nothing special, but it does get the job done and shows off the figure pretty well. While this figure is certainly based on the Tomb Raider: Legend game, Legend doesn’t actually appear anywhere on the box. You can get everything out without tearing it up too badly, although I opted to keep some of the accessories on the tray, but more on that in a bit. I tend to like storing my 12-inch figures in their boxes in a bookcase, so the collector friendly nature of the box is welcome.
The statue is very faithful to the way Lara looked in the Tomb Raider: Legend game. NECA usually does a fine job with their sculpts and Ms Croft here is no exception. She’s a bit more realistically proportioned, particularly in the ta-ta’s department and her aqua shirt and short shorts have given way to a brown half-shirt and well… short shorts. Ok, so some things never change. I have absolutely no quibbles about the sculpt itself. Her face is attractive, with a stern look. Her hair is sculpted and her pony tail is shorter than we’ve seen in the older games and curled down the front of her shoulder. The skin texture is pretty realistic, with a little muscle sculpted in, but not too much. Her equipment is meticulously created from her boots with the socks peeking out the top, to her belt buckle, to her backpack and the string of grenades lining the back of her belt. Lara also has a pair of holsters for her guns. The only thing I can complain about here is the rather unsightly seaming along the sides.
The paintwork here is a little hit and miss. It’s generally pretty good where it counts, but there is some unsightly slop along the top of her shorts. There’s also a bit of smudging around the flesh paint. That part doesn’t bother me so much since it just looks like she got a little dirty from crawling around in tombs. I’ve actually seen more paint issues on statues that are a lot more expensive than this one, so I’m not going to come down to hard on these issues.
Articulation? Yes, there are in fact seven points. You get a rotating head, ball joints in the shoulders, and swivels in the biceps and wrists. For a figure, that sucks. For a statue, that’s pretty good. You’ll have to make the call on which. You can basically just position which way she’s pointing her guns.
Speaking of guns, Lara does come with some accessories. Yep, two of those are her automatic pistols. They feature detailed sculpts and can be removed from her hands and put into her holsters. She also comes with a shotgun, grenade launcher and the Excalibur sword. They’re all cool enough pieces, but her pose doesn’t really allow her to hold any of them very convincingly, so that’s why I left them on the insert. Lastly, you get a plain black oval base with a peg to plug into the hole on the bottom of her foot. The stand isn’t necessary to stand her up, but it does help. I think I would have liked either a shield with the title of the game or a base made to look like actual ground.

As you may have noticed, this is a “talking figure” which means she’s got a sound chip in her and spouts off a bunch of phrases recorded from the game. There’s an On/Off switch on her and a large button below that. Press it and you get to hear a different phrase each time. I’ve got a couple issues with this gimmick, the least of which is, why bother? Lara doesn’t really have a retinue of catch phrases and nothing she says here is all that memorable or great. But the bigger problem is the sound quality of the clips is just terrible. There’s a ton of background hissing and there’s a ridiculous amount of extraneous breathing that should have been filtered out. It sounds like it was recorded over the telephone… with a bad connection… while the actress was half asleep. The lovely Keeley Hawes voiced Lara in several of her games, and I believe Legend was one of them, but whether or not this is actually her voice, I just can’t tell. The quality is just that bad.

Nonetheless, here’s what she says…
  • Grand entrances are always impractical, that’s what makes them grand.
  • Well, this is a tomb. I’ll make them feel at home.
  • From this moment, you’re every breath is a gift from me.
  • Death by irony is always painful
 All in all, NECA’s Lara ain’t a bad statue. Not at all. She looks great on the shelf and really captures everything there is about the character as she appeared in this particular game. On the other hand, the sound gimmick is absolutely horrible and pointless and should have been left out. It serves no purpose other than to inflate the cost of the statue. Pretend it doesn’t exist and you should be very happy with this piece if you decide to add it to your collection. I picked up mine on clearance for about $20. Not a bad deal.
Oct 3 2011

Perfect Dark: Joanna Dark (Deluxe Armored Version) 1:6 Scale Figure by Blue Box

Last time we checked out the standard version of console first-person shooter queen Joanna Dark by Blue Box, this time we up the ante a bit with a look at the Deluxe version of the figure. A lot about this figure is similar to the last one, so I’m going to make it a quickie.

BBi used the exact same package for both the regular flavor Joanna and this one. It’s a sturdy half tube that displays the figure pretty well and serves equally well as storage. The back panel shows both figures. Not much else new to say here.
This version of Joanna uses the exact same body as the previous version, but features a slight resculpt to the head and different hands. If you read yesterday’s review than you’ll understand I’m perfectly fine with this arrangement. The figure’s body is excellent with a solid level of poseability and the head sculpt is very nicely executed with superb paintwork. The hands this time are sculpted wearing fingerless gloves, and you actually get a second pair to switch out. Why? No idea. The hands that come on the figure are perfectly adequate, so I’ve never even taken the second set off the bubbles. The change in the head sculpt only involves the addition of an earpiece and microphone.
The Deluxe nature of this figure mostly factors in with her outfit, which is a lot more complex than the simple pleather body suit seen on yesterday’s feature. This Joanna features a black body stocking, black combat boots, blue pleather pants, a pleather half-jacket that clasps at the front, and pieces of vac-metalized armor for her arms and legs. She also has a belt with a loop that serves as a holster for her sidearm. There’s a lot of really nice little details on her outfit, including sculpted ammo on her boots and belt and jacket. I think the armor pieces are a bit much and they don’t really stay in place all that well, but you can always remove them if you choose.
                           As with the regular version of Joanna, this armored version also comes up short in the accessories, as she includes only a single handgun, this time a larger silver automatic pistol with a scope. It’s a nice looking piece, complete with removeable clip, but just like the other Joanna figure, I had to lend her some weapons from my stash to really make her feel complete.
If memory serves, this version of Joanna sold for around $30. While she’s definitely lacking in the accessories department, she’s still a really nice figure for a 1:6 scale in her price range. The outfit looks great, although I do prefer her without the vac-metal pieces. Blue Box did a really nice job with these figures and it makes me wish they had been able to do a Lara Croft in a similar style, scale, and price range. Joanna still turns up from time to time on Ebay and is definitely worth a look if you can grab her for at or below her original price tag, just make sure you’ve got some extra weapons kicking around to help complete the package.