Category: Western

Crysis 2 – Stalker

One of the stores that I occasionally frequent has decided to start selling these off, so I have bought three of these Crysis 2 mini action figures. Maybe one day I’ll actually play Crysis…

First one was this Stalker:

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Let’s say hello to this mean fellah:

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The arm articulation was better than I expected, even if it isn’t much – he rotates at the shoulders, but also at the “hands”. The arms are slightly bendable, but not poseable. The paint from the front is OK, but nothing special. 

Left:

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One mean lookin’ maw, there. Love the “hand”/arm attachment. The fade effect on the back tentacles is pretty good. One pretty visible seam across the top of his back there, though. 

Right:

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Similar story here as tot eh left, but the back portions line up a bit better, however are still gappy. 

Back:

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Here you can see where the back tentacles plug into his back. Kinda gappy. Also the screw head, hm. 

A closer look at that dark lump on his left:

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Unfortunately some of the paint flaked off not long after getting him. His back isn’t the greatest angle, so not too miffed about it. Also had to trim one of the alignment lugs on one of the tentacles, as it simply wouldn’t go in with it on. 

These figures cost me £4 apiece, not sure I would’ve wanted to pay the full price of £8, but happy with what I got for the price. Shame about the paint flake :(. 

Cute But Deadly – Kerrigan

Now back to series 1 of the Cute But Deadlies! Finally caved and bought this one on eBay, after missing out on her a few times in the past:

Glad to finally have her, though she cost a bit more than I initially planned to spend on her. But Kerrigan is worth it, even if I don’t play Starcraft :P. Love her angry, screaming face. And she’s a character that can make purple, brown and green work. The wings on her back can be moved up and down. 

Left:

She’s been to the stylist, and has plenty of purple, wormlike hair. 

Right:

I love the way the wings come out of her back, also the small detail on the back of her right leg. 

Back:

Lots of purple tentacles. What’s not to love?!

Glad I finally caved and got her. Always wanted something Kerrigan. Maybe one day I’ll get a scale of her or something. 

Cute But Deadly – Rainbow Goblin

After buying the two boxes from GAME, I walked into a collectable store and found this for a fiver:

One of the ones I really wanted, for less than the box price! Woo! I have the “normal” goblin, but I really wanted to have the rainbow one to go with him. I took a risk in buying him, as I hadn’t opened up the other boxes yet, but if I ended up with two, I could very likely get my money back on this one via selling it. But I didn’t get a dupe of this one, so happy days!

Left side:

Another figure with bright and vibrant colours :). Love the smiley cloud on his bag. And that cheeky grin he’s sporting. 

Right:

Aww, a little heart. Love the purple they’ve painted his outfit with. Love the little swords poking out of his loot bag. 

Front:

He has a good headbutting head. And I love his pale blue colour. 

Back:

Here we can have a closer look at his loot. See a little bit of stray grey paint, but nothing particularly noticeable. 

Overall, I really like this figure, and was super-glad to be able to get him 😀

Cute But Deadly – Pharah

GAME had reduced the price on the Cute But Deadly Series II figures, so I picked up two of the boxes. One of them was a repeat (Tyrande), but the other one was Pharah:

I don’t play Overwatch, but this little figure is too amazing to give up. I love the bold, striking colours and that screaming expression. Which came off like shock, in an ad-hoc picture of a lewd figure I sent to a Discord channel I’m in. Oops, haha. 

Left:

Some stray yellow paint at the top, but other than that, painted well. Surprisingly the smaller details are neater than the big ones.

Right:

Similar story here. This side is pretty much a mirror-image of the other one. This one pegs into the stand, but also propped up by the downward-pointing fins. 

Back:

Plain-looking for the back of her head, but the fins jutting out of her back prevent her looking totally plain. Love this part of the character’s design. 

Overall, I really like this character, even though I don’t have any familiarity with her. The paintwork is largely good, and the expression interesting, and would likely work well in photoshoots. I still think these are a bit on the pricey side in the UK, but the quality does justify a higher price tag than a lot of other blind boxes imo. 

Vasquez – Aliens – NECA

The day after FACTS, we decided to wander around the town we were staying in. Found a couple of comic book shops, but only made one purchase. Things were largely overpriced, and arguably this one was, but she’s hard to get a hold of now, and she has a bootleg version, if eBay auctions from China are anything to go by. Reallly should have bought her when I had the opportunity to, but nope. Decided to pay the premium, as this one had officially been imported (via heo), so I could guarantee it was not a fake. 

So here she is:

And wow, I’m not actually salty about overpaying. This is one of the figures I reckon NECA knocked it out of the park with. The sculpt and the paint both work for me, though the lack of assembly instructions was frustrating. Please stop this NECA, with your more complicated figures. 

