Edward Scissorhands Mez-Itz review

Have you ever seen Pirates of the Caribbean? Or at least heard of it? I bet you have. Well, you know captainJack Sparrow? Yeah, the guy that plays him, Johnyy Depp, has been in good movies, believe it or not. Movies that didn't involve ridiculously convoluted storylines, non-existant characterization and relatively famous actors that don't even get their likeness used in their character. Now. while a lot of his movies are worth watching (includeing the original Nightmare on Elm Street, in which he appeared when he was just a mere teenager)the most worth watching ar his Tim Burton collaborations. Particularly those from the 1990's. Films such as Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow and, the subject of tonight's review, Edward scissorhands. Those three movies, as well as his two 2000's collaborations(Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), to a lesser extent are real classics. While the PotC trilogy sinks to the depths of action movie history, his Tim Burton films will remain true classics. And like most classics, companys will always want to find ways to cash in on them, and one of the most tried and true ways of doing so is through the toy market. Although we're still waiting on figures from Ed Wood, and good figures from Charlie and the Chocolate factory, Sleepy Hollow and Ed scissorhands have both been immortalized in plastic. Some of the more recent offerings have been from Mezco (who did an excellent work on the Hellboy figures, along with some others) and they include a 9" Edward, The prof., and and two exclusive Eds. They also did Mez-Itz (the subject of the review) and a 13" plush. So how do these stack up? Let's find out.

packaging-****
Mez was right on the mark with these guys. They come in a windowbox that's about 9" tall. It comes well decorated with some nice images from the movie,as well as some of the figures themselves. Plus, it's collector friendly. Two pieces of tape are all that hold the lid closed, and there are just two twisties holding these guys in.

sculpt: Civilian ED-****; Regular Ed, Professor-***1/2
Civilian Ed is easily the best of the three. His likeness and facial expression mimic those of his on-screen counterpart perfectly (well, considering it's a caricature, anyway). The professor (or inventor) and regular Ed don't fair so well, unfortunately. Regular Ed is just slightly off. At first I thought it was just the lips, but upon re-watching the film I realized it was actually a number of things. First off, yes, the lips are a bit off. They should really be smaller, with a more extreme downward angle at the sides. The eyes are also part of the problem, they're a bit too big for the expression to work. The professor is actually a good likeness, but the expression is way too stern. If I remember correctly he was usually smiling in the movie, and even when he wasn't he never looked this serious. Nitpicking aside, these are all decent caricatures.

paint: Professor-****;both Edwards-***1/2
The paint is just as good as the sculpt. The only problem I have is more with the color than the application. whiile the Professor is top-notch, the two Eds are just too pale. He always appeared pale in the movie, but pale to a human extent. Here they look vampire-esque.

Articulation: Professor-***; Both Eds- ***1/4
These guys use the standard Mez bodies:
Ball jointed neck X1
Ball jointed shoulders X2
Cut wrists X2
Cut waist X1
The articulation here is good, the joints are all strong enough without being constrictive (which is good, since they'd wall apart otherwise).
The two Eds fare better because their scissorhands are both jointed.

accessories-***1/2
There's an ice angel (the same size as the figures), the proffessor's cane, and a cookie from the Professor's first appearance. The ice angel is extremely well sculpted, and includes small scratches and dings that imply a carving (there's no paint or articulation, just in case you were wondering). the only problem is that it doesn't look like the ice angel in the movie. I'm not sure why they went with a different design, but nitpicking aside, it's a great accessory. The cane is pretty much well made, except it's A) too long, and B) too thick. I guess it's hard to make a cane in this scale that looks good, but it's still and issue. The cookie is a cookie. It has the same texture as a cookie would, and is cast in brown plastic, negating the need for paint. Actually, it should be tan, but most people probably won't care.

fun factor-**
These aren't reall meant for kids. They have a few delicate parts (Ed's hands, the sculpted clothes, etc.). The box says for ages eight and up, but I would recommend gicing these to someone no younger than ten. Maybe more like twelve.

things to watch out for
Be careful taking these guys out of the package. If you're not careful you could easily damage some of the previously mentioned delicate parts (my regular Ed's leg peg broke off as I was taking it out! Although I suspect it was already broken. Also, if you have a loose arem (or leg) then applying a little sticky tack on the inside of the joint will help strengthen it. That's also how I fixed my Ed's leg.

value-***
I paid something like sixteen bucks for this set. That's about four bucks per figure (I'm counting the ice angel as a figure here because it's about the same size as the others). That isn't an awful value, but nine bucks (that's three bucks per figure) would be the ideal value. Even so they're a better value than the 9" figure.

Overall-***1/2
If you're looking for regular Ed, civilian Ed and the professor, then this is really the best way to get them (the others being between $20.00 and $25.00). The likenesses on the Eds are both better than the 9" figure, and the Professor includes his cane, something the 9" iteration lacked. If this version had come with Ed's Christmas present, then it would render the 9" version almost obselete.

Where to buy
I picked mine up at CornerStoreComics.com. They also still have them at Mezco's site, but you'll be paying a few bucks more.

related links
Michael Crawford has a gues review of the Medicom verison over at his site. That's all I can think of.

Hellboy Blood and Iron figure review

Sorry for the lack of pictures, but it's impossible to get anything good out of my shitty camera. See Poe Ghostal's review for a few shots.

