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aaaAAACHOO!

In 2005, the news came: Mezco Toyz, the makers of the very, very good figures for the Hellboy movie, had acquired the license to make figures based on the Hellboy comic books! And they would do so later that same year! Fans of both Hellboy and action figures rioted in the streets! But they were riots of pure joy! And then the lineup for series one was announced, and it was an extremely great lineup – Hellboy, Liz Sherman, Lobster Johnson, and a Kriegaffe, with Von Klempt – and all of the Hellboy/figure fanboys’ heads just blew right up! It was horrible! Only your reviewer survived, thanks to his naturally phlegmatic personality. And so only he lived to see the second wave of Hellboy figures, released (sorta; we’ll discuss that later) in late 2006. We shall now take a look at that second wave, or rather, 75% of it – your reviewer didn’t pick up the Hellboy from this wave, as he has enough goddamned Hellboys. First up: Johann Kraus, a German medium turned mass-of-ectoplasm-in contaiment-suit.

Awesome faceless pseudo-undead Hellboy German FACEOFF!

Articulation: Typical of the Hellboy line, the articulation is really very good, though not at all up to Marvel Legends standards. Particularly impressive here is the ball-joint upon which the head is mounted. Your reviewer always sorta figured that Johann couldn’t turn his head, due to the construction of his suit, but he’ll gladly put that aside in service of the holy articulation.

Sculpt: This is where this line really stands out: The sculptor really made these things look like the art of Hellboy’s creator, Mike Mignola. Every proportion is right, every angular and rough-hewn surface; it’s a wonder to behold.

I’m not touching you! Does this bother you? I’m not touching you!

Paint: Well, most of it is pretty good; no bleed, and excellent shading in the clothing. But the ectoplasm, including his head, is a kind of dull yellow color, which is not comic-accurate – he’s more of a blue – and, well, there’s no way to put this pleasantly: He looks like he’s a bag full of urine.

Durability: Well, it seems pretty good. Your reviewer did have a Hellboy from this line break on him once, though. Plus Johann has that soft-plastic smell – although this could be due to his belt-pouches, which hang on flexible plastic straps (a nice touch, by the way). So it’s hard to say. Sometimes, all an action-figure-collector can do is worry, and hope. Unless that collector is into NECA figures, in which case he’s clearly just given up. (Oooooh!)

It would be the BPRD’s strangest case yet!

Whether It Stands Up Well Or Not: Very impressive, actually; Johann stands right the hell up, in a variety of leg-positions. You can even have his very large ectoplasm-projections reach well out in front of him, with no appreciable compromise of stability. Bravissimo!

Accessories: Johann comes with two left hands and two right hands. One of each is just a plain ol’ hand; the other is in the midst of projecting a mass of ectoplasm. The right hand’s has a sort of hand on the end; the left’s is just a random mass. This, o children, is awesome, and never let anyone tell you different. Plus the hands all fit snugly on the arms, and yet are easily removed. Your reviewer’s hat is off. Also, one could very nearly consider the Mignola-drawn picture of Johann on the packaging to be an accessory. The man is one of the very best artists in the business, but – like many who may be described thus – he publishes maybe three comics’ worth of drawings per year. There are perfectly reasonable people, people of good character, who will buy this figure just for the new Mignola art, and more power to ‘em.

Overall:

This entry was posted on Friday, January 5th, 2007 at 9:57 am and is filed under Men of Action. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.