Close-up of her face:

It has an almost lifelike quality to it, which impressed me. The bandanna print is crisp. We can also see some wear and tear on her armour, and the writing is nearly done. The cross on her neck has been neatly done too, which was a nice surprise. 

Close-up on the smartgun:

This thing is cool but it was interesting working out how to assemble the piece that hangs off. The muzzle flare can be removed, if you have trouble fitting it all in a display. The detail in the mould is good. 

Left:

Some nice detailing in the fabric of her trousers, and a pocket. Here you can see the assorted equipment she has. The shoulder camera was a pain to get in – she has a rubbery strap with a hole in, which didn’t quite align with the hole in the back. Some heat helped me move the strap hole into alignment with the back hole though, and I got the pest in. 

Also love the paint detail in her shoes. 

Close-up of her arm:

The ties around her arm have been done well. The articulation in her arm is decently hidden for an action figure. 

Right:

The satchel is well-detailed with folds and stretch marks. Again, nice detail on the trousers and the boots. 

Back:

Here you can see the problematic strap that runs from her left side, up to the middle of her back. However, once the piece was in, it really completes her look. 

Close-up of her camera:

I’m seeing a little bit of stray plastic looking at this photo I could cut off… Lots of little details in the moulding of this piece – grip handles, texture on the side of the camera box, and the bits and pieces of the camera itself. 

And to round this blog out, an action shot:

Yeah, this figure looks really good and isn’t too hard to stand up. Had some issues at the beginning, but she behaved for most of this photo shoot, which was a boon. 

I’d recommend this figure. Yep. If you like her, and you can get hold of her, I’d say get this figure 😀

Blind Box Pack

The stall that sold me the Harley Quinn XXRay figure also had a blind bag on display, and I was, for whatever reason, determined to buy some kind of blind bag at FACTS. I looked around his stall, and he seemed to have a decent selection of blind box stuff, so I decided to go for it and buy the bag:

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So… let’s see what we got. The figures were brand new and sealed, but I didn’t take pics of the items whilst they were still boxed. 

First up was this “Vamou” figure:

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Decently made, lookin’ pretty dead. Would’ve preferred to get a purple one. The box was a choice of this dude in various colours. Not too interesting, but well-made. 

Side:

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Back:

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He’s decent enough, and has ended up on a shelf of other small collectables.

Next up was a Be@rbrick. Was kind of excited to get this, as I wanted to see what these are like. Inside I got one entitled “Animal”:

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An interesting texture, and the articulation was better than I thought it would be – the arms are on ball joints, so you can move them into many positions, unlike a minifig. The legs also bend outwards slightly. He can rotate at the hips, head and wrists, which is good. Not the best pattern, not the worst. He also came with a card, which I didn’t take a pic of, as it’s already in a drawer. 

Side:

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Back:

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Close-up of the text:

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Interesting addition on the back. I guess it makes the copyright text less boring! 

Lastly, Shah Mat chess pieces:

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Each set comes with 4 tiles that clip together (each tile is a separate piece) and a pawn. My bind box figure was the king, who is the rare one, uh, yay! If I could find a buyer, it would likely be worth something, but I don’t think people are clamouring for a chess set that you have to get through pricey blind boxes… They do make pretty display pieces though! 

Back:

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And they are cute. 

Overall, I felt I broke even on this. Buying the boxes would’ve likely cost me more, but would I have bought them….? I’d say definitely “no” for the Vamou, and a likely “no” for the Shah Mat dunnies. Though none of them are headed to the the “box of trading figures”, so I got things that I like. Maybe not the wisest use of €15, but it was a fun one. Out of blind bags, I could’ve done much worse, so glad how it turned out. 

And here concludes my loot at FACTS! Money well spent I say!

Harley Quinn – XXRay

The stall had a bunch of XXRay figures for €15, including this deluxe edition. Price is about average for the normal editions, but couldn’t resist this deluxe edition, especially as it was Harley Quinn. 

Here she is, out of the box:

I’m a sucker for novelty figures, and have been looking at these XXRay figures, but usually they’re either too expensive, or not a character I want. 

Her internals have been well-sculpted and painted. It’s nice having one of these figures, but I feel having a lot of them would be kind of “meh”, as they seem to largely do humanoid characters, so the internals don’t vary much. On the externals, there’s a couple of bits of stray paint (you can see one above her left bobble). 

For accessories, she comes with the hammer as pictured above, plus these pieces:

Unfortunately taking her apart is not easy, so I haven’t actually tried these pieces out, but it’s good they included other weapons for her to hold. I’d likely pick the hammer for her anyway, as it’s the most iconic item of the three. Bomb has a noticeable seam though, which isn’t so good. 

