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Packaging: **1/2
Yes, I know, I know. It’s McFarlane. However this is my opinion. The
packaging is fairly ‘generic’. These are blister packs, with minimum
graphics. There are 4 huge photos on the back of the basic figures of
the line. And not much else is there. See, with McFarlane, usually, we
expect more each time, and with each line. I understand these are
blister packs, and these are not the usual McFarlane high octane meant
for display only figures, but c’mon. They could have at least gone to
the trouble of saying a little about the character. So how am to know
about these figures, if I were but not to visit the Guitar Hero sites
and fish for information? And if it’s McFarlane, then you know… there
are … twisty wires! This time though, there are three of them in each
pack: one around the figure’s waist, one around one leg, and a third
around the left arm. I think in this case, with the more
fragile sculpts, the twisty wires could actually do more damage. I was
very careful when trying to pry out each figure. And one of the figures
clearly developed a bend in the leg, not at the joint but around the
thigh area. I know that was not supposed to be the way it was.
Sculpt: Lars Umlaut
***, Axel Steel ***1/2, Johnny Napalm: ****, God of Rock: ***
Now this is where McFarlane always does shine, almost, with every line!
And they do so here as well! Of course, there are always… degrees. So,
when I picked these up, initially from the package itself, the two most
appealing to me were God of Rock and Lars Umlaut. However, when I
opened them, and looked at them, and played around a bit, my perception
quickly changed. Lars and Rock God became my least two, and the other
two, Axel Steel and Johnny Napalm became favorites. There are a number
of reasons for that. I think I best mention the sculpts ‘credentials’
one by one. One note though: Mcfarlane is billing these as 6 inch
scale. That is ‘very’ inaccurate. These are more like 5” to 5.25 “
figures. The tallest (standing straight) seems to be Johnny Napalm and
Lars Umlaut is next. And neither is 6 inch scale. Johnny somehow hits
the 6 inch scale due to his hair. But the top of his head, he is just
about 5.25”. Now, let’s get right to the sculpts.
Johnny Napalm, (in essence and) for his badass attitude is my least
favorite character with all the drug addiction, EMO and incarceration
history going. I wouldn’t want a 13 year old taking influence or even
subscribing to the character in any part. But here, Johnny in plastic
form, made me bite my words. A very cool sculpt indeed! Though lanky,
and somewhat underweight, the punk rocker’s look has been captured near
perfectly. His Mohawk adds a more imposing appearance to the character.
Mine was a basic figure with a brown Mohawk (or if you will, call them
liberty spikes), but there are at least three variants for the figure:
a green Mohawk, a black Mohawk and a skeletal costume. His guitar of
course, befits a punk rocker, and is depicted as being designed out of
a toilet bowl seat and a dead rat. There are even ‘poo’ stains with the
word ‘poo’ adding to the grossness. He has an actual chain and lock on
his left hip, and which adds to the appeal of the figure. They could
have perhaps, easily taken a short cut, and sculpted the chain on the
hip, but they actually produced it separately, and with specially made
hooks on the jeans, attached the chain and lock on them! That itself
shows the dedication they had towards their work. But more impressive
is the fact that the figure expressed the character’s reality to me
even though I did not know it. The smirk on his face readily told me
that this character is a troubled (and ‘troubling’) guy, and possibly
on with a ‘I don’t damn care’ attitude. And it turned out to be right.
Hence, even before I knew Johnny, I knew him, directly from the sculpt.
His facial expression also generates an air of know it all, a smugness
that he is drifting through effortlessly with his strumming, and
doesn’t have a care of the competition. Also, what good is a sculpt
that does not stand well on its own? There is no problem with Johnny
here. In fact, with guitar in hand, and the huge Mohawk, he has pretty
good ‘posture’ even without the base. Hence, in my opinion, a four star
sculpt, very well done.
