Packaging - ***
These use the same big bubble,
cardback design we've seen with earlier Stargate releases.
For some reason, my set was packaged entirely under the Stargate SG-1
banner on the front of the bubble, even though the cardbacks say
Stargate Atlantis. Hmmmm, maybe I got the ultra rare variants
:D The larger bubbles end up necessary to accommodate the
Stargate pieces.
Sculpting - Weir,
Sheppard ***1/2; Wraith ***
DST is having Jean St. Jean Studios do the work on the Stargate lines,
and I think it's perhaps DST's best line.
The Wraith is a general guy, not
any specific wraith (unlike the Steve version). The body
sculpt is good, with some nice details and realism, but the face is a
little too smooth and clean for me. The hair is made from a
very hard plastic, making it more restrictive to the neck joint than
some figures we've seen. The trademark braid runs down the
back of the hair, but I have to say that the hair sculpt has a bit of
the tootsie roll effect overall. The hands are sculpted to
hold the accessories or work in gesturing poses, and they look
great. He stands well on his own too, although you might have
to pigeon toe his feet in a bit. He stands about 7" tall.
Doctor Weir has an excellent
head sculpt, and matches up with the character look extremely
well. The hair sculpt has some excellent detail, and doesn't
look like a wig plopped on her head. The outfit is a little
large in the legs, even for the style of the show, and the slumped off
thin 'NECA shoulders' aren't quite as attractive as the rest of the
sculpt. She stands just a hair over 6 1/2" tall.
Sheppard has the most unusual
hair sculpt I've seen in a very long time. On the show, he
has this funky tussled looking hair most of the time. The guy
defines bed head. They went for it with the figure...and you
know what? I think they pulled it off, or at least as good as
you possible could in plastic. They could have just gone with
smooth hair, but that would not have matched the character, and I'm
glad they took the chance with the trickier sculpt.
The face sculpt is also
excellent, maybe even better than Weir. I'm not hugely keen
on the smart ass smile, although it fits the character. It
doesn't fit most poses all that well though, especially with the
weapons.
The body sculpt has plenty of
detail, and he stands great on his own. The hands are
designed to work well with the various accessories, and the texturing
and small detail work on the jacket is particularly nice. He
stands about 6 3/4" tall.
While you don't need stands to
keep them upright, all the feet include holes in case you want to use
some sort of generic version.
These are done in a 7" scale,
and they fit in great with both the previous Stargate figures and the
new Battlestar Galactica stuff.
Paint - ***1/2
The paint work is solid, if not
outstanding.
Paint is used on the Wraith to
put the various marks on his face. There's no sculpting of
them, just paint. They end up looking painted on because of
it, but they are cleanly done. The eyes are clean and
straight, and they used a nice combination of finishes on the clothing
to give it a unique, weathered appearance. Even small
details, like the finger nails, are very well done.
Weir has that same cool looking
weathering effect on her clothing, and it works quite well.
Her face paint is extremely clean and neat, and there's almost no slop
or poor cuts anywhere on the figure.
The paint is top notch on
Sheppard as well, with clean lines and cuts all around. The
face is well done, and again, I like the weathering effects on the
clothing. He has more small details on his clothes, like the
buttons on the holster, and these are well done.
Articulation -
Sheppard, Weir ***; The Wraith **1/2
These aren't really intended to be too articulated, but they sure
aren't just Nerd Hummels either.
The Wraith has the ball neck
joint, but the hair pretty much restricts it. It still does
tilt a bit though, which is a plus. The shoulders have those 'NECA
style' ball joints at the torso, which don't have the range of movement
of a regular ball joint, but look much better, especially with the
sculpted jacket. He has pin elbows, cut biceps, cut thighs,
cut wrists, and V style hips. If feels like there's a cut
waist up in there too, but the coat restricts it quite a bit.
You can get a couple decent poses out of him, but don't expect any wild
martial arts moves.
