Category: Action figures (articulated)

Kin – McFarlane

Here we have Kin from the Spawn universe:

You can choose to display him with or without the pig mask, and the arm he carries is a separate part. The demon on his back is attached via a wire, and cannot be removed, but can be moved to sit in various places on his back. 

Close-up of the demon: 

Love the paint job on this figure – a fair amount of detail, and I particularly like the detail on the demon’s face. Having some articulation in the demon is nice too – allows some customisation of how you sit him on top of Kincaid. 

Without the pig mask:

Didn’t focus on his face in this shot, but  here you can see he’s fully detailed, if you don’t like the pig mask. The placing and sizing of the holes that hold on the mask are such that they don’t really show when you have his mask off, which is a nice touch, if people don’t want the mask. 

Left:

Here we can see the length of the mask – is pretty long! The hair effect on Kin’s arms is good, and I really like the stippled blood effect on the demon’s back. One of the better recreations of blood that I’ve seen on a figure. Often bloodied bits look rather fake, but this one doesn’t. 

Close-up of the axe:

Yeah, I think this axe comes with a side of tetanus. Some lovely paint details on his boots too. 

Right:

And that’s one putrescent arm! I love how they’ve mailed most of the textures o this figure. Only one I’m not a fan of is the trousers – they look a bit wooden rather than cloth due to the paintwork. 

Back:

Even from the back, there’s a lot to be seen in the moulding and the painting. The way the demon is climbing onto Kin’s back gives a sense of motion to me. Love the way they’ve given the trousers a bunch of highlights to help add to them, though the paint does leave them looking kind of woody instead of hessian sack. 

Kin’s jacket:

They didn’t skimp on the detail, despite the fact it is likely to be covered up by the demon. The paint has been neatly done, which shows of the details in the jacket. Almost a shame the demon is permanently connected to Kin – would’ve been nice if there was a connector on the wire. However, I do have a McFarlane figure with detachable wires and they do fall out pretty easily, so maybe this was the best solution. 

Overall, I can strongly recommend this figure if you like the looks of it. It’s not very poseable, but if you’re OK with that, this is a solid figure. 

Kyoshinhei – Figma SP-043

This Figma I was looking at on and off, for ordering. I ended up getting a promotional code from Solaris Japan, so I decided to use it on this fellah:

This review’s been a long time in coming, due to the fact the stand was missing in the one I was sent :(. Contacted Solaris, who sent a replacement straight out, so all worked out in the end :D. This dude doesn’t have the ability to stand without it, so yeah. Wasn’t gonna settle for no stand! 

Love his big wings – these don’t feel too delicate, which is nice. The texture on his body is well done, and detailed.

Side with the wings:

They have some depth to them, which helps them stand out. He has a butt spike stand and a claw stand part. I’m happy with him standing, so went with spiking him in the butt. Certain poses probably work better with the claw stand, but I like the butt spike, as they’re good at holding Figma in place. 

Back:

Yeah, he’s another dude that exceeds the size of my backdrop… The contrast between the spines on his wings and the wings themselves is nice. Does give him a really striking appearance. 

Here he is with his ‘weapon’:

He comes with two sets of hands – ones in the first photo and these to hold the spike, which looks disturbingly like frozen pee. It can be a bit awkward to move him around once it is in his hands though – the spike is pretty thin, so I wouldn’t try to stress it too much – if you’re playing around with him, I’d recommend detaching the spike halves, then connecting them when ready. 

Above, with the pee spike:

This thing is pretty big! Here we can also see the multitude of spikes he has on his body, without the wings. The back spikes are the wing replacement parts. I think both configurations look really good. When I bought him, I planned to display him with wings, no questions, but upon getting him out of the box, I then debated, prior to setting on yes, wings. 

Close-up of his front, and alternate head:

Here we have him chomping on… something. Or maybe spitting? Here I’m showing my ignorance of the source material ¬¬. Love the sculpt and paint on his body though. Lovely amount of texture and detail, and enough soft parts to keep him poseable. 

