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Construction
Jack Carpenter
And Plumber
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Guest reviewer Dr. Greg from Belgium has sent
over his first review of what I hope to be many - take it away!
Hello. Dr. Greg here, with his
toy diagnosis for the week. Today
we’ll be examining the new Construction
Jack line of 1/6th scale figures from Link. These are action figure based on blue collar workers, with the first release seeing the Painter,
Electrician, Carpenter,
and Plumber.
Michael has already taken a look at the Painter, so today I’m examining the Carpenter
and Electrician. As Michael did, I will
review these as collectibles and as playthings for children (children being
represented by my son Alex, who is 4).
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Packaging - **
I
think the word that best sums up the boxes on these figures is boring. What with all the patriotism now being proudly shown all over America
you would think that Link would have been a little more creative here and
given us a package worth displaying. Maybe
some pics of real carpenters and electricians hard at work, with Old Glory proudly flying in the background. While not ugly, it
certainly could have been done with a lot more flair. I give them credit, however, for using the
back of the box to say a little about the hard working pros who do this
work, instead of using the space to hawk more of their wares to the munchkins. Still, boring just about
sums it up. Alex barely looked
at the box before tearing into it, and
he is very sight oriented right now.
Sculpting - Kids **,
Collectors ***
Can
anyone say ‘Stepford Husband’? These guys all look alike except for hair color. While that works well with a decent face sculpt,
theirs is rather bland and non-threatening.
Most of the blue collar guys I know
(I worked as a mover for 10 years before becoming a Chiropractor)
were much scarier looking than these boys.
Not very bad, but it
needs work. One other noticeable problem was the ripped bodies on the guys.
Who are we kidding here anyway?
Where are the beer bellies, fer crise sake?!
Seriously, the body
sculpting is terrific, but who
looks like this?! Superman
maybe, but not Jack (or Bob or
John or Bill) the carpenter. You
know how ‘they’ say that Barbie is bad for girls
because it gives them a standard that most can’t live up to.
Well, the only men I
know who look like this are Olympic gymnasts.
Most little boys will NEVER look like this, ever.
Oh well, for the
collector the body sculpt is awesome (if
you’re into that sort of thing). As
a side note, Alex couldn’t
care less if these guys looked like male models or like you and me (balding
and paunchy), he just likes
throwing them at his sister, so
1 point less.
Paint - ***
There’s
not much here to paint. The
accessories are well done where necessary.
The skin tone is a bit off, and
the hair is O-K but nothing special. Still,
a decent job on the few bits that were done.
Articulation - ***1/2
Not bad for a beginner company. They
are definitely on a par with GIjOE and Action Man,
even doing better with the legs.
Sturdy and easy to pose, the
only problem was the lack of bicep swivel
(a definite need for this type of figure to pose with his tools
better) and the crappy neck
joint. The carpenter is
definitely going to cut his fingers off one of these days because he can’t
look down. The hands are well
sculpted, but could have been a
little softer to make holding the hand tools easier.
These aren’t Dragon quality articulated,
but definitely above
par.
Accessories - Kids **, Collectors ***
Both figures come with a nice belt and cool little tape measure.
The goggles are also well done,
as are the helmet and hand tools
(hand saw and hammer for the carpenter,
tube bender and pliers for the electrician,
hard plastic ‘tool
pouch’ for both). I found the
tool box much too small, however,
and the lid falls off easily which means that it will be just as
easily lost. The biggest problem I had was the lack of bigger accessories.
How about a saw horse or 2 for the carpenter,
or a fuse box with wires for the electrician.
Speaking of the electrician, I’m
not sure why he comes with a tube bending tool.
Isn’t that for the plumber? Just
as with the package box, I
found a lack of flair here that was disappointing,
although the overall quality was good.
As for Alex, if an
accessory isn’t big enough to grab good and tight it’s useless.
Outfit - Kids ***, Collectors **
Yaaaaaawn
! Decent quality,
velcro for the kiddies, and
a real yawner. The Carpenter
does come with a nice heavy jacket, which
really puts him a notch above the Electrician who has none.
Besides color and the jacket, the
outfits are exactly the same. O-K,
it’s hard to imagine how they could have done anything much
different, but I guess I’m
just used to seeing such high quality stuff at this size that these just
didn’t cut it for me. As for
Alex, he likes dressing and
undressing the figures and, since
it was relatively easy for him to do that,
kids gets a point more here.
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Playability
- Kids **
With
a lack of any real antagonist here, there
is a lack of play value other than dressing and undressing the figure,
which gets old real quick. Alex
was never really enthused about these guys,
and after 3 days I think he has forgotten about them completely.
This is in stark contrast to the Action Man Extreme Kayak figure that
he got the same day (his
birthday) which he plays with all day long and sleeps with at night.
Granted, it has a boat,
but I think that the fact that their figures lack any large or really
cool accessories underlines what will surely be a problem for Link in the
future with this line. With a
little imagination I’m sure they could have come up with something better
all around, and I hope they do in the future.
Value - **
I paid $24.99 each for these babies, and
that is more than a notch above what they are worth.
I paid the same for the Action Man Kayak Extreme,
which had less in the way of clothes but
much more kayak. At
about $14.00 these would have gotten 1 star more.
That being said, if this
were a contest between Construction Jack and Action Man,
the winner in Alex’s little mind is A-Man by a mile.
Overall - **1/2
Based on my son’s reaction this line may have a cloudy future.
The playability level here is very low,
with a distinct lack of fun. That
being said, I think they should
concentrate on the collector market and the actual tradesmen themselves,
many of whom would probably love a little action figure of
themselves. Up the quality of
the clothing, add some die cast
metal tools and larger tools
such as saw-horses, throw in a
heaping helping of patriotism and you got yourself a winner.
Better yet, go for the
white collar crowd and make doctors, lawyers,
dentists, chiropractors and the like.
Where to Buy:
You can pick these up directly from Link at their own on-line
store, or by phone. They are $20
plus shipping.
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Figure from the collection of
Dr. Greg.
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