VETERAN WILLIAM

 I AM NOT A FURRY BUUUUT... i dont remember the last time we had an original figures series, not based on anyhting existant, just brand new characters from a brand new fiction. McFarlane did it with his Dragons, Military men or the Tortured Souls but at the end of the last century, it wasnt rare see such event. I remember the Spew Crew, the Madballs, Mosnter in my Pocket, Supenaturals....but in this century is very rare to see it, even McFarlane has given up to design his own stuff and is now reproducing DC like a madman.

And then, enters the furry fandom....i mean, Maestro Union, a misteryous (another one) brand new company with an original concept: The Furay Planet, a collection of characters half human and half beast that comes from differents parts of an alternate version of the earth popullated by anthropomorphic beings. A concept that sound straigth from the 80s or the 90s but now day it have a very tiresome name attached to it: furry.

The very first time i saw this figures i was blown away. They looked way too amazing to be real and the first images floated on the internet for more than a year and when they finally came out....i wasnt able to get the first figure; Croker the crocodile. The lack of information about it realy made him fly away from my sigth and i still plan on get him later but it was imposible for me to let the second figure escape my grasp.

Veteran William, a british ex-military werewolf turned into a hunter. He wasnt cheap but once i got the huge and REALLY heavy box with all the cool graphics of Furay Planet, i was sure it was worth it. Once i open him i notice he was too cheap for the quality he have. In 1/12 scale this guy is in perfect scale as the NECA, McFarlane figures or other standar action figures in the market but since this is a werewolf, a man beast, he is as twice as tall as a average human being.

Also like i already said aside of being taller than the average action figure, this guy is really heavy and despite of that....he can stand on his own. This was a huge surprise for me since digitigrade figures are a pain in the ass to stand. The Xenomorph frpm Alien and the Gargoyles have a tail that works like a tripod, but Veteran Willaism tail is short soo he need to stand only on his feet and he does it!!!!

Sure some poses needs a little balance, but the enginering of his legs is really fantastic as well as the power of those articulations. Plus, his paws have an extra fur on the back side soo they are not as small as they seem and they ccan hol him perfectly.

This guy have a ball joint on his head but also the neck have an extra ball joint on the base soo the ehad cna tilt to the sides, up and down a lot. Theres ball joint son the shoulders, cut articulation on the biceps, ball joint on the elbows and the wrists, he have an amazing ball joint on his chest but also on his waist that let him tilt his entire body a lot. The articulations on his legs are also ball joints as wella s the knes, the "ankles" (i dont know how to call the half section of a dog feet) and the base of the feet themselves can can be adjusted to any direction, not only to the frint but to the sides as well.

His tails have a ball joint but also other 3 articulations. Truth is the tail sections rotate but cant bend too much soo the movement is minor, but is amazing they add articulations on the tail itself, tough the ball joint that conect it with the body have a loot of movement. 

Every single articulation have total freedom of movement since the jacket is made of pretty soft plastic and the pants are cut on the back soo he can bent his legs and arms as much as desired but is also capable of very fine and small movements. Not only that but the articulations are strong enough to hold the pose even with such long arms of heavy body.

The sculpt is beautifull. The big menacing tusk protunding from his mouth, the long snout and abundant hair on the sides as well as the short and pinty ears make him look like a real monster and not just a canine. The sculpt on the hair is pretty sharp and follow the flow perfectly around his head and also around his neck thanks to an extra hairy collar piece designed to cover the long neck articulation (made of sift plastic of course).

This beast is really muscly but very fit an aerodynamic, with no fat or over muscle, just pure raw muscle with veins covering each segment and hair coming our from certain parts, like his pubes or his arms or the back of his legs. The hair in this sections is abundant, sharp and pretty stylish looking but never gets in the way of the articulations.

I love his feet, the huge claws on his feet as well as the heart shaped beans on the base of them are really really cute and i also love is hands with long fingers and the amazing transition between long hair and bare skin.

The jeans he is using are about to explode since they wrap around his legs musculature soo perfectly and natural and still keep the texture of jeans. Same for the jacket since it have such a delicate rugged texture of fabric while keeping the flow of the wrinkles perfectly matching the arms muscle structure. 

