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bret_owen99
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PostSubject: torchwood review(without pics)   torchwood review(without pics) EmptySat Jan 24, 2009 8:34 pm

sorry, no cam to take pics with at the moment. anyways, i got my batch(all 4) of torchwood figures today, and since i wanted to write a detailed review of all of them, i figured i would do it here, instead of give reviews at the store page(i would take up too much space per figure, at least i think)

while i realize that these figures are not made by character options, i need to express my disapointment with them. i will also post the positive things about them, but seeing as how i've had high hopes, and tried to defend them until i had them in hand, i will criticize on the reality of the situation. keep in mind i am not a serious collector, and i do take all figures out of packages and play with them and pose them.

first, i'll list the positive things about this first wave. all figures come with a stand, that they fit into via holes in their feet. i really wish all the doctor who toys had these(i'm sure a lot of you have had a dominoe effect). this makes it really easy to stand them up, and pose them anyway you like.
the second is the package. although it is like every other toy package out there(too much plastic in my opinion), once you get it open, there is no wrestling with twisty ties(unlike the doctor who figures). you just pop the figure out, and you're ready to go. one suggestion is, i cut only the bottom of the package off, and i'm able to squeeze the center so i can get the figure in and out. works like a charm.
the third, is the poseability and sculpt of some of the figures. the figures are more poseable than i thought they would be. on most of them, you can move the arms and legs, hands, waist, and head. the most poseable is the weevil whose arms can swing to his side. none of their legs can do the splits like most co dw figures(which actually would have made more sense for the torchwood figures). overall, the poseability is more than i thought it would be.
the best looking figure imo is the weevil. up close the wrinkles on it's face will creep you out. that, and the ability to pose it into creepy poses will make it look just like the real thing. the cyberwoman comes second, and apart from the face(i'll be getting to that in the negatives), everything looks just like it did on her in the episode.

now, ladies and gentleman, on to the negatives. while i mentioned the positive aspect of the bases, i need one just to keep a figure up. my gwen figure has one bottom bow leg. it's the right leg(not as if she came with two left legs), it's just pointing out too far. she can't stand without her stand. if that's on all the figures, that's a pretty big messup.
the second is the sculpt and painting of the figures. although i praised the weevil and cyberwoman for looking just like the real things, i cannot say the same for jack and gwen. the two human, main character should have been spot on. these are the ones people are going to buy, and these are the ones they messed up the most on. while both have good body sculpts and outfits, the heads/faces are all messed up. my jack has a bad case of cross-eyes. even if he didn't, he still doesn't look a thing like jack. maybe from far away, if you're drunk. the same goes for gwen. maybe i'm a perfectionist, maybe the doctor who figures are stuck in my head, but her facial features look nothing like her. you might as well call the figure: generic black haired girl. my wife made the point that maybe they should have sculpted her smiling, so we could see the gap in her teeth, something that would have been recognizable as eve myles. nothing. even the face on the cyberwoman is not up to my standards(although i can forgive it, because the rest of the figure is so brilliant).

my summary is this, they are not worth the money i paid for them. i know it's too late, but quality is something we fans have gotten from co, and it's something we should demand from any other company. now i'm wary of getting the second wave. will i get a cross-eyes ianto or tosh? how about a captain john that looks nothing like james marsters? the only figure that will probably be spot on will be the blowfish. in a show like this, the figures of the human main characters should be the ones gotten right, not the monsters. i hope scificollector gets their act together, because if not, the disapointment of the fans will not give them the revenue to continue making waves.


Last edited by bret_owen99 on Sat Jan 24, 2009 8:37 pm; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : spelling)
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PostSubject: Re: torchwood review(without pics)   torchwood review(without pics) EmptyMon Jan 26, 2009 3:14 am

I agree, the figures really lack the quality of CO's work. I voiced my opinion on the DoctorWhoForum and was torn into by some very aggressive Pro-Sci-Fi Collector supporters.

