DSC_7826
So if you've been paying attention to the feed recently, you may have noticed something... different show up. Well.. most of something, seeing how I didn't exactly use all the parts. Today, I complete the rest of the picture.
Presenting the Beast Kingdom Egg Attack Avengers Endgame: Black Widow figure.
OK, so I'm going to skip the usual background check into the character.. by now I'm confident most of the planet knows who Black Widow from the MCU is so there's that. But what exactly IS this thing?
Some people aren't aware of this, but there are still quite a few actual toy designers in Southeast Asia, just not ones that are readily available. Beast Kingdom out of Taiwan is one such ... I'm not sure where the name came from but there it is. According to their website, they make a variety of collectible memorabilia, with their most prominent product line being something called the Egg Attack line.. again, don't ask me about names. The best way to describe the line is if you took a character, gave it a Disney Animator-esque make over, and then reduced its proportions to what is known as SD or Super Deformed proportions. There is a line of statues, but perhaps the most active line would the Egg Attack Action line, which offers these roughly 6 inch tall figures as an action figure... you're not going to get Figuarts level of posing, but you get better than Legends and Mezco stuff.
I'm not a collector of this line whatsoever - in fact, this may be my one and only, and of course I ended up paying a premium by trying to do things through the proper, local channels, which was further complicated by the fact for reasons, this was a Previews Exclusive item that did not naturally ship to Canada, so off the bat I'm gonna say "BITE ME, PREVIEWS". But, being a Widow and actually having a cloth costume intrigued me enough to bite the bullet. And for those who didn't know about these figures.. yes.. yes these are licensed product. It isn't a third party concoction - it's perfectly legit.
Despite the sheer annoyance of getting the figure and paying premium, if I were able to get these for MSRP (about 75 USD, so slightly more than you average Figuarts), they're a neat sideline to your usual collection. As mentioned, this is my first one, and I'm basing things on my interpretation, so here we go.
In terms of contents, this Widow is no slouch. There's the figure, an alternate head with angry expression, two baton handles for her backpack, parts to make two separate batons as well as the combined form, two pistols, five pairs of hands total (pistol holding, baton holding, relaxed, closed, clenched), and a stand.
Now, I know nothing about the underlying body, but I can say that whoever created the patterns for her suit did a fantastic job. The suit is form fitting and the material feels like a thinner version of whatever Hot Toys has been using for their Widow suits since Civil War. There are some iron on textures and straps on the suit, but in general there are no large sections of plether or other rigid materials, so overall the suit offers very good range of motion... well, very good for the the body that's underneath the hood to the point where I don't think there's any real restriction of motion. Of course, they cheated when it comes to the knee pads, being a plastic piece that is stuck on the suit and that's all, but it's no worse than what I got with my Mezco Hela. This form fitting nature combined with the bodies proportions makes this figure "Swole Dwarf Natasha".
As stated above, articulation on this figure was never really going to be at Figuarts levels or Hot Toys, but based on the overall intent of to product, it never was meant to be - not to say it's a slouch in this area. According to the box, there are 22 points of articulation, which I can believe... at least more so than the 30 points of articulation claimed on Mezco figures. Points are as follows:
- toes
- ankles
- double jointed knees
- hips with thigh swivel
- waist
- mid torso (tilt forward and swivel)
- shoulders with chest compress and expansion
- bicep swivels
- double jointed elbows
- wrists
- head
Furthermore, the following notes. First off, the wrist joints are connected to the actual hands themselves. Due to the overall girth of the pieces, they're definitely nowhere as fragile as true 1/12 scale items, but as always, exercise caution. Secondly, with regards to the head there is some articulation on the ponytail, and also, it should be noted that the eyes can actually swivel - side to side only, but that still adds some variety to your display options.
Overall, Widow can pull off whatever a similarly proportioned human (i.e. a toddler) could do, albeit with less drool.
Paint and decal wise, there's both not much to talk about, but at the same time, there's some good stuff to quickly review. Naturally there isn't much on most of her body, as she's wearing a suit which has iron on textures and straps - not mind blowing, but like Mezco, it does the job. Blackwash on the upper parts of her boots are again alright.. nothing to write home about but at the same time doesn't disappoint either. Masking on her wrist guards is mostly clean, but the paint work on her hands is terrible. Very thickly applied, with detail paint apps being very meh, with the only real positive thing I can say is that at least they got the skin tone right. Fortunately, paint work on where it counts the most, namely the face and head, is very good. Paint Applications are crisp and clean, with masking on the silver parts done well, with good blending in areas where the red meets the white of her hair. Decal work on her visually striking eyes is fantastic, and in case it didn't show up very well on camera, Beast Kingdom even gave Natasha some flushed cheeks via some subtly applied paint applications.
Build quality is kind of the low point of this figure - relative low point.Not being a Japanese figure, my expectation for were lowered and sure enough the figure had just enough to meet that bar. Nothing wrong with regards to material choices, thank goodness - no flimsy Legends plastics and the general feel of the joints seems to be pretty good. It's really a matter of parts finishes and tolerances. There are some rough spots here and there on the hair and weapons, and the hands are very rough with regards to finishes, and I find it difficult to, for example, stick the baton handles into her backpack. Like with Storm, these issues aren't quite on the level of $20 USD North American figures, but they're definitely not as good as with Figuarts, Figma, Mezco, and the like, so caution is urged when handling some of the more delicate parts.
With that, this overview draws to its conclusion. As stated earlier, a neat sideline and while I love Black widow, the overall aesthetic of the series reminds me too much of a sports team mascot for me to take it seriously as a collection focus. For what it's worth though, if this aesthetic works for, I do feel that the Egg Attack Action line does have what it takes to bridge that gap between cutesy collectible and full strength action figure.
Till the next time.
