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Chris Redfield - Resident Evil 5
(BSAA version)
Hot Toys
"The
following is a guest review. The review
and photos do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Michael Crawford
or Michael's Review of the Week, and are the opinion and work of the
guest author."
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Jeff Parker is taking a look
oat one of the new Hot Toys Biohazard figures tonight - tell us all
about him, Jeff!
Thanks as always to Michael.
Now, a couple of years ago I reviewed the full range of characters that
HT released from Resident Evil 4 (Biohazard 4 if you are in Asia), and
I personally found all of them pretty impressive. Never before had
video game characters been given such an impressive 1/6th treatment.
Since then Sideshow has given us Lara Croft and McFarlane have
delivered some hugely impressive pieces from HALO, but in all fairness,
these RE5 figures are on another level.
Chris
Redfield has been one of the main hero choices in gaming for
Resident Evil /Biohazard since its seminal off set over 12 years ago,
yes, you could indeed argue that he’s been the official poster boy of
the whole series. He was there at the beginning, one of the early
members of S.T.A.R.S, he survived the Mansion Incident, and has been
battling his former Captain Albert Wesker ever since.
His physical appearance has changed quite a bit over that time as well.
He started out as a fresh
faced, action man of athletic, but average
build and has evolved into a one man testosterone and steroid
pumped zombie
killing machine!
So, as happy as I was with the two versions of RE4 Leon Kennedy, can
the RE5 Mr Redfield make me even happier?
As our hero said, “There's one thing I do know... I have a job to do,
and I'm gonna' see it through.” So I better take a leaf out of his book
and get on with it!
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Packaging ***1/2
Mine came in a box bearing the Biohazard 5 logo rather than Resident
Evil, I take it the ones sold in North America and Europe will have the
alternate title, but I don’t know that for sure. The colour palette is
borrowed from the branding for the game. So we have a dark background
out of which the logo and character name appear alongside a picture of
Chris, lifted from the game. The areas with the picture are laminated
with a rough textured matte varnish which is very attractive and also
pretty tactile. The back has a brief biography, production credits and
pics of two of the other figures from the series.
Like the earlier RE4 figures,
this uses the magnetic side panel to hold the packaging shut, it lifts
from the right and opens to the left, exposing a tray of weapons
attached to the inside flap opposite a window showing the fully dressed
figure. Inside he lies in a black vac formed tray held secure by a few
twisty ties. So, another very nice box designed by Monster Jr
and Sandy Lam, not Hot Toys best packaging, but still very attractive
and it’s another solid addition to their line.
Sculpting-
***1/2
This was sculpted by Kang In Ae, I’ve been very impressed by her work
in the past on the M-icon range and of course most notably on her
representation of Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone for Hot Toys
groundbreaking The Godfather
figure.
So, we all now her work is good on real people… but how about ‘virtual’
characters, those gamer fan boys can sometimes be the hardest to
please, bringing their beloved 2D pixels to fully fledged 3D life, but
Kang has managed to pull it off… just about!
I’ve spent a lot of time tracking down good pictures of Chris, like
this, this,
this
and this,
not to mention a couple of full body shots I link to below in the
outfit section. So, this is a very good representation of him, she has
certainly captured his eyes and mouth perfectly, however I do feel that
his face here is just a whisker too long. The game version appears to
have a slightly rounder face, it’s almost like it all just needs to be
squashed up a little. If the forehead and bridge of his nose had been
just a millimeter or so smaller I think this could have been near
enough 100% spot on. As it is you need to look at this with an ultra
critical eye to pick up on the ever so slight discrepancies. Once again
Kang In Ae has delivered another beautiful bit of work and I found the
optimum angle to view him from is a slightly elevated ¾ angle, from
which he really does look perfect.
The work on the hair shows a fantastic degree of detail, and his little
tuft that hangs down at the front is executed beautifully. He also
comes with 4 hands, all of which are wearing sniper tactical gloves
with the first two fingers exposed. The two attached in the box are in
gripping positions for the accessories, but he also comes with a fisted
pair. Though I have to admit with his impressive array of weapons… why
would you want to display him with fists?
Oh well, to each their own!
