by Michael Crawford
Lara Croft is a character near and dear to every geek's heart. A butt-kickin' babe, her video games shot up the charts. It was only too obvious that a
movie was soon to follow. With the release of the first TOMB RAIDER film in 2001, Angelina Jolie got to show off her stuff, in more ways than one. Action figures
were necessary for the movie, of course, and Playmates was tapped with producing them. As much as I like most of the work Playmates does, this was not one of their
shining moments.
Last summer, the second film was released - TOMB RAIDER 2: THE CRADLE OF LIFE. There were still action figures, but this time the thought process was a little different.
Instead of trying to appeal to mostly kids with a side of collectors, they went for a main course of collectors, with a side salad of kids. The company producing
them this time around would be a relative newcomer on the block, SOTA Toys.
At first glance, this was a bit of a surprise. SOTA was best known to the public for creating the Plastic Fantasy porn star action figures, complete with all necessary
parts. But SOTA was moving into the realm of mainstreamed licensed figures, and in reality had already been sculpting some of the best lines on the market for a variety
of other companies. And considering their attention to detail, it wasn't that big of a surprise.
There were three figures released in the normal wave - Lara Croft, Lara in her wetsuit, and the Shadown Guardian. There were a handful of exclusives and
variants as well, but these three were the bread and butter. They retail for about $12 each, although you may find them on discount at this point. I have some suggestions
for finding them at the end of the review.
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, you can
always reach me at mwc@mwctoys.com. If you enjoy this review, take a minute to check out my
other site at Michael's Review of the Week, and let me know what you think. Now on
to the review!
"TOMB RAIDER - THE CRADLE OF LIFE"
This review covers the entire wave - Lara in her "normal" duds, in her silver wetsuit from the famous poster, and the evil dude, the Shadow Guardian.
Packaging - ***
They aren't clamshells, but they aren't bad for bubble/backer packaging. The art evokes the feel of the film, but it's a tad skimpy on the text and graphics.
It does show off the figure well, including all the accessories, and holds up better than average in terms of shelf wear.
Sculpting - both Lara's ***1/2; Shadow Guardian ***
The sculpting on these Lara figures beats the old figures to death with their own accessories. These really do look like Angelina, and I'm betting that a
RealScan process was used. The face likeness is extremely good, and there's enough detail work on the body to impress. The belts and holsters look good and actually
hold weapons, and the sculpt works well with the articulation.
That might be a problem though for the statue fans - the articulation. It does hurt the statue-like nature of the sculpt, making it obvious that this is an
action figure, not the Venus De Milo. Those who aren't fans of this type of heavy articulation may be put off.
The sculpt on the Shadow Guardian isn't quite as impressive, and that's partly the fault of the character itself. Let's face it, he's not all that unique,
and SOTA was certainly wise to short pack him in the cases. The action pose doesn't work particularly well with the articulation, and he had a tough time standing
on his own.
It's also worth noting that the hand sculpts on both versions of Lara work great, and can hold the various weapons with ease. That's pretty important for a figure
such as this, where posing with her iron is so important.
Paint - Wet Suit Lara ***1/2; Lara and Shadow Guardian ***
There's not much to the paint ops on the Shadow Guardian, and he's been cast in his predominate color. He does have yellow teeth with some rather nasty tooth decay,
but there's not a lot of paint work to comment on. The two Lara's are a different story.
The paint work on the two Lara's is great - almost. The wet suit version is the better of the two, but they both have excellent eyes, lips and overall details.
The colors are consistent, and I saw very little bleed between colors, even on the small details. So what's the problem? Both figures have very high foreheads.
Now, I know that Ms. Jolie has a big forehead, but not this big. And while the wet suit version has at least a little added to the hair line with the paint,
the regular version is missing some brown paint on the hairline. That detail hurts that figure quite a bit for me, especially since it's so clearly easy to see.
The regular Lara also has one area of slight inconsistency - her sleeved arms. They don't quite match the color of the rest of the jacket, and it's a tad
disconcerting. It's not the worst mismatch I've ever seen, but clearly the softer rubber of the jacket took the paint slightly differently than the hard plastic
of the arms.
Articulation - Both Lara's ****; Shadow Guardian **1/2
Both Lara's are an articulation junkie's dream. They have neck, ball jointed shoulders, cut biceps, double jointed elbows and knees, wrists, waist, ball jointed
hips, and ankles. That's about as much as you could ask for, and it all works great. You'll be able to put Lara in all kinds of action poses. And yes, I know
that sounds a little creepy.
The Shadow Guardian isn't quite as limber. He has neck, ball jointed shoulders, wrists, waist and hips. Actually, it's not bad for a figure of his girth,
but he lost points because he has a very tough time maintaining an upright position. He has some funky foot sculpts, but even once you find the sweet spot,
he tends to topple over with a little time due to loose hips.
Accessories - Wet Suit Lara ***1/2; regular Lara ***; Shadow Guardian Bupkis
The Shadow Guardian comes with zilch, zippo, nadda. Perhaps he's just such a major
bad ass he doesn't need anything else, but when a figure costs this much, I do.
Both Lara's make up for it though with some great extras.
Regular Lara has two handguns that fit perfectly in her holsters. She also comes with an extra set of arms, sleeveless, to complete her macho appearance.
Both sets of arms look great, and the hands and arms pop on and off pretty easily. Actually, the one arm and hand popped off a little too easily, and I had a tough
time keeping them on.
Wet suit Lara has two guns as well, each different from the other. I'm betting she had these in the film, but I didn't force myself to sit through the movie
even once. One gun fits nicely in the holster on her hip, and there's also a knife that fits in a boot holster. There's also a block of something - perhaps an
artifact of some sort since she is a female Indy - but again, I didn't watch the film.
Value - both Laras **1/2; Shadow Guardian **
I'm assuming you pay around $12 for these. That is getting into the too high range, particularly when these are so similar to the Marvel Legends, selling for at
least a couple bucks less. At this point though, I'm betting you can find them on clearance at stores, which means the value score would go up.
Overall - Wet Suit Lara ***1/2; Lara ***; Shadow Guardian **
Even with her faults, Wet Suit Lara is one of the nicest female figures in this scale this year. She's not perfect, and I would have
preferred slightly less forehead
on Angelina (and a couple bucks lower on the price would be good too), but the combined super articulation, great sculpting, and solid accessories combine to make
her very memorable. The regular Lara had even more paint issues but was still an above average figure, and the Shadow Guardian - well, let's just say he's better off forgotten.
Where to Buy -
Media Play, Sam Goody and Gamestop stores may have these on clearance by now. On-line options include:
- Aisle Sniper has the set of three for $30. Just search for 'lara croft'.
- Action-HQ has the Shadow Guardian for just $6, but the two Lara's are $16 each.
E-MAIL THE AUTHOR |
ARCHIVES
