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Packaging - ***1/2
This is an attractive box that does its job well in protecting the
contents. It is a sturdy hard cardboard material with a lift off lid,
the front bares a large full colour image of the actress dressed in the
full outfit, which is handy for showing the subject matter to those
unaware of the source material, and lets face it, I have a strong
feeling that this will end up in the hands of many more collectors who
are just buying her because she’s a cool looking figure rather than
because of the specific licensed character!
Once the lid is removed the figure and accessories are all held safely
in layers of die-cut black foam. On the top is the fully dressed figure
alongside her wolf companion, crossbow and pistol, while the second
layer holds her hooded cape and a selection of alternate hands. So
considering this is only the companies third release this is actually
pretty amazing quality for a product in this price range. And though
not as exciting as some of the boxes other bigger companies put out in
terms of graphic design, the standard of the materials easily makes up
for it, even outshining the quality of some high end manufacturers. It
is also worthy of praise when compared to the FGC-DX-001 which came in
a shallow box, made from thin card and a simple clear vac-formed
plastic stray. Don’t get me wrong, that figure was even cheaper, coming
in at a mere $120, and the use of more cost effective, lighter
materials would certainly have kept the weight and therefor shipping
prices down… but I’m merely pointing out that this new box is far
superior in every way!
Sculpting - as a
generic female figure ***1/2 as Ms Beauchamp ***
We are living in a time where collecting 1/6th is increasingly a
wealthy collectors game. Sure, its not too bad if you are the
occasional buyer of perhaps one, two, three or maybe even four figures
a year… but if you have the disease of Onesixthitis you are probably
aware of symptoms like excitement at the sight of a Fed-Ex or UPS
truck, cravings for the smell of a freshly opened box, a lack of room
in your living space and a seriously depleted bank account… sad but
true!
The reason I mention this, is that it’s nice occasionally to get a
figure that doesn’t cost over $150… an increasingly rare occurrence I
might add, where it seems $200 is the new ‘normal’, and many new
licensed releases are far more than that. Of course you may be numb to
the pain of the new prices, but there are plenty of folks out there who
are not!
So, that long diatribe explains why you should not approach this with
Hot Toys or ENTERBAY levels of expectation… hell this figure is only
$140, you shouldn’t even have Sideshow levels in mind… yet for my
money, I think you get a pretty high level of work here. I can
certainly tell it’s Bianca Beauchamp, even though she’s not
particularly familiar to me (here are a few publicity shots of her in
character). In fact, I think it’s the fact I’m not that
familiar (so lets take one more look for good
measure) with her that might make me a little more forgiving,
if it was Fisher as Leia, Weaver as Ripley or even Hamilton as Connor I
might be a tad more emotionally invested… but as I’m not, I’m
reasonably impressed! The sculptor has certainly managed to capture
something of her trademark pout, arched eyebrows and the general shape
of her face and configuration of her features. From some angles she
looks virtually spot on, but you will need to do some major tweaking
and reconfiguring of the hair, which is bright red and rooted.
Straight from the box she has the obligatory clear plastic band wrapped
around her head to keep the hair in place whilst in transit, this
slides off to reveal the top section held close to the head whilst the
lower section falls in a cascade of curls. Once you have futzed for a
while it can start to look pretty good, but as is true of all things in
life, the more work you are willing to put into it, the better the
results will be. So to sum up I’d say this is a clean and well defined
portrait, that certainly captures the look of the actress, but lacks
the skin texture and subtleties of the portraits put out by the top end
companies. And if I had to have a criticism it would be that the hair
is just a tad too bright when compared to the actress in the role, and
it does take quite a bit of futzing to keep in place… I was tempted at
one point to just tie it back…
Paint - ***
The main areas of paint are of course her face and accompanying canine
companion. The apps are clean, crisp and well applied, but do lack that
finesses and refinement that elevates the work of companies like Hot
Toys, Enterbay and Blitzway to another level. Of course, at the risk of
becoming very repetitive throughout this review that is something that
has to be within your level of expectation from the price. Let’s face
it, the day a competitor is delivering portraits that are as uber
realistic as the companies I just listed, for a price tag of $140 is
the day they lose their grip on the market. But I think what we are
seeing is when the competition does up the ante and start achieving
that level, so rises the price… it’s a business model we can rail
against, but it seems to work, just look at recent offerings from
Sideshow and Dragon in Dreams, those prices head north with each
progression in quality!
