Since seeing the prototypes in person a couple of years back, it's been killing me waiting for a mass-production version of Brock Samson. Brock, along with Hank, Dean, and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch were prototyped a while ago and shown to precious few people before being revealed to the general toy-buying public, and Brock was selected to come out first as a regular black-shirt version (pictured here) and a super-limited edition bloody version. Will there be a bloody naked version? Well, I can tell you there are people wanting to make this happen, how is that?
I had more than a little influence on this line, particularly this segment, so yeah. Bias bias bias here, people, as my day job involves working with the Bif Bang Pow! people. They're nice people, you'd like them.
The head sculpt is good, and the overall deco and articulation is pretty great. Since Brock is a hulking beast of a character on the show, he's closer to 5-inches tall in order to be scaled with the boys. Armed only with a knife, he's ready to deal with pretty much anything. He lacks the ball-and-socket joints (or similar articulation) of his peers, but there are 10 bending or swiveling points of articulation that allow him to stand and sit well, which is great should the market ever warrant a vehicle for these guys. (Please keep buying these so the market warrants vehicles for these guys.)
The sculpt is appropriately cartoony and the build is somewhat retro. Lots of styles were discussed for the style of this line, and getting a 3 3/4-inch new sculpt figure from a small company at under $10 is sort of tough work these days. Since the knife fits perfectly in his hands or its sheath, his joints all move freely, and the sculpt seems to have the proportions pretty much perfect, I can't complain. But I'm biased. A little more deco around the eyes couldn't hurt, as he seems to have dark rings under his eyes in many appearances, but at this scale it's not like you'll notice something visibly missing. He's got the mullet, man, what more could you ask for? (I know, I know. The car.) Despite not having the level of articulation of a modern G.I. Joe, Brock is surprisingly mobile and has no problems fighting with an Armodoc as you can see in these images. I was surprised how easy it was to get him to stand or assume an action-oriented pose, although since he has small legs and a huge torso you may wish to use an action figure display stand. (The foot pegs were designed to be compatible with all modern Star Wars stands, including the Entertainment Earth-branded stands.)
If you're a fan of the show, I suggest picking it up-- not just as a toy blogger, but take it from me as someone on the payroll. (Wait, I think I got that backwards.) Either way, I'm really happy with the figure and I can't wait to get the rest of the characters rolling off the production line. I'd also like to point out-- as this is something people don't realize-- there hasn't been a full new episode of Venture Bros. aired since the first Bif Bang Pow! toys came out many many moons ago. A special is due on this month, but how often do you see a line debut between seasons of a show in what may be one of its longest breaks ever? I'm thrilled to see these things get made.
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