Rick Grimes: The Walking Dead (McFarlane Toys)

The Walking Dead: Rick Grimes

...Or should I say "the exclusive" Walking Dead Rick Grimes action figure from The Walking Dead TV series. This is the third Rick Grimes released by McFarlane; the first one was in Series 1 (Deputy Rick Grimes in his uniform), followed by the one in Series 2 and now this one which just came this week. I am sure there are still some Series 1 and 2 Rick Grimes out there sold at some local comic/toy stores but this is way better and I have to pick this one over the others. Although he looked considerably like a variant of Series 2, but with the added scruffiness over his face and minus the hat (apparently given to Carl), I think he is much cooler that way but that is just my opinion.













The packaging here is the same as with the Series 3 Michonne and her pet zombies. Inspired from the show's third season, an artwork of the prison can be seen throughout the package with, of course, a portrait of Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes

When it comes to paint job and sculpting, McFarlane Toys never fails to give you such a huge amount of it; making this figure very highly detailed. Rick's white T-shirt looked as though he's been collecting dirt, blood and sweat out from dealing with walkers. Likewise, his arms and face looks messed up and dirty. The paint shadings around his pants and boots made it look worn and "battle damaged". I like the paint apps and all... but the one minor complain I have with this figure is the eyes, which I think it would have been better if it is looking straight rather than having his eyeballs rolled towards the left.

The sculpting on this figure is absolutely phenomenal. The head and face sculpt may not had captured the looks of the actor but it is clean and well sculpted. All these wrinkles and folds around his pants and shirt looks very real.

Likewise, the accessories that he comes with are painted and sculpted beautifully. Rick's weapon of choice, the revolver is painted with metallic silver and got all the details you need to see, but the most amazing accessory he has with him is the scoped rifle that looks as though it's made out of wood with its long barrel and trigger that Rick can carry well with his "trigger hand". Other than his favourite guns, he also comes with this 5-inch long "catchpole" he used in one episode of the season that has two loops at each ends and can be held using a pair of extra hands, which are also nicely sculpted.

But the articulation on this figure is not as impressive as the details. If you look at all human action figures of The Walking Dead, you'll notice that they don't have something standard in terms of articulation. In Rick's case, he doesn't have any articulation at all around his knees; not like Michonne. His neck is on a ball-joint and so he can look up and down at a decent angle and turn his head 360. Rick got ball-hinged shoulders but no bicep swivel, single-jointed elbows with rotation and a ball-hinged wrists that lets his hands move up and down and twist to the sides. He got a waist swivel and doesn't have any articulation around the hips! However, he got these swivels at the upper thigh that cuts somewhere from the side of his hips down to his crotch forming like a "V". He got hinges to his ankles and ankle rotation. So this is what you need to expect from a McFarlane toy.

In comparison to The Walking Dead Michonne figure, Rick Grimes stands a little bit tall at about 5.2 inches. I say he is probably in perfect scale with his crew. As far as recommendation goes, if you're not an articulation junkie and if you're diehard fan of The Walking Dead, then this figure might be for you.