Axel Steel, my second favorite, is almost as good as Johnny Napalm,
except for maybe my own insight. Axel comes with two variations: with a
Spawn T-shirt, and the basic Axel. I got the variant, and as you can
see in the pics, it is damn cool. His jacket and jeans, being denim,
are very well detailed, and each has a different texture. The black
shirt is basic but with creases and folds, and then there is the Spawn
T. I also like his sneakers. As you see from the shot, they have a
weathered, rough look about them, and the sculptor went to the trouble
to give that rough and used sneaker look right down to the soles! The
jacket is truly impressive. Reminded me of those little porcelain
statues that someone gifted me, depicting a denim jean or jacket. It
almost looks as if the jacket is removable, but it isn’t. Whereas all
this is fine, it is however, Axel’s expression, and hair that really
impressed me. His gaping mouth, and flowing hair are done to a tee! If
you see the pics I added from the game itself, it is easy to see that
they nailed it right on. His hair is made of soft rubber (like Rock
God’s), and allows for some movement. For some reason, he has a
slight
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(horizontal) bend in his right knee. Again, that might be my figure,
or the twisty wires doing, but that’s the way it was. He will have a
hard time standing on his own, particularly with the top heavy and
short legs frame. He will need the base to stand with a guitar and if
posed differently other than standing straight, in which case, he will
manage to hold his feet. With the pros and cons, I couldn’t see him as
good as Johnny, but good enough on his own, and therefore, ***1/2.
Lars
Umlaut is branded as the badass Death Metal rogue. Of course, with the
costume and Goth look, it is easy to see Lars has issues. Hence a
sculpt that in spite of being expressionless, speaks for itself, quite
loudly, to say. Lars was the first sculpt that I had picked up, and the
rest followed. His spikes, shoulder pads, and heavily packed belt are
done very very well. The texturing and details are right there, and his
skin tone, and painted face make for a great contrast with the costume.
Mine is a variant, with blond hair. Though, in my rush, I made a
mistake. I should have picked up the basic version with pitch black
hair. It simply looks better than this and probably would have improved
the rating. But in spite of that, blond Lars is still a sculpt that you
will not regret to own. The pictures show the detail work on his shoes,
shoulders and the arm bands. What I didn’t like is his guitar: a Purple
colour for an otherwise great bat design. Might look great in the game,
but with the hardcore sculpt, it will look like a toy. Black, with
shine or polish might have worked better in my opinion. I think you
will agree. That is why he is a star down from the others already
reviewed in terms of sculpting.
God of Rock is not God, but a
deity. A human said to be ascended to the mythical world of Mt. Olympus
who strums away in a pub meant for deities. That is why I immediately
saw the mythical, Thor like look, or even, more so, a Zeus like look to
him. Next to Lars, he was my choice, but well, this is another case of
‘never judge the book by its cover, or more precisely in this case,
never judge a partially open book even. I could see the figure plainly,
but with the reflections and plastic folds, missed a few things. Those
brought a couple of stars down on this guy. His head sculpt is awesome.
He has the same expression as Axel Steel. In fact, in the details of
the characters on line, there seems to be a connection between Axel and
this character: a transition or transformation, or no relevance to each
other? Not sure. Rock God here has detailed hair, which is designed to
flow at the back to accommodate the huge clunky chain across his torso.
The beard/hair is made of rubber, and allows for the chain or the
guitar strap to go comfortably round his neck. The chain itself is not
removable, but does add to the majesty of the character. His guitar is
the best of the lot, well, in terms of expense and quality of material
that is being portrayed anyways. His tunic, or toga and skirt is done
well in rubber, with two paints for texture. What is cool is, that the
tunic on the upper body is a piece by itself! He has a metallic Dragon
sculpt guitar. Mine came with an unhooked strap on one end; thinking of
using glue to fix that. My qualm came with two things: First, he just
does not stand on his own. He can’t, with the top heavy frame and small
legs, and the torso bent backwards. You have to use the base, plus the
extra support of the amplifier to make him stand. Secondly, there is
some sloppy sculpting here. I know, I know, many folks will hate me
here, but it is true. If you look at the pic, the left shoulder and
bicep attachment are done very sloppily, making it look like a toy, not
a pose able action figure. I guess I am being too picky, but I am an
artist at heart, and I guess I look at these things like little 3D
works of art. That is why I collect em’. I was actually disappointed at
the sloppy work. Maybe it is just my figure. It could even be storage
wear. But this is hard McFarlane quality plastic we are
talking about,
and these just hit stores days ago. Hence my complaint about it being
done a little ‘carelessly’. I guess they did this for the sake of
convenience, or thinking that collectors will maintain the figure in
its one classic game pose. Well, that doesn’t do it for me. A three
(generous stars) to this figure.
