VIZZINI

THE PRINCESS BRIDE (MCFARLANE TOYS)

Back nearer the beginning of the year, the first series of The Princess Bride figures from McFarlane Toys hit retail.  It covered the basics for the film’s cast, and was generally not as bad as it could have been, given that it was, you know, McFarlane, and all.  A follow-up was announced very shortly after the first, which includes variants on all of the first assortment’s characters, as well as one new addition.  I’m looking at said new addition, Wallace Shawn’s Vizzini, one of the film’s most inconceivably memorable characters, today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Vizzini is one of the four figures in Series 2 of The Princess Bride figures from McFarlane.  As noted above, he’s the only unique character from this assortment, and, going by how the line seems to be performing, he’s probably going to be the last unique character we’re going to see from the line.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 35 points of articulation.  His height means he’s a little shorter than the other figures, but he’s not enough shorter to accurately represent Wallace Shawn.  For accurate sizing, he should be almost an inch and a half shorter than the Inigo figure, when in reality he’s only a half an inch shorter.  It’s almost an inch off.  Flip side is that he happens to be in almost perfect scale with the Fezzik figure.  So, in a line-up with the three criminals, like in the movie when they first appear, it’s Inigo who winds up looking out of place.  But, you know, he’s the one that’s actually in proper scale…so it’s weird.  Scaling issues aside, the actual sculpt is pretty solid.  The likeness on the head is on par with the rest of the line, so it’s not spot-on, but it’s also close enough to be recognizable.  The expression is a good fit for the character, with that goofy grin and all.  The detailing on the outfit is pretty sharp, with a bunch of really great texturing.  The articulation scheme is a little less awkward looking here than on the rest of the line, which is certainly a plus.  The paint work on Vizzini is on par with the rest of the line.  The base work is all pretty cleanly handled.  We’re still getting the slightly odd grey smear for the five o’clock shadow, but it’s not quite as thick.  The eyes lose the side eye thing, so that’s a plus.  I also really dig how the accenting on his tunic turned out.  Vizzini is packed with two goblets and a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

With the four figures we got out of Series 1, I wasn’t expecting a Series 2, to be honest.  In the back of my mind, I was hopeful for a Vizzini, so his inclusion in Series 2 is pretty awesome.  He’s a slightly better quality of figure than the Series 1 figures, so that’s actually quite nice.   And hey, they actually made a Wallace Shawn figure!  How cool is that?

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.