When Hellboy: Sword of Storms first aired on Cartoon Network it was met with mixed reactions. Some fans thought that, with its overly-caricatured style, and corny dialogue, it was the greatest abomination to the Hellboy universe since Hellboy Junior. Some people, however, enjoyed its quirky animation style, and dumbed-down storyline. I'll admit that I was with the former, although I actually saw it when the DVD came out. The whole appeal of the Hellboy comics for me (aside from the story) was that Noir art style that really gave it the feel of a pulp Lovecraft detective story straight out of the 1940's. The cartoon basically threw all of that out the window in lieu of a generic, modern, cookie-cutter caricature style that made the cartoon just the same as all the other crap cartoons out there. So, when Blood and Iron came out, I wasn't expecting much. Hell, I wasn't even going to bother watching it until I saw Poe Ghostal's review. After he gave the figure such a good review I thought I'd check it out.

Packaging-*1/2
It's a bubble and a DVD shrink-wrapped together with a little cardboard insert that says it's a limited edition. It protects the figure well enough, and MOCers will find it easy enough to store. The problem is, it's just so damn bland. If it were a clamshell I'd go a little easier on it, but as it stands this bland piece of shit isn't getting any slack from me.

Sculpting-****
I hate to say it, but this sculpt is on par with Mezco. It's a perfect 3D representation of the cartoon, from his undefined chest muscles to his short, skinny legs, this guy could have walked right off the screen. I especially like the cigar, since one of the very few things that sets the Hellboy animated movies from other modern cartoons is the fact that he smokes. The only problem I have is that he's just too damn short. He's just barely tall enough to fit in with the Marvel Legends line, and that's if you ignore the fact that he's supposed to be a head taller than an average human. That's really nit-picking, though, and other than that he's gold.

Paint-***3/4
Again, the paint here is excellent. There isn't too much here, but there is more than you'd expect, and all that's there is great. I'll start from the head and go down. The eyes have a sort of gloss that really makes them stand out as organic. Other than that the head really isn't exceptional. The body is where it really shines, and the genius of it is that you really can't tell unless you look closely. There's a very, very light wash that really makes the details stand out. Although there aren't really any minor details. it's a nice touch.

Articulation-***1/2
The articulation here is actually pretty standard these days. You've got:
Ball jointed head(X1)
pseudo-Ball Jointed Shoulders(X2)
pseudo-cut biceps (X2)
Pin Elbow (X2)
Pin Wrists (x2)
hinged hands (X2)
Cut Chest (X1)
Pseudo Ball Jointed shins(X2)
pin knees (X2)
cut lower leg (X2)
pin ankles(X2)
pin toes (X2)
That adds up to 22 points of articulation. Not bad, but not as good as Marvel Legends.

Accessories-***1/4
I'm going to be nice and count the DVD as an accessory. In that case there are five in all. Two alternate hands (loose fist right hand of doom and tight fist regular left hand. The hands that he comes displayed with are an open right hand of doom and a left hand designed to hold the gun), The Samaritan (HB's gun), a stand, and the DVD. The hands pop on and off fine, but they really should have designed the pegs on the left hands differently. They have a little piece between the hand and part that goes into the wrist that makes it look like he has a really skinny wrist. Some people won't mind, but for me it's extremely noticeable. The gun is OK, the barrel is huge, but I suppose it's that way in the cartoon as well. The stand is fairly bland, and doesn't work too well. There is a plastic rod that goes right between his ass and his you-know-what that's supposed to hold him up. This works well in theory, but the peg is too tall, and it's impossible to get him to stand up well in any natural pose.
The DVD is good. The movie is pretty decent, better than the first, anyway, and has a few interesting bonus features.

Fun Factor-***
I assume any kid that likes the cartoon will enjoy this guy. They might get frustrated by the tiny legs, but for an older kid this should be alright. However, the Mezco figures work fine as toys, so if you know a kid that prefers the comics or live-action movie, then you may be better off going with one of their respective versions.

value-****
I think I paid just over $19.00 for this set. Taking into consideration that I paid $25.00 for Batman Begins on DVD, which included no bonus features, I'd say that this is a pretty fucking good value.

Things to watch out for
You may just want to prop HB up with his tail, rather than using the stand. If you position it just right, then you can get a pretty sturdy pose out of him. It also doesn't restrict the excessive leg articulation as much as the stand does, which is always good.

Overall-***1/4
You'd think it would be higher than that, what with the excellent paint, sculpt, and articulation scores, wouldn't you? But no, while this is a great figure at a great price, it doesn't make up for two things: height and weird looking wrist pegs on the left hands. It may not be an issue for some people, but the fact that this guy doesn't look good with the Mezco figures is really disappointing for me. And those wrists really bother me. Like, to the point where I was considering bumping him down to three stars. If those two things don't bother you, then go ahead consider this a four star figure.

where to buy
This is a Best Buy exclusive. I actually found this guy a few weeks ago, so he may be sold out at the Best Buy nearest you. If he is, don't worry. Ebay has got you covered.

Related Links
There's Poe Ghostal's review, that I mentioned earlier.

Michael Crawford has reviewed Battle Damaged Hellboy, 18" comic Hellboy, SDCC "Extreme" Hellboy, SideShow Abe, SideShow Hellboy,SideShow Kroenen, Hellboy Mez-Itz, Mezco Hellboy series one, and Graphitti Designs Hellboy, and has Nazi Kroenen, the DVD Hellboy bust, and 18" movie Hellboy over at the Poop Shoot.

BigGuido has Kreigaffe, and Lobster Johnson at Michael's site, plus a few others over at Action-Figure.com (just go to features, then to reviews, and look for Hellboy)