Right side:

He’s quite a lithe chap, some visibility of joints on his arm. Most of them are pretty well hidden, worst offender is the elbows. 

Back:

The spikes are well-blended into his back, and really look a part of him. The separate parts that cover up the places where the wings go blend in well, and don’t look out of place. I live the amount of detailing with all the dimples back here. Gives him a strong, gnarled monster vibe. 

Close-up on the spikes:

The orange really compliments his look, and it’s transparency without looking naff. So that’s a strong positive to me :). 

Overall, I love this figure and glad I got him. It’s fiddly doing the wing switch, as you need to pull out his joints, so it’s not something you’d want to do regularly. I love his looks, as I’m a sucker for monstery things, especially those with wings, so this one definitely ticks the boxes. Definitely wouldn’t want to meet him on a dark night! Would recommend him, but not at a high premium, as he doesn’t come with too many extras for a Figma, but he certainly looks good imo, and poses well. 

Harley Quinn – Arkham Knight – DC Collectables

This one I bought at Hawkins Bazaar, who had a few characters on clearance. But some of them are being sold at B&M for cheaper, so if you see figures there, check if they’re in B&M or TK Maxx first. 

Here is Harley Quinn, based on her appearance in Arkham Knight (not played the game, but does she appear in both of her outfits?):

Most of the paintwork is well done, but there are a few dodgy bits here and there. The paint quality varied between figures, so I picked the best one. Some of them, the white paint was encroached upon by the black/red paint. 

This figure is very shiny. Not sure if I’m a fan of the look or not. Wish the black line on her left side was a bit straighter. The diamonds on her leggings are painted nicely though. 

Close-up of her face:

I like the rouge on her face, the lipstick and eyes are painted very well. Not too much of a fan of the “blow-up” hat look. The hat has been given seams like it’s an inflatable, not sure if this is intentional detail, but not really a fan. The creases are nicely realised. Some of the white n her collar does seem to let some of the undercoat show through, but not too badly on mine. 

Left:

Here you get to see the extent of the shiny. Does make it look like she’s wearing some plastic-y fetish suit. The colours are very vibrant though. 

Right:

Looks fine from this angle, other than some previously made points. 

Back:

Quite a bit of creasing detail throughout her body and hat. The pom-pom balls are nice. Her neck looks odd from this angle though, from the way they’ve done the joint. 

And now for some notes about posing her:

Why, DC, why?! No hopes in her feet to add a stand, so you’ll either have to go for no stand or a claw stand. Without a stand, she’s a bit finnicky to stand up. You can get her to stand, but she will be prone to falling over. Also getting her to hold her bat can be troublesome, though looks good once you get her to hold it properly. 

Overall, I can see why this figure was reduced. She’s a bit of a pain to pose, and I think the shiny look would be polarising between collectors. She articulates well, but this is let down by the lack of stand. If you see this for around a tenner, and you like the look of her (and prepared to throw in a stand if you can’t prop her up), I’d recommend her. But I’d recommend also leafing through the stock to ensure you get one with a minimal amount of paint flaws. 

Hal Jordan – Test Pilot – Mattel

Saw this figure loose at a collectable figure store. Wasn’t sure who it was, until I did a bunch of research. 

Turns out it’s Hal Jordan as a test pilot:

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The figure isn’t in pristine condition, but he was cheap, and I liked his spacesuit outfit. The helmet “glass” is a neat-looking shimmering blue. 

Left:

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His clothes are moulded well for a cheap figure, and the paint is surprisingly not messy. Here you can also see the translucency of his helmet. The colouring is basic, but I think that was a good choice, to avoid colouring mistakes.

Back:

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Backpack looks OK, but it might’ve been nice to have it not in a block colour. It’s not really a collectable figure, so it’ll do. Sculpt works fine imo. 

Without the helmet:

Not much detail in the face – quite reminiscent of much older figures. I don’t think there’s enough detail there to match it up with any particular drawing/actor. With him without his helmet on, it’s clear his crotch is the colour of his top half. Would’ve been nice if his crotch was made to match his pants, not his top. 

