It's
that time again folks! That's right this is the part of the show where I
rave on about samurai in a barely coherent, madman-like state while cut
polishing a car and practicing my putting. This week we look at three,
count 'em three, hip and/or happening samurai action figures from the
folks over at McFarlane Toys in their
Spawn 19 series. On the hit list we have Samurai Spawn (gasp!), Lotus
Angel Warrior, and Jackal Assassin. Each one of them has that high level
of detail we've come to expect from in McFarlane figures as a strong
point, but varying levels of articulation depending on the figure, which
could be a sticking point for some. All in all they're spiffy-and-a-half
and look great on Ye Olde Shelf for display. Now to look at them
individually...
Samurai Spawn
Let's start this cavalcade of questionable grammar with Samurai Spawn.
The first thing that will pop into anyone's head who is at all familiar
with the WarCraft real-time strategy games will think, "Hey! It's
the orc grunt's long lost soul brother." Now while Samurai Spawn
and
WarCraft Orc Grunt were college roommates
(allegedly), Samurai Spawn shows that he by far has the better sense of
style. From the fur to the huge, braided beard, to the carvings in the
plating he is a site to see. Better still is that he has a very good
range of articulation. Want Spawn to stand in an imposing stance like
the bad-assed mofo that he is? Not a problem. Want him standing
passively? That can be arranged. Want him kicking his heels in the air
like the Rockettes? Um, no. With these looks and so many posing
possibilities Samurai Spawn is very much pushing for being the flagship
figure of this series.
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Score: 9/10
Lotus Angel Warrior
Lotus Angel Warrior, while not as dashing or imposing as Samurai Spawn,
is quite a nice figure. She's a slender lass with a couple of katana
blades and a big, sharp-looking back-mounted thing, but it should be
noted that there are no points of articulation to be found. There's no
posing to be done with this figure, she just stands there. The one thing
that's surprising is that she stands so well. With the tiny feet I was
fully expecting the figure to be a real pain to stand upright, but low
and behold I was able to stand here up right away, no problems
whatsoever. In terms of her armor, what little there is, she sports a
lot of tiny intricacies with mock-metalwork wonders and kanji
characters. A nice figure, but don't expect to do much with her.
Score: 7.8/10
Jackal Assassin
This guy is ugly, and I mean u-g-l-y. From the beastly look on his face
to the gaunt, death-like physique it's got an army of the dead sort of
motif to it. Not that this is a bad thing mind you as it has all the
detail we expect from a McFarlane action figure. It's big problem is
that while it does have points of articulation there are very few options as to how you can pose the little guy. Bare in mind the
sword-over-head pose he goes in looks pretty darn good. Another
annoyance is that the figure is very hard to balance. Unless you place
it on a perfectly leveled surface he'll topple over and that is just a
great big no-no.