Weir has a bit more useful
articulation. Her ball jointed neck isn't quite as restricted
as the Wraith's, although her hair does get in the way of a few
things. She has the same style shoulders, with cut biceps,
cut wrists and pin elbows. Her cut waist works a bit better
than his of course, as does her T hips. She adds pin knees
and cut ankles to the cut thigh joints for leg articulation.
Sheppard has the same type and
amount of articulation as Weir, although the shoulders look a little
better than Weir's. He has the best ball jointed neck of
course, since his hair doesn't restrict the movement in any way.
Accessories - Sheppard,
Weir ***1/2; The Wraith ***
The key here is the BAF...or more accurately, the BAA or Build An
Accessory. Each figure comes with a piece of the Atlantis
style Stargate, but you'll have to pick up series 2 as well to complete
it.
The Wraith comes with a base
piece for the Stargate to fit into, along with a blaster, his club-like
weapon, and a rock that someone far more familiar with the show will
recognize much better than I. While I have no idea what this
stone is, I have to say it's pretty damn cool, with the small pattern
actually carved into both sides rather than just painted.
Weir gets points for not only
having a nice number of extras, but because most of them are
unique. She has her chunk of the Stargate, as well as the
book War and Peace, one of the cool Zero Point Modules, and another
item I don't have the name for. It's one of the funky squid
like mechanical beasts, sculpted pretty much to scale. It's a
very nicely done accessory, although bendy legs would have made it
perfect. I'm sure my readers will educate me as to it's
proper name! EDIT: Thanks to Jim, I now know this is a drone weapon.
Sheppard has another hunk of the
gate of course, along with a hand gun (that fits nicely in his
holster), blaster, another Zero Point Module, an Atlantis tracking
device, and a lemon. The sculpts and paint work on all of
these is excellent, and Sheppard's sculpted hands can hold them well.
Fun Factor - **1/2
These are pretty basic figures when it comes to play value.
They aren't just statues, but the articulation is intended to make the
display more interesting, rather than to provide much fun.
Value - **1/2
At the current average specialty market price of around $12 - $13 each,
with a decent number of accessories, these are a nice average
value. This score means that the value of these figures won't
have any real negative or positive effect on my overall.
Things to Watch Out For
-
Not a thing. Everything seems solid and well made, and I'm
betting the paint work is fairly consistent across the line.
Overall - Sheppard,
Weir ***1/2; The Wraith ***
When I first glanced at these,
they didn't do a whole lot for me. Admittedly, I'm not the
biggest fan of the show, but in the package these seemed...plain.
Once out though, I was very
happily surprised by the level of detail and quality. The
head sculpts on Weir and Sheppard are very well done, and the paint
quality is much better than we're seeing from some of the other current
specialty market companies. I think DST has found a winner
with Jean St. Jean Studios, and I'm hoping to see them used more for
future DST projects.
Score Recap:
Packaging - ***
Sculpt - Weir, Sheppard ***1/2; Wraith ***
Paint - ***1/2
Articulation - Sheppard, Weir ***; The Wraith **1/2
Accessories - Sheppard, Weir ***1/2; The Wraith ***
Fun Factor - **1/2
Value - **1/2
Overall - Sheppard, Weir ***1/2; The Wraith ***
Where to Buy -
Your LCS might have these,
or you can try one of these excellent sponsors:
- Right now, CornerStoreComics
and Amazing Toys
have the excellent deal up, including all five figures for just
$60! That includes the short pack Weir. If you'd
rather just get the short packed Weir, she's $23, and the other singles
are $13. Stock is low at both places though, so act soon.
- Time and Space Toys
has a deal for all five (including BOTH Field Ops figures) for
$80. They also have all of series 2 (another five figures) on
pre-order for just $60.
- Alter Ego Comics
has this set of three figures for $41, or you can get the Field Ops
Sheppard for $14.
- Urban-collector
has the singles for $16, or either of the Field Ops figures for $20.
- or you can search Ebay with MyAuctionLinks.
- Related Links -
I've reviewed a number of
the Stargate figures:
- here's series 1, series 2
and series 3 of
the SG-1 figures.
- there's also the similar
Battlestar Galactica figures, including the exclusives and the regular series 1.
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