My opinions of the Torchwood figures are in the product reviews, but to reiterate; Jack looks more like a scrawny Cary Grant with a bad case of cross-eye.
Gwen looks only slightly like Eve Myles, if you were looking at her with the lights off (then again, I know most guys would be happy with lights on, too. Wink . )
The figures aren't 5 inches tall, but are 2mm shy of 6 inches, thus putting them out of scale with the DW range, even though Sci-Fi Collector kept saying that they were.
The lack of certain articulation points also lets them down, for instance no articulation in the upper arm or thigh area. Heck, even Hasbro put more articulation on their tiny Star Wars figures, so I can't see for the life of me where Sci-Fi Collector could not do so... Then again, it could be put down to cutting costs to maximise profits.
Maybe we have been spoiled by Character Options' work, but these Torchwood figures are quite a bit of a let down, and to be honest don't warrant the higher price mark.
Then again, with Sci-Fi Collectors last shot at figurines, the quality was pretty woeful, so I should have not got my hopes up that they may have learned from how nice the CO figures are and how they are done.
Again, some people could argue that these figures are not really made in mind for playability, due to the adult nature of the show, but then why is the later being more geared towards a family crowd and moved to BBC2, and rumoured series 3 may show on BBC1?
Heck, even gwen and Ianto wound up cameoing in Doctor Who. Kids are going to want the Torchwood team.

As I stated on the DWF, if the quality improves come wave 2, then I may dip back in to finish the team, and if they also reissue Jack and gwen with a better level of quality and articulation, if not, then I'll not bother, no matter how much I'd like a Torchwood team of figures.

I think Character Options dropped the ball when they passed doing the Torchwood figures, as they would have done something more and given more posability and bang for your money.
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bret_owen99
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PostSubject: Re: torchwood review(without pics)   torchwood review(without pics) EmptyTue Jan 27, 2009 1:34 am

well, thanks, now i know i'm not alone. that's why i posted this review. everyone has their opinion, and i didn't want to get into a flaming war of their bad/good. i think everyone finds what they like and dislike about them, and some see a glass half full where i see it half empty.

i agree that co should have gotten the torchwood line. i think they did a great job on the sarah jane adventures line(i got 3-2 packs, and paid less per figure than i do doctor who). plus, the sarah jane line is in proportion to the dw line.

even if these figures were in scale with the dw line, and had more points of articulation, i still think they really messed up with the likenesses. i just don't see gwen in her face. i recently got the season 1 rose(the last revision, which i hear was better than what they first started out with), and she looks more like rose that gwen looks like gwen.

these figures, or dolls as some call them, are clearly aimed toward the scifi collector/adult(being 15 dollars a piece, more than twice what i paid for each sja figure). therefore, in my opinion, they should have done better likenesses of the human characters. i don't have any of the expensive stargate figures, but i know they all actually look like the actors that play them. even the dark knight had a deluxe joker figure that looked just like heath ledger. my point is, adult collectors want the main characters of the show more than the aliens.

i've read in other forums that people are going to repaint jack's eyes. we shouldn't have to do that. first, i'm not any good at painting, and i would just mess it up. second, when's the last time you paid 15 for a figure and it had cross-eyes? this has nothing to do with whona, or any other e-tailer, however i think scifi collector owes anyone who got a bad jack a good jack(not that there is such a thing since i don't think the face looks anything like him anyways)

these are all just my opinions i'm expressing, and anyone else can start their own review of the figures, and praise them. i waited more than 6 months for these, and i'm let down. that wasn't the case with the classic line of doctor who. some have complained about colin not being taller, thin arms, legs. i don't care. how awesome is it that we got a colin figure in his jacket? what about tom? the only thing that bugged me was shelling out 40, so i could get the timecrash set with celery. but every figure from co's classic range was awesome. not a single bad one. to me, the torchwood line is the opposite, with the weevil being about the only good one. i also like the cyberwoman, but if i hadn't wasted my money on this set, i'd be able to afford the cyberwave line coming out soon.
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PostSubject: Re: torchwood review(without pics)   torchwood review(without pics) EmptyTue Jan 27, 2009 12:12 pm

