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Jill Valentine - Battle Suit
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."
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Jeff joins us with a look at
the latest Resident Evil figure to come out of Hot Toys - tell us all
about her, Jeff!
A big thank you as always to Mike for keeping this site so ‘happenin’.
Hot
Toys commitment to the Resident Evil line shows no sign of abating just
yet. So far we’ve had twelve figures from the blockbuster game,
admittedly five of those are characters that have been done twice in
different outfits, but it’s still quite a number considering that that
these are expensive high-end collectables costing well over $100 a pop.
We also have the figure of Alice to look forward to from the
last Resident Evil movie, ‘Afterlife’, and with a release date of 2012
for yet another film ‘Retribution’ pencilled in, there may be more
figures yet to come.
I reviewed the first version of Jill back in January here
and as usual she was a strong release… but that was nice Jill, safe
Jill, all dressed up in her BSAA finest Jill… this is BAD Jill!
Yep,
this times she’s a cold-hearted killer, thanks to your friendly
neighbourhood bio-terrorist and resident sociopath Albert Wesker.
Wesker
kidnaps her, intent on using her as a test subject for the Uroboros
virus that he is still developing, but when he realises that she has
developed immunity to the original T-virus he harvests her mutated DNA
to try and harness it’s power. During this two-year period of
imprisonment and constant intrusive medical testing, Jill is held in a
cryogenic state. This is the reason for the loss of pigmentation in her
hair and skin, yep, he literally turns her into a sick puppy. Whilst
imprisoned Wesker also fits Jill with a bio-organic pump on her chest,
this device is timed to flood her system with the drug P-30, giving him
complete control over her thoughts and actions, and also giving Jill
virtual super powers.
However when she later meets up with Chris
and Sheva she starts to remember the person she was (yeah, that old
chestnut), and begins to take back control of her body and mind. During
a struggle with the two agents they manage to subdue her and remove the
pump, riding Jill’s body of the toxins that controlled her and
returning her to normal… phew!
So if you’ve been investing in
all the RE figures since day one, it’s a no brainer that you will need
this one as well. However, if you are more of a casual fan, and perhaps
invested in the BSAA Jill figure, is there enough here to make you want
another?
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Packaging
- ***1/2
Once
again we keep true to the same basic design that has been used on the
rest of the series. So it’s full colour printed throughout on a good
quality textured thick card. Of all the boxes so far I like the image
used on the front here the best, but hey, that might have something to
do with the tightness of that outfit. The side is held shut with a
magnet that unwinds to the left, showing the dressed figure through a
large window on the front and a selection of her weapons and
accessories in a tray attached to the front flap.
Inside the box
she’s held tightly in a vac-formed tray with her feet shackled by two
twisties, not a huge annoyance, but they didn’t seem to be that
necessary to me.
So, a nice box that does its job well, but
when Hot Toys keeps pumping out cool design after cool design, then
this one feels like more of the same, rather than groundbreaking.
Difficult to fault though!
Sculpting - ***1/4
The
Jill Valentine sculpts are by master female sculptor Hiroki Hayashi,
and when pics of this new release first emerged it became evident that
the same portrait had been used again here. The thing that makes them
appear different is the paint app. Nothing new there though, as with
all the doubled up RE figures like Leon, Krauser, Wesker and Redfield
the same sculpts have been utilized twice.
For that reason I’m
obviously giving this the same score I gave the last Jill sculpt. I
gave a full lowdown of my thoughts on this portrait in the review here. Suffice to say this is a good representation of the digital version made into a solid 3D likeness.
I
do however think that after looking up pics of Ms Valentine on line,
that when she is in her ‘recovered’ mode, with a more neutral
expression like this
then the sculpt is a great representation. But for bad Jill mode I
think the face could still do with being a little meaner, if you look
at this you’ll see what I’m getting at. Or maybe a second angry face could have been included.
However,
those are just my ‘wants’, if I’m fair and compare it to that first pic
I linked to, then this is a solid portrait that is hard to fault.
