Navigate / search

REVIEW: The Walking Dead – 1/6th Scale Merle Dixon

There was a time there in the mid-90’s where it seemed like Michael Rooker played the villain in almost every film. Okay, so it was really only Cliffhanger and Mallrats, but the man known as Mr. Svenning was also in Days of Thunder, JFK, and Tombstone. And it wasn’t until playing Merle Dixon, in the comic book turned AMC television series The Walking Dead, that Rooker was able to seemingly become a household face (if not name) once again.

Rooker’s character – Merle Dixon – was one of the primary antagonists in the third season of The Walking Dead. Also, he’s the older brother of series favorite Daryl Dixon, making for some awkward zombie apocalypse Thanksgiving dinner conversations.

Being one of the main characters, Merle is also one of the first characters to be released as a 1/6th scale figure from Threezero. The company’s The Walking Dead series continues to grow, with several character announced over the past year.

The 1/6th scale Merle Dixon sports a striking resemblance to the veteran actor. Threezero is a high-end collectible company, and much of that can be seen in the face sculpt. The lone sticking point, for me, is that they chose to paint Merle’s eyes sort of looking upwards. While head-on shots look fine, he looks a little zombified when viewing from angles.

As far as accessories, Merle comes packed with six hands (fists, gun holding, open palms), a prosthetic right arm with a bayonet, and a pistol with removable magazine. There’s really only one option – you sort of have to go with the prosthetic bayonet hand. We only see Merle on the show with a right hand for a few minutes. Plus, that prosthetic is the perfect weapon for a zombie apocalypse (I guess if you must chop off your own hand).

The outfit is fairly plain (you probably wouldn’t want to be super flashy when there are flesh-eating zombies after you). Merle is wearing a brownish button-down t-shirt, a white undershirt, green military pants (with lots of pockets and zippers), and a pair of brown boots. The clothes are given a weathered look, and the undershirt might even have some coffee stains on it.

Overall, the 1/6th scale Merle Dixon is a good grab for this price point. While all of the other high-end 1/6th scale collectibles are inching towards $250 per figure, Threezero continues to hold in there below $175. That is definitely appreciated by my pocketbook – err…wallet (I carry a wallet and not a pocketbook, I swear!).

So if you’re a fan of AMC’s The Walking Dead, or maybe you’re a Michael Rooker fan who has wanted to complete your 1990’s 1/6th scale Cliffhanger collection, I recommend you picking up Threezero’s Merle Dixon figure. Just make sure to look at him straight-on, or else he will likely give you the evil eye.

The Facts



1/6th scale Merle Dixon

Series: The Walking Dead
Manufacturer: Threezero
Material: Articulated plastic body
Authorized Likeness: Michael Rooker
Dimensions: 1/6th scale
Outfit: Brown short-sleeve shirt; White tank top undershirt; Green military pants; Belt with holster; Brown boots
Accessories: Pistol with removable magazine; Pair of fists; Pair of relaxed hands; Pair of hands for holding gun; Prosthetic right arm with bayonet
Pricing: $164.99

Threezero provided this figure for review.

To pick one of your own up, check out the following:

Sideshow Collectibles: $164.99
Amazon.com: $229.99

 

Chicken Fried Toys’ Dime Novel Legends

There are three genres of films that I will undoubtedly watch if they are on television. Combined, they take up probably 1/3 of my Plex library. And my wife hates them. They would be Kaiju, Kung-Fu, and Spaghetti Westerns. So when I randomly came across Chicken Fried Toys' Dime Novel Legends, I was shocked to see that it had already been funded on Kickstarter (and that I had not heard anything about it).

Based on archetypes from Westerns, the 1/18th scale series features characters like The Marshall, The Cow Puncher, The Man In Black, The Badlands Vigilante, and plenty of others. Then, there are build-a-figure options, with bodies, heads, weapons, and garb available. Luckily - for those slackers amongst us - Chicken Fried Toys is currently taking pre-orders via their BackerKit page.

Figures range from $28.00 to $40.00, depending on the character. The pricing might give some folks pause, given that these guys measure about 4 inches in height. But where else will you be able to get a little mustachioed bartender who can serve up your G.I. Joe guys a round of ale?

Threezero x Zao Dao

I had to do a little investigative journalism here with this one. Threezero posted the above image with a brief description (in Japanese, which I do not read nor speak). Now, they've been posting little hints and clues about the above figure - from artist Zao Dao - but, I believe, this is the first time we're seeing the 1/6th scale figure's face sculpt (or anything more than accessories). Her first art book - Song of Sylvan - is "an adventure of a young swordsman from the mountains." You can check out the cover below, which looks a whole lot like what threezero is promising collectors.

Attention program – Pop! Movies: Tron

Here's a Funko Pop! series I can get behind...or, well...just purchase. The Pop! Movies: Tron series includes two of the main characters from the 1982 Disney live-action film. This series features Tron – the self-monitoring security program, and the evil program Sark. Both Pop!s comes sporting discs from their fierce disc battle. And each one has a 1-in-6 chase variant.

So Tron is one of my favorite 80's sci-fi films, but I never understood the love from Tron and lack of love for Flynn. Flynn was the main character, right? I mean Tron had his moments (like the final battle against Sark), but the film was primarily about Flynn being stuck inside ENCOM mainframe. And why no 1/6th scale Tron figures? The 1980's is money, folks!

Go ahead and pre-order over at Amazon.com. Or you can pick up some of Funko's already released Tron figures from other toy lines.

