Review of Queen Alluxandra, Isadorra
Seventh Kingdom action figures

Introduction

Each year, the famed sculptors and fabricators at The Four Horsemen do their FANtastic Exclusive series. From cow warriors to rhino butt kickers, they've produced several series of exceptionally cool original properties, driven by fan voting.

This year, it's time for the ladies. And cats. So if you like da ladies...and cats...you're going to be mighty pleased.

The main character in this release is Queen Alluxandra, the queen of the human world of the 7th Kingdom. Isadorra, also reviewed tonight, is the evil temptress. Both these figures were available at SDCC, but are also now available directly from the Four Horsemen. They each cost $20.

As usual, the main character does not come alone. There are 9 more figures, largely variants on a theme. Three of the lovelies are mutants of some form - Ccora, Silissk and Kromus. The other 6 are repaints of a basic cat babe, following the generally anthropomorphic nature of the FANtastic Exclusives. Silissk is a Store Horseman exclusive, and the other 8 are exclusives spread out over a number of websites. I have a complete list, with links to photos of each, in the Where to Buy section.

Packaging - ***1/2
These are the FANtastic Exclusives, voted on and decided by fans for fans. That means the Four Horsemen are clearly in touch with their collector base, and have designed a package with them in mind.

The package is attractive, and *almost* completely collector friendly. While it might appear at first glance to be the traditional bubble/card back design, the bubble actually wraps around all four edges of the card back, and you can easily slip it off without any damage whatsoever.

The only thing holding the package back slightly is the few annoying twisty ties that hold the figure in place, but you and I know just how powerful that damn twisty tie cartel is.

Sculpting - ****
All too often, the lady warriors rendered in plastic end up looking like Mister Ed. I'm not sure why that is, but 'attractive' is rarely a word associated with a female action figure.

That's not a problem here. Both Isadorra and Alluxandra have beautiful faces, which *might* be the identical sculpt. It's certainly close, but the paint work is making the lips seem a bit fuller and more voluptuous on Izzie than Allux. I *think* that's just the paint talking, but there might be some minor tweaks to the sculpt as well.

Both figures have detailed, textured, bad ass armor, although Allux's covers more of her body. She also has a long fur cape, glued to her back, which adds a bit of a regal air to her persona. Izzie sports the very un-regal bony spikes on her back and hair, giving her a deadlier edge.

The hair sculpt on Isadorra is a little soft, but the work on Alluxandra's mane is outstanding. She has a detailed crown or helmet over her head, with long braided pony tails running down the front of her body. These are not bendy, so posing them is out of the question, and they tend to restrict the neck a bit, but less than you might assume.

The hands on both figures are sculpted to hold the accessories, but it is a bit tight of a fit. Do be careful when popping them into the palms as you could a) break the brittle accessories (more on that in a later category) or b) damage the fingers.

Both figures stand great on their own as well, and run about 6 1/2" tall. They'll fit in with most 7" scale lines if you assume the ladies are shorter than the men, or you can fit them in with 6" lines if you assume these particular ladies are on the taller side of normal.

Paint - ***1/2
See that scratch on Alluxandra's nose? Ignore that - that was my fault.

And if you do ignore it, the rest of the paint work on both figures looks excellent. There's a very broad, appealing color palette here, especially on Allux, but the work on Izzie's face is excellent. the variation in color, designed to line up with the subtle scarring. 

There's still a few blips and blops here and there, like the slightly clumpy looking skin tone on Izzie's bare arms or the soft cut lines around the gold bands in Allux's hair. But overall, this is well done specialty market paint work, particularly for such a low production run.

Articulation - ***
Past FANtastic Exclusive figures have been well articulated, but I've been a little worried about this series. All I'd seen where the stock photos where the figures all stood straight up, or the less articulated two ups at the shows.

My fears were laid to rest once I opened these two up. There's plenty of articulation even for the joint junkies, although some of it is a bit more restricted than I'd like.

The ball jointed neck works great on both girls, allowing them to look coy in one pose and menacing in another. The pin/post ball shoulders (aka 'hinge' shoulders) have a good range of movement even if they aren't the prettiest, and the swivel joint at the bicep works well. The knees and elbows are both double pin joints, there are cut wrists and a cut waist.