So, with the clean work on Crimsons face, we also get a good crisp
application on her canine companion, especially on the eyes where the
down tilt of the head and eyes looking up give the creature an air of
menace. The nose, mouth and ear interior are also given some attention.
However the main body is left pure white, which is fine for a hound
that has just departed the grooming salon, but I’d have like a tad more
definition and perhaps a little dirtying up and weathering here.
All in all we get a solid and very accomplished paint app for the
price, but not an exceptional one. However, seeing how the FGC quality
has progressed between release 1 to 3, they are a company to watch!
Articulation - ***
The new body is described by FGC as FB02-L Large bust 2.0, and the main
big improvement here is on the elbow articulation, where the double
joint now affords a far great range than was available on FB01. As FGC
are making their name in the world of exclusively female figures (so
far), it is of course important that they have a solid, reliable and
good-looking body as the basis of their releases.
One thing I will say is that it seems to be a universal truth that most
manufacturers seem to excessively represent the bosom of fantasy female
characters… I’m not even going to enter the quagmire of why that should
be, but in the realms of comic book heroines, the artists that bring
them to life, both in 2D on the page and subsequently as a 3D action
figure seem to get just a little carried away in this area of anatomy.
Often you will find yourself looking at the outcome and thinking, well,
they could actually do with taking down a couple of cup sizes for the
real world… However, on this occasion… this very rare occasion, I think
it might actually be fair to say that the figure is pretty much in the
right ball park… and could maybe even be a little on the small side
when compared to Ms Beauchamp’s surgically enhanced assets… I leave
that for you to research yourself and ponder… enjoy!
So, now we have discussed the twin elephants in the room, lets see just
how well the body functions! When naked the base figure is up there
with the very good, if not quite the best of them! Good ankle motion
front to back, though limited side to side, double knees, a great range
at the hip. But sadly none at the waist… why I’m not sure (probably for
the aesthetic when they do scantily clad figures), but this is
compensated by with the upper torso movement where the bust joins the
mid ribcage. We then have a good range at the shoulder, the
aforementioned double elbows and a fair range at the neck and wrists.
So, a pretty good base body and one that has good firm joints
throughout, no droopy elbows of floppy knees, in fact just by looking
at this body you can see that nothing is droopy or floppy!
However, as well made as the body is, the skin-tight outfit and solid
boots do rather piss on that parade!
You’ll find that the hips, knees and shoulders do face some limited
loss of mobility because of the suit, and because of its shiny
‘pleather’ nature, I wouldn’t want to leave her in too deep a bent knee
stance for very long anyway, for fear of permanently stretching or
damaging the fabric. These things I can live with, hell we’ve had
bigger problems from high-end figure outfits in the past, even Hot Toys
have struggled with some characters ‘suited and booted’ articulation.
But it is the ‘booted’ part that harms another element of the
articulation, as I already iterated above, solid sculpted ankles and
high heels on her boots do not make for easy posing! The other thing I
will mention, that isn’t really a problem for Crimson with her neck to
toe fully covered outfit, is that the base body is a little on the
shiny side. It’s not full on gloss, but when this finish of material is
used on the more immodestly dressed figures (like the steam-punk first
release), it can slightly shatter the illusion of realism. A more
convincing matte tone would make for a much more satisfying look.