Emilio Subirá’s The Ink Sucker

Emilio Subirá has come up with a new character creation he's calling The Ink Sucker. This combination mosquito/tattoo machine was designed and produced as a comission for Emilio's tattooer friend Aitor Mo. And now he's offering a limited edition run of 6 pieces of this resin figure available to collectors.

So I'm guessing maybe this is a tattoo machine that suck out the ink? The 5-inch tall figure is available today at http://emiliosubira.storenvy.com/ for $125.00. Each one includes a certificate of authenticity and comes signed and numbered.

Back to The Future of Plastic and Plush

I like to keep readers updated on my decisions here at the site.

Lately, I've noticed that most of my output and effort with Plastic and Plush goes into reformatting and reposting press releases. While that's all great and it clearly helps gets the news from companies to readers, there are all sorts of outfits slinging in press release regurgitation. I'd prefer to bring something to the table that other sites don't...

So, in the upcoming weeks, I will be focusing on covering a broader swath of "pop culture-dom". There will be more effort put towards regularly posting toy reviews. Expanding content to film reviews. I might even do impromptu mobile posts and use my cell phone for more than just an expensive email machine. So there will be changes. I will likely be working on the overall look of the site. And I will ask for feedback. 

As far as toy news. I will be grouping a lot of those press releases/info/images into single posts, sometimes grouped by company or license or subject (pre-order, release, etc). 

If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to shoot me an email at brian@plasticandplush.com

Pop! TV: Bob Ross Series 2

I will credit myself partly to blame for this, but Funko has announced that they will be releasing a Pop! TV: Bob Ross Series 2. I bought the first Bob Ross Pop! figure, featuring The Joy of Painting's soft-spoken host holding a painting palette and brush. But Funko's playing off that nostalgia, with four new figures. There's Bob Ross with a baby raccoon, a chase piece (1-in-6) of Bob Ross with a baby owl, Bob Ross sporting trendy yellow overalls and carrying an oversized paint brush, and Bob Ross with PeaPod his pet Squirrel (a Target Exclusive).

You can pre-order these or pick up the already released Bob Ross Pop! figure over at Amazon.com.

REVIEW: Andre the Giant’s Posse Has a Posse

Recent trends have seen the “designer toy scene” shift from what was primarily dominated by small run (100 to 500 pieces) production vinyl to limited edition (1 to 100 pieces) resin. The advantage? Pretty much anyone can produce figures using resin. Sculpt something. Create a mold. Pour resin into the mold. Rinse and repeat. Plus, it’s much cheaper - there’s no tooling, going back and forth with the factory, and no shipping from China.

With that said, it’s the main reason we’ve seen a shift - by individual artists - from vinyl to resin. The licensed stuff still gets play in vinyl, because they can be created in such large amounts that its economically feasible. But those artists, unless they have worldwide appeal, don't see the vinyl production like they used to. There's still resin. And one of those artists currently slinging in the resin game is Junk Fed.

Artist Todd Rogers (aka Junk Fed) tends to sway more towards 1980’s (with some 70’s and 90’s) nostalgia with his creations. From the Thundercats to Star Trek, all sorts of retro pop culture find themselves mashed up and/or bootlegged. Right now, we're going to take a look at Junk Fed's Andre the Giant's Posse Has a Posse.

Let's see if we can follow this. Back in the late 1980's, artist Shepard Fairey created a sticker called Andre the Giant Has a Posse. That sticker evolved into OBEY Giant. OBEY Giant was also influenced by John Carpenter's cult film They Live (which, coincidently starred a different professional wrestler - Roddy Piper).

All of this loops back around to Junk Fed's Andre the Giant's Posse Has a Posse. The 5-inch tall hand-sculpted, hand-cast, and hand-painted resin figure is a comic take on Fairey's original sticker design. But the figure specifically features Andre as an alien from They Live. Now, if you're reading this thinking "What is this movie?" I'm sorry. Because you have missed a piece of cinema that rivals the historical and societal impact of ten Citizen Kanes. With memorable quotes and a nearly six-minute-long fight scene that rivals Swan Lake in its pageantry, you should buy/rent They Live right now.

The Andre resin is posed similar to his 1980's LJN Wrestling Superstars figure - flexing with his hands near his head. The piece is painted in the blue, white, and red details of the They Live aliens (sorry for the spoilers, but I just told you to watch the movie). And given the continued popularity and cult status of the film, it's sort of strange that the only "toys" based on the film are customs and bootlegs inspired by the movie.

The piece has no points of articulation. CONSUME Battle him against your old-school WWF collectibles at your own risk. CONFORM Andre the Giant's Posse Has a Posse is currently available to purchase from Junk Fed for $50.00 (although it's currently out of stock) BUY.

The Facts



Andre the Giant’s Posse Has a Posse
Manufacturer: Junk Fed
Artist: Todd Rogers
Material: Resin
Dimensions: 5 inches tall
Points of Articulation: Zero
Pricing: $50.00

You can pick one up at the following:

Junk Fed Store: $50.00 each

The Magically Ugly Unicorn

Rampage Toys' classic figure The Ugly Unicorn gets a magical mash-up by artist Dethchops. Clutter has released this special double-cast guts piece in a pair of colorways: Slimer and Magenta Meltdown. Hand-sculpted by artist Dethchops, the guts are cast in gossamer patterns and are glow-in-the-dark. Each piece has been hand-created in New York by Clutter Studios. Both colorways are listed to runs of 25 pieces, which can be purchased for $125.00 each.