Left:

Here we see her, as if she was whole. Paintwork is mostly OK, with a little escaping here and there. 

Right:

Bony! I like the way they’ve done the cutaway. Her cutaway foot seems too flat though. Would’ve been good if these bones were raised like the ribs. 

Back:

Imo the back looks good. No real complaints back here. 

I think these XXRay figures are a neat idea, but I don’t think I’d collect a lot of them as it’s much of the same. Having a couple makes for a good novelty, having a collection would just water down their impact for me. All in all, I’m happy with this one and maybe I’ll pick up a Joker if I come across one going cheap or one or two others. If you like what you see, I would recommend them, but not paying a lot for them, as they aren’t that big. 

Chatterer 18″ – Hellraiser – NECA

Now for my largest purchase of FACTS! In price, as well as size… 

Though I couldn’t use the usual backdrop:

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… so I apologise if the photos are a bit meh today. 

Here he is displayed on a shelf, showing how big he is:

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Yeah, this dude towers over everything! 

So let’s get a closer look at him:

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His top is leather, whilst the rest of him is hard plastic. The leather overlay on the top is a really nice touch. I got this figure cheap, as it does have a few flaws – there’s a paint scratch on his lip, and most of his leg joints were glued by a previous owner, as well as being glued to the glass disc. I don’t mind him being attached to the disc – it certainly helps him stand, but the joints being seized is kinda annoying. 

Left:

Detailing is nice on the arm, and a bit of a lack on the leg tbh. The halves don’t quite meet up in texture at the top. 

Right:

Here we can see better the arms have plenty of creases running round them, and various fake leather pieces making them up. Here the leg issue is better demonstrated – where crease lines don’t run from the back half of his leg to the front. The white dots are glue residue – I may attempt to remove these at some point, but this is from the haphazard efforts to force him into a stable position. 

Close-up of one of his hooks:

The blood effects are nice, and the chain is plastic, with fake rust. Looks good though. The top half of the hooks slide into his hand, an the bottom of the hook is attached to the chain, and clips into the other half. These fit easily and nicely in his hands, so no issues there. His arms have full mobility, but due to the way the arms have been designed with particular orientations in mind, this limits poseability, if you want things to line up. 

Back:

Back looks nice, and the leg hinges aren’t too visible. The screw on his backside is where the batteries live (he has an action feature!) and the switch is there to turn him on and off. 

Close-up of his back:

Here we see the switch, which says Off-On above it, and the leather overlaid on his flayed back. Kinda wish more of the figure was covered in material (it’s a rubbery plastic made to resemble leather). 

Close-up of his face:

Lovely amount of detail in the face, with the sculpt and the paint. Here you can quite clearly see the paint chip on his lip. I feel a lot of the detail in this figure is in his face. 

Side of head:

The metal wires have been well-painted, and moulded so they’re digging into his skin. 

Back of his head:

His head is slightly rotated – if you have his head straight, the removed flesh parts line up properly. Love the veins shown in his head. I think they did a good job back here. 

So action feature… what would chatterer’s action feature be? Well, he has a motion-activated chat:

Initially, it didn’t work when I put the batteries in, and it turned out that one of the battery terminals were corroded. Currently they’re replaced with a piece of foil, as it was the one bridging the two batteries. Probably won’t bother replacing the foil, but was really glad to find he still chatters, even if the motor is a bit noisy lol. 

Angry Groot – Eaglemoss

This figure originally came with “Marvel Fact Files – Cosmic Special Edition #5″. 

I, however, just bought the figure without the magazine:

Was drawn to this figure, due to its unusual look. Most Groot figures have him more tree-trunk-like, and this was more like spiky, angry tree. I love the shouting expression and his hairstyle. 

Left:

The paint job isn’t hugely complex, but it works. Most of the niceness of this figure is in the sculpt. 

Close-up of his arm:

Love the poking out parts of bark, and his hands look good, with the green emphasising his knuckles. 

Right:

Looks fine from this angle too. Some asymmetry going on, which is nice. 

Back:

I like the “flow” of the bark on his back. The shapes tessellate well and look good. Also a fan of that spiky hair 😀

I like this figure. The pose and facial expression convey a lot of emotion, and you can’t help but imagining him roaring. A welcome addition to my collection. 

Klingon Birds of Prey – Star Trek – Eaglemoss & Hallmark

Bought these two Klingon Birds of Prey from the same seller. Well, when you like a thing… you buy two of it :P. 