Accessories - ****
The figure is as I said above, based on a character from (as far as I’m
concerned) a little known franchise, but that is actually of little
importance to me! I collected quite a few of the old Triad figures, and
they had back-stories that were created solely for the toys… a trend I
for one would like to see replicated more. Toys for toys sake are
commonplace in the aisles of Toys ‘R’ Us, but far scarcer in world of
‘adult’ collectables… why? Well I guess it’s because kids are more open
to letting their imaginations fly, and more accepting of change and
innovation. I think it’s why designers, musicians, artists and the
whole spectrum of creatives are so drawn to the world of vinyl and
‘designer’ toys… I’ll avoid the use of the word ‘hipster’ which seems
to have become some kind of dirty word of late, but without them we’d
still all be collecting McFarlane’s, which were innovative at the time,
but soon became a bit passé. Sorry, going off on one again… lets get
back on track!
Crimson comes with-
• Crossbow with bolt accessory (bolt is removable and locks
back in place)
• Pistol with removable bullet clip and sliding cocking
mechanism
• Utility webbing belt for waist with pouches
• Left thigh pouches (3)
• Right thigh holster
• Pistol Grip hand set 2
• Relaxed hand set 2
• Knife hand set 2
• Combat knife
• Combat knife sheath
• Wolf ‘Lupa’
So, I guess the fact she is equipped with a crossbow means it would
have been nice to get a quiver/bolt holder with a few more projectiles…
we all figured out pretty quickly that in the Avengers, Hawkeye could
never possibly carry enough ammo to keep him relevant in a prolonged
battle, but at least he had a state of the art ‘techno’ quiver to keep
him going for a ‘limited’ while… Crimson here would sadly be out of the
fight after she had both physically and metaphorically shot her bolt…
were it not for her pistol! Yep, she can continue to be a bit stabby
with her knife once her clip is empty… and her Wolf might afford a
degree of protection, but lets just hope her fights are always close
quarters… or its curtains for Crimson.
In all fairness we get a reasonable selection of weaponry for her. The
selection of hands means she can use all of her goodies convincingly,
whether you decide to make her a ‘regular’ user or a south-paw! And
talking of paws, the dog accessory is pretty sweet. Not quite up there
with the one Sideshow did for a GI Joe character a while back, I forget
which character it was as GI Joe kind of passed me by (I’m the wrong
age) causing naught a ripple of interest. I do remember thinking
however that the articulated dog was very cool. This dog sadly has no
articulation, but depending on your aesthetic preference that can be
either a good or bad thing. I have no problem with visible
articulation, in fact I rather admire it. However articulation does
come at a price for the engineering, design and production, so I can
live with a static posed wolf if it comes as an accessory with a figure
that costs $140!
Lupa has a very solid sculpt, with lovely detailing on the face, and
the general work on the fur that covers the creatures entire body is
also expertly rendered, making this a great item to pick up as a stand
alone piece if you are in the market for a 1/6th dog. I will however
point out that if this is a wolf, it does seem just a tad on the small
side… not ridiculously small, but one does think of a wolf as being
slightly bigger in stature!
Outfit - Look/quality-***1/2,
Functionality ***
In the world of super heroes there are a few given rules, and they are
that clothing should be as snug fitting as is decent… and sometimes
moving just a whisker beyond the realms of decency… this is evidently
to show off that incredible body that you as the aforementioned super
hero have worked so hard to achieve, and Crimson here, with her gravity
defying, surgically enhanced frame has chosen a uniform that does its
job succinctly.
She comes supplied with-
• Red shiny PVC jump suit with front zipper
• Sculpted boots
• Black Cloak with pose-able wire in hood
• Belts and pouches (described in accessories)
Bianca Beauchamp, the model/actress who portrays Crimson has made her
name as something of a latex fetish model, so she was an obvious choice
for this role, and with the base body doing a remarkable job in
actually looking quite close to her build, it was paramount that the
outfit be cut well enough to show that off. And show it off it does.