I wish the collar of the jacket was a separate piece soo it dosnt looks too plain but thats a very minor issue comapred to the quality of the sculpt of the buttons, pockets and other datils on its design and is fully open on the back side where the tail is coming out and let his legs move freely thanks to the soft material.

Other elemnts of his outfit consist on an extra belt made with soft plastic, full of pockets and some shotgun shells on the side. The belt can be anoying at times but once put under the tail, both the tail and belt keep the two sections in place and also the shotgun shells can be removed!!! Amazing attention to detail but they dont fall easy since the rubber material of the belt keeps them in place.

There is also two sets of dog tags. One with 8 dog tags from William first team and another with 4 dog tags from his second team as a freelance mercenary. All the teams are dead soo this dog tag are a memento of his old friends. Both sets are conected at the top part and made with soft rubber plasticto be more confortable when moving the neck.

The paint job is brillant. The red gums and yellow fangs as well as black lips are perfectly painted. The yellow eyes shine over dark eye lids and the color of the fur is just soo abundant. This is not a young wolf, this is a mature man, soo asaide of the bwon fur with shadows and high ligths theres gray sections as well on his beard and the sides while theres some blond on the top of his shirt hair on the head. 

The neck piece follow this same color pathern while his back have this dark brown color and the front of his torso have a gradient of orange that turn into white just at the center of his chest and abs. The change of color is extremelly natural and soft and accentuates his perfect musculature.

His arms and legs have the same rich amount of color, with darker browns full of shadows and softer browns close to the hands as wella s in the feet, with the hair of his legs turning into blonde. Also theres a lot of grey on the hair on his arms and his legs but also his entire tail is also turning grey and the looks is just beautifull and contrast perfectly with the brown. You see, this is not just plain grey, but looks almost dusty...almost like a shine of light that is also present on the top of his hands and make his finger and feet black claws stand even more.

The color of the jeans is also really really good with some dark washes in the inside of the wrinkles to give them a lot of deep and volume and the belts also looks really natural with the golden buckle and the vibrant red shortgun shells. The jacket have a dark color with a lot of aging using yellow paint, specially on the neck section and the end of the two tails. It looks like the jacket is full of moss or mud and the sleeves have the same yellow effect that makes them looks really idrty and old.

Finally is his weapons: a leather panel on his back with two belts around his arms to hold it. The pane is made with hard plastic but the belts are soft and can be adjusted like a real belt, tough the pin that hold them in place is pretty small and i am afraid of broke or. The paint is really really realistic with even the small metal pins perfectly painted and both the brown color and texture matching that of leater.

Theres 3 weapons attached to this back panel: two knifes and a shotgun, each on a separate sheat that can be removed or moved around from the panel. The scult have a very soft leather texture with golden accent as well of a lot of aging effect and paint and also scratches. This is just a cheat for the weapons and is an item attached to Willaim´s back but still....the realism in the sculpt and paint is astonshing!!

The knifes are strangelly clean looking with metalic grey blades and brown handle but also have a golden spiky structure that covers William fingers soo they can be also deadly brass knuckles.

The shotgun is a short model with a pretty old looking shape consiting on a wood brown handle and the rest being metal black with golden locks on top. There is an articulation in the middle soo the shotgun can be open and the shells can be removed. They can be removed!!! I only saw this level of detailing in 1/6 scale figures form Hot Toys or Sideshow.

I usually when i review a figure i talk first about its balance, the articulations, the scult, paint and accesorys but this time tough i am having a hard time since theres just way too many things to talk about this wolf and many elements of his outfit can be removed and count as accesorys.

Aside fo his jacket, belt, dog tags and shotgun and knifes he also comes with 4 pairs of hands: one fully open, one claw shapped, one to hold the shotgun and another to hold the knifes. The sculpt and paint is excelent and match each other perfectly and are also pretty easy to remove and use, tough fitting the knifes on the grip hands is kind of tricky thanks to his long fingernails.

There is also a snarling extra head with one of his eyes being almost close and a side of his lips up. Looks like he is growling, looks like he is triying to smile, looks like he is about to wink and being seductive but in fact....he is smoking a cigar...the cigar is just a small bron plastic with orange and brown paint on the tip. The other side of the tip can be inserted between William fangs and it stays there...most of the time since its extremelly easy to lose and i already did it twice already. It ads a lot of personality but demands extreme care.

