HIEROPHANT & MOFISH

 

We are still n the 2000s and having fun with The House of the Dead 2 on the Dreamcast while Plisades is releasing theyr first action figure series absed on the Sega monstruositys. Sadly, they didnt sell well and series 2 were cancelled despite being totally finished and this Thoe House of the Dead action figures remain as the only merch existant of the game for 26 years. In 2022 i was able to get half of the series and now, four years later, i was able to get the remainig half of the collection.

I already reviewed Ken and the Murren Worms in the last post and now is time to take a look at Hierophant and the Mofish. For some reason this figure is extremelly exoensive and difficult to get now day but somehow i found a boxed and brand new one in a very reasonable price soo i didnt doubt i got him, plus this is the special edition exclusive for Tower Records with battle damage.

This is also the second of the bosses figures, the first one being Strenght but this creature is bigger (tough much more lighter) than the big chainsaw wielding zombie but also this is my favorite figure of the collection. I dont know why but Hierophant became one of the creatures that remins on my mind pretty strongly and i really like his design.

This monster fits with anything NECA or McFarlane soo he pretty much first with most action figures in standar size tough despite his hunched pose, he still will towers over most characters. He can stand on his own perfectly with those big claw feet and is articulated on the head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, legs, knees and the ribcage opens.

The head, wrists, and waist rotate perfectly while the legs have a very basic up artiuclation and the elbows and knees can bend reasonable well but not too much since they have only a single simple articulation while the elbows are ball jointed soo they move up and down but they cna be open as well and this are the more mobile parts of the figure. The chest can be open but most of the time the arms get in the way but the chest cavity opens enough to reveal his heart.

Made by SOTA Sculpture and Design, this is pretty much the most detailed figures of the series with the lanky musculature on his leimbs perfectly visible but also many many different types of scales!! His biceps have this long scales while his shoulders have small circular ones with big plaques like turtle on his neck and shulders and really, every single muscle part have a totally different scale design and pathern.

I specially like his bony hips since in the back he have a pretty hiddeous werid tail that dosnt looks like a fish tail but i also love those huge feet with black claws!!! Theres fins around his legs, in the back of his arms and four big lines of fins runing from his neck to galf of his back. All this fins are cast in soft plastic and they really looks spectacular, specially the back ones since they end shape i totlaly different between each other.

The face looks realy menacing with his eyes closed and the big mouth fully open and the fish fins on the top almost like wings and since this is the exclusive version of Tower records, this Hierophant is missing one  and have a bullet hole on his forehead and head fins.This wounds are covered in green radioactive blood and they stand out well against the green of his skin.

While his entire body is military green, theres a red soft airbrush on the shoulders and biceps and some other sections while the fins of the head have a blue airbrush while the feet have a much darker tone to make it looks realistic. His stomach is painted in plain white with a soft blue area surrounding it while his neck, biceps and legs are covered  on a phatern that loks like whote dots with black dots in the center, almost like eyes. All the paint aplication is perfect.

While the chest area, once open, it reveale his heart and al kind of organs around painted into a brigth red to contrast with the rest of the body, the fins have a mix of dark red, white and blue details and this includes the net around hthe fingers of his hands, painted in soft and electric blue. This make this figure the best painted of the collection deffinetly and also the most detailed (tough i like more Strenght color palette).

And since he is a boss he does comes with a weapon; a trident. This item have identations all around and bandages stained in green blood near the top. While its very simplistic and dosnt stand out, is pretty eviedent this is no generic trident but something specifically designed for Hierophant and the item have a peg that fits on a hole on his hand, this way the trident stay on his hand perfectly despite his hand not being fully closed into it.

The inclusion of a small enemy in the pack was something very common back then soo this time they included a Mofish that fighst along side Hierophant in the game. Again, there sno jaw articulation but the sculpt is really amazing with all the different mix of scales and the textures on his face, but more importantly, the paint aplication is really oustanding: green/yellow mixed with some dark airbrush, electric blue for the fins and tail, red inside the mouth and white fangs and orange eyes with a black pupil, this little guy looks soo vibrant and colorfull and amazing detailed.

And finally theres a base that consist on a oval shape stone piece with skuls and some ivy covering the The Hosue of the Dead logo. The sculpt is good and while the paint is a little too simple is not the focal point of the figure and i really like the design a lot. Also the base is purelly ornamental and dosnt help the figuere stand at all. Actually the huge feet of Hierophant covers most of the base.

From the sntire series this is deffinetly the figure i was looking for the most, not only is one of my favorites but is also the tallest and more detailed and even the Mofish looks soo damn good. Just like with the Vampire Hunter D figures, this set may looks dated deffinetly, but its shows perfectly how things used to be done back when collecting was much more simple and fun than now, when creativity was much stronger too. 

Palisades exist no more, but they really did a good job.