Paint: Lars Umlaut ***,
Axel Steel ***-1/2, Johnny Napalm: ****, God of Rock: ***-1/2
This is another category in
which McFarlane really gets all the
(deserved) attention). It is one thing to do things in one mold and
have inconsistencies show on the figures, but quite another to do them
in a similar mold, and then paint them so well that they all appear
distinct, even with similar elements. For example, the black ‘wearable’
parts of the figures seem to be painted by one person.
Lars
was the one that initially drove my attention and led me to dish out
the green on the rest. In that, one thing was his spectacular paint
job. It’s certainly a sort of consolation for the other things that are
lacking. His black costume and shoulder pads are done in similar black
(makes sense), yet have a slightly different feel to them. There are
some accents in the shoes, pants and shoulder pads and gauntlets. The
spikes are silvery. On mine, there was a little slop there on the
spikes, particularly on the gauntlets and shoulder pads. But his face
paint is dead on, as well as his hair. Even his blonde version has two
accents in the hair to bring out the ‘pert plus’ feel. If you have a
basic figure, it will probably be more imposing due to the pitch black
hair, which stands out differently than the costume, and that is good
work. The spikes on his waist are painted a nice golden and have a
metallic feel to them. The guitar only has two tones, purple (which is
the mold I believe) and the black string set, with slight traces of
white. It is not the ‘The’ paint job, but it has its moments. Now you
may wonder, with all the praise, why only 3 stars? Actually I am quite
generous with 3 stars here. It might be just me, but I think that the
paint is what ‘clogged’ up the articulation on good ol’ Lars here. And
that in my book, is a no no. If that is somehow, not a cut joint, then
it is very sloppy sculpting. But for now, I will just think that it is
the overtly done paint job around those cuts, and not the sculpt
misunderstanding that took away a star and more from the articulation
category for this figure.
Axel Steel has a good paint job
indeed. This is truly a good work of art here. The paint on the
sneakers, jeans, T-shirt and Jacket all has a different feel to them.
With the texture details, it becomes sharper. His hair has been done in
the basic brown, with black lines and a touch of shade here and there
to channel that realism factor. The skin tone is just fine. It
resembles the game, and that is our main expectation here. His tattoos
really show well too. The devil tattoo on the back, and the spawn on
the front, both look awesome. For a figure this size, (just like the
Halo line), the paint job is pretty consistent.
As for Johnny
Napalm, what can I say? The paint job’s very well done. The only
objection I could raise in this review is that with the tattoo work on
his arms, there is a bit of gloss on them, making them a bit different
to the skin tone on his torso and head. But again, those are the
tattoos. Speaking of tattoos, they comprise much of the stars here too.
The paint work there is clean, and sharp. He has a bar code (as in
supermarket items) on the back of his head, and a larger ‘Rotten’
tattoo on his tummy. In spite of both being different in size, they
stand out clearly. That shows the sharpness of the paint job.
Personally, I think the brown paint on the liberty spikes is pretty
good, personally speaking. The images of the black and green seem to
add more flamboyance to the sculpt, but take away from the overall
impact. Again, that’s just my feeling that the basic look of the brown
Mohawk suits him just fine.
God of Rock, again, quite well
done. The tunic he sports had two paint effects, a lighter and darker
black, with the lighter one coming off as grayish, and implied
specifically around the folds of the clothing to make them stand out.
His skin tone is similar to the other figures, and the minute details
in his gaping mouth, and teeth have not been missed and quite carefully
done.
My personal thought on the pain category is that they
could have added a slighter shade of brown here and there, to pas sit
off as shading, and truly make these into works of art. But they are
pretty solid as it stands, and I am pleased with the paint work.
Articulation: Lars Umlaut **, Axel Steel ***,
Johnny Napalm: ***-1/2, God of Rock: **
This is one category that changed my perception of things quickly.
