Scott Pilgrim VS. The World
A belated Happy
New Year, everybody! To kick 2014 off in style I’ll be looking at Mezco's Scott
Pilgrim 6" figure from the 2011 line, "Scott Pilgrim VS. The
World".
Whilst the line
shares its name with the 2010 film adaptation (and the second book in the
series, but I digress), this figure is basically a perfect 3D version of Bryan
Lee O'Malley's original comic hero. For the uninitiated, Scott Pilgrim is a
Canadian slacker/musician/fighter/goof ball who, in order to date Ramona
Flowers (the roller skating, Amazon.ca delivery woman of his dreams), has to
defeat, in combat, her seven evil exes.
Whilst that's
the pitch, the actual story is far more about Scott eventually growing up and
learning to fight for what he believes in, amidst a tangled web of believable
and character driven personal relationships. The series, published by Oni Press and with O'Malley's superb
and continually evolving artwork, is a must read for any fans of comics, gaming
and general geek culture, and is the only comic I've been able to get non-geeks
invested in. Well, apart from Preacher – but that should be compulsory reading,
right?
The package
proudly promotes that this guy is for adult collectors, and is "unsuitable
for anyone under the age of 14", but there's less here to harm a pre-teen
than you'd get with, say, the Wolverine: Origins Deadpool figure. Scott
comes packed with his bass guitar and the Power of Love sword (the latter a
superb power up at a later point in the series), and he wears them both
extremely well. I think that the warning may be more for the sake of the figure
itself, as it feels fragile – not like bone china, but I wouldn’t trust it
falling even just two feet onto a hard surface. I imagine that was part of the
reason Mezco omitted the phrase ‘action figure’ from the cardback…
Scott has a ball
jointed head and ball joints with pivots at both shoulders. The arms swivel at
the T-shirt sleeve and the wristbands, he has a swivel waist, and that's it -
solid from the waist down. Whilst this articulation range has proven an issue
before (as with Clone Commando Boss), the upper-body articulation and the
dynamic posing of his legs allow this figure to do what he needs to do – Scott
can pose with either or both of his accessories or empty handed and still look
good.
A massive part
of Scott’s expressiveness is due to the design, sculpt and articulation of the
head. Scott carries a determined, punchy expression that captures the nuances
of O'Malley's character exquisitely, and the ball jointed neck allows a range
of motion that accentuates the pose. Whilst Scott Pilgrim is a goofy character
most of the time, the head on this one looks much better than what was
eventually released for the second figure. The paint apps are superb on both
the figure and the accessories, with big, crisp eyes and sharp lines on Scott
(including his trademark sweatbands and a snazzy pair of Adidas kicks), a
harlequin-style hilt for the sword, and a sunburst paint finish on the guitar,
with details for the pickups and dials. This one does O’Malley’s work justice.
The bass guitar
has a faux-leather strap which fits snugly over his head to allow for some nice
axe-wielding poses, and the sword is a single piece of nicely sculpted plastic.
For his standard on-the-shelf pose I like to tuck the sword into the guitar
strap across his back, Leonardo style. I don't know if it was designed that
way, but I like it when a figure can keep all its accessories together.
As a display
piece this Scott Pilgrim is superb, and the articulation lets me switch up the
pose every once in a while to keep my shelf looking fresh. As a figure it's
slightly less impressive, as it feels too fragile to withstand any real
action... but then I don’t really think that’s the point with this guy. Either
way, I'm a huge fan of the character, and Mezco have delivered a solid figure
of him.
*****
Thanks for reading!
