|
|
Baby Doll - Sucker Punch
Hot Toys
"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."
|
Join me in welcoming a new
guest reviewer tonight, Ryan Siller. He has a great site over at Uryaen.com, which I
highly recommend you check out. Take it away, Ryan!
Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Ryan Siller, of www.uryaen.com. Today
marks my first guest spot on mwctoys, but certainly not my last. I highly
encourage you to visit my main site and see more images of each of my
reviews. I have also produced exclusive images for this
review. I do reviews on hardeware and other media, but for 1/6
I'm adapting my unique review style to the expected format for readers
of these sites. Let's get into it:
I’ll say it up front. I’m a big fan of Sucker Punch. I see the movie as
one of those intelligent movies that intelligent people love. If you
love Fight Club, Memento, and Inception, it’s highly likely you’re
going to love this tragic tale.
I could go on to write an entire treatise on the movie and its thematic
elements, but I don’t want to spoil it in case you haven’t seen it.
Just check it out. The movie centers on, but does not necessarily
revolve around a girl who tragically lost her mind a little. We only
know her as “Babydoll”. Her world is a “dream within a dream” and her
only allies are four other girls who all are in an impossible situation
facing impossible odds.
Hot Toys has only produced two of the five girls. Sadly this is a bad
habit with 1/6 scale makers. They’ll do 14 different Iron Mans, but
never complete a collection from a different movie. One can argue that
this stems from demand, but it’s still something that has been going on
the entire time. We’re still waiting for the rest of the LOTR
Fellowship. If they ever release the other three girls, I’ll be all
over that.
I’m planning a full scale Sucker Punch cosplay shoot. Some of that will
involve the figures that they have released, and most of it is just for
fun. Be sure to check out the FB page for that
shoot here.
|
|
|
|
Packaging
- ***
Babydoll comes in a box that features a half flap held on by what may
best be described as a garter strap. Sexy? Maybe. Once this
is undone and lifted away, the figure is revealed behind a plastic
window, held in a plastic holder.
At this stage of the game, I honestly hoped for better. When I release
the first Enterbay figure review right after this one, you’ll see the
state of the art in package design and implementation.
My Babydoll came with her hair all a mess, and part of this is the way
it’s packaged. Although most of the figure sits loose on hard plastic,
the head is held in by a bit of foam. But in this case, that works
against us because it tugs at the hair, and the user is required to
place the hair strap in. Why? I do not know. I’ve reached out to HT for
comment. I await response.
Sculpting - ***1/2
I’m of two minds when it comes to this sculpt, and to tell you why, I
would need to direct you to the images of the prototype, which I cannot
do. You can find them online easily. If you compare those images to the
final release sculpt, it feels as though it has changed. I note that
there is commentary to this effect elsewhere, and thus, I’m not alone
in noticing this.
The sculpt itself is gorgeous, no doubt. Take a look at the close-ups
I’ve provided. You can see the texture of the skin down to individual
freckles. The permanent catch light in those sad eyes is equally just
remarkable.
But is this an ACCURATE portrayal? If you ask me if the sculpt conveys
the tragic beauty and heart break of the character? Absolutely. Does it
look dead on like Emily Browning? Not exactly. It’s darn close, but the
figure has a less rounded, less baby like face.
So it depends on if you are looking for accuracy in the emotional
resonance dimension, or in the “looks like the actress” dimension.
Either is valid, and this strikes a very harmonious balance.
I don’t have the DX Jack Sparrow in the lab, although I’m hoping that
he’s forthcoming, but from the images I’ve seen, he appears to convey
more the Actor himself, and that should be interesting to see.
Do I include the hair in sculpt or paint? Either way the hair is a
mixed bag. On one hand, this character would never work with sculpted
hair. On the other, we immediately see the downside upon opening the
box, and this is that the hair tends to go everywhere. Mine has a
number of hairs that came out from the rubber band straps, and I dare
not attempt to redo those straps.
Paint
- ****
No doubt about it, the paint is perfect. Flawless even. Getting in
there with the macro lens, one can really see the details in every part
of her. Unfortunately when doing this, we see a lot of bits and hairs
clinging to the paint, which ruins the effect a little, but that’s hard
to avoid.
I’m going to be producing exclusive images for publishing on this site,
on my guest spots for certain other sites, and on the Facebook page for
my site. Look for special images at each location for some really close
up views of this paint.