Theres another head with a fully open roaring mouth. It looks really menacing, specially for the scale and the red paint of the inside of the mouth looks wet and natural while the fangs can be admired fully in this specific head. The head exchange works easy and adds a lot to the display options.

But thers more...even more. There is also extra biceps with no jacket....just base and veiny muscles. Remove the jacket aaaannnnddd.... the arms. As shocking as it sounds, is pretty easy to remove the arms and replace the jacket covered shoulders and arms with the nude biceps and shoulders and add back the forearms section.

Then you have William shirtless for more wild fun. The peg of the elbow articulation is pretty easy to insert back on any of the arms as well as the shoulder ball joint tough they also included a couple of brown rings that goes inside the shoulders hole, soo theres no gap between arms and torso. The jacket arms also included a couple of green rings for the same reason and i am susprised this whole process is soo easy to do over and over again.

And finally, thanks to an experimental drug William can turn into a full wolf beast with the addition of two extra parts: a furry mane as well as an extra nude hips and thigs....

Just hold his torso, hold his pants and pull them apart. This needs a HUGE brute force and a lot of bravery since is was really really afraid to broke this since the only thing inside his hips is a rof with a ball joint that conect to his stomach. After a big "BLOOP" sound and a lot of sweating, Veteran William ends cut in half.

Remove the tail from the pants legs as well as the feet from the knes down and add them back to the nude hips and there you have it, totally nude and graphic Veteran William. The legs muscularute is even more amazing than the pants and he have a grey and hairy bulgue that matches perfectly the rest of his body and the movement of the waist and legs is just the same as the clothed version.

And lastly the mane: a big lion like manye with a beautifull sharp sculpt as well as brown paint with golden and blonde tones in the front and shiny gilver and grey in the back. This piece goes over his shoulders and is made with soft plastic while the fur section that goes always on the neck, this time covers the hole that the mane leaves between the head and the articulation.

This is probally the most badass, amazing, cool and menacing werewolf figure i ever seen. The attention to detail is astonishing, the paint is soo rich and vibrant, the articulation gives a lot of freedom and is strong enough to let you play with it and the balance of the figure is really perfect. I cant seem to find a thing to complaing in here aside of the articulations being painted, soo theres a chiping of it each time i move him. Also for some reason he have a scratch on one of his knes but i swear it was like this when i took him out of the box, but aside of that and just with blue colors this would be the perfect Jon Talbain....

As shocking as this is, thats not all!! The last accesory is a graphic novel featuring 3 chapters on Veteran William life in comic form. From his start as a soldier who lose his entire team thanks to his comander, to been thrown in jail and then being affiliated to a group of crazy mercenarys, and finall being subject to an experimental drug where him and his mates are changed to full beast and kil each other with William being the only survivor.

The printing quality is not the best at times and i am not sure wath to think about the quality of the art. At times is really beautifull and detailed, but at times looks extremelly sketchy and cartoony and also the whole book is really dark, but then again, the story it self have a lot of graphic sex, gore and violence soo this questioanble sketchy look kind of fits the story.

There is also a section with some fan art from fans from asia and i wish the quality of the rinting was much better since some of this images really deserv it. This is not the best comic and the text is on chinese soo i cant read it, but the fact Maestro Union is including lore and a story with the figure is really apreciated and something i didnt seen in like...15 years or more.

Mestro Union is really giving a lot of love to this unknown and almost underground project but thats just the tip of the iceberg, since the quality of the figure is above to almost anything on the market rigth now and lives much more expensive brands (like Figma or Plays Arts Kai) in total shame.

I am ectastic with this figure. It was tough to write this review but it also take me days to find out everything about this figure, find all his secrets and details and theres soo much to talk about him....theres soo many pictures to take since i ony post here a handfull of all the ones i took of him, theres just soo much in here, much more than any other 1/12 scale figure and this is not only the best werewolf figure i ever seen, but is also one of the very finest and best action figure i ever seen in my almost 40 years of collecting.