Back:

Some creasing on his jacket, which is nice to see. Stops him from being totally plain back here, when they could’ve easily gone for a flat sculpt, what with the backpack accessory. Hair also has a good patterning to it. 

Overall, I like this figure. In some places it’s pretty basic, but his clothes have had a decent amount of attention put into the sculpt. His hands have been curled in a way which makes him look like he should have an accessory – and the pictures that I found on the internet seem to imply he didn’t come with one. Would’ve been nice to have a tiny lantern, or a more neutral hand pose. Overall, I’m happy with this random pickup. 

Ghost – Dark Horse Comics

This was a random pickup at a local game collectables store. Been eyeing this one up the last few times I’ve been in (actually… think I eyed her up the first time I went in there…) and finally decided I’d buy her. 

So here she is, finally escaped from her plastic prison:

She probably wouldn’t appeal to people used to more modern figures, and definitely seems to lurk in a transitional period between older style and newer style figures. She lacks any kind of leg articulation, and her skin is shiny om her body, which can be seen on her chest. The face aims for more realism, but still seems rooted in an older style. Her belt comes separately, and you clip this around her waist. 

You can also take off her cape:

She does look a bit odd like this though. The white cap doesn’t quite work on its own. Doesn’t  look like she does in the comic provided. Despite the lack of articulation she’s a bit of a pig to balance too. She holds her guns well though, but doesn’t look right without them.

Let’s explore more what she looks like with the cape, by looking at her left side:

The cape has been somewhat crudely moulded to fit around her arm. Which has a pretty obvious seam line. I do like this white, glossy paint though. 

Back:

Some creases, but lacks the more lifelike look they’d give a modern figure. She has some nice high-heeled boots, but that’s part of the source of her poor balance. 

Right, without the cape:

Ignore the mess on her shoe – that’s white tack. Seam a bit less obvious in the arm, and her glove has better painting on this side. Here you can start to see the fabric cap the white bit under the cape is supposed to be. 

Back:

They’ve aimed to make it look like the hair cap is moving around with her movement. This helps it look clothlike form this angle, but it’s just too severe a shape to work without the cape at the front imo. 

Overall I think this an OK figure. I paid £10 for her, which I think is fair. I don’t think this figure will particularly appeal to many people, especially as I think she’s not a well-known character. I think she really is a product of her time, and online sources suggest she was manufactured in 1998, which would seem about right for her style. And I’m pretty sure I put her belt on backward for this review… erm. Oops. I think she looks pretty neat with the cape, which is why I bought her. If you don’t mind her half-90s, half-2000s look, I think she’s decent overall.  

Alexa Bliss – WWE Elite Series

Normally I wouldn’t consider buying a wrestling figure, but upon seeing this one, and it being on sale, I decided to get it:

At first, I thought it was a cross-dressing bloke. On further research, she’s female, and they did a bit of a poor job with the head sculpt. Sorry Alexa :(. So that was probably why she’s on sale, oops. Her head is squarer than it should be, which was the source of my confusion. I was mostly attracted to this figure, due to the bright colours, though. 

Another thing my research dug up is the belt and the bits on her hands should be shiny – I find it odd they didn’t use silver paint on these, especially as they’ve used silver elsewhere on the figure. 

Also the sculpt – it seems they went for customising the body and the face, but the arms and legs are probably generic sculpts. 

I love the hair, outfit and boots on this figure, but the arms seem kind of generic and don’t really fit. They’ve done her makeup, so that’s a nice touch. 

Left:

One pink pom-pom comin’ up! Here we can see the blend of the dye in her hair – the blend job is so-so. Some of a seam showing on her hip.

Right:

Rather disappointed they didn’t put her hand jewellery in silver. Think it would’ve looked much better, but it’s not very delicate, so not true-to-life. And a blue pom-pom! Dye blend in her hair seems better on this side. 

