Review of Twilight Zone action figures
Kanamit, Gremlin, Bob Wilson

Introduction

I'm a huge fan of the Twilight Zone, so any time I can snag new collectibles, I'm all over it like hair on a bear.  Bif Bang Pow has been creating various items for the past few years, but have just released their first series of 4" scaled action figures.

Tonight I'm looking at the Kanamit, Bob Wilson and the Gremlin. The Kanamit is from the episode "To Serve Man", while the other two are both from "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet". Also in this first series is Talky Tina, Henry Bemis, and the Invader.

Remember - this is a 4" scale line of figures, making them quite a bit tinier than you might assume from the photos. You can use the Lifesizer photo to the right to see actual size on your device.

Along with this first wave of 6 black and white figures, there was another set released for the recent SDCC that was done in color.

Packaging - ***1/2
I love these card backs! There's lots of personalization, including a photo of each character right from the show. There's a brief bio on back, along with shots of the rest of the line up, and there's very little waste. They aren't collector friendly, but they will display and store nicely for the MOCer.

Sculpting - Gremlin, Kanamit ***; Bob Wilson **1/2
Of the three, I think the goofy Gremlin looks most like his on screen character. Remember, this was a guy in a really, really bad monster suit, and that suit was soaking wet. The episode was a classic - the costume was ridiculous.

They captured the weird, pained expression on the face extremely well, and I think they did the best they could with the wet fur.

The Kanamit has all the right parts and pieces - he'd be a fantastic cosplay character - but the face is off. You know it's a Kanamit, just not THE Kanamit. I'm cutting them a little slack however because of the work on the wrinkled forehead, shape of the overall cranium, and even the nifty little goatee. Remember, these are a 4" scale, and they've done a nice job with the smaller details on the Kanamit face, perhaps as good as Sideshow did in the much larger 12" figure.

Bob Wilson is the only real disappointment in this category. It's not a good Shatner likeness, not even pre-Star Trek. It's not miles off, but if you handed this figure to the average person, they'd never guess who it was supposed to be.

The body work is good though, with smaller details like the tie and belt buckle a part of the sculpt, and not merely painted on.

The Gremlin and Bob come in at about 3 3/4", while the larger Kanamit is almost 4 1/4". They should fit right in with the other 'retro' style figures currently hitting the market, as well as other figures in this scale, such as Star Wars.

Paint - ***
After the awful result that we saw with the SDCC exclusive Sheldon, there's some very good news here - the paint work is much, much better.

This regular release set is done in black and white to mimic the look from the original show.

Of the three, Bob is the weakest. He's not terrible, particularly for this scale, but he does have a knick or two or three in the black tie, and there's some  slight gloppiness to the skin tone. The hairline, eyes and eyebrows are good though, and most of the rest of the cut lines are fairly clean.

I like the Gremlin the best here. The eyes are sharp and straight, and they captured the weird black eye make up extremely well. The broader colors are consistent in coverage and tone.

The Kanamit is also extremely good, perhaps the best from a pure quality perspective. Again, the eyes and eyebrows are spot on, and even the funky facial hair is called out with a slight color variation. The white robes are very clean, and the overall finish is consistent.

This is all very good news, and considering the price point, much more in line with expectations.

Articulation - **1/2
While the articulation score is low, it's going to also have a low weight for me on these. They are done in a very specific style, matching the other 'retro' ReAction 4" lines being produced by Funko/Super 7. This way, you're retro Aliens and Terminators can fit right in with your old school Twilight Zone characters.

There's a cut neck, cut shoulders, and T hips. Even the Kanamit, with his long robes, has split legs with the T hips. 

It's not fancy stuff, but it does allow you to build up a very cool consistent display across multiple licenses.

Accessories - Kanamit, Bob **1/2; Gremlin Bupkis
There's not a ton of extras here, but I'm not sure what else they could add for the particular characters.

The Kanamit comes with his one and only memorable accessory - the book titled "To Serve Man". I wish someone would do a replica at full scale...

Bob Wilson comes with the handgun he took off the policeman on the plane. He tried to shoot the Gremlin, almost killing everyone on board. 

The Gremlin has nothing, and while there really isn't anything additional I could think of for Bob or the Kanamit, I do think a hunk of the wing's plating would have been perfect for the Gremlin. A missed opportunity...

Fun Factor - ***1/2
These are the sort of figures that get more fun the more you have.  I think that fans of this new retro design are going to love getting a wide variety of licenses, especially the classics, all in a consistent toy style.

Value - ***
It's getting harder and harder to find a $10 action figure, particularly one geared towards collectors. That makes the price point here - $10 - particularly nice.

Of course, a few more accessories would sweeten the pot, but if you're a big TZ fan looking to complete the set, this price point makes it doable.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing.

Overall - ***
I wanted to get this review in pretty quickly, because I was so surprised by the poor quality on the paint work with their SDCC exclusive Big Bang Theory Sheldon. Of course, part of this is due to the small scale, but the work I saw there was just out of line with my expectations of Bif Bang Pow.

What I see here is much more consistent with the price point and style. While there's still the occasionally slip here and there, the overall quality is solid.

What's best about all this is that these are done in the same retro style as the multitude of lines coming out in the ReAction series. Now you can have the Kanamit chatting with Malcolm Reynolds, while Marty McFly kicks back with Snake Plissken. How often does that happen in the same scale and style?

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpting - Gremlin, Kanamit ***; Bob Wilson **1/2
Paint - ***
Articulation - **
Accessories - Kanamit, Bob **1/2; Gremlin Bupkis
Fun Factor - ***1/2
Value - ***
Overall - ***

Where to Buy 
The place to pick these up is Entertainment Earth where they will run you $10 each, or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
This isn't the first time we've seen either the Gremlin or the Kanamit in action figure form. Both were done by Sideshow in sixth scale more than 12 years ago, and I reviewed the Kanamit as well as the Gremlin. I wonder what Rod Serling would say? 

Bif Bang Pow has also done a couple very cool full scale prop replicas for Twilight Zone, including Talky Tina and the Mystic Seer.

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