Review of Vincent Vega - Pulp Fiction
Sixth Scale Action Figure

Introduction

What can you say about Pulp Fiction that hasn't been said? Not a thing. Oh wait, here's one - I have a fully licensed set of sixth scale figures of Jules and Vincent. Or at least that WAS something that hadn't been said.

Star Ace started shipping their Jules figure last month, which I reviewed here.  His partner, Vincent, is now starting to ship as well. He'll run you around $220 depending on the retailer.

Packaging - ***
It's another attractive box, and the use of spot gloss gives the graphics some pop. It shows off the figure well, and is completely collector friendly, as you'd expect.  The photo on the front even allows you to instantly compare the figure with the character...which can sometimes be a blessing or a curse.

Sculpting - **
This is a tough one, because there's no doubt it's John Travolta. There are some very good aspects to the detail too...but it's still a miss for me.

Lets start with the realism. They do have a good skin texture, and the eyebrows and lips are realistic.  There's nice stranding in the sculpted hair, although the longer extensions are a little chunky. I think a softer material for the long ends would have allowed them to lay a bit better, but overall, there's no major issue for me around the hair with the realism of the portrait.

I also like the expression. It's not super emotive, but there is enough life to the set of the jaw and the squint of the eye to avoid a mannequin appearance.

That leaves us with accuracy. As I've said, there's no doubt who this is. But it's more like a caricature than an accurate portrayal, over emphasizing the chin, jaw, and nose. The puffy face and cheeks look weird, like Travolta is having a bad reaction to shellfish.

Combine the puffiness with a slightly oversized head - I'd say it's about 10% too big - and you end up with a slightly worse score than Jules.

He's properly scale at about 12 1/4", just a smidge shorter than his partner.

Paint - ***
The paint work is good, but not excellent. The skin tone is appropriate, and there's a subtle transition from the hair to the skin along the hairline.  The lip and eyebrow color looks good, and while the eyes could be a little cleaner, they are an improvement over Jules.

This isn't amazing work, but I'd be happy with it on a better portrait, and unlike some cases, the paint is not the reason the portrait looks inaccurate.

Articulation - ***
The body has all the standard sixth scale articulation, and the clothing isn't particularly restrictive.

The neck is a bit more tied up by the longer hair, which is fairly stiff. A little softer plastic would have gone a long way to both making it look better and giving the neck more mobility.

While the arm, torso, and leg articulation work well, the ankles are very restricted by the shoe sculpts. Switch to the sandal feet - more on that in the next section - and you'll have better ankle articulation.

The hands swapped easily enough, but I did have some issues keeping them on the short pegs while posing him.

Accessories - **1/2
There's not a ton of extras here, although you do get a second complete costume.

There are four extra hands, all rights. That's issue number one for me, since it means he can't hold two accessories at one time. He comes wearing a pair of open hands, and there's an extra right to hold the gun, two differently posed rights to hold the cigarette, and one gripping right to hold the briefcase. This final right actually comes wrapped around the briefcase handle, but don't worry, it's not permanent.

The lack of lefts is a bummer, because he'd look better holding the briefcase and the gun, or the gun and the cigarette, and while the marketing info claimed he's had an extra left to hold the briefcase, that's not how it worked out.

He has his gun, but here's where we see the sort of attention to detail you'd expect at this price point start to lag. While both guns on screen were almost identical, they were not the same gun. Jules has a Star Model B, while Vincent carried a 1911A. The guns we get with the figures are identical. Now, it would be very hard to tell them apart at this scale - very hard. But there is a discerning difference, and I missed it when I reviewed Jules. These two guns both have the larger 'dot' (a brass piece IRL) center top on the grips. This was visible on Vincent's gun, but not on Jules. It's a minor issue to be sure, but it is the sort of detail you expect them to get right at this price point. Technically, it's Jules who has the wrong gun.

There's a cigarette, as I mentioned, which can be held in one of two different right hands. There's also the briefcase, which can't be opened. As you'd expect.

As with most figures, here's a basic display stand with support rod. It has the Pulp Fiction logo included.

Finally, he has that extra costume. This goes with the extra costume Jules came with as well. There's the t-shirt, shorts, and a pair of sandal wearing feet. I'm not sure anyone will actually go this route on the shelf, but if the price on these ever bottoms out, I might pick up a second set to have them wearing both outfits on the shelf. 

Outfit - ***
As I mentioned, he has two outfits. Let's start with his traditional black suit, with the white shirt, belt, and black tie.

The materials are decent quality, and the construction is good. The tailoring is nice, with a good fit all around, and the collars are pretty close to scale. The tie is a little wide when compared to the movie (particularly the knot), but overall is a good looking black suit.

They included some tiny pieces of cardboard to keep the collar of the shirt looking sharp. They're just like the cardboard you find packed around the collar of a new dress shirt.

Underneath is a fat suit that adds just a little extra weight around his middle. It's not intended ot make him look 'fat', but rather just fill him out a bit around the stomach. He's wearing it in the photos with the t-shirt as well.

The t-shirt and shorts are fine, but nothing more complex than you might see with a Ken doll.

Fun Factor - ***
If you're only buying him and not Jules, I'd drop this score at least a half star.  As an individual character, he's only so much fun, but combine him with Jules and you should be able to create some pretty cool set ups.

Value - *1/2
Retail on this figure is $220, right up there with standard figures from other high end sixth scale manufacturers. However, the portrait and number of accessories doesn't justify this price tag. At best he's a $180 figure, and with the puffy portrait, I have to dock him another half star over Jules at the same price point.  Let's be honest - with a figure like this, that's what you're really paying for. You can pick up the body and a basic black suit from lots of other manufacturers for a lot less money, so the majority of your green is going for the head sculpt. And this head sculpt doesn't warrant it.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing.

Overall - **1/2
By himself, Vincent isn't a lot to look at. While the suit is decent, the portrait is puffy and caricaturish. But when he and Jules are together, you get a better vibe, each making the other more recognizable.

Perhaps most disconcerting here is where Star Ace is at these days. They got started a few years ago, around the same time as Asmus and Qmx. Their Harry Potter figures, while not perfect, were much better than the offerings from Asmus, and Qmx suffered from terrible delays on their Malcolm Reynolds.

Fast forward to now, and Asmus has greatly improved their quality. Qmx has crushed it with several characters from great licenses. In fact, in just the last month I've been very impressed by both the Asmus Gimli and the Qmx Westley/Dread Pirate Roberts.

But Star Ace has shifted in the other direction. If they are going to compete at this price point, they need to crack the code and start producing figures more in line with other current manufacturers.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - **
Paint - ***
Articulation - ***
Accessories - **1/2
Outfit - ***
Fun Factor - ***
Value - *1/2
Overall - **1/2

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth is at $235 with free shippin.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
I recently covered his partner, Jules, also from Star Ace.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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