Paint-
****
Once again JC Hong is on paint control, I don’t know why I mention it
anymore, JC Hong and Hot Toys paint apps go together like Butch and
Sundance, but mention it I will as he continues to produce just about
the best and most consistent paint apps available out there.
So here we have Chris as 3D rendered in RE5, the thing about characters
in computer games is they ‘visually’ develop with each new game
release, as not only does the character evolve but the technology that
generates them takes leaps and bounds between each release as well. We
are fast approaching a time when we won’t be able to tell real actors
apart from their virtual counter parts. However, for now this is still
quite a way off, as things are pretty convincing, but not THAT
convincing yet, but the all important word in that sentence is ‘yet’!
So to create an accurate paint app of Chris as he is seen in the game,
JC’s job isn’t quite the same as when replicating a ‘real person’, but
as you’d expect his observations come up trumps as usual. The flesh
tones show nice subtle variations, with a slight darkening around the
eyes and on the stubble shadowing on his chin. The lips are picked out
in a convincing tone and the eyes are up there with some of his best
work, crisp, well defined and glossy. Look closely at his eyebrows and
eyelashes and you can pick out the individual hairs. His hair style is
in a uniform colour but appears a more matte colour in the low lying
areas and shiny on the raised parts, it’s a relatively simple effect
but does a fantastic job of enhancing all the details in the underlying
sculpt. In short it’s another faultless job. Full score without a doubt!
Articulation
*** 1/4
Chris comes on exactly the same body as the Dutch Schaefer figure
from Predator, so I guess he deserves the same score. It’s a variation
on the classic HT muscle body so the articulation is no where as good
as the standard True-Type from the waist up. But for all that lack of
mobility it makes up for it by being much more physically convincing.
His legs are basically the same construction as a regular TT, but the
whole torso from his groin to his neck has no notable articulation,
it’s a rubber-molded body over a solid base. There is however movement
where the head attaches to the neck, I could achieve a much better tilt
from side to side on mine whereas looking up or down was virtually
impossible but it can however turn freely. The arms also have a fair
degree of mobility especially where the arms attach at the shoulders,
the elbows can also bend and the wrists are the usual TT configuration.
So after familiarising yourself with the limits of its mobility you’ll
get a good feel for just what is and isn’t possible with this figure,
but once you have that knowledge you’ll be able to coax some pretty
sweet poses out of him.
I have to say that I’m very much looking forward to seeing how the new Wolverine
body turns out, as I feel it could be the way forward for muscular
bodies as well. As much as I admire the aesthetic of the hidden joints
on Chris here, I’m first and foremost a collector of 1/6th ‘action
figures’ with the emphasis on ‘action’. If I want perfect arms and legs
I should collect statues, but on the whole I don’t because I like to
pose these things. So visible joints have never really bothered me as
long as they are designed and engineered to work well and look as good
as they can.
Outfit
****
Now, I freely admit I’m not a big gamer, a few spins on our (now
antiquated) PS2 every now and then and I’m happy enough, though I
freely admit that I was quite addicted to Duke Nukem on my Mac for a
while back in the day… groovy!
I do however like to do my research when reviewing anything, and there
is certainly a wealth of info and images of Mr Redfield
out there, and from what I’ve seen this is an amazingly accurate
representation of his BSAA
(Bioterrorism
Security Assessment Alliance) outfit.
This outfit was produced by Polland, no, not the country, that only has
one ‘L’, I’m not even sure if Polland is a person or a collective, but
whatever he/she/they are, they’ve done a great job of replicating the
outfit as seen in the game. If you literally hold up your figure next
to the full figure image I linked to above (which is just a little over
1/6th scale in height) you’ll see how amazingly well observed his
fatigues are. Every detail from the different coloured panels on his
shirt with embroidered patches through to the elaborate webbing harness
with it’s numerous pouches and pockets, all of which have opening clips
and Velcroed flaps are replicated just about as perfectly as its
possible at this scale.
His combat boots are of the push on ‘cup and ball’ design meaning there
are no feet inside, but you still get a reasonable range of movement.
