I figured it was time that I contribute something to the board other than my surly trolling, so welcome to the first, and perhaps last, installment of K-Tiger Reviews. :trollface:
Preface
Me and McFarlane go way back. I don't know the man personally, mind you, but I did meet him when I was, like, 12. I have the pictures to prove it. No, what I mean is I've had action figures produced by him at many points in the company's development, going all the way back to Todd Toys. I'm not a big fan of his non-figure work, and I'd even go so far as to call him a hypocrite and/or a hack. That doesn't mean I can't be objective when reviewing a product of his. Say what you will about the man, but he has been known to make a killer action figure in his time.
McFarlane Toys has been having some not-so-good times in the last few years. Between the economy tanking, his seemingly endless string of misses, both licensed and in-house, among them botched The Simpsons, Hanna-Barbera cartoon figures, and who can forget Guitar Hero, a line wanted by no one, ever, things were pretty bad. He seems to be doing better now, buoyed by Sports figures, Halo, and most recently, comic and TV series-based The Walking Dead figures.
First impressions
I've been flirting with getting into this line for a little while now. I'm a fan of property, initially with the show, but then the comic as well. Now I've decided to give the figures a shot. Today I'm casting my hyper-critical eye upon the Gas Mask Riot Gear Zombie, henceforth to be called Cincinnati Slim, from series 4 of the show-based line.
I'm just gonna come out and say it, I hate the fucking size of these things. McFarlane's compulsion to do his own thing means these are in a scale virtually untouched for at least the last decade. If you're a long time 1:12 collector they won't fit in with the lion's share of your McFarlane figures, none of your NECA, Mezco, or SOTA figures, either. They won't work with Marvel Legends, or any of the DC figures. They also won't fit in with 1:18 figures, who are on the back half of a second golden age. What they WILL fit in with are McF's Halo and Guitar Hero stuff. Oh, and those X-Men figures you had as a kid.
That nigh-crippling flaw aside, he was a figure I had to have once it's existence was made known to me.
Packaging
After about the second series in the line McFarlane switched to the current slim carded bubble packaging. It takes up less peg space, and I suppose it's a bit lest costly to produce. The graphics are acceptable, with the show and AMC logos prominently displayed. A sticker with the figure's name and an image of the source, in this case the zombie in question (I'm speculating that this was an animatron or puppet, and that the actor never had the skinless prosthetics on), graces the bottom of the bubble. The back is festooned with shots of the other figures in the series, as well as actor promo shots.
All in all, it does what it needs to, which is hold the figure and accessories until I can liberate them in my basement dungeon. What?
Articulation
Articulation is a funny thing. There's articulation that works, I.E. G.I. Joe, or Takara's Microman. Then there's the kind that makes you say "what the fuck was the point?". McFarlane Toys has long been a.....proponent.. of this latter style. In the past it was not uncommon for a McFarlane figure to be touted as having articulation, but in truth it was merely a joint "necessitated" by construction. That's not to say McFarlane Toys doesn't know how to do good articulation, they just tended to choose not to. The Walking Dead figures have not gone untainted by McFarlane's odd concept of articulation, but things have improved from the articulated, but-really-more-or-less pre-posed series 1 figures.
Cincinnati Slim here comes with some kind of weird neck articulation I don't know the proper nomenclature for, ball and pin/joint shoulders and elbows, cuts at the cuff of the gloves for wrists, something weird that I guess technically is a ball joint at the hips, ball and pin/jointed knees, and ball jointed ankles. Everything works, more or less. You can get a couple of shambling poses out of him, but Zombie Viper he is not. It's mostly the fault of the not-unsightly hip joints that are only slightly less useless that the ones Hasbro used on their Iron Man 2 figures, but I digress...
Accessories
These are generally where the zombies get short-shrift, and Slim here is no exception. While the zombies-in-waiting come packed to the gills with accessories, Slim has to be contented with a single accessory, a three-piece gas mask/face combo. The lens comes off to reveal his face, and the whole shebang can plug onto his face, for pre-face mask (15 yards penalty, automatic first down) action. There's also, what I can best term as a section of respirator hose. It is, I think, a separate piece (I can't find a hole to plug it into), so expect to lose that bitch with the quickness.
I should add that zombies don't really need many accessories, but at the price I wouldn't mind seeing some more. Just look at all the crap the Governor's little tramp came with....
Paint and sculpt
It's...good enough for government work. The palette is predominately black and grey, in varying matte and glossy finishes. There's blood in the appropriate places, and in more-or-less the correct shade of sickly red. There's some green staining, I suppose from some form of putrefaction. McFarlane has executing blood-soaked horror figures down to a science. The same goes for sculpting. When they're trying few can usually match McFarlane, and Jack is no exception. Both muscle and fabric are well-detailed, if not always faithful to the source material. Slim is covered in detailed armor, with textures galore.
Cincinnati Slim here is pretty accurate to his second death, stabbed through the left eye, look closely and you can see the tool mark on the socket. Pretty accurate, aside from his skin needing to be a leathery brown. Rivet counters in the house!
Final analysis
This reanimated bastard cost me 13.49 plus tax at Walgreens. It's not a terrible price given the realities that make up the current toy market. It was cheaper than TrU and Hastings, and I don't feel like I got bent over on the deal. The riot zombies were one of the most memorable scenes in season 3, and if you're gonna buy ANY of the show-based figures it should be them. I know I'll be reconsidering my stance on this line. Your team did good, Mr. McFarlane.