First up, the Eaglemoss figure:

Evidence Eaglemoss can make decent stuff  when they want to. Not quite sure what’s going on with the Klingon logo on the wing – seems to have more colours than it should? Maybe a Star Wars buff can comment.. However, the paint job gives a good weathered look to the ship, and the model is detailed. This model shows how little splashes of colour can really bring out a colour, with the gold accents on the end of the wing & gun, the gold accents on what I assume are auxiliary thrusters on the top and the red for the windscreens. 

Front:

Birds of Prey have quite a thin profile from the front, so not a lot to see here. Menacing though. 

Left:

Same details as the right, so I’ll pass a few comments about the stand – it stands fine, as long as you leave it alone. However, it is a bit easy to knock it out if moving/handling it. If you want to move these ships around, I’d suggest taking them off the stand first prior to moving. Don’t want to ding any weapons off!

Back:

Here we see the red of the main engine. I do like this stand’s general design – it does allow you to see all the angles, without getting in the way. No complaints about this angle. 

Top:

Here we get a much better look at the details – this Star Trek series has some impressive entries, which is why they hold their value on reselling sites. Star Trek is a bit of a weird one for licencing – they have a bunch of Playmates merch, which is largely meh, then they have really good things like this. 

Bottom:

Glad to see they didn’t skimp on the mould detail here, but… shouldn’t the undersides of the wings be red? Seems to be a different design underneath, than the one I’m familiar with. Pleased to see they did detail it, but not sure it’s entirely accurate, but I like it anyway. 

Overall, I’m really happy with this model. I do really like some of the “enemy” ship designs in Star Trek. 

The second Bird of Prey I picked up was a Hallmark Keepsake:

No stand for this one, as it’s a Christmas tree decoration, so here it is, with its butt parked on the floor. As expected for an ornament, it is less detailed than the Eaglemoss one, but still looks good imo. Here they’ve painted what looks like a heat sink in silver, which makes me realise the other one had this part in green. Hm, looks better in silver. Nice detail in having some Klingon writing on the wing. No idea what it says though. 

Top:

Here’s the wire that is designed to plug into a light string, but may get modified to work off USB, as the manual suggests it should work just fine on 5V. The “1994″ on the back above the thruster is because this ornament was manufactured in 1994. Interesting detail there, lol. No thread on the eye, but I’ve got plenty around here to supply my own. Top of it looks good at a distance. 

Front:

Yep, still small profile, though this one’s chunkier construction makes it stand out more. The yellow light at the front will light up when powered. 

Back:

Here’s a red light, which represents the thruster. I believe this one is meant to flicker when powered, but as I’m yet to test it, I haven’t seen it, only read about it in the information leaflet.  This isn’t a particularly attractive angle for the ship.

Bottom:

Red wings! Yeah, this is how I remember them! Despite the lack of shading, the paintjob on the bottom of this one outdoes the Eaglemoss one. Shame we’ve got some copyright info slightly spoiling it. This is probably one of the neater angles of this ship. 

All in all, this is a nice ship considering it’s an ornament. If you’re looking for an epically detailed display piece, this probably isn’t the ship for you, but if you like a Bird of Prey that lights up, this is an option. I’ll try to post an update if I get the lights working, but they’re yet to be tested. If I get it working, I may choose a display shelf that I’ll have powered items on, and have 5V available for LEDs. 

Alien Attacker – Independence Day

So now for the FACTS loot! First up is this spaceship that came with a collector’s edition of Independence Day. It came with the box, but not the Blu-Ray, though with the Blu-Ray it’dve been a lot more costly… and I don’t care about Independence Day that much. Just wanted the cool spaceship :P. 

Here it is – it has a nice plaque stand. so you know where it is from. It sits on two plastic supports, and is relatively sturdy. 

Closer look at the stand:

Here we see the base pattern, nicely shaded, and the plastic supports that peg into the ship. 

The underside of the ship:

Here we can see the two slits that the stand pegs into. Most of the paintwork is a black wash, but it isn’t evenly applied, so there’s lighter and darker areas, which gives the ship more detail. Some silver paint on the back, which provides a bit of a contrast. We can also see the guns that dangle down from the bottom.

Here’s a closer look at one of the guns:

They don’t give an overly detailed vibe, but they do the job. 

Left top:

The detailing is good, but the paint job just leaves it looking a little on the plain side. I love all the etched patterns and the fin on the top. 

Top front:

Windscreens are there, but no detail really. Would’ve been nice if they were in reflective paint, or there was suggestions of detail inside the ship – looking at some pics of the movie, there were lights inside. Also there seems to be a lack of wash or paintwork on the parts either side of the windscreen. I think it’s this and the lack of variety in depths of the etching that leaves it looking plainer than it should. It’s fine for a cheap figure, but I wouldn’t pay a massive premium for it. Also with most of it being the plastic’s colour, it does leave it looking like a plastic model. 