Paint
- ****
I loved the
paint on the previous Jill, it did a great job of emulating the look of
the character in the game, which is what it’s all about, but this time
around I think it’s even better. Her wan complexion and pale hair makes
her look positively vampiric, I guess it’s a skin tone much favoured by
your 24/7 hardcore gamers, living in the basement, eating microwave
ready meals and only venturing into the sun to answer the door and sign
for the new game that was ordered on-line (or am I being unfair and
gamerist there?).
Anyway, we have another slick job here from
the paint app maestro JC Hong, the skin tones are as I said paler, but
they are just as, if not more convincing than on the previous Jill. As
I’ve said before, each new release seems to show some new development
in at least one area of the production process. On this particular
figure it is most evident on the amazing outfit (which I’ll cover in
the next section) but the paint always seems to be getting slight
improvements as well. I noted that the work on the eyes was more
natural here and seems glossier, whilst still staying true to the game.
And the skin showed the usual subtle mottling and variations in tone,
this also caries on down over the soft rubber-neck and chest. But the
biggest improvement is in the hair, it shows much more variation in
tone and graduates from darker roots to a dirty sandy colour. All in
all it’s about as good as it gets as far as factory-applied paint apps
go at this present time.
Outfit
- ****
There’s no
two ways about it, a shapely woman in a figure hugging cat suit does
stuff to a guy… even if he doesn’t want it to, it just does. And the
battle suit that Jill wears in the game REALLY fits, as you can see in
the pics I put together here,
meaning that for most red blooded males this makes for quite an
alluring display item, much like the Black Widow figure from Iron Man 2.
The
battle suit, or stealth suit shows some truly amazing attention to
detail, this thing is covered in all types of fine observations and is
a credit to Rositta Wong, the lady who designed and tailored it.
Firstly the very fabric itself is made up of a tiny but finely detailed
matrix of honeycomb shaped panels that overlay the entire surface of
the garment. Then we have a working zip that runs up the front, this is
meant to be partially open to display her drug administering chest pump
along with her ample charms. But the way it is cut, with the incredibly
complex pattern of seams running down the sides, across the legs, groin
and arms is a small marvel to behold. It also incorporates the two rows
of five ‘sensors’ running parallel up the back seam, these are joined
by the tramline network of integrated ‘piping’ that radiate out to all
the limbs, you can just about see them in this still from the game here,
I’m not sure what these are meant to do? Temperature control triggered
by environment perhaps… but who cares, it looks damn cool! The ribbed
flexible panels on the upper arm are well replicated and the way the
suit seamlessly integrates the boots, with the rigid soles welted to
the fabric of the costume is carried out note perfectly. This feature
used to be done well on some of the old 1/6th Cy-Girl suits, but as
always Hot Toys have upped the ante and perfected it here.
Many
gamers were vocally disappointed that when first announced there were
no plans to include her ‘bird lady’ poncho and mask disguise, as seen here.
It’s a look that seems to be heavily influenced by the classic ‘Il
Dotore’ costume worn by plague doctors in early 17th century Venice.
It’s a mask I’ve always loved because of its deeply sinister aesthetic,
even going so far as to have one hanging in my dining room.
Any
way, back on topic. Hot Toys did later announce that the mask and
poncho would be included, and they are as you’d expect fabricated very
well. I have to say that getting the snug poncho on was quite the job,
so take your time, be patient and do it right. I personally found the
best way was to remove the head and hands, then put Jill in an arms up
‘Superman flying’ kind of pose and gently ease her into the garment.
There was quite a bit of pulling and pushing, but after a few minutes
and a bit of futzing it looked great. Note that when you have put the
head back on you will need to remove the ponytail, fit the mask then
gently position the hood. Once the hood is positioned how you want,
there is a row of tiny press-studs at the rear of the neck to fasten,
this helps keep the final silhouette close fitting to the head.
I
think this is an amazing outfit, and Hot Toys have pulled it off
fantastically, making this the ultimate figure to stand next to your
‘Midnight’ Wesker, my other favourite in the series… so far!
On
a side note, for those interested, there are some great shots of the
suit created by Cosplayer ‘Spif’ right here, it shows just how complex
it is, and what a master stroke she pulled off in creating it in 1/1
scale, let alone 1/6th… Enjoy!
