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But the photo also shows the
spikes on the ball of his hat, which were
missing from the SDCC exclusive. I had heard from Toynami
that they'd
be there for the BAF, but obviously that's not the case.
EDIT - news from Toynami...the spiked ball will come with Amy (as well
as the machine gun), and the two balls are interchangable!
Here's
a little weird trivia for you...Nudar is not just a alien nudist
scammer, it's also a site where you can download strip club information
to your GPS, so you can find the local nudie bar no matter where you
might be.
Packaging - ***
I dinged these a half star this
time over previous releases for a
couple reasons. First, while I like the attractive graphics,
and
I love the personalized info for each character on the back. But the
j-hook tops above the boxes were pretty beat up when I received them
this time, and just helped to reiterate the problem they have with
shelf wear.
There's also more twisties this
time than I remember
in past releases, but if you don't mind tossing the twist ties, you can
easily pop the figures back in the package for storage.
Sculpting
- ***1/2
I think both sculpts are excellent, some of the better work in the
line. There's a few issues, but they've captured the feel of both
characters extremely well.
Captain
Yesterday is caught mid disco pose, and while the articulation is
designed to only get one really decent pose out of him, it does manage
to do that. You'll have to work a bit to get him to stand on
his
own, but once you get his center of gravity just right, he'll stay
upright.
The head sculpt matches the
cartoon about as well as you
can expect, especially considering the wonky look of these characters.
Fry's nose does seem a little big to me, but that's being
pretty
nit picky. I love the DA in his hair, and the medallion on
his
chest is film accurate as is the huge lapels. Small details
that
could have been painted on, like the medallion or belt, are carved as
part of the sculpt instead.
Perhaps Fry's biggest sculpt
issue is
the number of visible mold lines. There's more here than I
usually like to see, and it does detract from what is otherwise an
excellent looking figure.
Nudar has a perfect expression
of
disgust and condensention, and the key elements, like the size and
shape of his nose, look terrific. His flabby nekkid pink body looks
just as unappealing in three dimensions as it does in two, and I mean
that in the best possible way.
His right hand is sculpted to
hold
the included blaster, with his left hand in a gesture pose. He stands
great on his own, at about 5 1/2 inches tall. Fry comes in at just under 6
inches tall with his platform shoes and spiky hair.
Paint - ***1/2
These are specialty market figures, so the paint ops better be cleaner
than the usual mass market stuff. Thankfully, it is.
Nudar
doesn't have a lot of color, but they did add some darker highlights
under his eyes that look terrific, and the few cut lines there are
(like around those eyes) are quite clean. The color of his
body
is also very consistent from torso to head to limbs, always a tricky
feat. They used the black outline around the white eye, similar to what
McFarlane did with the Simpsons, and I think it works great here.
Captain
Yesterday has far more colors of course, and they are extremely clean
and sharp. I was particularly impressed by the gold belt and
medallion, because gold can be a very tricky color to get consistent
and clean. There's the occasional bad edge on the gloves, or errant
mark on Nudar's skin, but overall these two are well above average
compared to the current market, where we are seeing more and more
issues with paint application.
Articulation- Nudar **1/2;
Captain *1/2
This line hasn't been known for its articulation, but Nudar sets a new
standard.
Captain
Yesterday has the usual, with a cut neck, cut shoulders, and cut waist.
You'll need that cut waist to get him into the sweet spot to stay
standing, but the arms really only look good in one pose. Ankle
articulation would have gone a long way to allowing his torso to be in
other poses, and cut wrists might have been useful as well.
Nudar
has a cut neck as well, but has ball jointed shoulders, a cut bicep,
and pin elbows! There's no leg articulation, but that's not surprising
considering the design of the character.
There's some gapping on
the cut biceps, and the ball jointed shoulders are those 'NECA' style
that don't have a huge range of movement, but it's still a major
improvement over most of the figures in the line, and allows some great
arm poses with the gun. I wish they'd added cut wrists - that would
have gotten them another half star.
Accessories
- want BAF: ***; don't want BAF **
Of course, the main accessory with both of these is the BAF piece. Fry
comes with the Santa head, while Nudar comes with the one huge half of
the torso.
If
you're looking to put the BAF together, clearly these are some big
important pieces. If you aren't though, you don't get much to go with
it.
Nudar does has his blaster
though, which looks great and fits
in his hand nicely. There's a lot more he could have come with though,
making the single accessory a little disappointing.
Fry comes
with a tube of the Miracle Cream, which is very small of course, and
doesn't really fit in his hand all that well...but it gets extra points
because not only is the front label present, but so is the back label
with the small print explaining the possible symptoms!
Fun Factor - Nudar **1/2; Fry **
The extra articulation makes Nudar a bit more fun no matter what the
age, but neither of these are probably going to be high on the kid's
Christmas list. Unless they are kids with really good cartoon taste.
Value - ***
You can get these as a pair as cheap as $11 or
so each from some of my sponsors, which is about the same or a buck
cheaper than mass market figures like DCU or even Marvel Legends that
also build BAF's. Since these are lower run specialty market
figures, they get an extra boost in their value since they're doing it
for about the same price as mass market.
Things To Watch Out For
-
Not a thing!
Overall - Nudar ***1/2;
Fry ***
I'm being a little forgiving with Nudar, because the gapping on his
biceps does bother me enough under most circumstances to pull him down
a half star. But there's something about this character that love, and
getting him in plastic format is probably blinding me a bit.
Captain
Yesterday is a great version of Fry as well, but the lack of
articulation, and the lack of accessories end up getting him a slightly
lower score. Sure, he has one accessory in addition to the
BAF
piece just like Nudar, but Nudar's works so much better in the display.
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