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Rockey Statue
Schomberg Studios
"The
following is a guest review. The review
and photos do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Michael Crawford
or Michael's Review of the Week, and are the opinion and work of the
guest author."
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Ryan Kelly joins us tonight
with a
look at a Philly icon, done up in a small size. Tell us all about it,
Ryan!
Big thanks again to MWC…
Although Sylvester Stallone & crew probably should have stopped
at Rocky II, I’m a big fan of all the films in the Rocky series (except
5, which I think most of us—Stallone included—try to blot out of our
memories). 2006’s “Rocky Balboa” was able to ride the waves of
nostalgia and actually be a pretty dang good movie, somewhat
recapturing the raw and fresh underdog feeling of the first film in a
way that none of the other sequels were able to do, and having a
similar kind of realistic ending (unlike Rocky beating a 7 ft.
steroid-inflated giant). In Rocky III, we were introduced to something
besides Mr. T—the iconic Rocky statue (“Don’t give ‘at punk no statue,
give him guts!!”). The statue still stands at the bottom and to the
right of the famous museum steps (yeah, it’s not at the top any more),
and tonight I’m reviewing a 12” version of it made by Schomberg
Studios—the same people who created the original. Talk about nostalgia;
this thing will give you a heavy dose of it if you’re a fan of the
Italian Stallion.
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Packaging
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**
Nothing to get too excited about. Appearance is plain; black background
with white text. The flap opens on top so you can pull out a huge block
of foam (and I’m talking about the cheap messy kind). I hate foam, but
I suppose it’s necessary to protect a statue like this. What wasn’t
necessary was the tons of tape used to hold the two halves of the block
together (which contain the statue in between them). I had to cut this
tape loose with a razorblade to avoid damaging the foam (which you’ll
need for whenever decide to put Rocky in storage). And little pieces
were flaking off it the whole time, creating a mess. Despite my careful
efforts, a small chunk of foam still came loose when I was trying to
get the halves apart. To sum up, the box serves its purpose in storing
and protecting the statue, but it doesn’t offer much else. Making it
more collector-friendly and adding text and graphics to make it more
aesthetically pleasing would have gone a long way. The appearance
doesn’t even bother me; it’s just that God-awful cheap foam and the
tape that makes it so difficult to get apart without tearing it up and
making a mess. In fact, I’m now of a mind to take my score down from
two and a half stars to two stars. There—did it.
Sculpting
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***1/2
I’ll say up front that this category constitutes about 80% of the
overall score, since accessories, articulation, outfit, and even paint
aren’t factors here. This can either be analyzed according to its
likeness to Rocky/Stallone himself, or to the gigantic original, which
I’ve included a picture of from my trip to Philly last summer for
comparison (I guess having my picture taken with the statue, walking
through the same places where Rocky ran in the first film, and running
to the top of the Art Museum steps gave the ultimate nostalgic
feeling).
Bear in mind that the 12” goes from the tip of the gloves to the bottom
of the base, so Rocky himself is significantly smaller than a 12”
figure; I included a photo of it beside a Sideshow 12” figure to show
the comparison (actually the figure is just a hair over twelve inches).
As far as likeness to Stallone himself, I suppose there’s really no
difference between this and the 12’8” original. They both depict Rocky
from Rocky III, where he’s lighter and more ripped than in the previous
films. The face and hair, upon close inspection, are obviously
Stallone. The arms and chest are perfectly carved and chiseled, and
everything is well-proportioned. As far as likeness to the original
statue—which is more important since this is meant to be a replica of
the original regardless of the original’s likeness to Stallone—this
falls short at a couple of points. From the photo you can see that the
chest on this statue is too narrow, the arms are just a bit too thin,
and the gloves are slightly too small. Yes, the original statue depicts
a thinner Rocky, but with this 12” version he’s just a tad too thin
proportionally. Buff him up just a tiny little bit and this would be a
four-star sculpt.
Value - Retail **;
Personal **1/2
Sideshow currently has this statue on Backorder at $100. Their quantity
is low, so I wouldn’t wait too long. Though it’s on backorder, they
guarantee delivery within a couple of weeks. This is what I’m basing
the retail score on, though some online retailers have it for more.
Anyway, I know that this is polystone and polystone statues are
expensive, but $100 is a bit too much for a statue this small in my
opinion, especially considering it’s too thin within its own scale.
However, if you compare it to the 20” version that is also currently
being offered at Sideshow for a whopping $450, it starts to not seem so
bad. There, you’re only getting eight inches more of statue for more
than four times the price. So if you decide you want a replica of the
Rocky statue and you aren’t Donald Trump, this is probably the one to
get. $100 is pretty steep, but if you’re a Rocky fan you probably won’t
feel cheated.
I got mine for $85 and free shipping from a kind ebay seller, and if
you check periodically, you may find a similar deal, though I wouldn’t
hold my breath. I haven’t seen any more of these on ebay except for one
that was going on “Buy It Now” for about $200. If I hadn’t come across
this one, I probably would have went ahead and bought it at Sideshow.
$85 is obviously better than $100—especially with free shipping—and I
think it scores another half star at that price point, making it about
an average value. But, in my cheapskate mind, $50 would be ideal.
Things
to Watch Out For
Um…don’t drop it. That’s all I got.
Overall
- ***
If I were scoring this based on how much I liked it, I would give it
four stars and beyond. But looking at things from a logical standpoint,
it doesn’t quite make the cut. The narrow chest and arms, the cheap,
aggravating packaging and the high price are all enough to pull down
the score by one star, at least for me. I suppose that if I graded in
quarters like Jeff Parker I would give it three and a quarter stars,
but I’ll stick with Michael’s scale. At my $85 personal value, it’s
pretty dang close to three and a half stars, but only close. If you’re
a big Rocky fan like me, however, you’ll love this statue regardless of
the price, and will be willing to shell out any amount of cash within
reason without feeling ripped off.
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This product was purchased for the review by the reviewer.
Photos and text by Ryan Kelly.
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