Back:

Here you can see how the paint in the hair differs on the two sides. Her top straps are nice and shiny – this is definitely one of the selling pints of this figure. Here you can see that the top of her boots is a separate part – this helps with articulation. The poofy bits on her back aren’t terribly accurate to real life, but OK for a cheap figure. Not really finding this “elite” series to really be elite, which is likely why they’ve hit the bargain bin. 

And one last thing on articulation:

Her waist has plenty of it! 

I think this figure is a fine one as a cheap one for the kids, if you get it cheap. It’s not hugely accurate to her real look imo, so I don’t see her much as a collector’s item. I paid £10 for her, so she was definitely on the cheaper side of things, though I think the regular price was £20 or something, which is just too much imo. She did come with a base, but it is a cheap piece of rubbish and I wouldn’t recommend it. 

If a quality articulated figure manufacturer made her, I’d definitely buy it though – love this outfit, and I don’t think the figure does it justice. But it’s OK for a tenner and not knowing who she was prior…

Harley Quinn – Arkham Knight – DC Collectables

Bought this from Hawkin’s Bazaar, of all places. They were doing a sale, and she was a good price, so I picked her up:

As far as Harleys go, this figure isn’t super-special, but is decent-enough looking for the tenner I paid. I like the creases in her clothing, and she’s got some blush on her face, making it stand out more. She is a mild pain to pose though – hard to get her to hold the bat like I want her to. The paint is largely crisp and clean, but paint jobs do vary between figures, so I picked from the best I was looking at. Some of them the white overpaint wasn’t quite thick enough to hide her uniform underneath. 

Face close-up:

I do rather like the face on this figure. The flashing on the hat does make it look a bit like a blow-up hat, lol. Maybe it is? The furry balls on her hat and chest are meh, but they are on most figures, and these seem decent enough. 

Close-up of the bat:

Yep, looks like the quintessential Harley bat. Ruffs have a bit of stray paint on her wrists, but are well-sculpted. 

Left:

Looks OK from this angle. 

Right:

Some creasing at her middle and on her arm. Not sure they fully committed to the outfit wrinkles from this side. Note she has none on her legs. 

Back:

Here they seem to be a little undecided if they were committing to put wrinkles in her outfit or not, too. She does have a butt though… Her neck looks odd from this angle too. The paint is good on her outfit though.

And one of the major annoyances with this figure:

No. Stand. Holes. And she’s not easy to stand up on her own – she’s pretty finnicky, so can suddenly go SPLAT. Why DC Collectables, do you have to do this? Why no peg holes…? 

I think this might be quite a divisive figure – the shininess is going to appeal to some, but not so much to others. Not surprised this one has binned, but I think it’s a fairly solid figure for half the RRP. Though you may want to consider including a claw stand into your purchase so she doesn’t fall over. Currently I have her propped up against an acrylic stair stand, so she doesn’t fall over. 

Crysis 2 – Grunt

This is the last of the three Crysis 2 action figures I bought:

This guy has the same articulation as the stalker. The hips are ball joints, so you can get them to stand up fairly easily. 

Close-up of the face:

Can see a paint chip there (d’oh), but the red eyes have been painted well. I feel more attention was paid to painting these guys than the suit, even though the paint is still a bit shonky.

Close-up of his gun hand:

Here we actually have a detail painted on the weapon! Mould is a bit muddy, and doing a quick image search for these dudes, it looks like that some of the flat area shouldn’t exist. Not entirely surprised they’ve simplified it in this way.

Left:

Looks like this dude’s been on a diet. Cuts a good profile though. Here you can see where the tentacles were hard to get into the body again, and leave a small gap. 

Right:

Much the same as the left. Silver bits look good. I like the purple fade, even if this doesn’t seem to be too accurate, according to my image search. 

Back:

Again with the silly screw hole! Kinda wish that wasn’t there. The areas where the tentacles plug in aren’t well hidden on this one either. At least he’s painted and moulded back here. 

Overall, I’m happy with these figures. I wouldn’t recommend paying a lot for them, and I wouldn’t say they’re particularly collector’s items, but if you want a small, cool action figure (or to pose them in compromising ways *ahem*), then they’re good for that. 

