Saturday 6 April 2013

Michonne: The Walking Dead (McFarlane Toys)

The Walking Dead: Michonne
We have witnessed yet another heart-pounding finale of The Walking Dead; lots of surprising as well as the not-so-surprising turn of events- I'm talking about those deaths of some of the major characters. The Internet is echoing with lots of questions like "why he/she should die" or "what's gonna happen without this character now". But you see, ever since Season One of this epic show and probably since I started watching zombie films, these stuffs are all about our idea of "the survival to the fittest game," and "the arms race between humans and disease" (the virus). Though I was a bit shocked on Merle's or even on Poor Andrea's death but that's how this show rolls- one tough guy dead, a few incompetent survivors will either follow him to his grave or step up to the game. With Rick, Daryl, Glenn and Michonne left for Season 4, it's safe to say that we will still see some zombie ass whooping!










Michonne, being a tough gal she is, is probably the one character I suggest to survive 'til the end of the show. And I was suppose to make a toy review on that Well Zombie, which I showed at my other blog, but this 5-inch Michonne action figure looks pretty damn good! I even bought her Pet Zombies just to make this review even more awesome. And just a heads up, McFarlane will be releasing Michonne and her two Pet Zombies in one box so look out for that one. I bought mine in their separate packages, so it's not that bad.


Showing three of these packages, I probably start pointing out the accessories that comes with each action figure. Michonne comes with her trademark weapon, the katana along with its scabbard and a removable cape and hood. The two Pet Zombies each comes with a pair of removable arms, a removable jaw, a big backpack, and a figure stand. Pet 2 Zombie however, has Michonne's shotgun, which goes right into the bag whenever you just want to keep it.


I really can't stop looking at these fine details Michonne and her pets have. It's amazing how they put together all these variety of paint apps and sculpt into a 5-inch figure! You'll definitely not see this in other toyline.

But starting with Michonne, she has these nicely sculpted dreadlocks revealing behind the hood, and right away you can tell that this is indeed Michonne. The paint apps on her vest may not be highly detailed but there is alot of things going on there with the sculpt. Moreover, she got this faded jeans that looks pretty well detailed, and as you go down to her calves you can see tiny bit of mud and dirt and more of these stuff sticking on her shoes, which just amazes me.


The rotten flesh and the entire feature on her two pet zombies looks very gory and grotesque just as how a real zombie action figure should look. By the looks of it, these are African-American zombies obviously because of the kinky hair and the dark skin tone. In addition, you can see their boxer shorts shimmering just above these dirty denim-like pants. It seems like these zombies had been shot multiple times because of these holes around their chests, which I'm happy that they added these.


My only complaint though with the details are these shinny shackles hanging around their necks; I wish these shackles could have been painted with darker colours of brown and gray to look more like they are rusting, and with a few crimson colours for that bloodstained look. So I guess McFarlane needs to improve on this one.


If you're looking for some "high-octane" poseability, then these action figures are definitely not yours to have. The zombies here have only few articulations. They even come with figure stands to make your life easier on having them do a walking pose, let alone the lack of articulation on their legs. Their zombie heads can turn within an 80-degree arc, arms got single-jointed elbows and wrist swivels. They got swivel to the mid-thighs... and I think that's all about it.


Michonne, however, has some pretty decent articulation for a Walking Dead figure. Her articulation is comparable to that of the Marvel Select Storm, only difference is that Michonne got a diaphragm swivel that lets you move her torso forward and back, and turn it side to side. I'd pressume that her head can rotate 360 without her dreadlocks. Michonne got ball-hinged shoulders (but no bicep swivel), single-jointed elbows and hinged wrist, which can move up and down, and rotate. The only letdown here are her legs, which is pretty much limited by lack of articulation on her hip-joints. She got nice single-jointed knees and hinged ankles, but the hip-joints can only raise her legs maybe a little less than 30 degrees.


Compared to a Marvel Legends figure, these Walking Dead guys would definitely not be able to fit in no matter how you look at it. Surprisingly, they are too big to be standing around with the G.I. Joes and Marvel Universe figures. So I guess they are a class of their own.


High amount of details and my love for the Walking Dead shows are probably the two main reason why I bought these action figures. They cost only like $16 bucks each so this won't be hard on the budget and on completing the whole Walking Dead gang. I would definitely recommend you to get Michonne and her pet zombies before it runs out.

3 comments:

  1. I'm waiting for season 3 to make the jump to NETFLIX!As messed up in the head as shane was io really liked his character.Did they ever releases a Shane figure?

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    1. I've seen some parts of it at AMC but I wish it will out on Netflix real soon. There is a Shane action figure released i think he was Series 2, and it wasn't bad looking but hopefully they create another version of him.

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  2. They are definitely cool...it's just that it's impossible to get any here in Malaysia/South East Asia. No stores carry them, let alone our TRUs. I had to get my fix thru a buddy of mine over in Florida. Wish that we could get these McFarlane toys more easily at retail...

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