|
Packaging - ***1/2
I love the packaging concept for these figures. Of course, they had to
come up with something cheap and simple, but they wanted it to still be
cool. The solution? A body bag from the morge! How much
better could that be?
The first time though, you had to cut the body bag open yourself to free
the figure. This time it comes with a slit already in the back, making
it less likely that you'll mess up your nifty bag. The bag comes from
the Red Hook morgue this time, as noted in lettering on the front.
Eventually I hope they can afford to add a zipper, but until that time
I'm quite content with the package as it is. The body bag will come
shipped to you in a white box - simple but elegant.
Sculpting - ***1/2
Some zombies show more or less damage. It all depends on a) how much
damage they sustained in dying a b) how much time they spent decomposing
before rising from the dead.
In Betty's case, it looks like she was a risen zombie, someone who'd been
rotting in the ground for awhile, rather than an early victim of the putrid
risen zombies. This is because the damage to her face and head is
quite extensive, with no skin remaining on her face and her rooted hair
quite intentionally patchy. This damage looks a lot more like rot than
damage. Of course, you might wonder how she ended up buried in her
cheerleader outfit, but stranger things have happened.
The head sculpt is quite gruesome, maybe even a little too much.
Because of the expose meat and bone, she looks much older, having lost any
youthful appearance. It's a little incongruent with the cheerleader
look, but then, zombies aren't exactly fashion models.
The detailing on the bloody, torn face is excellent, with a very
realistic appearance to the rot. The rooted hair works perfectly here,
because the patchiness is actually supposed to look that way, and the
thinness allows the hair to flow more naturally, with less problems with
frizz.
The hands are unique sculpts this time, another change since Ash.
Peril is working to improve with each release, a very positive idea that
more companies should adopt. The hands look appropriately twisted and
lethal, but there is something wonky going on with the thumb of her right
hand. It looks a lot like another finger, making the hand looking very
odd.
Paint - ***1/2
One of the coolest aspects of Peril's Zombies is that you can get them one
of two ways - gory or clean. The clean version has the proper bloody
mess for a face and hands of course, but the additional blood on the
costume, and any damage to the material, is added by hand by the owner of
Peril Unlimited himself. It's you're own custom zombie!
As you can see, mine is one of the gory versions, with damage added by
Peril. What you get when you go with the bloody version will vary of
course, but I'm extremely happy with the appearance of mine. There's
some of that dirt in the paint, like in the first release, Ash, and this
works extremely well again. The blood on her clothing appears to be
that of a victim, and is splattered in all the right places.
There is a black spot on the left eye, that looks like it came from the
work on adding the blood. That's the only nit I have to really pick
with the paint job overall.
Of course, the factory work is quite clean. The hamburger face
looks good, with varying colors used for the skin, skull and exposed
muscles.
Articulation - ***
This was the one score I waffled around a bit on. She has all the
articulation you really need for a zombie I suppose, with the usual sixth
scale joints all there including cut thighs, a ball jointed neck, pin and
post wrists, and a good pivot chest joint.
Some of the joints are also the clicky variety, particularly the hips,
which means she'll hold the poses quite well for long stretches of time.
There were still some things I wanted do with her that I couldn't quite
manage though (stop that! She's a zombie for God's sake!), especially
with the neck and ankles. The neck needs a little better range of
movement as do the ankles, if you want to give her that truly 'broken' look
that zombie so often have in their stances.
Accessories - Bupkis
Nope, the dear girl doesn't have any pom poms. Not that kind, anyway.
Outfit - ***
The outfit you see in my photos is not the final version, and the figure you
get should have two noticeable changes. One of those two changes would
help boost this score.
The less critical change, but a good one nonetheless, is the shoe color.
They will be blue in the final version, to better match the blue of the
cheerleader uniform. Not a big change, but a sensible one.
The other change is much more critical. You will notice in the
photos that her sleeves are too short, exposing the wrist joints. The
final version will have longer sleeves, covering these joints, and that
would boost my score. Of course, I can only score based on what I have
in my hand, so that's where my *** stars come in, but with hidden wrists,
she could easily slip up another half star.
The cheerleader uniform is made from a very heavy duty material that
should allow for quite a bit of damage to be added at your discretion.
The thigh highs look good, and while the shoes are a little oversized, it's
not a major issue.
As with the paint, the gory version has been customized by Peril.
The dress is distressed in several areas, and the thigh highs are even torn
and damaged. Every figure is going to be different, since this work is
done by hand.
Value - ***1/2
You can buy this figure for under $40. This is a low run, high touch
manufacture, well articulated, nicely sculpted and painted sixth scale
action figure, for under $40. That's impressive in the market, and
even more so when you consider the low run size and the fact that the
bloody, gory version has been hand painted and distressed! And if you
want just the regular clean version to bloody up yourself, you can get her
for just $30 - that's a damn good deal.
Things to Watch Out For -
The downside of the cool dirt paint job is that repeated handling tends to
wear it off. Don't play with her any more than necessary.
Overall - ***1/2
Another great job from Peril. Considering that it's pretty much a one
man operation, with lots of attention and detail work on every figure, it's
pretty damn impressive.
I would like to see some accessories with future releases (how cool would
it have been to get a bloody leg, wearing cleats and the remains of a
football uniform, with Betty?), but I realize that this is where Peril has
decided to cut back, to avoid higher costs from such a small run of figures.
Still, in future releases, I hope that the run sizes get big enough to allow
them to add some goodies.
If you're a fan of zombies, and are looking to add to your Sideshow
collection of The Dead, look no further than the Peril figures.
They'll fit in perfectly, and add another dimension to the ever growing
ranks of the undead. Braaaaaiiinnnnssss!
Score Recap:
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpt - ***1/2
Paint - ***1/2
Articulation - ***1/2
Accessories - Bupkis
Outfit - ***
Value - ***1/2
Overall - ***1/2
Where to Buy -
Online options are probably going to be your best best:
- Alter Ego Comics has her at
just $36.
- Dark Shadow
Collectibles will be carrying her, but doesn't have her listed yet.
- you can get her directly from Peril at there
website or their
ebay store. The bloody
customized version is just $40, or the regular, clean version is just $30.
|
Stumble It!
