Loyal Subjects BST AXN and McFarlane Five Inch Avatar The Last Airbender figures Review
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I'm a child of the eighties, so I'm no stranger to licenses with massive staying power. Transformers, G.I. Joe: a Real American
Hero, Masters of the Universe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and I could easily go on. All of these licenses have managed to
stick around for decades by repeatedly reinventing themselves. But there are a precious few licenses that had proven to be just as
timeless without the need to be reinvented. And one of those is Avatar the Last Airbender. Started in 2005 and running for only
three years, it has itself managed to continually find new audiences for years. And while there has been a sequel series and it was
also translated into a live action movie. But the original has continued to outshine them all. And it's not just the fan base,
nearly a decade and a half after the end of the show and there are multiple companies releasing action figures based on the show
and in multiple scales. I am generally pretty satisfied with the figures I still have from the original Mattel toy line. But
curiousity eventually got the best of me and I picked up the Aang figure from Loyal Subjects BST AXN line as well as the first series
of five inch Avatar figures from McFarlane figures to see how they stack up to the Mattel figures as well as pad out that collection
since I never bought an Appa toy to go with them.
Packaging - 8/10I picked up the BST AXN Aang figure for a couple of reasons. First and foremost I wanted a sneak preview of what the BST AXN line was like after they announced the inclusion of the Ninja Turtle license would be part of the line. But since I already had the Bandai Anime Heroes One Piece figures that I recently reviewed in hand, I wanted to see how another company would handle a line of figures composed of characters from multiple licenses. And Loyal Subjects managed to completely blow that design away despite using an almost identical format. The size and design of the window is very similar to the Anime Heroes line. But Loyal Subjects has gone out of their way to bring in graphics that look like they have been drawn striaght from the show. The back of the box actually has information about the character. The end result is a packaging design that looks like an Avatar specific design which can also fit in with the other figures in the line from other licenses.McFarlane seems to have gone in the completely opposite direction for their five inch Avatar figures. They come on a standard blister card, but one designed to be as small as fesible. That makes a lot of sense that is suppose to sell figures from a nearly two decade old license sell in a crowded retail aisle. But even with those constraints, the figures are displayed well and the graphics look great and appropriate for the Avatar license. The back of the card is similarly simple with a single large image of the character and a short bio translated into three languages. It's simple. But everything about this version of McFarlane's Avatar line seems to be following that aethsitic, so that works for it well. They also managed to use all the same design elements on the open box that they used for Appa. And it works just as well there as it does on the small blister cards.
Sculpting - Appa 6/10, others 8/10The BST AXN version of Aang is incredibly close to being a perfect 3D likeness to the show. They even made the chaps portion of his outfit into a seperate piece from the rest of his legs. That is a ridiculously small detail that they could have easily skipped. Unfortunately there is one huge issue, the shoulder wrap. They made the wrap a seperate piece. And to their credit, it sits on the shoulders and drapes really well. But the material is too thick causing the wrap to completely hide the neck. The result is a figure that looks like it is trying to act like a turtle and retract its head. And there's no way with the parts included with the figure to avoid that.McFarlane toys is known for making extremely detailed sculpts for their figures. And that's exactly what they did with their version of Avatar figures. They ramped up the detail and far exceeded anything we saw in the cartoon. The question is did they go too far? And with Appa, I think that they did. Appa in the show is portrayed as big, fluffy and huggable. This version of Appa is none of those things. The scale I can almost forgive as making him large enough to be properly scaled would make him too big to get a place on retail shelves. But the level of detail of the sculpt makes it look like this was suppose to be based on the live action movie instead of a cartoon. And no one was asking for that. The same is true with the outfits of the figures as well. But the head sculpts are obviously from the cartoon. But even they are elevated to a point where they could just as easily be based on realy humans rather than a cartoon.
Paint - Appa 4/10, BST AXN Aang 7/10, others 6/10Being as these figures are based on a cartoon, the colors tend to be pretty simple since they had to be repainted thousands of times over for the production of the show. So I don't expect overly elaborate paint applications. Loyal Subjects version of Aang matchs my expectations quite well. The outfit is properly painted as are the eyes. They could have shaded the lips a bit. And paint for the arrow tattoos on the hands and back of the head don't continue as far as they should. But those are minor imperfections.The McFarlane figures are not that different from the Loyal Subjects version. But much as with the sculpting, they went even further with the paint work, a bit too far in my opinion. Part of that is just because the paint further highlights the excessive detail in the sculpting though. And then there is Appa. In the show, Appa is mostly white or slightly tan. But the toy has the fur tinted a bit yellow. So the entire toy looks like it has been rolling in its own urine.
