CHRIS REDFIELD & MR.X

 

Go Nagai´s toy company, Moby Dick Toys, was the very first to release Resident Evil figures in the asian market and under direct supervision of Capcom, the BIOHAZARD 3 Real Shock Action Figures not only were pretty huge but they looked exactly like the artowkr used on the games, much more closer to Capcom´s original vision than even the game themselves on the Playstation. Sadlly, given the non-existant distribution and the change of heart to release the figures not in pairs, but individually, made this serires virtually imposible to collect!!

Serires 5 was released as two individual figures - Serires 5 and 6 - but Serires 6 was released both in pairs and individually, in asia it was Serires 6 Chris Redfield and Mr.X but in the western market it was Serires 7 Chris and Serires 8 Mr.X....yes i know, pretty confusing, but for the sake of this review and because i got this guys in a huge box together and not in individual blisters, i will stock to the original plan to count them as a pair.

Soo...Series 6 Chris Redfield & Mr.X....wath are this two doing in a Biohazard 3 serires? I dunno, and waths even more confusing, Chris was his Code Veronica version and Code Veronica wasnt out yet back then, soo this was actually kind of a big spoiler in 1999. Chris is of course a head taller than Jill and Claire soo he is the same size as Carlos and cant stand on his own but like always, he comes with a pretty simple but handy base.

He is articulated on the neck, shoulders, biceps, wrists, waist and boots tough only his neck and shoulders have ball joint, the rest are cut articulations that moves on one direction soo come up with a good pose aside of the one he is sculpted is almost imposible, making him a semi articulated statue.

He is sculptes shoting the rokcte launcher like in the ending of Resident Evil 1, wich makes it even more anoying why he is using the Code Veronica outfit, he would be much better on his classic STARS uniform. The sculpy is extremelly bland and boring, sure his build is very athletic and looks better than Carlos, but given how tigth his pants are theres not much wrinkles here and his black vest is really simple, specially since its sculpted on a single piece unlike Claire´s leather jacket.

The face sculpt is also extremelly bland and generic. I mean is not like characters had too many face features back then on the FMV´s but this Chris looks even more basic than a manequin. The paint is at the same blacn level,his blue eyes are OK but the line hair and pink lips are extremelly messy, but also the skin tone is soo soo orange.

Really, i cant understand why is he soo orange, they even give him darker orange tones on his elbows and neck soo it looks extremelly unnatural. The rest of his body is juts green and black with some silver details here and there and the STARS logo on his back painted in plain white, its way too cimple and even kinda cartoony looking but at least istn as bad looking as his skin.

He have a glock pistol tough it fits nicelly on the holster on his leg soo i leave it there. His main weapon tough is the rocket launcher from the first game. The sculpt is OK, completelly hollow and looks kinda cheap since tehres no paint in here and is a little tricky rest it on his shoulders while he hold it with both arms tough once in the rigth position looks pretty reminiscent of the first game.

His base is on the same shape as the rest tough this time it got the STARS logo and the BIOHAZARD logo in red. The paint on the STARS logo is really really good, much better than the one on Chris himself. Also he comes with an extra part to build Nemesis Type-3 but as individual part is not specially interesting.

The second figure is Mr.X, a monster Chris never meets, but just like Nemesis, this creature is amazing looking. One of the taller figures of the serires, reaching a Play Arts Kai size, this guy can stand perfectly on his own and is articulated on the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, legs and knes. All cut joints with very limited movement except his head and shoulders that are ball jointed and just like Nemesis, his long coat make his legs articulations completelly pointles.

The sculpt here is magnifiscent. The shape and face features on his face are exactly the same as in the Capcom artwork. Its weird how he is supposed to look dead and empty yet his face is more livelly than that of Chris´s. His cuat design and boots are really really awesome and stylish and the lower half of his coat i made entirelly of soft ruber, soo while he cant move his legs too much, his pants are completelly sculpted under it just like Nemesis.

His coat is just pitch black, and with the plastic material it looks just like leather. There is only a few silver details here and there, like in the buttons, the belt and puch of the sleeves end and the paint aplication is perfect. His head is completelly brown with just his white eyes shining on it, much more elegant and less busy than the remake one with the silly hat and weird waves on his face. This is the original Mr.X.

His accesorys are a cpuple of extra hands, one open palm to try holding someone and another in claw shape to actually hold a prety. they arent easy to change tough thanks to the hard material and amll socket but it was standar for Moby Dick Toys.

