Review of Marc A. Lee
Seal Team 3 Sixth Scale Action Figure

Introduction

Most modern sixth scale manufacturers work in licensed properties related to movies or television shows. Once they did a large number of historical and military based figures, but that market has shrunk in recent years. Or perhaps the former market is simply so big and lucrative, that they can't avoid the siren's song.

Still, there's companies out there working on both historical and modern military. Mission Specific Equipment is one such beast, and awhile back I checked out their Barret rifle and Deathridge figure. Tonight I'm looking at their latest release, and it's a great one - Marc Alan Lee. Marc was a Navy Seal and the first American Seal killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and was a supporting character in the film American Sniper. His real life bravery resulted in his being awarded posthumously the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with Valor and the Purple Heart. For more details on his life, check out his Wikipedia entry.

This figure should start shipping in the next couple weeks. You can pick him up for less than $200 at most retailers, quite a bargain on today's market.

By the way, the photo below is what the figure looks like right out of the box - I wanted you to get a feel for how much you'll be putting together with his outfit and accessories. What you see in that photo is what he comes wearing.

Packaging - ***1/2
This is a memorial type release, in remembrance of a hero. The packaging should reflect that, and the work here truly does.

The box stock is very heavy, and the thick, wrap around cover is held tightly with strong magnets. The sides bear Marc's favorite bible verse, and when you open it, the classy Certificate of Authentication and full size wearable patch are the first things you see. Under the COA, on the same card, is a great photo of Marc in his Navy uniform, and below the black COA backer is a heavy card stock reprint of the last letter Marc wrote home.

Under all this are two foam trays with a TON of accessories as well as the figure. It's all collector friendly of course, with no need for damage to any of the packing materials.  But once you have this guy fully outfitted, trust me, you won't be putting anything back in the box.

My only knock on the packaging is the lack of any instructions. There's a LOT of work to do here to get this guy fully outfitted, and instructions would go a long way to reduce frustration. There's some good photos to help you at the Black Ops Toys website, as well as their Instragram and Facebook accounts. However, if you get this figure and need some help with anything, please feel free to drop me a line as well.

Sculpting - ***
This figure was done with the approval and sign off of the Lee family. No doubt, they are far better judges of the likeness than any of us can ever be.

The detail work on the hair is quite good, with plenty of sculpted strands and lines. The skin texture isn't quite at the level of the best work in the industry currently, but it's decent, and the eyebrows, mustache, and lips look great. Again, the eyes aren't quite as lifelike as the best on the market right now, but it's a step up from most generic military figures.

When he's not wearing the head gear, the head can look a little small. It's not, but with the bulky chest armor and nothing on his head, it can create that illusion. Once you have the helmet and headphones in place, he'll look just about perfect.

I usually mention the hand sculpts in this section as well, and these are worth a special note. There's only the one set he comes wearing, but they do pop off easily enough. That's important since there's a watch you need to put in place. They are a soft rubber, and work easily with the accessories. The right is in a gun grip (trigger finger designed to be outside the guard in a safe position), and a medium grip left.  The gloves even include the sculpted "Mechanix" logo, the sort of detail we rarely see.

Paint - ***
Like the sculpt, the paint is good, solid work, although it's not top of the market.  The hair looks great, but the hairline could be a tad more subtle. The eyes exhibit a little slop, taking some of the realism away, but the eyebrows, lips, and mustache are once again a highlight. I looked over a couple dozen photos of Mr. Lee that are available through Google, and to me the skin tone seems a smidge dark. But again, like the sculpt accuracy, I'm going to defer to the family on that one. There was a lot of variety in how dark or light his complexion was from photo to photo, and I have to believe the family that knew him best felt this version best represented him.

The skin does lack the slightly translucent quality we've been seeing with other manufacturers out there right now, and for that and the slight slop around the eyes I'm pulling the score down slightly.

This category only covers the work on the portrait - the paint work on the Accessories will be discussed in that section, and believe me, it utterly rocks.

Articulation - ***1/2
The underlying body has all the articulation of the best sixth scale figures on the market right now, and the joints were tight and smooth.  The ankles have an excellent range of movement, allowing the feet to stay flat on the ground in even deep stances, and the hips and knees are nice and tight, able to hold stances for long periods.

The shoulders, elbows, and wrists provided just about any normal arm pose, although the bulky outfit does get in the way sometimes. Of course, that's really no different than real life, and all that gear can be tough to operate within. Still, I had no trouble coming up with plenty of natural fluid stances.

The neck and head are one piece, with the ball joint down in the torso. There's still a good range of movement here though, even fully outfitted. The head can tilt and lean in any direction, and you can get some added personality with any pose thanks to the neck.

Accessories - ****
Here's where things go all amaze-balls. There's a ton of extras with this figure, and almost all of them will be put to good use. I'm going to go through them based on the following photos in an attempt to not forget anything...but trust me, I'll still forget something.

First up is the paper goods I already mentioned. There's the Certificate of Authenticity which is held in place on the black card with photo corners. Slip it out and you'll find his photo behind. The full size patch is wearable, with a velcro backing. And as I mentioned earlier, there's also a copy of the last letter he wrote home, a moving tribute to an American hero.