This is a well-tailored and well-made suit, all the seams are neat and
I didn’t have any loose threads or badly finished collars or cuffs on
mine. The tiny-scaled zip can be unfastened, but take care with it, as
the miniscule size means gripping the pull section can be tricky. Her
boots look great and are well sculpted to replicate the ones she wears
as the character, but they are however solid pieces of plastic,
rendering all movement lost at the ankle, and the design of them is
high heeled, leading to it being a bit of a challenge to get her to
stand. Now I have made it a well documented fact that I seldom choose
to use figure stands unless absolutely necessary, and whilst I also
admit I did manage to get Crimson to stand in a number of poses, and
she has been standing on a shelf now for over a week with no sign of
toppling over… I still think a stand might have been a good idea for
lady who chooses to totter on such heels!
Her last true garment is her black hooded cloak, which like the rest of
her attire is well constructed and finished. The material hangs with a
good weight and can be undone at the collar with a tiny functioning
push-clip. The hood is hemmed with a concealed wire that aids greatly
in getting the way it hangs to feel right, but you will still need to
do quite a bit of futzing with the hair to get it looking just so.
She is also equipped with a black webbing belt with a number of utility
pouches attached and a sheath for her combat knife, a drop thigh
holster for her handgun on the right and a double utility pouch
strapped to her left thigh. I don’t know if it was just mine, but out
of the box there was no way in hell that the gun would slide into the
holster, however after a small cut with a scalpel to the opening at the
bottom, just to open up a couple of threads, it fitted fine… though
yours might have no problem.
Fun Factor - ***
This is purely based on play value for me, so I’m taking into account
the articulation and pose-ability when allowing for the outfits impact
on the base body! As such, she does look great, having a shelf presence
not dissimilar to a rather kinky Red Riding Hood… who grew up, swapped
her suit for red, her hood for black and totally owned the big bad wolf!
Value - ****
With an RRP of $139.99 this figure feels top value for money, and the
fact she comes with a fully painted 1/6th wolf as an accessory sweetens
that pill even further. The head portrait is very good, the paint is
excellent for this price range, the outfit is well fabricated as are
her accessories.
Yes I have a couple of issues with the outfits impact on the
articulation, but they are not enough to drag down just what an
excellent product this is for the price… A top deal!
Overall - ***1/4
If you are a collector who is purely sticking to licensed figures from
the IP’s you love, this might not be for you… though I might be doing
‘Heroes of the North’ a disservice by saying that… anyone, anyone?
I do see this figure, and indeed the main output of FGC being far more
popular among the ranks of collectors who were into those early Cy/Cool
Girl sets, and of course the sterling work that Triad did in this
field. There is still a healthy market for this kind of stuff, with
some recent outstanding releases from Original Effect, Phicen, ZC World
and Play Toy, but they are all catering to a group of collectors and
customizers that are not necessarily part of what is now widely
regarded as the main stream big license followers. What I’m pointing
out is that in the world of reviewing, it is not always a level playing
field, so whilst this is not of the quality of say the recent Hot Toys
Black Widow, it is over $50 cheaper… and that has to be very much taken
into account! So ultimately, yeah there are a couple of issue, but they
are relatively minor. What you are getting, straight from the box is
well put together, well considered solid figure with a nice little
selection of accessories. So, if this is your bag, I’d highly recommend
her!
Score Recap:
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpting - as a generic female figure ***1/2 as Ms Beauchamp
***
Paint - ***
Articulation - ***
Accessories - ****
Outfit - Look/quality-***1/2, Functionality ***
Fun Factor - ***
Value - ****
Overall - ***1/4
Where to Buy -
I’d like to thank Chad at SMcG
Customs for sending through these figures to cast my eye
over, and you can find Crimson available with them for the RRP of
$139.99.
You will also find Crimson at plenty of other online retailers bobbing
around a similar price as well. Just enter ‘Flirty Girl
Collectibles FGCDX-003 Crimson’ in an online search.
Your other port of call is as
always eBay
where you will find the figure floating around at prices ranging from
$130 to $185… but be sure to check out the shipping prices, it can make
a ton of difference, and often hide behind what seems like a cool deal!
Related
Links -
If you like Crimson, you should check out the older figures by Triad
Toys, including Barb Wire,
Ghost,
Helga,
and Lola.
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