Lars
Umlaut to start with, has ball jointed shoulders, and legs, cut wrists
and waist, with the standard 1 direction bendable knees and elbows. He
also has ball jointed ankles. There is also what appears to be the
standard (Marvel Legends style) articulated biceps, (just below the
deltoids). However, with my figure, the joint just won’t work. When I
tried a bit too much to get the cut to work, the arm itself came off.
(See pic) Since I like my figures intact, I decided to forgo the
experiment of the bicep, and put the arm back in place. What I see here
is paint sloppiness (more on that below). The arm now comes off almost
every time I try to move it around. What really got me down are the
‘ball jointed’ hip and thigh points. There is barely any articulation
there. I know, I know… I might be picky. But what good is a joint that
is well, close to being no joint? What is the point of having ball
jointed feet it they do not come into play (almost). I see one reason
for the hip joints being limited: either restrictive paint (as in the
arm) or poor judgement on the sculpt and joint. A heavy ass sculpt like
lars did not need a near flat panel for a groin area, which restricts
the ball joints. To fix this however, a simple thigh cut would have
improved things, but no. They didn’t do that. They gave Johnny a cut
thigh, though he didn’t necessarily need it, but none for Lars. It
would have also helped the sculpt itself, and given a wider degree of
movement to the legs. Also, Lars’ head has no articulation. I
understand, that the shoulder pad, and the hair are encompassing the
head, but all in all, no head articulation, in spite of a ball jointed
head. Hence, this is it. Two stars for Lars.
Axel Steel on the
other hand, has ‘workable’ articulation. He has hip ball joints, one
direction knee and elbow joints, ball jointed shoulders, cut wrists,
cut waist and cut upper arms. All his joints work well. Being a top
heavy frame, making him stand after ‘articulating’ on his knees may be
futile, but with the base, he ‘rocks’. Also, he has ball jointed
ankles, which as in Lars’ case, are sadly restricted to the point of
almost not being there. He has heavy feet, and heavy jean bottoms, and
the sculpt cancels out the joint here. He has decent head movement, in
spite of the mane of hair (which is made of soft rubber) and allows for
limited yet acceptable articulation. You won’t get him looking up at
the sky, but left right and below are no problem. Plus you could swivel
his head a bit at an angle too to get that attitude look, …and he looks
decent doing it. His shoulder ball joints do not afford him all sorts
of degree in pose ability, but that again, is due to the jacket and
sleeve creases contradicting each other. Still, with a McFarlane figure
quality, and a killer sculpt, I would let it go. Hence, three stars for
Axel.
Johnny Napalm became a favorite figure of this series
for this reason as well. Good articulation. For starters, Johnny sports
ball joints in the shoulders, (Marvel Legends style) cut biceps, ball
jointed hips and ankles, cut wrists, standard 1 direction elbow and
knee joints, a cut waist and a cut thigh. Though I wish there would
have been an additional degree of movement on the elbows and knees, it
is not necessary. Guy’s a rocker, and those poses do not require
‘cringy’ stature. All his joints work fine, leave for the feet, which
in another case of the sculpt canceling out the articulation, do not
move up and down, but side to side is no problem. His hands hold the
guitar well even without it being on his neck or in both hands. His
ball jointed head has the widest degree of movement than the other
figures (of course, with no hair or shirt to restrict the movement).
When used with his base, you could really get several classic guitarist
poses out of him, leave alone ‘Napalm’ poses. Hence, with these pluses,
I think we got our selves a well articulated figure in Johnny Napalm.
God
of Rock has ball jointed shoulders, cut biceps, wrists, waist, and left
(or was it right??) ankle. He also has a ball jointed neck. What I was
not happy with was the inconsistency or flaws if you will. For
instance, the right ball joint shoulder works quite well. As you can
see, his arm has a complete degree of movement here. The left ball
jointed shoulder is however (at least in my figure) severely
‘unarticulated’ in comparison to the left. It rises only partially, and
with the bad sculpting on the right cut bicep, I did not want to
experiment on him by pushing it any further than it goes. Again, could
be paint, or bad sculpting, but the articulation suffered there. The
cut biceps, waist and wrists work fine. The cut ankle on mine has yet
to ‘awaken’. Don’t know how much I will have to twist and force it till
it gives in and budges from its ‘slumber’. His tiny spindly legs
support a huge frame, probably the bulkiest of the 4 figures, and
therefore, have limited articulation. Only the hips have movement in
them that is not restricted by the rubber skirt. As for his head, given
the great amount of hear (beard/long hair), he can only move so much.
