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Dragon's John Steele,
RCMP |
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Dragon Models continues to make superb 1/6th scale action figures.
I've bought several of their WWII figures, both American and German, and
have been impressed with the excellent quality and detail. So when
they announced a unique figure, John Steele, Royal Canadian Mounted
Policeman, I knew he'd look terrific on my shelf.
On line is your best bet to pick up these figures. Some specialty
shops carry them, but you tend to find better deals with your net
retailers. I've tried several different places - this time, I used
the Toy Cellar (www.thetoycellar.com),
and was very pleased with the prompt service, good price, and excellent
packing. At the bottom of the review are some other suggestions for
online retailers that carry Dragon figures.
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Sculpts - ***1/2
An improvement over some of their others, at least John doesn't have a
huge nose. Rather than looking German, he could certainly pass for a
Canadian. However, they really need to get a new hairstyle for their
guys. Clearly, they all get their hair cut at the same Fantastic
Sams.
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Packaging - ****
Setting the standard in packaging for others to follow these days.
Excellent graphics, and a very good overview of the RCMP on the inside
flap. Of course, it's in both English and French ;-)
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Accessories - ***
I'm a little disappointed in my selection of accessories this time.
The new American WWII figures have spoiled me. John comes with his
gun, holster and belt, and a couple pouches, but that's it. The gun
is extremely well detailed - the bored barrel is a nice touch of Dragons
on most of their weapons. What you have here is very nice, but I
would have liked a few more items considering the cost. Extra gloved
hands would have been one additional accessory that would have been
nice. Also, the hole intended for the snap on the holster is
somewhat blocked by the pistol itself when it's inside. It's a
slight design problem that they should have considered.Articulation -
****
The standard Dragon body. For those that haven't had one yet, the
figure has a better than average number of points of articulation for a
12" figure - neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, hips, knees, and
ankles - but throws in double joints at the knees and elbows to allow for
almost any pose. The ball jointed neck and waist assembly are also
well above average, making the Dragon body one of the most poseable on the
market today.
Uniform - ***1/2
Another excellent job on the uniform. The quality is extremely high,
particularly on the insignia on the jacket. The hat is excellent,
although lacking a strap. I'm assuming that's accurate, although I
could have swore that this style hat had a strap. The gloves are
actually separate from the hands - the hands are little 'stumps' that fit
inside the gloves and the gloves are glued to them. In this way you
still have the wrist articulation, but get an excellent looking
glove. The boots aren't bad, but the spurs needed to have points -
dull, round spurs, while perhaps accurate, don't do much for the figure.
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Value - **1/2
Dragon figures are sometimes excellent values - I think the American WWII
figures provide wonderful value. But this isn't one of those
cases. Dragon is charging more for this figure, presumably because
it is an exclusive for a Canadian company called Mikerian Mercantile, but
the figure itself does not have enough accessories to justify this higher
cost.
Overall - ***1/2
Unfortunately, this figure didn't quite live up to what I had hoped.
The fewer number of accessories at a slightly higher cost was the
reason. But I'm still very pleased with the purchase. What is
here is as exceptional as ever, and I applaud Dragon for branching out
into some characters that add color and conversation to your display.
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"Freeze, scumbag!"
Online Dragon retailers:
http://www.justicefighters.com
www.kbkids.com (search for Dragon figure)
http://www.smallblueplanet.com/
http://www.thetoycellar.com
http://www.herocentral.com
http://reasonablecollectibles.safeshopper.com/index.htm
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Figure from the collection of
Michael Crawford.
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