The trousers are of the classic BDU design with large cargo patch
pockets on each leg, side pockets at the hip and two back pockets as
well, all of which are working. He has knee pads over these with
elasticated straps. On his top he wears a skin tight tactical T-shirt.
This is obviously ‘meant’ to be designed to promote the ease of
movement while offering a degree of protection from a Nomex/Kevlar
weave smart fabric, but whatever it’s ‘meant’ to represent it looks
pretty darn cool and very, very accurate. It even has the short grey
collar, small front zip, ribbon edging on the sleeves, and the patches
on either arm are actually embroidered rather than printed. Over this
he wears his tactical body harness with it’s array of pouches and bags,
many of his tiny accessories fit into these pockets or hang from the
straps and D-rings. I really can’t find a thing to fault here at all,
just perfect
Accessories
- ****
Chris comes with-
Knife (well, more of a small sword really, it puts Croc
Dundee’s to shame)
Handgun- M92F
Machine-Gun- AK-74
Machine-Gun- SIG 556
Shotgun- Ithaca M37
Rocket launcher- RPG-7
Hand grenade
Ammo pack for handgun
Ammo Pack for shotgun
Headset
Radio
PDA (data-pad)
Compass
Four Interchangeable posing hands with gloves
12-inch figure stand
So far all of the Resident Evil figures have come with a very
impressive selection of goodies, and Chris comes with a very imposing
arsenal. I’m especially liking his
RPG, Indy new they were cool, the Joker new they were cool
and Chris certainly wasn’t gonna be left out. It has some great detail
on the scope and rangefinder, one of the little gizmos on its side can
flip out and the projectile grenade can also be removed… nice. But the
fun don’t stop there, far from it!
Guns, guns, guns… he also comes packing a M92F hand
gun, an AK-74,
a SIG
556, and lastly a pump action Ithaca shotgun.
All the automatic weapons have removable magazines and articulated
elements, but sadly the pump action on the shotgun isn’t functioning.
He also comes with his huge trusty combat knife for back up,
unfortunately his gun grip hands don’t hold this too tightly, so a spot
of Blu-Tack may be needed if you plan on posing him with it. There’s a
tiny compass to clip to his belt, a small data pad to slot into one of
his pockets and a couple of boxes of ammo as well. He also comes with
an earphone headset attached to his field radio. This is similar to the
one that came with John Connor, I did however find this one more
difficult to keep in place and so decided to put a microscopic blob of
Blu-Tack behind his ear and that kept it in place just fine. Lastly he
has a classic HT black figure base, but I got mine to stand just fine
in a number of poses without it.
Value
for money- *** 1/4
Now as I said at the beginning, these are on another level compared to
the other 1/6th video game related figures available at the moment, but
that is also reflected in the price. Where as you can pick up a
McFarlane 12” HALO figure for $25
to $30 you’ll need to add at least another $100 for one of
these babies, maybe $120.
That price difference is however writ large in terms of the difference
in the quality, attention to detail, articulation and abundance of
accessories… not to mention the packaging!
I based my score on picking this up for around the $135 mark, but I’ll
leave you to use your own judgement on how many more stars to remove
dependent on just how much more you pay over that price.
Overall-
*** 1/2
I can find very little to fault here other than perhaps the price, it’s
certainly not astronomic when comparing to other hi-end figures, but it
is still undeniably quite high. However by scouting around you’ll find
it a good site cheaper than the RRP, making him seem like a much more
reasonable proposition.
As I said above the head sculpt is near perfect, but not 100% there, at
least not to me, I’m sure many might disagree.
But taking into account the fantastically observed outfit, masterful
paint application and his hugely impressive arsenal, then it’s hard to
think of taking away anymore than ½ a star!
Where
to buy
As well as this BSAA version there is a STARS
version due soon as well, Sideshow have both versions of
Chris for $149.99, but check out some of Michael’s sponsors below where
you could make a saving of up to $15.
Alter Ego Comics
- $134.99 pre order (both for versions)
Urban Collector
- $159.99 pre order
Big Bad Toy Store
- $139.99
Or you can try ebay
where both are available with a wide variety of
prices.
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This product was purchased for the review by the reviewer.
Photos and text by Jeff Parker.
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