I’m a bit late to the Adventure Time bandwagon, not discovering it until Netflix started carrying it this year. Since then it has become one of my favorite animated series, and I quickly caught up with all the aired episodes. And being an avid toy collector, I also felt the need to show my love through the purchase of little plastic totems.
Currently the license is being held by JazWares. The make a variety of figures from two inch figurines to three and five inch articulated action figures. I was originally going to start with the larger five inch versions, but they’ve been out for a while and the pickings are pretty sparse at my local TRU. So I ended up trying the three inch figures, which seem to have just started hitting the shelves the last few weeks. I got the Finn & Jake Comic Book Pack, and the Fionna & Cake two-pack.
I’m actually a bit impressed with JazWares ability to capture these extremely animated characters in a pretty realistic 3D form. The animation on the show is simplistic yet exaggerated at the same time, and proportions only get more skewed when you have a character like Jake the Dog who constantly changes his look. The figures may look a bit odd when compared to more traditional human-shaped sculpts, but I’m pretty happy with their design when seen in the context of their animated style.
Unfortunately, it gets a bit more dicey once you go beyond the sculpt. Paint is definitely an area that you’ll want to watch out for in the stores. Simple figures like Jake and Cake have been mostly molded one color and given a few paint apps for details. This tends to work out fine, although I did notice a few Jakes with some slightly messed up eyes.
Finn and Fionna were a bit more difficult. The two I ended up picking are actually pretty good, but there were definitely some with issues at the store. Finn was the easier of the two. I mostly had to watch out for blurred paint lines between his pants and shirt, or his pants and the flesh of his legs. Fionna was a bit more challenging. The blue stripes on her socks were a constant issue on all the figures, while her black shoes also varied against the white of the socks. I even saw one where the yellow of her hair had gotten on to her face. And unknown to me until I got the figure home, there’s an unfortunately large tampo on her back that displays the copyright info. I can’t help but think that could have been done better somehow. Continue to page 2…
Ever since the craptastic 4″ Mortal Kombat ninjas multi-pack (shoddy paint, sometimes breaking while you take them out of the package), I’ve been leery of Jazwares. They need to get a better factory or hire honest foremen, methinks.
Yeah, they seem to be hit or miss. One thing I noticed about the Adventure Time stuff is that they all have a “Safety Tested” label. Noting wrong with safety testing, but I thought that was a pretty common practice for US companies. Seems kind of odd that they’re using it as a selling point instead of focusing more on quality.
Adventure Time! You guys really shouldn’t give me chances to get all excited and talk about work. We _just_ announced Munchkin Adventure Time at the office. http://www.sjgames.com/general/press_releases/130819.html
I wonder if buying Adventure Time toys now counts as research . . .
Congratulations Phil, that’s really awesome! I definitely need to try that game out.
Also, I am very jelous of your job. -_-
Thanks! It can be fun at times, but it is still a job and can be very stressful.
Is Fionna disturbingly cute? I almost want to add her to my super-heroine collection that my wife hates. “Why do you only collect pretty women?”
Because we can’t afford to buy all the good-looking guys?
My Takeya Buddhist figures aren’t women! Speaking of which:
Vault, did you get the Gunrari Myo’o and Fudo Myo’o? I’ve been waiting for a review! With the eight arms, my Gunrari has to be my most unique action figure.
Yeah, I have those two Buddha figs on order. I must have done something odd when I combined them with other figures, because the orders haven’t been filled yet. You’ll see them eventually, just not sure when.
The multiple arms look pretty fun. How do you like your two figures?
This review is Mathematical!
I love the show, and when I saw figures were available, I immediately got excited. However, when I started checking them out, I wasn’t that impressed. I guess they’re great for kids, but I was looking for something a bit….more. These almost seem like they could be Happy Meal toys.
Yeah, I know how you feel. I was wanting something more also. I’m going to try the five inch figures next. Hopefully they’ll appease my inner toy collector.
I know this show has it’s (rabid) fans, but I have yet to see more than a couple minutes of it, mostly in parody shorts.
wow, though i know they will have their flaws, these actually get me more excited than the Batman TV Show line! I never thought i would say something like that!
Any chance of seeing these beside GI Joes or SW figs. I wondered how they might look together.
I was expecting a joke with Jake, Bender, and Marcus Fenix in the review but it never came…
I’ve only caught bits and pieces of the show but I could never get into it. Not to mention I’m always leery of Jazwares figures due to the previously mentioned MK figs and I wasn’t impressed with their Space Ghost figure (why no bicep or elbow swivels!).
Otherwise, another fine review. Where did that backdrop come from?
I thought Vault would answer some of these by now so…. I made it. There. 🙂
The backdrop is several sheets of big scrapbooking paper cut into hills and then taped together, though I did use foam squares for that so they’d have a bit more depth. I have a thing for props. I’ll rail on about Vault wasting money on toys but… “$7 tiny plastic ipad on ebay?…. That is a steal! Why don’t we already have that?”
As much as I love Adventure Time, I just can’t bring myself to buy these figures 🙁 I got burned far too many times in the past by JazWare’s 6″ Mortal Kombat line. Not only was the paint sloppy, but the figures fell apart quickly, and often had ludicrous design flaws (like entirely closed-fist hands for figures that came with a large assortment of knives and swords !). Based on those past experiences, I just have a negative attitude towards JazWares.
I picked up the larger (5″?) Finn and Jake when they first came out.
I had a lot of the same feelings about them, love the sculpts, not impressed by the paint, hate the articulation. It also doesn’t help that Finn’s leg sheared off at the knee after about 30 minutes of foolin with him.
I get the feeling these figures are just shrunken down versions, right down to the rubbery arms for the fellas.
Just about the only super positive thing about the bigger guys was Finn’s accessories (backpack, Golden Sword) and the BMO that came with Jake.
You actually make it seem so easy along with your presentation however I find this matter to be really something that I feel I’d by no means understand. It kind of feels too complex and extremely huge for me. I am having a look ahead on your subsequent post, I will try to get the dangle of it!