TOY REVIEW ARCHIVE    LIVING WITH LATE FEES    FEATURES    LINKS    BIO    MISSION    EMAIL    MAIN PAGE >


Disney Magical Collection
The Incredibles


Coheteboy loves those Disney Magical Collection figures, and he's back tonight with a review of one of the latest releases, The Incredibles.  What's the scoop, CB?

You've seen Hasbro's release of The Incredibles... and were probably disappointed. Then came the Disney Store's rendition of the same characters. Again, you were disappointed. Now I bring to you Japan's answer to Pixar's latest box-office smash and my favorite movie of the year, Tomy's Disney Magical Collection. And again... you will be disappointed.

The line is now in its thirty-first series and features only characters from the film The Incredibles. There's Mr. Incredible, Mrs. Incredible & Jack-Jack, Dash & Violet, and Syndrome. All of the figures in Tomy's line I felt were great display pieces, but I'm afraid that this recent series falls a bit short.






Packaging - ***
Standard issue card and blister here, and while it's simple, it works. The back of the card shows a publicity still with a blurb (in japanese) and a listing of the other figures in the current series.

Sculpting - Mr. Incredible, Syndrome ** 1/2; Mrs. Incredible, Jack-Jack, Violet, Dash ***
I've said many times before that I've never been disappointed with the sculpts in this line, but The Incredibles unfortunately disappoints. With characters based on CG sculpts, it's quite clear when the sculpt is good and when it isn't. These figures are so close to being there... but just aren't.

Mr. Incredible has a wide stance and is posed ready for battle, but the head is what bothers me the most. He's got a decent expression but there's something about the shape of his head that isn't on-model. 

Syndrome also follows in the same footsteps of having a horrible face sculpt. The body itself is fine but a lot more detail could have been put into him overall. 

The rest of the gang is actually pretty decent, more or less. All of the body poses are pretty expressive but my biggest complaint is with Dash. He's the size of the baby!! I don't know how that got the OK but it really looks weird for Dash to be the same size as Jack-Jack. There's nothing that bothers me more than out of scale toys. But as far as sculpt goes, these look better than Mr. Incredible and Syndrome.

Paint -***
Paint applications are all pretty so-so here. It's a bit on the dull side but it's not horrible. Most everything is pretty clean and my only complaints would be to have more detail in the hair and face. 

Articulation - *
If you're looking for "incredible" articulation, this won't be the place to find them. For being figures based on super heroes, there's not much more you can do with them other than to have them standing around.

Mr. Incredible sports two points of articulation, each on the arms. The head and legs are sculpted tight. Violet is pretty much the same way with only arms articulated.

Syndrome and Elastigirl/Mrs. Incredible each have three points of articulation: arms and neck. 

Jack-Jack and Dash have zero points of articulation each. Pretty disappointing indeed.

Accessories - **
Accessories have been pretty disappointing in this assortment, but then again.. they're super heroes! What could they possibly come with? Mr. Incredible comes with a display stand and a red "Incredibles" phone. It's of no use because he can't hold it, so it's an interesting choice for an accessory. 

I suppose you can say that Mrs. Incredible comes with Jack-Jack, which is a great accessory, but I look at it more as a figure 2-pack with only a display stand for the Mrs. The same thing applies to Violet and Dash, only Dash is ridiculously small. Violet also comes with a clear display stand. It would have been great if she came with a clear force-field bubble. 

Syndrome comes with a black display stand and "The Incredibles" logo stand. 

Fun Factor - **
The only fun from these would be to display them on a shelf. Definitely not for play. And even then, these are pretty disappointing for some oddly sculpted faces and an out-of-scale Dash.

Value - **
At a cost of $10 per figure, the value isn't really there. If you're looking for the perfect Incredibles line of action figures, keep looking. 

Overall - **
These are probably the most disappointing Tomy Disney figures I've come across, which is a real shame. The movie was great and if better sculpted, these would have been amazing to have on the shelf. My recommendation would be to keep waiting. Even the biggest fan of The Incredibles can do better without these figures.

SCORE RECAP:
Packaging - ***
Sculpt - Violet, Jack-Jack, Dash, Mrs. Incredible: ***; Mr. Incredible and Syndrome **
Paint - ***
Articulation - *
Accessories - **
Fun Factor - **
Value - **
Overall - **

Where to Buy: 
Ebay and import shops are all I can think of here as Japan and the rest of Asian toy stores carry these figures. These three figures were purchased at Frank and Son's Collectible Show in Southern California.

KEEP SCROLLING DOWN FOR MORE PHOTOS!


Figure from the collection of Coheteboy.

This page copyright 2003, Michael Crawford. All rights reserved. Hosted by 1 Hour Hosting.com