DSC_7826
So if you've been paying attention to the feed recently, you may have noticed something... different show up. Well.. most of something, seeing how I didn't exactly use all the parts. Today, I complete the rest of the picture.
Presenting the Beast Kingdom Egg Attack Avengers Endgame: Black Widow figure.
OK, so I'm going to skip the usual background check into the character.. by now I'm confident most of the planet knows who Black Widow from the MCU is so there's that. But what exactly IS this thing?
Some people aren't aware of this, but there are still quite a few actual toy designers in Southeast Asia, just not ones that are readily available. Beast Kingdom out of Taiwan is one such ... I'm not sure where the name came from but there it is. According to their website, they make a variety of collectible memorabilia, with their most prominent product line being something called the Egg Attack line.. again, don't ask me about names. The best way to describe the line is if you took a character, gave it a Disney Animator-esque make over, and then reduced its proportions to what is known as SD or Super Deformed proportions. There is a line of statues, but perhaps the most active line would the Egg Attack Action line, which offers these roughly 6 inch tall figures as an action figure... you're not going to get Figuarts level of posing, but you get better than Legends and Mezco stuff.
I'm not a collector of this line whatsoever - in fact, this may be my one and only, and of course I ended up paying a premium by trying to do things through the proper, local channels, which was further complicated by the fact for reasons, this was a Previews Exclusive item that did not naturally ship to Canada, so off the bat I'm gonna say "BITE ME, PREVIEWS". But, being a Widow and actually having a cloth costume intrigued me enough to bite the bullet. And for those who didn't know about these figures.. yes.. yes these are licensed product. It isn't a third party concoction - it's perfectly legit.
Despite the sheer annoyance of getting the figure and paying premium, if I were able to get these for MSRP (about 75 USD, so slightly more than you average Figuarts), they're a neat sideline to your usual collection. As mentioned, this is my first one, and I'm basing things on my interpretation, so here we go.
In terms of contents, this Widow is no slouch. There's the figure, an alternate head with angry expression, two baton handles for her backpack, parts to make two separate batons as well as the combined form, two pistols, five pairs of hands total (pistol holding, baton holding, relaxed, closed, clenched), and a stand.
Now, I know nothing about the underlying body, but I can say that whoever created the patterns for her suit did a fantastic job. The suit is form fitting and the material feels like a thinner version of whatever Hot Toys has been using for their Widow suits since Civil War. There are some iron on textures and straps on the suit, but in general there are no large sections of plether or other rigid materials, so overall the suit offers very good range of motion... well, very good for the the body that's underneath the hood to the point where I don't think there's any real restriction of motion. Of course, they cheated when it comes to the knee pads, being a plastic piece that is stuck on the suit and that's all, but it's no worse than what I got with my Mezco Hela. This form fitting nature combined with the bodies proportions makes this figure "Swole Dwarf Natasha".
As stated above, articulation on this figure was never really going to be at Figuarts levels or Hot Toys, but based on the overall intent of to product, it never was meant to be - not to say it's a slouch in this area. According to the box, there are 22 points of articulation, which I can believe... at least more so than the 30 points of articulation claimed on Mezco figures. Points are as follows:
- toes
- ankles
- double jointed knees
- hips with thigh swivel
- waist
- mid torso (tilt forward and swivel)
- shoulders with chest compress and expansion
- bicep swivels
- double jointed elbows
- wrists
- head
Furthermore, the following notes. First off, the wrist joints are connected to the actual hands themselves. Due to the overall girth of the pieces, they're definitely nowhere as fragile as true 1/12 scale items, but as always, exercise caution. Secondly, with regards to the head there is some articulation on the ponytail, and also, it should be noted that the eyes can actually swivel - side to side only, but that still adds some variety to your display options.
Overall, Widow can pull off whatever a similarly proportioned human (i.e. a toddler) could do, albeit with less drool.
Paint and decal wise, there's both not much to talk about, but at the same time, there's some good stuff to quickly review. Naturally there isn't much on most of her body, as she's wearing a suit which has iron on textures and straps - not mind blowing, but like Mezco, it does the job. Blackwash on the upper parts of her boots are again alright.. nothing to write home about but at the same time doesn't disappoint either. Masking on her wrist guards is mostly clean, but the paint work on her hands is terrible. Very thickly applied, with detail paint apps being very meh, with the only real positive thing I can say is that at least they got the skin tone right. Fortunately, paint work on where it counts the most, namely the face and head, is very good. Paint Applications are crisp and clean, with masking on the silver parts done well, with good blending in areas where the red meets the white of her hair. Decal work on her visually striking eyes is fantastic, and in case it didn't show up very well on camera, Beast Kingdom even gave Natasha some flushed cheeks via some subtly applied paint applications.
Build quality is kind of the low point of this figure - relative low point.Not being a Japanese figure, my expectation for were lowered and sure enough the figure had just enough to meet that bar. Nothing wrong with regards to material choices, thank goodness - no flimsy Legends plastics and the general feel of the joints seems to be pretty good. It's really a matter of parts finishes and tolerances. There are some rough spots here and there on the hair and weapons, and the hands are very rough with regards to finishes, and I find it difficult to, for example, stick the baton handles into her backpack. Like with Storm, these issues aren't quite on the level of $20 USD North American figures, but they're definitely not as good as with Figuarts, Figma, Mezco, and the like, so caution is urged when handling some of the more delicate parts.
With that, this overview draws to its conclusion. As stated earlier, a neat sideline and while I love Black widow, the overall aesthetic of the series reminds me too much of a sports team mascot for me to take it seriously as a collection focus. For what it's worth though, if this aesthetic works for, I do feel that the Egg Attack Action line does have what it takes to bridge that gap between cutesy collectible and full strength action figure.
Till the next time.