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Packaging - ****
Sideshow always produces nice packaging, clearly designed for the collector's
market, but once in awhile they really go out of the way. This is one of
those times. The style of art and font match the historical period nicely,
and the box is truly gorgeous. There's a huge amount of historical text
included on the inside flap, giving the uninitiated a full background on the
good Captain. And while there's a few twistie ties to replace if you
should decide to put him back in the box, it's not impossible, and there's no
need to damage any part of the package to get him out.
Sculpting - ****
It's pretty clear that this figure was very important to the folks at
Sideshow. You can tell when they take a special interest in a particular
character, because it stands out even from their usual exceptional work.
The detail and style of the head sculpt is fantastic. From a purely
technical perspective, this is one of my favorite recent head sculpts from
them. We don't have a lot of art of the original Blackbeard to check it's
complete accuracy, but he looks like he scare the crap out of your average
Carnival cruise ship captain.
The best and worst feature of this head sculpt is the mouth. He has an
open mouth yell, with visible tongue. His upper and lower teeth are also
visible, and one is even missing. The detail here is amazing, and truly
realistic.
So why is it also the worst? Well, I really like this expression, but I
suspect it will be the one thing some folks take issue with. It is one of
those very specific expressions, and won't please everyone.
The beard is another area of great detail, and it is huge. This means
it reduces the range of movement for the neck, but that's acceptable to get such
cool facial fuzz.
Rather than sculpted hair on his head, he has a pirate's bandana wrapped over
his couture. Unlike 90% of the people that wear them, the doo rag actually
looks good on him.
The hands are sculpted to hold the various weapons, and they work fine.
The fingers are fairly soft, allowing you to place them around the handles and
triggers.
Paint - ****
The paint ops are perfect, and I couldn't possibly ask for more. The
skin tone is excellent, there's no zombie appearance in any way, and there's
certainly no 'doll' effect. Everything is clean and consistent, with
straight lines and smooth colors. There's some appropriate shading on the
face to bring out the detail, and the paint work on the tongue and teeth is
simply outstanding. The tongue even has a gloss coat to give it a wet
appearance!
Articulation - ***1/2
Teach sports the normal Sideshow body, with all the articulation you could want
plus their cool wrists.
There's neck (restricted by the beard), ball jointed shoulders, cut biceps,
double jointed elbows and knees, wrists, chest, waist, ball jointed hips, cut
thighs, and ankles. The ankles on mine are a little stiffer than usual,
but that's a good thing since there is no boot to help them stay stiff.
The rest of the joints are all pretty stiff, and I had no trouble getting him
to stay standing without a base or display stand.
Accessories - ***1/2
Eddie has five main accessories outside of his various pieces of clothing.
There are three Queen Anne pistols (flintlocks) with working hammers, one large
caliber pistol with working lock (the strike plate this time), and a very cool
cutlass with a Lion's Head design on the hilt.
The guns can be placed in his hands, or slipped within his belts. Two
of the three smaller guns have clips on the back to make it easier to attach
them to the belt, but one was missing - just me or is everyone's that way?
He can wield his cutlass or slip it into a loop on the back of his shoulder belt
(baldric).
The sculpting on all the weapons is top notch, and the same attention to
detail is paid to the paint application. The cutlass has a very bloody
blade, proving that Cappie isn't to be trifled with.
Outfit - ***1/2
Blackbeard's duds are one of the more complex outfits Sideshow has done in
the last few months. He has his billowy trousers, long stockings, buckle
shoes, tricorn hat, ruffled sleeve shirt (it's a puffy shirt!), light tan waist
coat, and red overcoat. There are also three belts altogether - the
regular waist belt, and two shoulder belts.
All three belts are made of a soft suede-like material. They fit
nicely, and the guns slip on and inside easily.
The overcoat is a work of art. Made from very high quality material,
well stitched and nicely tailored, there's a ton of buttons and detailing.
The waist coat shares this level of detail, and the overall effect is an
impressive one.
Sideshow goes for historical accuracy, and when you see how these pants
button up, you'll be thankful for zippers. The shoes slip on and off
easily enough, and there are snaps where appropriate, like the pants and
sleeves. The only thing holding this back from a perfect score is the
baggy socks. Again, they are going for historical accuracy, and these
socks run up to the thighs. However, they tend to want to droop, and I'd
suggest getting a couple of those little clear rubber bands from your Star Wars
figures and wrapping them around the top. I wonder what Mr. Teach did to
keep them up?
Value - **1/2
This is a beautiful figure, on par with the best of Ignite, bbi or Dragon
(short of real metal weapons). But at $50, it's still a hefty price.
Sure, Ignite's stuff costs this much, but there's those aforementioned metal
weapons to consider.
At $40 he's good, $45 is still decent. Snag him for less than $40 and
he's a steal.
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