Up at this point it was deffinitive: Moby Dick Toys didnt care at all male characters. The ladys of Resident Evil looks OK, rpetty on an standar way, but the guys Chris and Carlos looks pretty bad and lazy, unlike the creatures that soo far are really spectacular. This Mr.X was a HUGE improvement over the silly ToyBiz one and 23 years later, they still dont make a better one.

CHRIS REDFIELD & CERBERUS

 When Resident Evil came out it was such a big deal: it was edgy, gritty, grotesque, dark, the characters had all the Capcom charm and the storyline was much better than any Hollywood horror movie (and in 2023 RE is still way too much for Hollywood), basically it was a pulse stoping experience that carved on the mind of anyone who played it and just in the middle of that storm, ToyBiz released the Resident Evil action figures to start theyr "Videogame Super Stars" serires.

And those toys where also a big deal just as the game since i remember many people keep asking me where i got my figures. ToyBiz was such a huge name back in the 90s, along side Kenner, Galob, Hasbro, Mattel, they made a huge collection of toys based on Marvel, the X-Men, Spiderman, but the Resident Evil figures where pretty different.

They had the wonderfull idea to release them in pairs: two figures together in one pack for better interaction tough they were not specially big, they came in the same scale the Kenner figures did and of course, the very first pack of the collection was the main character and the first enemy to be seen in the game: Chris Redfield and Cerberus dog.

This two can stand on theyr own tough Chris needs a little bit of balancing, specially with his weapons but they can stand with no problem. He is articulated in the neck, shoulders, elbows, legs, knes and ankle in a 90s way: all cut joints that move ony in one direction except the shoulders, that are ball joint and have a good range of movement, but the rest of the articulations dosnt offer too much freddom aside of a very basic battle stance.

The Cerberus is only articulated on the jaw and of course is much more smaller than Chris (something also pretty present on ToyBiz figures: add a big character and a samll one together) and the sculpt and paint is really really good. His doggy shape is pretty stylish and the black fur looks really good. The ribs can be seen as well as maggots crawling on his inside. The dark body with brown paint on his paws and belly is really nice looking for such a small scale.

Deffinetly the best part are the damaged areas, looks wet and the skull and bones looks white full of very realistic looking blood and love his protunding white eye. For me this the best part of the package, this little toy doog is soo damn good looking even for now day standars.

Is not like Chris is bad looking either tough, he is just less realistic, more cartoony since back in 1996 the ony thing we had about Chris was the 3D render of the game that didnt had too much detailing soo this is entire based on the Capcom art that came in the boocklet. I am not sure who was the artists but the art looked a lot like the standar SF art wth a pretty clean and cartoony look.

Chris have a super heroic shape with big pecs and shoulders and a thin waist, his face is pretty basic tough his hair matches the one on the artowk pretty good. One of his legs is sculpted like he is going to be ready to give an step and the entire figure dosnt have any kind of texture and looks pretty plastic. For some reason this is more evident on him than in the dog.

The paint is very basic as well to match the cartoon look, pretty strong colors specially on the green vest and redish hair. The paint work on his face is pretty good tough, the eyes are small but well defined as well as his mouth and hair line, the logo of STARS on his shoulders is perfect as well.

Chri´s accesorys are his knife that can be removed from his chest, his gun and a rocket launcher. The knife is pretty tiy looking and made with soft material and the gun dont have any kind of color, is just a black chunck of plastc but the sculpt is OK and fits on his hand pretty nicelly.

The rocket launcher tough is HUGE and dosnt looks at all like the one of the game!!It was like some kind of tradition that all toys in the 90s comes with this huge and grotesque weapons with a soring shooting action. Push a button on the top of the gun and it shot its rocket (a little too much to face a Cerberus dog). The sculot and paint of this weapon is standar from back then....and its pretty difficult for Chris to hold this grotesque weapon thing.

This are toys of the 90s designed for kids (despite how fory and horrific they look) soo this guys have an "action feature": Chris have this huge and horrible level on his back, move it down and Chris rigth arm moves up and his head turns to the same direction to automatically aim to an enemy. I hate the look of the level on his back but this feature is cute looking and works good with Chris normal weapon, not the rocket launcher.

The Cerberus dog head can be pushed down and then his literally explodes in half and you end with his lembless carcass...all blood and full of maggots. Pretty much like the Scoprion Alien from Kenner but in a much more detailed way. This was the coolest thing but isnt it a little too creppy for kids??? I dunno,....i dont have a way to know since when i was a kid i loved gory stuff.

Move Cerberus head up again and put back his half peices together and he is as good as new. In 2023 this figrues are kind of silly looking...pretty plastic, not very well articulated and with huge and cartoon weapons, yet back in 1996 this was the coolest thing to have around.