Articulation
- ***
Female bodies are hard to
do, even these days. HT has done a couple, Enterbay is just getting
into them, and some smaller outfits are experimenting with seamless
bodies. Think “Barbie” but higher quality and less stretched out.
The first issue I have with the body is that the ankles are quite weak.
I have reached out to expert council on this issue and it’s something
that is common with HT females. I suggest that HT produce stronger
ankle joints and offer them as replacements to buyers.
The legs bend in all of the usual ways one would expect but the arms
are highly restricted by the unforgiving outfit. One might argue that
this is a separate issue but who’s really going to display the figure
without the outfit? She can raise her arms about level, and slightly
above, but don’t push beyond this.
I would like to see a neck joint that allows for the head to look down
more than it does, so that we can create more dramatic poses. As it is,
she’s pretty limited to what she can realistically do without the
stand. Even with the stand, the figure only sits naturally in a fairly
limited number of poses.
Accessories
- ***
No map? They go through all the trouble to create a beautiful case for
the map, but didn’t take two minutes to print a paper map? I made my
own, and as you can see, it’s perfect. I did it in about 90 seconds
from having the idea to printing, cutting, bending and rolling it into
the case.
Included accessories are shown below, and for a non DX figure I guess
we can’t complain, but this figure has been delayed by almost half a
year from the initial promised ship date. I expected to see better or
more accessories, or maybe one more outfit but nope.
My 1911 gun arrived with one of the stickers half peeled off. I was
able to smooth it down, but I don’t trust it now.
The H&K MP7A1 came with a red dot sight that was bent pretty
far to one side. This is not easily correctible.
The sword and sheath are beautifully done, but fit loosely together. I
would have liked a nice snap to their fit. Likewise, the braided gold
strap for the sheath holds only very loosely. The whole thing drops off
quite easily.
Outfit
- ***1/2
Say what you will about the semi fetish nature of Sucker Punch outfits,
but that’s just par for fantasy course. The school girl outfit scales
well, but mine had a lot of loose threads and extra material. You can
see this in the pictures. I left them all there for the photography. I
intend to hit the figure with a compressed air gun later to clean it
up, but it’s kind of a mess starting out. The collar doesn’t quite sit
evenly, and the bow is a tad long.
Value
- ****
These 1/6 figures get more expensive every year. Our economy gets worse
every year. This is hard to quantify in today’s market. $170 is a lot
for one figure, even as the DX and competing figures hit north of $220.
Is it worth it to me? Absolutely, but I love Sucker Punch. I do kinda
miss 2005 when the average 1/6 figure was $60. Are they three times
better now? I’m not sure I want to comment on that, but I’ll just say
that if you’re a cinephile like me, you’re likely to find a small set
of these figures per year that you’re going to HAVE to own.
Fun
Factor - ****
If fun is playing with something actively, you’re looking at the wrong
review. If fun is posing a quality figure in movie accurate poses for
your shelf, it doesn’t get any better. If you’re not a fan of the
movie, you’re probably not going to get it, but if you are, you’ll find
nothing better.
Things
to Watch Out For -
Mind the hair. Seriously, be very careful with it. The ankles are
delicate as well. Otherwise, she’s as sturdy as you can expect for a
collectible of this nature.
Overall-
*** 3/4
I would implore HT to release Sweet Pea, Rocket and Blondie, but with
no word about any of them at this juncture, I’m not holding my breath.
Maybe next week?
Based on the lateness of the figure to the market, I honestly expected
a last minute addition. An extra accessory or better packaging.
Something. But alas, what you see is what you get.
Next up: Amber! What’s after this? Only Sideshow and Hot Toys can tell
us.
Integrity Check -
This is a special feature I do on my site. Be sure to check it out at www.uryaen.com.
Conclusion -
Stay tuned as I add additional images for the review featuring a full
scale Babydoll cosplay model in full costume, coming in a couple of
weeks, plus a full scale Amber model as well. After this, the entire
five girl cast! Again, check
out the Facebook page, and like the page and come back for
updates and test shoots leading up to the final shoot taking place in a
couple of months.
Comic Con is taking place next week, and I anticipate announcements
from both Hot Toys and Sideshow. What will my next review be? I have
ideas, but it’s up to them. Enjoy the images, and thank you for reading.
|
|
|
This product was provided free for the review by the manufacturer.
Photos and text by Ryan Siller.
|