Crysis 2 – Alcatraz 2.0 Nanosuit

Next up, a dude inna nanosuit:

Paint job is OK, a bit rough, but does the job. Though the most intriguing thing to me is the hand posing. I mean, you can do this with him:

And he seems to be as miffed as I am about the situation. Not quite sure why they decided to mould a static pointing finger, when these figures don’t have replaceable parts. 

He does come with a variety of guns, however:

… but with the single-colour paint job and the lack in depth in some places (especially the pistol) they look like painted wooden replicas.

Let’s see if the dude in the suit thinks so:

Yes, I guess he does, if he’s going to spin one on his finger like that… I guess that’s why he’s pointing :P. 

Hey, look at this stash of wooden weapons I’ve found!:

Well, at least they fit in his other hand, mostly. 

Left:

Looks OK on this side. Some escaping silver paint on his leg. 

Right:

Some silver paint escapage here too. Shoulder seam is less visible on this side – wish all the seams were like that. 

Back:

Probably the best bit of the silver painting on his back, with the spine reinforcement. 

Overall, I think this one is more in the vein of a kid’s toy than a collectable. Some detail is there, but the production quality doesn’t seem to 100% be there, and the odd choice of the pointing hand. The guns with no paint accents also give it a more “toy” feel than collectable. 

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 :(. 

EVA-13 – Revoltech

Initially I missed the re-release of this figure, but then randomly found it in stock again on AmiAmi. Wasting no time, I ordered it – stuff like this doesn’t tend to stay in stock for long with AmiAmi if it comes back into the store. 

Here he is in his “default” configuration:

Decided to equip him with both the lances, so most of the shots will feature these. Other options available, and will be shown later in this review. 

I love the shiny purple paint, and the yellow & green that complements it. He also articulates well imo, and his midriff segments bend pleasingly. I prefer a more stoic pose though. 

Left:

Here he is… having a bit of a nap apparently. The paint is nice and striking, but a wee bit uneven in spots. Not really noticeable from the distance I’m taking photos at. 

Right:

Closer look. Here you can see a bit of a paint flaw, in the black paint on his upper arm, where it spills into the green stripe near his elbow. And a bit of an uneven line going into the canary yellow. Whilst the paint job is mildly iffy in places, the articulation seems plentiful, and feels good. 

Close-up of the head:

Paint job  is OK; like all the little details in the mould. And ofc, you’ve got that wonderful impaling spike on his head :D. 

Back:

Some nice painting and moulding on his back – love the silver bits running down the middle. 

Here are the other spare parts, not shown in the rest of this review:

Plenty of hands to choose from, if you don’t want him wielding the spears of destiny. Also has the gun, if you wish to go for a less epic weapon. 

Also in accessories is the AT field:

That sits on an arm…:

…which can be attached to the stand. Then you need to balance EVA-13 up on his own, which he will do. Though I’d prefer to have a separate stand, tbh. 

And after taking this pic, I realised I was some parts short. So I went to dig up the other bag of spare parts, and assemble him in the configuration I really wanted him in:

Yeah, much better! This form consists of a new upper torso and two more arms. The uppermost purple V in his chest is rubbery, and sits above the joint that attaches into the grey part of his torso. With the extra arms, the spears are far more stable, so now I can have him hold them aloft, and not worry about them swinging out of place, like with two arms. 

Some more views:

Looking good :).

Close-up of the arms:

Love the shiny silver, and the cuff that both the lower arms have. Does make assembling on his lower hands a little on the awkward side. 

Overall, I really like this dude. He’s probably not as good as a Figma, but he comes at a lower price point, and far more accessories. Really happy to have him, and will be getting more of the Evangelion Evolution re-releases. I won’t be getting all of them – just a select few. 

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 😀

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. 

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. 

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. 

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):

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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. 