Articulation - Appa 2/10, McFarlane figs 4/10, BST AXN Aang 8/10Avatar the Last Airbender is all about characters who control the four elements via the physical movement of their own bodies, almost like tai chi or interpretive dance. So naturally the figures need to be more flexible and have a better range of motion than with your average line. And with thirty three points of articulation, the Loyal Subject's Aang figure replicates that well. He can even cross his legs and get his feet flat to each other. And they did a great job of hiding that articulation as well. Until I actually stopped and counted, I would have guessed the Aang figures from both companies had almost the same amount of articulation. (They don't.) Sadly, there is one giant issue in the form of the wrist joints. The hands are removeable and interchangable. But the connection is too loose. The hands fall off with less effort than it takes to adjust the position. And few things ruin the joy of playing with a toy more than it falling apart when you move it.The McFarlane versions of the Last Airbender figures have sixteen points of articulation. Obviously having less than half of the articulation the range of motion is much more limited. But with good design, you can still get a lot of range of motion. That isn't the case here though. And with three of the four figures having skirts or skirt armor that greatly restricts the leg motion. In the end, these figures are designed to look good in a very basic pose and not much else. And the best example of this philosphy is Appa. Technically he has nine points of articulation. But six of those are his feet which have at best about thirty degrees of motion due to the sculpted fur. So that leaves the ball jointed tail, ball jointed neck and hinged jaw. The tail and the neck are both very limted again. So Appa is left with a total of just one fully useable point of articulation, the jaw.
Accessories - Appa 0/10, McFarlane Aang & Katara 3/10, Zuko 4/10, Sokka 6/10, BST AXN Aang 7/10None of these figures is exactly drowning in accessories. But Appa is the only one to not include anything. The saddle isn't removable. There are no reigns or means for a figure to ride on his head as seen in the show. They made slightly more effort with Katara who has a water bending affect. But it isn't designed to be held and doesn't come with a support stand. And after seeing Sokka, I really think she needs her water bladder as well. The McFarlane version of Aang comes with just an unpainted version of his staff. There is also a deluxe version which is the same figure but includes both his staff and glider. But you shouldn't have to pay 50% more to get Aang's glider. Zuko comes with a pair of flame "daggers." They aren't exactly his signature weapon, but they are something that was seen in the show which is nice. But the standout of the McFarlane line is Sokka. He comes with his boomerang and a working holster for it. He could still use his staff/club, but he is the only one of the four that impressed me in anyway. The BST AXN version of Aang comes with his staff and no glider as well. But he also includes two extra heads, two pairs of extra hands and an unarticulated Momo figurine. The addition of Momo is great. And one of those heads is Aang in the Avatar state which gives you two very distinct versions of the character which is great. But the lack of a glider or even an option to get a glider in another way is a big oversight.
Value - 6/10There's two very different approaches to action figure design on display here. In my experience, McFarlane Toys focuses of the sculpt and paint to make great looking figures. And they did a great job of that while still keeping the prices to under $10 for the figures which is about as cheap as you can hope for in the toy aisle these days. Even Appa at $20 isn't a great toy. But it's the only Appa available as far as I know. And I've spent more than $20 for a character I cared less about than the big furball. Finally there is the BST AXN version of Aang. At $20, it is a superior figure in almost every way. The only real downside I see to it is that if you are a fan of the Last Airbender, Loyal Subjects has the full Team Avatar planned, but there's no guarantee that they will actually make it to stores. And even then, you won't have a complete Aang since he doesn't have his glider. But if you only want an Aang to sit on your desk or in your collection, this is a decent option. And what Loyal Subjects has planned, looks promising.
Happy Hunting:I picked up both the McFarlane Avatar figures and the Loyal Subjects version from my local Walmart stores. All of them are also available from Walmart's website as well. The Loyal Subjects BST AXN version of Aang is a specialty market release. Walmart does carry it with the other collectible figures in their electronics department. It is also listed on Target.com, but is only available online. But you should be able to find them from your favorite online toy retailer as well.
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