There is limited articulation on the head there. All in all, he’s
better than Lars Umlaut in this category, but with the sculpt and
movement countering each other, he ends up being as articulated as his
painted death metal friend.
Accessories: **
I was tempted to give a bupkis, but I won’t.
You will see what I mean. I did not count the bases as accessories,
especially if you need them in two of these cases to make the figures
just to stand up. For that matter, I can not count God of Rock’s
amplifier base addition as an accessory either. You need it to make him
pose for you. I guess the guitars could ‘pass’ as accessories, though
they also shouldn’t since a Guitar Hero is nothing without his guitar.
I have still rated them considering the guitars to be accessories. They
could have included a better base, or perhaps some little memorabilia
with these. It would have added to the value.
Fun factor: ***
If
you are a Guitar Hero fan, this figure line is a dream come true. Fan
boys ought to go wild over these. Just displaying them along with
whatever else from Guitar Hero offers, would be a blast. However, they
are not kids toys. It even says on the package that they are for ages
13 and up. There might be two reasons for that. One is that smaller
kids could easily hurt themselves with those hard spikes and spiky
hair. I know I felt it when I tried to press down Umlaut’s foot into
the peg on the base. The other reason could be purely to avoid
influence of the characters on the younger kids. These are for Guitar
Hero fans after all, and as such, belong more so than others, on a
Guitar Hero fan’s display shelf.
Value: **1/2
Now these are supposed to be action figures,
but we all know that they are actually more like mini statues. They
quality of the plastic and the sculpt was sure to ‘spike’ the prices. I
picked my line at a local Zellers for $ 15.00 Cdn. a piece. In my
estimate, it is still quite high a cost. In the US, they are retailing
for about 10 – 11 dollars, depending on the vendor. But with the
comparison I did with the Halo lineup (the Multi game player releases),
which are outrageously priced up to $ 17 -18.00 Cdn. each, I thought
these to be priced OK. All in all, I think they are worth the cost, for
Guitar Hero fans. As mentioned earlier, an additional accessory apart
from the guitar would have brought the value up. For now, this is
it.
Things to look out for:
I
mentioned above under the articulation category that Lars’ arm came off
during my ‘articulation’ experiment. I didn’t push that hard, but just
hard enough for the cut joint to work. Not saying that is the issue
with every figure in the house, but it is something to watch out for.
Similarly, watch it when undoing those ties. Not to sound too
elementary here, but when undoing them, make sure you pull the ties out
first instead of trying to pry the figure from the packaging with the
ties. Also, the pegs on the bases are sometimes removable. So, they
might end up sticking under the figure, and possibly drop off. Finally,
please, these are meant for kids of a certain age. I recall 13 or 14
and up. Please make sure you ‘obey’ that categorization. These are
strictly not for kids younger than that.
Overall: ***
I
think this is a different interesting genre of action figure. Couple
that with the Mcfarlane brand, and you have yourselves a pretty good
line up that doesn’t look bad on the shelf. If you are considering
these action figures for adventures, they are not it. But for mid teens
owners and beyong, they should do their job well. Hence, three stars.
Score Recap:
Packaging - **1/2
Sculpting - Lars Umlaut ***, Axel Steel ***1/2, Johnny Napalm: ****,
God of Rock: ***
Paint - Lars Umlaut ***, Axel Steel ***-1/2, Johnny Napalm: ****, God
of Rock: ***-1/2
Articulation - Lars Umlaut **, Axel Steel ***, Johnny Napalm: ***-1/2,
God of Rock: **
Accessories - **
Fun Factor - ***
Value - **1/2
Overall - ***
Where to Buy -
Check your local mass market stores like Toys R Us, or try one of these
sponsors:
- Clark
Toys has the individual figures for $12 each.
- Urban Collector
has the first series for $83.
- Entertainment
Earth has the singles for $12 each.
- Things From Another World
has the single figures for $12.59.
Or eBay where you’ll find them
for ‘buy it now’ of between $9.99 and
$12.99. You can do that search using the sponsor MyAuctionLinks.
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