Well, I’ve covered the Leon’s and the Krauser's, so onto the last of my Resident Evil 4 reviews, Ganado Chainsaw (Dr Salvador), or ‘the Chainsaw Maniac’ as he’s sometimes lovingly known.

The term ‘Ganado’ comes from the Spanish for ‘herd’ and is usually used to describe cattle, in the game it describes the people that have become infected with the ‘Plaga’ parasitic virus, reducing them to little more than a herd of blood thirsty, murderous animals, and they provide the cannon fodder for you as you explore the game, blowing them to pieces.

So we have our hero covered, we have his arch nemesis covered, now lets get the score on the main Zombie, and lets face it Resident Evil 4 (RE4) wouldn’t be the same without its Zombies!

You can get an idea of the characters ‘motivation’ in this clip here, and it shows how difficult he is to kill, you hit him, he goes down, but he gets right back up again.  And here he is getting a little help from his brother Dave Chainsaw, and here is what happens when a SWAT team grunt underestimates the killing power of said chainsaw!

Packaging: ***1/2
The box is virtually identical to the Leon’s reviewed here and the Krauser's, reviewed here. So again we get the magnetically sealed, wrap round flap fronted box, in it’s white colour-way for the Western branded RE4, if in Asia you’ll get the black colour-way with Biohazard 4 branding.
The fully constructed and dressed figure lies in the tray on the right along side his pitchfork and stand. Opposite in a collector friendly blister tray sits his chainsaw, axe and mantrap.

So all nicely designed, and unless you have a particularly vicious mailman I can’t see how this will get to you any other way than in first class condition.

Sculpt: ***
By comparison to the earlier figures in this line, the Ganado ‘Dr Salvador’ was always going to be the easiest to capture the likeness of, but lets face it, that’s because he spends his life with a sack over his head! He can be seen here leading a Zombie horde.

So we don’t have the complexities of noses, mouths, ears or hair to contend with, instead we get a tightly fitting Hessian hopsack bag with two holes cut for him to peer out from.

The detail on this sack texture is fantastic and shows some nice subtle ripples and folds, particularly around the neck, where it appears to have been tightened by a drawstring. Then we have the holes with the eyes deeply countersunk within. These are the eyes of a consumed soul, mournful, dejected, lost and although it is the only physical feature visible on the head they bring what little humanity is left within him to the forefront. So though not as complex as a full-face sculpt would have been, this is still a stunning piece of work, my only real gripe being that I feel it’s a tad too small and could do with being a few percent bigger. When the figure is viewed by himself it’s not such a problem it just makes him look like a huge, tall, hulking, zombie dude, but when seen next to the other figures in the RE4 line-up, the head definitely looks like it needs to be a little bigger. The only other area in this category are his hands, these are nicely done but are in a pretty generic gripping position.

There’s also some nice work on the accessories, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

Paint: ***1/2
The most detailed area on this figure is the eyes, and they are great. As I said above, they look very doleful, one might even say droopy, but the paint work on them is not only crisp, they’ve given them a coat of varnish that makes them look moist, almost like he’s been weeping.
As mentioned the bottoms of the eyes do look droopy and the lids appear heavy meaning the head looks great when tipped forwards, as the eyes seem to be looking up at you, very spooky!

The rest of the head is just painted to mimic the hopsack colouration; it’s a base beige with darker washes and works very well.

There’s also some blood splattering on the hands and arms, again very nicely executed and the colour chosen is spot on, all too often manufacturers go for a garish Hollywood red, but here HT have gone for a much more convincing darker, dried blood tone. This blood and grime continues onto the clothing, but I’ll cover that later.

Articulation - ***1/2
This guy comes with a base True-Type body, one of the best out there so we get all the classic high end articulation, double elbows and knees, double jointed neck universal joints on wrists and ankles etc, etc.

The Dr’s attire isn’t too restrictive either, but he is wearing a padded ‘fat’ suit under his clothes. This is constructed of soft stuffed cotton, but goes right down over his thighs meaning that although not that restrictive, it does effect the waist, groin and top of the legs a little, but you’ll still be able to coax some great poses out.

