Sculpting
- ***
The general likeness is pretty good, and you can see what they were going for in this reference still.
The zombie skin effect has plenty of detail, and the hair, nose and
mouth (the most critical aspect of Bub) are all pretty much on target. The
head shape itself is a bit off, at least to my eye. This sculpted
version seems to have a taller, narrower head, while the actor had a
rounder face. It's a minor nit, nonetheless. A bigger nit for me
is his very skinny legs and tiny feet. They appear out of scale to his
upper body, even for an emaciated zombie. The primary arm is
sculpted to sit up by his head. I have him holding the head
phones in one shot, but I the real pose is intended to be his final
salute to Captain Rhodes. That's a nice touch, although you'll
have to explain it to people unfamiliar to the movie. Bub is
sculpted at almost exactly 7" tall, making him an ideal companion for
any of the SOTA or NECA zombie figures released previously.
That's also a critical factor, since most folks looking to buy
this figure will already have the Land of the Dead or Cult Classics
zombies. The hands can hold the accessories pretty well, or at
least as well as a zombie normally holds things. He also stands
on his own, although he can topple over on those itty bitty feet with
the slightest touch. Fortunately, the base includes a peg to help
stabilize him. The chain that attaches to the back wall of the
diorama is real metal, and permanently attached to Bub. It
threads through a rubber loop at he back of his collar. Be careful
rubbing that metal against the softer rubber too much - it's likely to
wear through.
Paint - ***
The paint ops are generally well done, with a
nice dirty wash over his clothes and an excellent ashen pallor to his
skin. The teeth are a little sloppy, but they have that yellow cast to
them, and there's enough color (muted as it might be) to give him some
visual pop. The eyes are bright blue, but one has a bit of a
sleepy eye thing going on. I don't think that was intentional, as I
don't remember Bub having any weird eyes in the movie. There's
also a bit of unintentional slop at the hair line, teeth and nails.
It's not a major problem on a figure with plenty of intentional slop,
but holds the figure back from higher marks. The metal chain has
also been painted to give it a rusty, dark look, rather than the bright
silver it was originally. That's a nice effect, but the rubber
loop on his collar barely allows the chain to slide through, and tends
to rub off the paint quite freely when it does. Right out of the
clamshell it looks great, but it's going to end up bright silver in
places pretty quickly.
Articulation - **1/2
While this guy isn't super articulated, it turns out it's much better than is obvious in the package. The neck is a cut joint, which was a bit of a disappointment. Zombies and tilted heads seem to go hand in hand. The
shoulders are ball jointed however, and the joints are well hidden yet
have a pretty good range of movement. The only other arm
articulation is cut wrists. There's also a cut waist AND ab crunch chest. He can tilt forward quite a ways, but can't go backward beyond straight up. There is no articulation in the legs, so you best like the sculpted stiff legged pose. Accessories
- ***1/2
Bub's best feature is his accessories, of which there are plenty. The
wall/floor diorama pops together easy enough, and look terrific.
His chain is permanently attached to the wall (unless you pop it
loose like I did) on his left side, but there is a clip on the end of
the chain that can be removed from the wall on his right side. In other
words, the chain is permanently attached to the wall on Bub's
left, but can be unclipped from the wall on his right. However, the
clip is too large to thread easily through the rubber loop on his
collar, so technically he's not supposed to come free from the
backdrop, or at least I don't think so. I did pop the round hook
free accidentally on Bub's left side, but I'm not sure it's supposed to
do that. Proceed at your own peril. There's one foot peg on the base for his right foot, although you don't really need it to keep him standing. He
also has his tape recorder with attached head phones. This was
part of his 'training' in the film. The sculpt and paint isn't super
detailed, but you'll know what they are. Likewise, the tiny razor
might be tough to pick out at first, but once you know what it is,
you'll recognize it. He can't really hold it particularly well,
but that's not much of a surprise. There is a second right arm,
primarily intended for the gun. The included gun is an excellent
sculpt, with nice detail and scale. He can hold it fairly well, in that
sort of sloppy "I'm a dead guy" sort of way.
Finally, there's his bucket of chow. The sculpt is fairly nice
if a bit lacking in fine detail, but my biggest complaint is that the
handle is part of the overall sculpt, not a separate piece. Fun Factor - **1/2
If you're raising Pugsley Addams, he's going to love this guy.
Personally, I've always thought zombies were some of the coolest
monsters out there, and the concept of Bub, a controlled, trained
zombie, is a fascinating one. He's not exactly articulated, but there's
enough for kids to pair him up against their good guys in this scale.
Value - ***
Fifteen bucks isn't cheap for an action figure, but it does seem to be
the going rate these days for not only specialty market stuff, but some
mass market stuff as well. However,
I'm bumping this figure up a half star over an average **1/2 star
score, because of all the accessories. While many figures are in
this price range, very few of them come with this many extras,
particularly the well done diorama base. For a small company, Amok has
managed to produce a good looking licensed figure at a market
appropriate price.
Things To Watch Out For
-
As I mentioned a couple times, it's very easy to pop the loop of
plastic free from the backdrop where the chain attaches to the wall.
I don't think you're supposed to do this, so take extra care
removing him from the package. Also,
the chain runs through a rubber loop on the back of his collar, and
regularly moving this back and forth through the loop is likely to tear
it.
Overall - ***
Bub has a few issues, which is not surprising since Amok Time hasn't
had a lot of experience in this area. The pluses - the great diorama
base, nice additional accessories, scene specific touches, and paying
attention to the scale so the figure fits in with other zombies -
greatly outweigh these growing pains. I
don't know that Bub would be the only zombie I'd put on my shelf, but
if you're like me, and have been amassing a collection of 7" scale
zombies from various lines, Bub is going to fit in extremely well with
the horde. |
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