Articulation
- ***1/4
Remember, this is a gal that should be able to snap a zombies head off with a mere twist of her knees, as is evident here or high kick out a bad guys throat like this,
but sadly there are two things counting against this figure. Firstly,
as much as I love the look of the Hot Toys base female True-Type (TT),
it still lacks the extreme range that they have achieved with the male
TT'. I did an overview a while back showing the basic construction of
the various TT’s here so you can get
a feel for the articulation on offer. However, this is a slight
variation on the basic fem TT as it has a larger bust size, as can be
seen here meaning she has a little more articulation at the torso, but less at the waist.
Then
the second thing counting against it is the tightness of the battle
suit. Now I don’t know if you have ever tried to get into a deep squat
in skintight leather gimp suit (I know I haven’t) but it’s hard enough…
I mean I would imagine it’s hard enough, even with full muscle tone and
good control of your centre of gravity, so what chance does this figure
stand.
So in short, you will get her to stand fine and pose OK
with the weapons, but just approach it with ‘realistic’ expectations,
and you’ll come away a whole lot happier.
Accessories
- ***1/2
So
far all the Resident Evil characters have come with a good selection of
firepower, and Jill here is no exception. The list of items in this set
is-
- 2 x relaxed hands
- 2 x gun holding hands
- 1 ‘bird lady’ mask
- 1 ‘bird lady’ poncho
- Beretta PX4 Storm sidearm
- Two (2) CZ Vz. 61 Skorpion short machine guns
- Heckler & Koch MP5A3 long machine gun
- Heckler & Koch PSG-1 sniper rifle
- First-aid spray
- 2 grenades
- 2 ammo packs
- Magnetic administration drug pump for chest
- Black figure stand
The
chest pump is an essential part of the figure if you want to show Jill
in ‘bad-girl’ mode, though some of you purists out there may find
yourself wanting to paint a few angry dark veins radiating away from
it, as you can see in this pic here, but I found that once positioned with the magnet it stayed in place well.
All
the guns have articulated elements like removable magazines, cocking
mechanisms, extendable stocks etc and both the Skorpions can be held in
the webbing holsters on the thighs. I guess like in the game the other
items are things you could ‘pick up’ along the way, and you could
attach the grenades to her webbing harnesses, but this suit is way too
tight to have pockets, and the are no pouches to store items either.
But I’m not knocking it, it’s always nice to get as many game accurate
accessories as possible, and this figure sure doesn’t disappoint in
this department!
Fun
Factor - ***
As with
any figure, how much fun you derive from it tends to be dependant on
how ‘into’ the subject matter you are. As I’ve stated plenty of times
before, I’m no gamer, but the quality of the outfit coupled with the
great range of extras made this a blast to set up and pose. But of
course if you are a dedicated Resident Evil/Bio-hazard game junkie,
then I’m betting this will be a four star figure.
Value
for money - ***1/2
It
would seem that $140 to $150 is fast becoming the average price for
high-end figures, so if that’s the lay of the land you can cuss and
curse about it as much as you like. But those prices are only ever
gonna go further north. As it is, she obviously came with quite a bit
of R&D needed on the development of her outfit, and the selection
of accessories is very impressive. So for me she’s deserving of a high
score in this category, but not quite a perfect one!
Overall-
***1/2
There is very
little to fault here apart from maybe the full RRP, however to be fair,
you’ll be lucky to make a saving of much more than $5 or $10 even by
shopping around, at least at the moment. The
sculpt is based on a CG game character, so we don’t get the hyper
realism of some of the finest work that they do on big Hollywood stars,
but it does represent the way the character looks in the game well. She
comes with a great haul of firepower and the bonus of the ‘Bird Lady’
disguise, but the standout area on this figure is that stunning outfit.
It really does need to be seen up close to appreciate the level of
details achieved here. So for me, if I
could keep only one version of Jill, then this is the one I’d choose,
and she makes another very cool addition to the Resident Evil line-up.
Where to buy
Sideshow have her in stock for the full RRP of $149.99.
Not many of Mike’s sponsors had this listed, but a couple did and you may be able to save $5:
BBTS- $144.99
Fan Boy- in stock for $149.99.
Or hit eBay where prices are between $140 to $180.
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This product was provided free for the review by the manufacturer.
Photos and text by Jeff Parker.
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