Figure Spotlight – Naked Jehuty

This figure was a birthday present from my husband, though it took the form of pointing him at the direction of the auction and having him buy it. Iirc it was on eBay as Buy-It-Now. When my birthday rolled around, this fella came out:

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Originally I didn’t think he came with a stand, but I had a spare Play Arts Kai one, from a figure that could stand up fine on its own (a rarity with PAK!). Later, I got a second Revoltech figure, and found the stand taped to the back of the plastic. I then went up into the loft to retrieve the box, and indeed Jehuty did have a stand! Though I never switched to it, as the Revoltech stands aren’t very good, and this figure especially would pull it over. 

Here’s his back, with the shiny gold plating:

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Here’s his side, showing his arm and face:

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And a shot of his other side, showing the cable coming from him, and some of the detail on the back of his leg:

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I love the colour scheme on this figure, and I have a thing for this kind of mecha. I did watch ZOE, Dolores, I but this dude doesn’t feature in it. I did enjoy it somewhat, but it isn’t a firm favourite. 

Still love this figure, maybe one day I’ll go hunt a playthrough of the game, so I can watch and learn more about the characters. 

Figure Spotlight: Figma Silver Crow

To complete the three “larger” Silver Crow figures that exist, here is Figma Silver Crow:

He has an extra-tall stand, which is great for displaying him. I love the lithe body on this silver crow, and Figma excel at the thinner body types imo. His wings look nice too, but I’ve always had a problem with one wing getting it to stay in good places, and it has always had a habit of dropping down. The second one has got a bit worse over time. It’s a bit of a shame, because he looks really good with his wings posed properly, but if he’s statically placed, you can use some putty to support the wings in place. Here, I managed to get them to stay in the positions shown. 

Left side:

Looks good. His knee joints are rather visible, which will likely put some people off. 

Right side:

Here it seems I went for a non-charged gauntlet… showing his other forearm accessory choice. Both look good. 

Back:

Some nice scuplting on his upper back. Here you can see the pegs which have the hinge in, for the wings. The weight of the wings has a tendency to pull them down. Might be possible to add a layer of polish on the pegs, to prevent them slipping down. There are some metal covers which partially hide the hinges. 

Close-up of a wing:

Nice and silvery :). Only downside of these is seeing the S. H. Figurarts and admiring the effect they achieved on those. 

There are some transparent “charge” effects you can put on his arms, but these kept falling off All. The. Time. so they went back into storage, and I couldn’t be bothered with the fiddling to get them back onto his arms for the photo shoot.. sorry. Definitely one of the downsides to this figure. Overall, the base figure is very nice though, and I would recommend this one for anyone who wants a Silver Crow figure. 

Silver Crow – S. H Figuarts

So… more Crow! This time we have the S. H. Figuarts version, so not much assembly here!

He’s noticeably darker than all the other Silver Crow figures I have. His wings are set into a transparent layer of plastic though, which can give them a “floating plate” look from certain angles. I really dig this effect. 

Close-up of one of those wings:

Here you can see the shininess from the plastic coat on the wing. Also you can see the joint mechanism – this articulates well, and is definitely one of the strengths of this figure. 

Left side:

Here you can see the “floating plate” look. Yeah, I didn’t do good in posing this for the photo shoot… his hand is looking a bit broken :P. The details on his arms are good, and he looks streamlined from the side. No complaints here.

Right side:

Here we can see the “charged” arm piece. Looks OK from this distance, but looks a bit “cheapy” close-up. He has a hand replacement for the “full” blast, but I wasn’t a big fan of that, so have left his “chopping”  hand on. 

Back:

Back details are OK. Nothing much to comment on here. Stand goes in firmly, and holds him well. 

Close-up of the arm blast:

A little bit messy in the middle, and the blue semintranslucent stuff looks a bit iffy. 

“Charged” arm on the other side:

Grasping hand looks good, and this forearm looks better than the other imo. But I’m a sucker for the charge effect. 

Overall, I like him, but wish he were paler like the other figures. His midriff looks a little odd-shaped, and could’ve done with better matching in the sculpt with the other bits, but suspect this may’ve been done to assist with articulation. If I could have his wings on another Silver Crow, I’d really like that. If you like his appearance, I can recommend this figure, but I don’t think his overall look is nicer than the others.