Top-down:

The patterns are what “make” this ship, along with its unusual shape. A credit to the original designers. 

Back:

Yep, that’s a ship’s arse. Line of the fin is good. Looking closely, there’s some stray grey paint on the base… 

If you like this ship design, I’d recommend it if you can get it cheaply. It’s definitely not the worst collectable that came with a movie or game (Max Payne 3 statue anyone?) , but I don’t think it would be winning any awards either. I think it’d make a great base for a custom paint job, but alas, I’m not the one to do that. Well, not at the moment anyway. I’m mildly a sucker for ships, and I liked the look of this one, so decided to get it. I don’t regret it, but do think the paintwork could’ve been better on the ship itself. 

Lara Croft – Union Jack variant – NECA

Last but not least from Forbidden Zone, Lara Croft in a Union Jack shirt:

Upon getting her out of the box, she has a platiciser issue, and her skin is quite sticky. Haven’t washed her yet. Had to buy her because… union jack. 

Close-up of her top:

Her hair they’ve tried to shade but not sure it worked. The texture seems a bit rough on her hair. Her makeup I think is a bit too on the severe side. Far off, the painting on her top looks OK, but close-up, it doesn’t really hold up. The neckline is particularly a mess, but there is some mess in the middle of the flag. The 

The shininess on her face is due to the plasticiser, and some of the uneven colour may be due to it too. If the makeup parts were done in a less severe colour, I think her face would look much nicer, and I wouldn’t have complaints about it. 

Close-up of her shorts:

Most of the painting is pretty neat. Some weathering effects, which is a nice touch. And a nice-looking belly button :). The guns can come out of the holsters – they start off in the blister, or she can hold the pistols. 

Empty holster:

They’re rubbery and hold the pistols quite well. They need a bit of a shove to get in there fully. 

Left:

She looks good from the side. Some weird orange line on her leg – not investigated if this is plasticiser effect, or if it’s painted on there. Unsure if deliberate or not, could be mud… Here I’ve taken the shotgun out of her hand, but here’s why you kind of need a weapon equipped:

Yeah. You can face the back of her hand forward, and that doesn’t look as odd, but the hands are moulded for holding her weapons, so you can’t do too much with them if she hasn’t got a weapon in her hand. Would’ve been nice to have some fists/flat hands so she didn’t look odd when not holding a gun or the sword. 

Right side:

Looking a bit sunburnt on this side, lol. I love this interesting-looking artefact weapon. I should probably really know what it is… 

Close-up of the weapon:

Love the blue dots on it, and the intricate design. 

Back:

Some mottling, which might be the fault of the plasticiser. But it does look like she’s been out adventuring to me :)> Plenty of grenades back here to fend off the beasties. Love her backpack – this has been well sculpted and painted. Hair still looks a little rat-tail though. 

Close-up of the grenades:

… and her backside. Not too much of a backside view, due to the accoutrements on her belt. The grenades look good, and painted neatly. 

And the last of her arsenal:

Pistols look OK, shotgun is painted OK, but the backend I think looks like it has been through a steamroller – I guess to make it thin enough for her to hold. Also not sure it’s actually faithful to any of the games? Grenade launcher looks… eh. That one is going into storage. She can’t hold it well either. And another point about holding her weapons – she seems to like to practice trigger safety, and it seems hard/impossible to get her trigger finger into the trigger guards on her weapons. Kinda like the weapons were a bit of an afterthought. Pistols look good in her holsters, even if they look mediocre out of them. And she has that sword to wield, which is the favoured option for me. 

Overall, I love the look of this figure and did a good job for the most part, just a shame about some of the more major paint flaws. Also she has very little articulation in her arms, which severely limits posing. However, I’m forgiving of this – with older figures, the elbow joints tend to suck massively and show far too much, so this is the better option. Would’ve been nice to have some replaceable hands, and dispense with the kinda crappy looking guns. 

Angel Of Death – Hellboy 2 – Mezco

Second loot…. more Hellboy! This time the Angel of Death:

This figure is huge with her wings! Really love the wings for this figure. You can move them up and down, and hinge them back and forth a bit. I love her skin texture, suitably gross, with the hard, bonelike head. She looks the part imo, but picking her up, she feels a bit like a… lump. 

Close-up of her upper half:

Here we can see the nice details in the sculpt and the shading, which has largely been subtly done, and really adds to the figure. I wasn’t leaving the comic book shop without this one 😛 Other than the wings, you can move her arms, as shown here. The joints just rotate, but this is fine for this figure, imo. 

