Indiana Jones
Review by Jmann
Indiana Jones was one of my all-time favorite action heroes growing up. The way he would run around with zero plans and somehow outsmart his enemies made me really happy as a kid. After the travesty of the fourth Indiana Jones film, I thought that there would be no way for anyone to smear his name through the mud any harder. Boy, was I wrong.
I guess I'll start with the sculpt. For the most part, Indy's sculpt is pretty good. The pants and jacket are done really well, and the paint detail makes it look like he's been out exploring old temples and dungeons. Then you get to the face. This face. I don't know what this face is.
Because it sure as heck isn't Indiana Jones. I'm normally not someone to completely dismiss a figure because of a less-than-accurate headsculpt, but this looks so bad they almost had to do it on purpose. And honestly, it's not even the sculpt completely. It's the HORRIBLE paint apps!
They used a gross brown color to accentuate every wrinkle and abnormality in the sculpt. If the face was just a flat skin-tone, it would probably be acceptable.
But this is just garbage.
Moving on, we can see that he is highly articulated. So, if you've ever wanted your Indiana Jones to Rider Kick some fools, he totally can.
Well, his hip articulation is hindered by his non-removable holster, but I didn't see that as a very huge deal. I still got him into any pose that I needed.
And as for accessories, he comes with a stand and the usual mountain of figma hands, including fists, calm hands, gun-toting hands, and a bunch of holding-things hands. He also comes with a rolled up whip, the extended whip, a revolver, the Idol from Raiders, one of the Stones from Temple of Doom, and the Holy Grail from The Last Crusade. He also has extra eyes.
I'll start with the good stuff. he can hold all of his accessories.
The Idol takes a bit of finess, but I was eventually able to get him to hold it. So that's good.
And the extra set of eyes seem a bit useless. He goes from looking forward to looking slightly to the right. It's kind of dumb.
I would have much rather them make different faces, or put that effort into a better headsculpt.
And now for the bad? The whip. It's made up of several different segments to allow you to pose it, but I'd much rather just have a solid piece here because it falls apart. All. The. Time.
In fact, it was so annoying to pose the whip that I just put it back in the box. That shouldn't happen with an INDIANA JONES FIGURE.
Basically, this figure is pretty terrible. If you want an Indiana Jones figure, just... find something else. Or make your own! I just can't recommend this to anyone. It belongs in a museum. A museum full of crappy toys.
Comments
11 comments postedMontana Jack and the Searchers of Some Important Lost Stuff
HA. That pretty much sums it up!
Oh.... Figma from great heights to great lows! I have Cobra and Link and every time I walk by them they make me smile. How did they F this up so bad.
I'm still not entirely sure if the face is supposed to be Crystal Skull Indy, in which Harrison Ford looked like a member of the living dead, or if they even got likeness rights at all for this figure. I really can't tell.
If this were to go way down in price I'd pick it up just for the assortment of Indy accessories, particularly the figma sized Webley, but I doubt this is gonna be one of those releases that takes a sharp dive in price.
I don't think the head sculpt looks that bad in review photos - certainly not as bad as it did in the original solicitation. It looks enough like Ford, but it's a sort of compromise likeness - it doesn't look like Ford now, but it's too aged and deeply lined to be Ford in Last Crusade. It would probably look passable without the dark wash on it, like JMann says.
But Figma always has a rough time with real people's likenesses. Just look at their Michael Jackson.
Likeness aside, it's still really lame how this figure is treated. The lack of a full head with a removable hat, after the elaborate job they do to ensure removable headgear on other figures (like Guts)... the lack of ANY alternate faces. That blankly stern face is a real bummer. I'd prefer any two of a smirking face, a worried face, or an angry face... You know, to actually emulate some of the expressions he has in the films, and not just on the classic painted posters (which this figure isn't anywhere close to the level of).
A Japanese Amazon review complains that instead of Harrison Ford they licensed the face of the current manager of the (Japanese Pro Baseball team) Rakuten Eagles. I think they nailed it.
Ronald Reagan?
This guy repainted his from fedora to toe and it looks sorta better.
http://www.onesixthwarriors.com/forum/non-1-6-figures-toys-related-products/756701-indiana-jones-figma-6-repaint.html
figma should just not be allowed to do real world likeness. They are terrible at it or something happens where they cannot use it (Roboflop). They need to stick with cartoon and video game characters.
I mean...that's not entirely true. There are several figmas that I can think of that do a good job getting a person's likeness down. The problem is, they're all exclusives/minor celebrities that very few people outside of Japan would care about. It's about 50/50 in execution, but yes, Max Factory does have a history of blowing it when it comes to the big names. I don't think they should necessarily give it up, but I also don't think people should be trusting them with their money in advance if likeness is the primary selling point.
At any rate there are a whole mess of likeness-licensed figures coming out soon with the Avengers figmas set to release in the next couple months, so we should have a pretty good idea if the trend is going to continue in the immediate future.
All things considered, I think this was a bold attempt; kudos to Figma. However this also serves as a proof as to why companies like Bandai tend to stick to more stylized anime characters or 'stylized' people (and I mean no offense) in Michael Jackson(R.I.P.) and Daft Punk. Thanks for a great review. I am a huge fan of what you do.
The whip is a bummer for sure, but other than that I think this is pretty okay. Harrison Ford has one of those faces that's pretty hard to capture in plastic for some reason. Heck, even Hot Toys couldn't get it wrong. I just think of this one as "Japanese cartoon" Indiana Jones and then I'm pretty fine with it.