Preface
Me and McFarlane go way back. I don't know the man personally, mind you, but I did meet him when I was, like, 12. I have the pictures to prove it. No, what I mean is I've had action figures produced by him at many points in the company's development, going all the way back to Todd Toys. I'm not a big fan of his non-figure work, and I'd even go so far as to call him a hypocrite and/or a hack. That doesn't mean I can't be objective when reviewing a product of his. Say what you will about the man, but he has been known to make a killer action figure in his time.
McFarlane Toys has been having some not-so-good times in the last few years. Between the economy tanking, his seemingly endless string of misses, both licensed and in-house, among them botched The Simpsons, Hanna-Barbera cartoon figures, and who can forget Guitar Hero, a line wanted by no one, ever, things were pretty bad. He seems to be doing better now, buoyed by Sports figures, Halo, and most recently, comic and TV series-based The Walking Dead figures.
First impressions
I've been flirting with getting into this line for a little while now. I'm a fan of property, initially with the show, but then the comic as well. Now I've decided to give the figures a shot. Today I'm casting my hyper-critical eye upon the Gas Mask Riot Gear Zombie, henceforth to be called Cincinnati Slim, from series 4 of the show-based line.
I'm just gonna come out and say it, I hate the fucking size of these things. McFarlane's compulsion to do his own thing means these are in a scale virtually untouched for at least the last decade. If you're a long time 1:12 collector they won't fit in with the lion's share of your McFarlane figures, none of your NECA, Mezco, or SOTA figures, either. They won't work with Marvel Legends, or any of the DC figures. They also won't fit in with 1:18 figures, who are on the back half of a second golden age. What they WILL fit in with are McF's Halo and Guitar Hero stuff. Oh, and those X-Men figures you had as a kid.
That nigh-crippling flaw aside, he was a figure I had to have once it's existence was made known to me.
Packaging
After about the second series in the line McFarlane switched to the current slim carded bubble packaging. It takes up less peg space, and I suppose it's a bit lest costly to produce. The graphics are acceptable, with the show and AMC logos prominently displayed. A sticker with the figure's name and an image of the source, in this case the zombie in question (I'm speculating that this was an animatron or puppet, and that the actor never had the skinless prosthetics on), graces the bottom of the bubble. The back is festooned with shots of the other figures in the series, as well as actor promo shots.
All in all, it does what it needs to, which is hold the figure and accessories until I can liberate them in my basement dungeon. What?
Articulation
Articulation is a funny thing. There's articulation that works, I.E. G.I. Joe, or Takara's Microman. Then there's the kind that makes you say "what the fuck was the point?". McFarlane Toys has long been a.....proponent.. of this latter style. In the past it was not uncommon for a McFarlane figure to be touted as having articulation, but in truth it was merely a joint "necessitated" by construction. That's not to say McFarlane Toys doesn't know how to do good articulation, they just tended to choose not to. The Walking Dead figures have not gone untainted by McFarlane's odd concept of articulation, but things have improved from the articulated, but-really-more-or-less pre-posed series 1 figures.
Cincinnati Slim here comes with some kind of weird neck articulation I don't know the proper nomenclature for, ball and pin/joint shoulders and elbows, cuts at the cuff of the gloves for wrists, something weird that I guess technically is a ball joint at the hips, ball and pin/jointed knees, and ball jointed ankles. Everything works, more or less. You can get a couple of shambling poses out of him, but Zombie Viper he is not. It's mostly the fault of the not-unsightly hip joints that are only slightly less useless that the ones Hasbro used on their Iron Man 2 figures, but I digress...
Accessories
These are generally where the zombies get short-shrift, and Slim here is no exception. While the zombies-in-waiting come packed to the gills with accessories, Slim has to be contented with a single accessory, a three-piece gas mask/face combo. The lens comes off to reveal his face, and the whole shebang can plug onto his face, for pre-face mask (15 yards penalty, automatic first down) action. There's also, what I can best term as a section of respirator hose. It is, I think, a separate piece (I can't find a hole to plug it into), so expect to lose that bitch with the quickness.
I should add that zombies don't really need many accessories, but at the price I wouldn't mind seeing some more. Just look at all the crap the Governor's little tramp came with....
Paint and sculpt
It's...good enough for government work. The palette is predominately black and grey, in varying matte and glossy finishes. There's blood in the appropriate places, and in more-or-less the correct shade of sickly red. There's some green staining, I suppose from some form of putrefaction. McFarlane has executing blood-soaked horror figures down to a science. The same goes for sculpting. When they're trying few can usually match McFarlane, and Jack is no exception. Both muscle and fabric are well-detailed, if not always faithful to the source material. Slim is covered in detailed armor, with textures galore.
Cincinnati Slim here is pretty accurate to his second death, stabbed through the left eye, look closely and you can see the tool mark on the socket. Pretty accurate, aside from his skin needing to be a leathery brown. Rivet counters in the house!
Final analysis
This reanimated bastard cost me 13.49 plus tax at Walgreens. It's not a terrible price given the realities that make up the current toy market. It was cheaper than TrU and Hastings, and I don't feel like I got bent over on the deal. The riot zombies were one of the most memorable scenes in season 3, and if you're gonna buy ANY of the show-based figures it should be them. I know I'll be reconsidering my stance on this line. Your team did good, Mr. McFarlane.
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Yeah, McFarlane has this thing where he doesn't want articulation messing up the "artistic integrity" of the figure's sculpt, hence the weird hips. As you know he's been doing dumb things like that for years.