At the mid-torso there's another pin joint, which allows her to lean forward and back. The hips appear to be similar to the shoulders, with a hinge joint and a swivel combination, but the low hung 'skirt' on both figures really restricts the mobility. A couple fashionable slits up the side would go a long way to improving the posability of the legs.

The ankles have pin joints, and I was happy to also find rocker joints on the foot. This allows the feet to be flat on the ground, even in deep stances.

Some of the pins were a little weak, particularly in the arms and knees, but most of the joints were tight enough to maintain poses. I didn't have any of the serious joint issues that we saw with some of the previous FANtastic Exclusive figures.

Accessories - **1/2
There's lots of re-use and slight re-deco work with the accessories, much like the overall figure. Both of the ladies, good and bad, come with a staff and sword.

The sword is the identical sculpt, with a slightly different paint job. Isadorra's has a darker handle than Alluxandra's, but that's about it. Unfortunately, Isadorra's sword broke at the hilt when I tried to place it in her hand, and it took very, very little force on my part to snap it. Take extreme care! I posed Izzie with Allux's sword for the photos.

Both figures also come with a staff, and there is a slight sculpt change to the top. Allux's has a basic "C" shape, while Izzie's includes some small spikes on the outer edge of the C. Again, poor Izzie got a little too rough with her accessory, and the staff broke at the top, just below the sculpted texturing. It survived long enough for one photo - the close up - and that was it. This one broke when I simply picked it up, so there's clearly an issue with the hard plastic they've used for the accessories. While we often complain about soft plastic, it's important to remember that a polymer mix that's very hard can be very brittle, if not done properly.

Allux's sword and staff survived unscathed, but I handled them like they were made of glass and cost a million dollars. While it's fairly easy to super glue the pieces back together, I suggest you do what you can to avoid it.

Fun Factor - ***
These are intended for collectors, but they are pretty sweet action figures in their own right. While kids might not have any idea who they are, if they are in need of a female warrior in their battle plans, these figures would do very nicely. Just make sure they are old enough that they wouldn't choke on any loose (or broken) parts.

Value - **1/2
I complain about ever $20 MOTUC figure, and yet I'm giving these, also $20 each, another half star? While there's a lot of re-use here, the production runs on each individual figure are very low - only in the hundreds - making the higher cost much more legitimate.

Things to Watch Out For -
Some of the joints are a little weak, particularly the elbows and biceps, so take some care loosening them up and posing them.

And obviously, take extra care with the weapons. I suspect having two out of four break as easily as they did for me indicates an overall issue.

Overall - ***1/2
I'm a huge fan of the FANtastic Exclusive concept, and I think the Four Horsemen have done a very good job executing on the idea. It's hard to find an non-licensed, in house developed property in plastic form these days, let alone one that's been successful for several years. This is a testament to the Four Horsemen's skills at design, sculpting and fabrication.

On top of all that, we just don't get many truly attractive female action figures, and I suspect that when it comes time to do the year in review polls for 'bests' on various sites, that these two ladies are going to score pretty well in the female categories.

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

Where to Buy
SDCC was the first place to pick these two up, but you can get either one at the Store Horsemen right now. They also have the exclusive mutant Silissk. If you think you'd like the full set of 11 figures, you can purchase them in one shot direct from the Four Horsemen as well, and save some money on shipping.

The other 8 figures are available individually from various websites:

1 - Baddatthiir - available at Big Bad Toy Store

2 - Raavia - available at Raving Toy Maniac

3 - Ccora - available at Corner Store Comics

4 - Oktobria - available at October Toys

5 - D'Zwirra - available through Wizard Universe

6 - Akkuli - available through Action Figure Express

7 - Biggara - also available through Big Bad Toy Store

8 - Kromus - available through Fwoosh

Related Links -
I've covered a few of the previous FANtastic exclusives and variants, including the Timekeepers, Ssejjhhorr, Xetheus, and Vaskhh.

And if you'd like more background info on the first two series of FANtastic Exclusives, check out the toy wiki page.

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

Discussion:
Want to chat about this review?  Try out one of these terrific forums where I'll be discussing it!

Enjoyed this review? Be sure to head back to the main page to find thousands more just like it!