Biff Bang Pow's Venture Brothers 3 3/4" Plastic Action Figures: Brock Samson and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch

Biff Bang Pow's Venture Brothers 3 3/4" Action Figures

Brock Samson and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch

Hi!  Thanks for joining me for part two of my look at Bif Bang Pow's 3 3/4" plastic action figures.  Last week I reviewed Hank and Dean Venture.  Today, I'll be checking out Brock Samson and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch.

Brock Samson in his standard black t-shirt, and San Diego Comic-Con variant blood-spattered white t-shirt.

Appearance(Sculpt/Paint/Likeness)

Brock is the tallest of the figures released so far, standing at 5 inches.   His sculpt is decent,  and he's easily recognizable.  I think his facial features are sculpted a bit too soft and doughy looking, although it's not so bad that out ruins the figure.  The paint on his two-way Dick Tracy wrist radio is a little sloppy looking, but not too bad for a figure this size.  Aside from that, there are no other obvious issues with his paint job.  Brock came in two versions: a standard version in a black t-shirt, and a blood splattered 2012 San Diego Comic-Con version in a white t-shirt.  The two figures are identical except for the paint jobs.

Brock Samson and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch.

Dr. Mrs. The Monarch is the smallest figure at just under 3 1/2 inches.  Her height is about right compared to the other characters, as she is short on the show, but her proportions seem off.  Her arms are very long, hanging down nearly to her knees.  Her head is also a little small, compared to how she looks on the show.    Her facial sculpt, while not soft and doughy like the Brock Samson figure, doesn't really capture her appearance from the show. She is still obviously recognizable as Dr. Mrs. The Monarch, but this is mostly due to her costume and hairstyle.  Her "wings" are made from a translucent flexible rubbery material.

Dr. Mrs. The Monarch: front and back views.

Accessories

Brock has a knife that fits well in his hand and holsters in his belt when not in use.  It looks especially cool with the blood-splattered version, as it looks like he's been slaughtering bad guys.  Dr. Mrs. The Monarch does not have any accessories.

Brock Samson's knife in it's sheath, and his two-way Dick Tracy wrist radio.

Ratings:

Brock: 3 ½ Robots (out of 5)

Dr. Mrs the Monarch: 3 Robots (out of 5)

Hank, Dean, Brock, and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch are all the toys released in this line so far.  The next wave is currently scheduled to arrive in June, with the Monarch, Phantom Limb, and Dr. Rusty Venture.

Prototype Images

During the time I bought these toys and now their price has gone up.  I paid $9.99 each for them (except for the San Diego Comic-Con variant Brock), but now the price has gone up to $11.99 each.  The ratings I gave these toys are based on the price I paid for them then, not what they are now.

Biff Bang Pow's 3 3/4" Venture Brothers Action Figures - Hank and Dean Venture

Biff Bang Pow's 3 3/4" Venture Brothers Action Figures

Hank and Dean Venture

For a few years now, Bif Bang Pow has been making 8 inch, Mego-style retro cloth action figures based on the TV show "The Venture Brothers."  Now they are adding to their Venture Brothers lineup with a series of 3 3/4" plastic action figures.

They launched the line last summer with a Brock Samson action figure.  It came in a standard, black t-shirt version, and a  2012 San Diego Comic-con blood spattered variant.  In March of 2013, they released three more figures, with more slated to come soon.

Hank Venture, Brock Samson, Dean Venture, and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch

The figures are in the 3 3/4" scale, although their actual height varies according to how tall they are on the show.  The scale seems to be based on the Venture Brothers themselves, as both Hank and Dean are just about exactly 3 3/4", while their bodyguard Brock towers over them at 5", and their nemesis Dr. Mrs. The Monarch looks up to them all at just under 3 1/2".

Venture Brothers with other action figures of similar scale.

Packaging

The packaging on these  toys is simple and serves its purpose just fine.  It has an image of the Venture Compound from the cartoon as the backdrop, and the figure displayed in front.  The back of the card has the Venture Brothers giving each other the "Go Team Venture" salute in their bedroom, along with a season one quote from Dean, "I dare you to make less sense," which I thought  was pretty random, yet perfectly in tone for the series.  The figures come out of the package easily, so no complaints on that score.  If the package was resealable, it would have been just about perfect, but as it is, it's still pretty good.

Venture Brothers action figure packaging, front and back.

Value

The toys retail for $9.99 each.   I'd probably object to paying that much for something like Batman, Star Wars, or G.I. Joe figures in this scale, but it seems like a pretty reasonable price for a line of niche-market collector's toys like this.

Appearance(Sculpt/Paint/Likeness)

Overall, Hank has a nice looking sculpt, and it captures his goofy looks quite well.  The paint on his head is pretty good, but the rest of the body is pretty sloppy.  Hank's Fred Jones ascot in particular looks pretty bad, and I'm thinking about getting some paint and trying to touch it up.  Dean looks a lot nicer.  He has some minor paint issues, but nothing that noticeable, and his sculpt is perfect, he looks just like he does in the cartoon.

Hank and Dean.

Articulation/Playability

Both Hank and Dean have  articulation at the neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees, which is a reasonable amount for figures of this size.

Dean and Hank's points of articulation.

Accessories

Hank comes with a giant machete and Dean comes with an oversized shotgun.  The fearsomeness of their weapons looks hilarious next to the goofy smiles on their faces.

The Venture Brothers show off their deadly weapons.

Ratings

Hank: 3 ½ Robots (out of 5)

Dean: 4 Robots (out of 5)

Overall, both of these figures are a lot of fun.  Dean's my favorite, but I like Hank a lot, despite his paint issues.  Check back on this blog next week, when I'll be continuing my Venture Brothers toy reviews, with Brock Samson and Dr. Mrs. the Monarch.

What's up with this blog?

What's up with this blog?
Unopened toys, unreviewed TV shows, and more stuff left undone!

Tons of unopened toys.

I apologize for the lack of of updates on this blog.  I've been really busy at work lately, and this hasn't left me with a lot of time to blog.    I'm starting to accumulate a big pile of toys that I need to open up and review, as well a get a big backlog of movies and TV shows to write about.  I've still been buying the toys, and working on the screencaps and notes for my reviews, but I just haven't had time to write anything up lately. Hopefully that's going to change soon. 

I just had my first weekend off in a couple of weeks, and spent one of my days off taking photos of a bunch of toys, so some new toy reviews should be popping up shortly.  And I'm still working on my reviews of the classic 1978 Battlestar Galactica series.  I watched the first 7 hours of the show for my reviews, but when I was done, I had over 2000 screencaps, and it's taking me forever to sort through.  But I'm ALMOST done with my first installment, so that should be ready soon.

Battlestar Galactica

So, check back here in the next few days and weeks, and I should have some fun new stuff to post.  Thanks!