Left side:

Some shading is present in her cloak, and here you can see the hinges in the wings. She has some good detailing in her arms – you can see the spirals etched into her arms, as well as the scaly layering. 

Right side:

Pretty much the same story here. Some grasping hands, which fit with the character. 

Back:

The wings are fully sculpted on the back, as well as shaded, which looks really good. Kinda wish I could display her where you can see all angles, but she needs to go in my large cabinet to fit anywhere XD. And here you can see her not fitting into my “set”. I don’t have the space for too many large figures, so I don’t think I’ll be rushing out for another piece of wood yet… Though I will be reviewing a super-large figure soon™, which may require a new “set”…

I really like this figure, and super-glad I got her. 

Hellboy Mini-Bust – Gentle Giant

This is the first of the purchases I made at the comic book shop that ended up eating half of my budget… Forbidden Zone in Brussels. So the next four blogs will be the purchases I made there :). 

First up is Hellboy:

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Love the paint on this dude. One small mark on his right shoulder, but otherwise is in excellent condition. Love the strong red of his chest, complemented by the shading. But I agree with one review I read for him… he does have a lack of nipples. He could do with more in the nipple region :P. 

Close-up of his face:

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Hair/sideburn paint is a bit sloppy in places. And you can see the mark on his jacket in the corner of this photo. When looking at this picture, I do notice they’ve missed out some copper paint on the fasteners(?) on his jacket. The shading on his face seems kind of unfocused, but it works OK from a distance. I do like his eyes, 

Left:

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Here we have his gun hand. We can see a good amount of shading on his jacket too. The gun looks good and weighty, and looks the part imo. You can see the tendons in this hand, which makes it a good sculpt in my book.

Close-up of the gun:

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Texture looks good on the gun, and seems to have the right details to my untrained eye. 

Right side:

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Love the straps going down the arm of his jacket. The stone texture on his arm is really good, pleased with how that came out.

Closer look at the arm:

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Looking good 🙂 

Back:

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His jacket has some lovely shading in it – love the fact they didn’t go for a super-plain look, and does give the feeling it’s a more “lived in” jacket. Some minor marking here too, but it just kind of adds to the jacket :P. 

Overall, I really like this bust. Think it was worth the money I paid for it :). 

Elite Praetorian Guard – Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Here’s a bit of a random pickup – a die-cast Elite Praetorian Guard. I haven’t seen The Last Jedi (can’t claim to be much of a Star Wars fan), but I love the design of this character, who looks like this:

The majority of the figure is a solid metal, and his skirt is rubbery, allowing to flex as you move him around. Weapons are also plastic. The particular thing that drew me to this version of the Praetorian Guard was the shininess of the paint, which I think works well with the red. As much as I’m not a fan of the films, I have to give them props for designing some interesting-looking characters. 

The base:

The base has this nice etched pattern. Shame it’s only passable as a base – it only has one peg, so getting him to balance can be tricky, as he’s quite top-heavy, so realistically, you’re not going to do action poses with him. If you want him in a more action pose, you may have to invest in a sturdy claw stand. 

Left side:

Here we can see a pinhole that’s the articulation for his arm, and one of the rubber bands I’ve left on for the weapon in his left hand. With the weapons, I took the one off the right-hand side, then had issues getting the weapon to stay in his hand. They are plastic-y, but not by much, so you could possibly get a better grip out of it. However, doing some research during writing this blog, I’ve found you can make the two swords into one weapon… but he’ll be holding it one-handed. Does stay in his hand better as the one weapon. 

On removing the pictured rubber band, I think it had started to go. I wasn’t planning on leaving it on long term, as they do eventually perish and then are an awful mess to remove sometimes. 

Right side:

So let’s get to those arm seams – yeah, they’re pretty visible. Probably less so on this side. I don’t think it’s too bad placement the seams, but they do remain visible. Here you can see the notch in the weapon, which attaches to a corresponding hole on the other weapon. Having the choice to attach them together is neat… however there’s a lack of articulation, so you can’t really do a two-handed grip, like the weapon should really be held. He has a lack of “flapping” motion in his arms – the joints basically articulate on one axis. 

Back:

They covered up four screws… but not the two on his arms?! I guess it was to avoid fouling of the joint, but damn. Seems an odd choice to do nothing, and not even paint the screws red. Some nice detailing in the mould of his upper body though – some bit son the back of his head, and the lines on the back. 

Honestly I think this figure would have been better as a statically posed figure, with maybe some swappable arms to change his stance to hold the weapon. The articulation gives you some options, but you’re fighting gravity to find stances that work. I think this is the kind of guy you’re going to pose once, then leave him, lest you knock him over and scratch him. The die-cast and the paint gives him a good finish, and makes him into a weighty collectable, but I think the articulation didn’t add as much as it should to a figure, and kind of loses out on that. A claw stand may’ve been nice, or maybe some stand that holds onto his leg, or wedges up between his legs, so you could have him more “action stance” and not have to fight gravity so much. 