Accessories: ***1/2
As with all this line, they have kept the accessories very character specific to mimic what’s used during the game, so he comes with-

Weapons
- Chainsaw (SST exclusive also comes with a double bladed chainsaw)
- Axe
- Pitchfork

Accessories
- Mantrap (could be considered a weapon as well I guess!)
- Display stand with Biohazard 4 and Ganado Chainsaw Killer's nameplate

All of these items are sculpted and painted very well, with the chainsaw being the ‘obvious’ stand out piece, but I have to say, the pitchfork is really rather fetching as well, in that kind of ‘pitchforky’ way that only pitchforks have.
So, he’s not equipped with any firepower to blast you into the middle of next week, but he’ll make a good job of perforating, slicing and dicing you, which is nice!

Outfit: ***
Sartorial elegance has never been high on the agenda with your average Zombie killing machine, and so the ‘Dr’ has gone for this seasons ‘must haves’ of old lace up ankle boots, high waisted filthy grey trousers with stripy braces attached, and a heavily blood stained and dirty collarless ‘grandad’ shirt. The shirt looks best with the sleeves pushed up as it exposes more of the blood spattering that goes right up his arms (it always annoyed me that the SST Texas Chainsaw killer didn’t have this, and he had short sleeves).

The tailoring is up to HT usual solid standards on all the garments and I especially like the details on his braces (suspenders to our American cousins) which are buttoned to the trousers, are adjustable front and back and have some great fine detail work on the leather sections on the rear.

The shirt and trousers are nicely dirtied up and give this character the look of someone who has lived, eaten, slept and slaughtered in this outfit for a number of weeks. All the ageing, staining and splattering is carried out fantastically, and really add to this guys threatening demeanour.

Fun Factor: ***
I might be wrong, though it has to be said I seldom am (except according to my wife… colleagues, kids, occasional strangers… I’ll stop there), but this definitely strikes me as an ‘accompaniment’ figure. One that will look great posed with Leon or Krauser but I can’t imagine many people ‘just’ buying this figure as a stand-alone, he needs to be next to a potential victim, bearing down with one of his weapons of torture.

But even if you do happen to be ‘purely’ a fan of psychotic chainsaw wielding nutters then you can’t go far wrong with this as your choice. The True–Type means he poses naturally, and he stands well on the shelf without needing his stand and he holds all of his accessories well.

Value:  **3/4
SST have their exclusive in stock for $134.99 and are still awaiting delivery of the regular for the same price, but as you get an extra double chainsaw thrown in for nothing with the exclusive, I guess that’s the one to go for anyway.

I think of the five figures released thus far, this one strikes me as the hardest sell! He’s basically a background character that adds a whole lot more to your displays of the others, but isn’t going to be your ‘favourite’ character from the line, and as such $134.99 is quite a lot for an all be it very well constructed, sculpted and painted bit of window dressing.

But now I’m sure to get people saying ‘Hey, wadayameanwindowdressin, he’s my favourite of the whole ****ing line you sonofab****’, and if so I’m sorry, I still REALLY like this figure, but I see it as background filler!

Overall: ***
Yet again HT hit us with a good solid 1/6 figure and if his head had been a few percent bigger and he’d been about $30 cheaper I’d have been a very happy zombie hunter and given him full marks. But for me he’s the weakest of the line so far, still a great addition and he adds a lot to the display possibilities with the others but that head size and his price just keep him down a bit for me.

Score Recap:
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpt - ***
Paint - ***1/2
Articulation - ***1/2
Accessories - ***1/2
Outfit - ***
Fun Factor - ***
Value - **3/4
Overall - ***

Where to buy-
Side Show Toys is still the official US importer on these and they have them on pre-order for -
Regular - $134.99
Exclusive - $134.99

Some of Michael’s other sponsors also have them –

Amazing Toyz
Regular- $121.50

Dark Shadow
Regular- $121.50

Corner Store
Regular- $121.50

Forbiddenplanet.co.uk
Pre-order- £99

And you can always search for them on ebay using the sponsor MyAuctionLinks.

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