Review: BPRD Buddies: Red and Krauss
Posted by Lindsay
I'm going through some of our back-log at this point, we've had these guys for a while but haven't had the chance to review them. However, some of the two-packs from this series are still floating around Toys'R'Us. And they STILL haven't dropped in price! We looked previously at Red and Abe, and Red and Golden Army Soldier. |
Appearance and Construction: 10/10
With these guys, as with most 2" figures, what you see is what you get. Happily, what you see here is pretty great.
Johann Krauss in adorable tiny form has lots of detail in his sculpt, and a good amount of subtle paint that really highlights the folds on the suit. Also his fishbowl head looks great. A reminder here, all the mass-market toys packages call Hellboy 'Red', and the movie itself 'HBII', presumably in an effort to protect our delicate sensibilities. I have no such qualms. Hellboy looks great. The detail is good on his face and his fist, and the BPRD symbol on his belt looks fantastic. His back is a bit plain, although that's mainly the design. He's the simplest in design of the Hellboys we have, although it's kinda nice that they did give us variety, and didn't just pack the same figure, or the same figure with a slightly different paint job, in each two-pack. There's a tiny bit of paint slop here and there, and that, plus the simplicity of Red's design, almost pulls them down to a nine, but not quite: these are awesome for their size. |
Packaging and Accessories: ---
Here you can take a look at those lovely euphemisms I was talking about. It's fine packaging, protects and shows off the figure, strong colors.
Play and Display: ---
When Erin reviewed the other figures in this line, he gave each pack a bonus point for articulation. I don't feel moved to do that here. In fact, I almost want to dock them a point.
Erin was operating under the logic that any articulation in this scale is a gift. After acquiring more Superhero Squad and Combat Heroes, I'm not so sure about that. I'm beginning to expect it. |
With these guys, it's not that they have no articulation, it's that what they have is largely useless.
Krauss has a cut joint at each wrist. This means his hands spin, which is fine, but nothing too special. Hellboy has four joints, two wrist cuts, a cut neck, and his tail spins.
Look at the figure. Don't you think he should at least have one shoulder cut? As it is, you can tweak the angle of his gaze, and the angle of the gun, but it's always going to point forward. Big deal. No bonus.
Krauss has a cut joint at each wrist. This means his hands spin, which is fine, but nothing too special. Hellboy has four joints, two wrist cuts, a cut neck, and his tail spins.
Look at the figure. Don't you think he should at least have one shoulder cut? As it is, you can tweak the angle of his gaze, and the angle of the gun, but it's always going to point forward. Big deal. No bonus.
Price Tag and Final Analysis: 10/10
This is probably the least interesting of these packs that we've picked up, which is why we bought it with a gift card. Despite sitting on the shelves for a year, the packs (mostly just the villains set we don't have) that are still floating around are the same price that we paid then: $10.49.
That's a lot for two 2-inch figures, even great ones. If you were a big fan of the movie, or the property in general, it might be worth it. You may have mixed luck online trying for any of these packs; they seem to be either "super-collectible and rare" or "clearanced to move" depending entirely on where you look. |
We do wish these had sold better, so they would make more, or perhaps they would have sold better in the first place if they'd given us a Liz.
For more musings and articles, stop by The Middle Room or The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf. See you there!