I don’t mind him for what he is – I didn’t pay full price, and honestly, I think I can see why other people didn’t either… Once displayed, he looks fine, but there has been compromises in this figure that don’t quite work. 

Paréo Paradiso – Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft

This figure I bought shortly after the other one, at FACTS. It is entitle “Paréo Paradiso” which would imply she’s wearing a wraparound dress. I remember seeing the pose she’s based on (was it in one of the cinematics? Or just some out-of-game artwork?) and in that, it definitely looked more like a towel. So not sure if the original model was wrong or this one is “wrong” :P. 

Here she is, in her towel/dress:

As with the other one, there’s some noticeable paint flaws going on. Mine’s got a bit of stray paint on her foot, and a bit of blobbiness in one of her hair strands. With the fabric wrapping around her, it definitely looks more like a dress fabric than a towel, due to the way the creases are moulded. 

Left:

Her face looks OK, not sure she’s entirely pleased to see us looking at her in just a thin piece of fabric… The moulding looks really good from this angle imo, and probably is a better display angle than front on, where you can’t see her face too well. 

Right:

Mostly looks OK from this angle, but the dress is too flat against her right leg, which leaves it looking painted on. Could’ve done with a line of shading or to actually mould it, like it is on the left leg. 

Back:

Admire her shapley backside :P. It would’ve been nice if they added some detail to the dress, as it does look a bit like she’s been papier-mâché’d. With this one, there is a couple of rubbing marks on the back. Not entirely surprising, as she’s probably been kicking around for awhile. The forked hair looks a little odd – may’ve been better to either not fork it, or have the bits “lean” the same way. 

I paid €5 for her, so a cheap figure. Was glad I could find another one of this “set”. 

Lara Croft – Angel of Darkness – Strahov Complex

I bought this figure in a collectables shop, along with the zombie head. This figure originates from France, but I can’t find out a lot of information about this series of figures. 

So in lieu of information, here is a pic:

It’s quite a solid figure, paint job is on the sloppier side, but good enough at a distance. Love the camo on her shorts, and her face came out well imo. The sculpt is decent, but not overly detailed. 

Left side:

The black paint appears like it didn’t want to go where it was intended to go :P. Having the hair as strands is nice. Not sure what’s going on with that back shoe – looks like they wanted to have her feet more level, and tried to use the floor colour to make her soles an even shape. Yeah… didn’t quite work, and looks like she’s wearing one platform shoe… d’oh. 

The text across the bottom is “L’Ange des Ténèbres, Strahov Complex”, which is the name of the game in French, followed by the level she’s in. 

Right side:

Copyright to Core Design, showing these are official figures. And some serious platform shoe going on. The black paint is neater on this side, but mine has a couple of marks. Fortunately this is on the back, so it doesn’t show when displayed. Hair is a little sloppily painted on this side. 

Back:

The back looks fine, some nice details in the sculpt. Most noticeable paint flaw here for me is the strap on her left thigh, followed by the shoe top. 

Overall, this is nice for a cheaper collectable. I paid £8, and that would probably be the max I’d recommend spending on her. If you want a small statue of Lara, I think these are pretty decent, but there will be paint flaws. 

Daenerys Targaryen – Eaglemoss

Two collectables that don’t have much to do with each other, but are both going to be quick entries I think… 

First up, this small Daenerys Targaryen:

Unfortunately she was broken across the feet when she came – you can see the lines across her boots where I’ve reglued her. As to why I didn’t return her: I won her for 99p + postage, so it wasn’t worth the hassle of returning it. It’s not very well painted, and is probably about the level I hope to achieve with a garage kit :P. Thinking of repainting her boots as practice, and cover up the break lines. The die-cast material she’s made out of isn’t very strong, so not sure if she was already broken (image for the auction was poor), or it happened in her journey to me. 

Sometimes Eaglemoss does an OK paint job. Sometimes they… do this. I guess the GoT line is one of the ones that’s going to/has binned hard. 

Here she is from the right:

Admire the… thing she is holding and blue paint in her hair. Base is also a bit naffed. Her This is probably the best angle for the moulding on Daenerys goes. The gold part is supposed to be one item, with a tassel coming off the end, but the tassel isn’t aligned to the base of the item. The tassel moulding looks OK irl. 

