BROCK SAMSON

THE VENTURE BROS (BIF BANG POW!)

Though the show is named after Hank and Dean Venture, the unquestionable break out character from [adult swim]’s The Venture Bros is undoubtedly Patrick Warburton’s Brock Samson, the Walking Swedish Murder Machine.  Brock’s the show’s send-up to the likes of Race Bannon, a body guard paid to keep our exceedingly danger-prone protagonists safe, and one of the few characters on the show to at least be moderately aware of the utter insanity of the happenings around him.  And, unsurprisingly, when it came time for toys, Brock came right along.  I’m taking a look at one of those today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Brock was the first figure from Bif Bang Pow!’s rather short-lived smaller-scale The Venture Bros line.  After their plan to put the whole line into production a wave at a time via pre-orders fell through, they switched gears to do things a single figure at a time, starting with Brock here.  There were actually a few different versions of Brock available, with standard black t-shirt, bloody, white t-shirt, and naked all as options.  This one would be the standard.  Brock’s about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 10 points of articulation.  Height wise, there was some discussion that he was a bit too tall for a 1:18 line, but Brock is pretty comedically large in the cartoon, and seems about right to me.  Brock’s articulation scheme is the same as the two boys.  It’s a rather basic set-up, and perhaps a touch rudimentary, but at least it remained consistent throughout the line.  While the boys were definitely a far more early show set-up, Brock’s design is a slightly later show look, after he’s ditched the polo shirt of the first season or so, and streamlined to just the t-shirt.  It’s more classically Brock, I think, so it sticks with the overall iconography for the line.  Brock does an alright job of capturing the character’s 2D design in 3D.  The signature pieces of his look are definitely there.  The shaping on the head’s a tiny bit off, especially when viewed directly from the front, but in general it’s pretty close.  I think Dean is still the most accurate of the three I’ve got, but I’d place Brock ahead of Hank, at least.  Brock’s paint work is quite nice.  It’s sharp and clean for the most part.  The eyes are slightly off, but that’s really it; everything else looks quite good.  Brock was packed with a single knife, which he can either hold or stow in the sheath on his belt.  You can also augment him with the extra weapons that were packed with the boys, if you’re so inclined.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

“These pair make for a nice little set.  Maybe someday I’ll actually find a Brock to go with them, but until then at least I have the two of them.  Go Team Venture!”

-Me, 2017

So, hey, about that… It’s been four years, to the date even, since I closed out my pair of Hank and Dean Venture reviews with a quiet hope that I might eventually get a Brock to go with them.  And here I am, with a Brock to go with them.  That’s pretty cool, I guess.  I wound up digging him out of a rather large collection of mixed items that came into All Time a few weeks back.  There were no other Venture Bros figures, but he was there, and that’s what I was looking for.  He’s not an amazing figure or anything, but he’s on par with the other two, and I’m just happy to have finally gotten him.