Thank you both for your honest reviews of these figures. I initially passed on getting these because I was disappointed that they were slightly out of scale with the Doctor Who figures. But now that I read these reviews it sounds like there are severe quality issues as well. I was getting tempted to overlook the scale issue and buy these anyway. I think you changed my mind.
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PostSubject: Re: torchwood review(without pics)   torchwood review(without pics) EmptyFri Jan 30, 2009 1:56 am

As I mentioned, I voiced my opinions of the figures originally on DoctorWhoForum.com in their Torchwood figures section and got chewed out by the "You must love these figures or else" brigade. There also seems to be a lot of Sci-Fi Collector apologists on that said forum, and it gets tiring hearing one excuse after another.
They dropped the ball, end of story, and they can't double talk that down to learning curves, as all they have to do is look at the CO range, as well as the Marvel and Hasbro lines. Good articulation sells a figure, and if it has barely any, or even none, then it's a statuette, and not a figure.

If SC want to be seen on equal footing as CO, then they need to learn how they do it.

But going from what I hear from mates in the UK, the Torchwood figures are for select stores only, and are not making any showings in Toys R Us, Argos and the mass retail spots where Doctor Who figures are abundant.
And, as I said above, if the second wave doesn't get any better, then I feel only the die-hard Torchwood fans and the James Marsters' fanclub will be buying.
Such a shame, as they could have been so good.
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bret_owen99
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PostSubject: Re: torchwood review(without pics)   torchwood review(without pics) EmptyFri Jan 30, 2009 2:09 am

agreed. out of 4 figures(the whole batch really), i have one cross-eyed, and one bow-legged. that's 50% failure rate in my opinion. i can't remember the last toy line that came out that bad. i understand that not every jack has cross eyes, but to those that got one, it doesn't matter. i also haven't heard anyone other than myself mention bow-legged gwen, so i wonder how many of those mess ups got out there. it's unacceptable.
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PostSubject: Re: torchwood review(without pics)   torchwood review(without pics) EmptySat Jan 31, 2009 6:24 am

Oh yeah, and CO's first ever 4 figures were absolutley outstanding weren't they?
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bret_owen99
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PostSubject: Re: torchwood review(without pics)   torchwood review(without pics) EmptySat Jan 31, 2009 1:29 pm

no, they weren't. however, this isn't 2005, it's 2009. and i've paid on average 8 dollars per doctor who figure. i paid 15 dollars per torchwood figure. out of the 80+ doctor who figures that i have, only one of them has a slight poseability defect, and i can over look that, because they are usually posed in a stationary position. i'm not trying to just bash the figures, or the company, however, i believe in honest reviews and contructive criticism. without knowing what you're mistakes are, you will repeat them. if line 2 turns out better(better likenesses, no cross-eyes, figures able to stand without having to be on their base), i will give them an honest review. 15 dollars per figure is a lot of money to me, and quite frankly, with as bad as they turned out(at least the ones i got), i am disapointed as a fan and a consumer, and am not as likely to buy the second batch.
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PostSubject: Re: torchwood review(without pics)   torchwood review(without pics) EmptySat Jan 31, 2009 1:38 pm

Sadly, the Torchwood figures are not widely available and are in limited demand compared to the Character Options figures. At the current rate of sales, I would dare say the Torchwood line was a bad idea as there is not enough demand for the figures to justify their continued release.

One of the reasons they cost so much is that they could not find wide distributorship, but got picked up through a fan-based company.
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Evil Monkey Pope
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PostSubject: Re: torchwood review(without pics)   torchwood review(without pics) EmptySat Feb 28, 2009 6:14 pm

Does that mean you won't be getting Capt. John Hart in?
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