Left:

Apologies for the out-of-focus shot. Her face paint is actually pretty good close up, but the quality of her hair really mars it. It looks like they overpainted blue on the hair that’s on her shoulders, and it’s way too fat to look right. And that hand paint is damn awful, as well as a total lack of definition for her fingers on this hand. Part of the hair is the same colour as her cloak – the side of the hair that’s facing us, plus a bit on her back is the same way. I don’t think cloaks come up to meet your hair… 

Back:

Paint overruns everywhere. If you look at the hair dangling down her back, you can see the blue side on the left that I mentioned in the last paragraph. The bottom tip of her coat is also missing dark blue paint. 

This could’ve been a good figure, if more care was paid to the painting. This feels like a figure that shouldn’t have passed QA – there’s some nice bits like the clasps painted in silver in her hair, and the bead on the tassel of the… thing. The face weirdly was done well, considering the rest of it. The blue detailing on her front though, comes off very much like “cheap blind bag figure”, which is a shame. 

I don’t think I’ll pick up any of these GoT figures unless I can see them in person, and can verify the paint job isn’t turd. The LotR figures were marred with the same issues, so it wouldn’t surprise me if this line is similarly affected. 

Borg Cube – Playmates

What do we have here?

Hm, looks cube-y. 

Yep, those look like some Borg cube patterns… 

Hm, this side doesn’t seem very Borg-y…

Let’s see what’s in here:

Lots of Borg out to play! The Picard and blue Borg came with the set, the others are a Borg Assimilation Team I bought many moons ago. Have been wanting this mini play set for some time, but finally decided to commit to getting one. Ended up getting this shipped over from America, along with 2 other sets which I may sell. 

Top-down view:

The inner parts pull out, and the bed folds down. You can partially extend the arm on the bio-bed, so it’s sticking up. Yeah, Playmates called the bed that. 

Glad I bought this – it’s nice having the Borg to have a home :). It’s nothing hugely fancy, but it does provide a good backdrop & stand to my assimilation team. There’s enough here to give the “feel” of a Borg cube, but I think it’s only good as a diorama, rather than a toy – there’s only so much room to pose the small figures… and it’s small. Very much more a backdrop than anything else. This playset doesn’t have the playability of a Polly Pocket, but it’s nicely executed for what it is. 

Blue Beetle – DC Icons

Here we have a bit of a random buy – Blue Beetle:

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Am a sucker for winged things and blue. Found him in a discount pile, priced at £5 for the mildly damaged box. What was even better, when I brought him to the checkout, I found out the store was doing a half-price on all damaged & discounted goods…. can’t argue with £2.50!

Here he is with his wings pointed upwards:

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The wings freely rotate, so can be positioned freely, on the axis given. However, they are not hinged so you can’t ‘flap’ the wings backward, but not sure this is entirely necessary for a beetle.

Close-up of his wings (the pegs do shove further in to mostly hide the unpainted section):

image

They are attached to a beetle, who clings onto his back. I think this is a pretty neat design,as someone unfamiliar with the character. It also gives him some cool ‘spikes’ either side of his head, by virtue of its antennae.

Back shot:

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I love the shininess of the wings, and the details upon them. The dark blue areas are also metallic paint, which shines nicely. I’d say he isn’t a super-detailed figure, but what’s there is well done. The contrasting textures on his suit are nice, and the grooved lines neat. 

Side shot:

For some reason, I only took a pic of his right side in this configuration, but this will do for demoing what he’s like. The joints are nicely done and largely blend well. I love the way the beetle’s legs hang onto him, and you can see the beetle’s antennae, which make cool ‘spikes’ over his shoulders. The white areas on his legs help break up the large amount of blueness. 

One thing that annoys me slightly is that his forearm seems a little big for his upper arm, and seems to show at any angle. I suppose I could pretend it’s a gauntlet, but it doesn’t look distinct enough for that. 

However, if you don’t like his forearms, he can be ‘armed’: 

He comes with two blasters that you can equip on his forearms, hence the forearm split. These guns are pretty neat, but do look a bit like “lump of plastic” from certain angles imo. There really isn’t much paint detail on these – mostly what you can see here. 

Here he is from the left:

The gun on his left arm has a decent amount of detail and some other paint details. It’s also sculpted to fit properly around his arm, making it the clear candidate for the left arm. 

From the right:

The moulding is nice on the right gun, but it just seems too… solid? Would’ve been nice to see some kind of painting/shading on it. Same with bits of the right gun – maybe the banding on the barrels could’ve been painted a darker blue or something. But hey, I bought him for £2.50 so I’m not that fussed! I’ll likely display him with the left gun and with his right hand. 

Overall, I’m pleased with this figure, definitely think he’s worth the price I paid! Not sure I would’ve paid full price for him personally, but he seems to be a solid figure in the DC Icons range.