Review of Monkey Island statue

Introduction

I've been terribly remiss when it comes to tonight's review. Symbiote Studios was nice enough to send this statue over months ago (or at least it seems like months at this point) and I managed to get it lost in the shuffle.  My bad, but with it still available (and on sale to boot!), I felt it was still very relevant.

Symbiote did the earlier statue of Sam and Max which I personally put in my top three for 2009. The longer I had it the more it grew on me, and it's sheer size is something to behold. If you're a big Sam and Max fan, it's certainly worth checking out.

This time around, they worked with Lucas Arts on a statue based on the popular game Monkey Island. Like Sam and Max, this is a graphical adventure series with much humor and fun. There's been 5 games in the series, and I believe that this year is the 20th anniversary of the initial release.

The statue shows the two main characters, the good guy GuyBrush Threepwood and the evil pirate LeChuck, in mortal combat. Or at least as mortal as combat gets in Monkey Island, where it takes real effort to get killed.

Only 1000 of these statues were produced, and they were intended as StarWarsShop exclusives. You can pick it up there on sale right now for $50, $40 off the original $90 price tag.

Packaging - **1/2
The outer package is fairly basic, but has some nice graphics on the sides. The interior tray will keep the statue safe, but it's made of that damn cheap Styrofoam that you know I love to hate.

There's no Certificate of Authenticity, but there is an edition number printed on the bottom of the base itself.

Sculpting - ***1/2
The statue comes in quite a few separate pieces, leaving final assembly up to you. All the pieces attach using small metal rods.

Guybrush is all one piece, but you do have to attach the blurp that he's spraying to the nozzle. I thought I had his feet pretty well set in the base, but when I edited the photos I noticed that I didn't quite have them all the way down. I went back out to the 'studio' (i.e. the Institute) and found that they could be set complete in the base with a little effort.

LeChuck actually comes in five pieces. There's the full body and head as one, the large hat, and the three evil feather-like 'extensions' that sit on top. Again, all these attach with small metal pins. Once together, everything stays in place, but if you pick up the statue you'll want to remember that pieces can fall off.

The final piece is the broken board that is rising up at the back foot of LeChuck. I didn't get a good photo of it (it's hidden behind his foot which is behind the treasure chest), but it's a very nice detail.

The sculpting overall matches up with the general game appearance, and the cuts are sharp and clean. I love the choice of pose, and it's a classic look. This is a statue that you'll want to display above eye level though, so that viewers can get a clear look at the faces and the action.

This is a big statue too, with LeChuck standing 11 inches tall (to the tip of the hat) and Guybrush at 5" (bent over). Symbiote likes to do their statues large!

Paint - ***
The paint work is decent, but there's a few blips and blops. With something this large, even small errors are easy to notice.

Most of the problems are rub marks or slightly sloppy cut lines. The colors are great, and there's some nice use of different finishes. I love the high gloss look of the wood plank base, and it contrasts nicely with the more matte finish on the figures.

And while this is an animated style, there's still plenty of small details given their own paint operation.

My biggest complaint with the paint work may not be an issue for you at all, or you may find it even more annoying. Threepwood has some heavy shading around the outside of his face, running up into the hair itself.  It's clear this shading is on purpose, but the effect really doesn't work for me. YMMV.

Value - ***1/2
If you were paying the full $90 for this guy, he'd take a hit here, but not a huge one. This is another larger statue from Symbiote, with a base that's 9 inches across, and LeChuck standing over 7" tall without his hat, making it much larger than many current offerings.

But at $50 - which is the going rate right now at ShopStarWars.com - this is a heck of a good deal. You can't get one Batman Black and White statue for that kind of money these days!

Things to Watch Out For -
It was a little tricky getting the black extensions to stay put on top of LeChuck's hat. I think I put them together correctly, but a small instruction sheet - or a box photo showing them - would have been nice to include.

Remember that when you're putting this together, the metal posts will damage the softer resin, so take care.

Overall - ***1/2
This was a tough overall to call, and I almost went with the three stars. The paint was what holds it back slightly for me, particularly the shading on Guybrush's face. But what put me back up the extra half star was the current sale price - at $50, you really are getting one Hell of a deal on a statue of this size.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - **1/2
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - ***
Value - ***1/2
Overall - ***1/2

Where to Buy 
This was to be a ShopStarWars exclusive, and you can pick it up there right now for $50. It's also available at the Symbiote Studios site, where it's $90. However, they have a very cool deal right now where if you buy this statue AND the Sam and Max statue, you get the second one for half price!

Related Links -
I don't have anything else on Monkey Island, but other Symbiote products include the aforementioned Sam and Max, Jessica Chobot, and Dr. Tran Bobbleheads.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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