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Horrified B-Movie Victims!

As a kid, I have fond memories of parking my ass in front of the television on a Saturday afternoon and watching Sir Graves Ghastly, getting my dose of weekly horror movies, largely of the B variety.

To this day I still love good horror films, and when I say 'good', I usually mean B good. There's nothing quite like a good rubber suit monster and some screaming victims to make for a pleasurable 90 minutes of viewing time.

For years, we've gotten the famous monsters of B movie fame in many forms, from models, to statues, busts, action figures, etc. etc. etc. Isn't it about time we got their counterparts as well? Accoutrements, makers of things like the Cubes and the Crazy Cat Lady action figure, now bring us "Horrified B Movie Victims".

This is a set of 8 (technically 9) hard plastic figures about 3" tall, all running in terror from some unseen danger. The set runs $14.95 from online retailers such as Archie Mcphee.




Packaging - ***
The set of figures is packaged longwise on a bubble/cardbacker, with a shot of a menacing teddy bear placed at an appropriate angle. The graphics look good, with a nice horror style typeface, but it's fairly basic and simple in design. It displays fine for the MOCers, but I can't imagine too many folks will buy this set to leave carded.

Sculpting - **
There are 8 separate 'figures', but one of the figures is actually two on the same base. I suppose that technically means you get 9 characters, but 8 figures.

Of the 9 characters, four are clearly fleeing the approaching doom. They are running with their eyes forward, intent on escaping whatever rampaging beast is destroying the city. These would be the 'smart' victims.

The other 5 are the 'dumb' victims. They're all posed looking at the beast, with eyes skyward and hands in the air (generally speaking). One of these five is the required hot blonde who has lost a shoe, and fallen to the ground. Her fate is sealed.

Now let's not go nuts here - the sculpts are about as basic as you can possibly get, and still remain recognizable.  The comparison to little green army men is pretty much on here - you're not going to see any amazing detail.

The poses are pretty well done though, with the exception of the guy with the itty bitty gun.  I have no idea what he thinks he's going to do with that.

The scale is larger than I expected, at about 2.5 - 3" each. That makes them about 1/24th scale, slightly larger than what would work with many 1/4 scale monsters. Still, they look pretty good with the likes of Kong or the Balrog, and are perfect to go with a giant rubber dinosaur or even an oversized grasshopper.

Paint - *1/2
The sculpt might not be great, but it's better than the paint.  Again, these are done very cheaply, meant largely as a gag and not fine art.  The work on the clothes and bodies isn't terrible I suppose, although there's a fair share of slop.  But the cartoony eyes and mouths are very sloppy on all the figures, with offset pupils, lots of bleed, and bizarre blow up doll looking lips.

Articulation - Bupkis
No surprise there, since these are merely billed as hard plastic figures, sort of like oversized army men, but in case you weren't paying attention, I thought I'd point it out again.

Accessories - Bupkis
Again, no real surpise, and won't factor into my personal overall, but hey - maybe you were expecting something different.

Fun Factor - ***
Yea, I know they aren't articulated, but guess what - army men are fun. These are great for kids to play with they're large dinosaurs and monkeys. Hey, there's got to be some victims for the hero to save, or it's just not really much fun.

Value - ***
While $15 might seem high at first, most PVC's these days are going for $2 - $3 each. I think that's ridiculous, but that's what they're going for. Here you're getting eight (nine) for less than two bucks each. Not too shabby.

Things to Watch Out For - 
Nothing. You won't break anything, you won't lose anything, and there's not much variation likely in the product. What you see is going to be what you get, and they'll take all kinds of abuse.

Overall - **
Okay, these aren't going to set the world on fire, but they do look like they're running from just such a blaze. I picked them up out of pure curiosity and amusement, and I suspect that will be the case for most folks. They'll come in handy for some silly photos down the road, and be handy for the occasional monster diorama at Halloween.  If you've got a steady hand for repainting, the faces could certainly be improved.

Score Recap:
Packaging - ***
Sculpt - **
Paint - *1/2
Articulation - Bupkis
Accessories - Bupkis
Value -  ***
Fun Factor - ***
Overall - **

Where to Buy -
My source was Archie Mcphee. The Accoutrements site says these are an exclusive, but the Archie Mcphee site doesn't mention that, so Hell if I know. 

Related Links:
You should check out the Accoutrements site for more of their truly bizarre products. I did a review of their most successful line, The Cubes, quite awhile back.


Figure from the collection of Michael Crawford.

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