Lo’Gosh (World of Warcraft)

THE BACKGROUND

I’ve never been a Warcraft or WoW fan. I’m sure they’re great games and all, but they’ve just never grabbed me. But I’d been seeing this figure lurking around the corners of my local games store for quite a few months now, and was impressed with his more-or-less likeness to Arnie’s portrayal of Conan the Barbarian. But he was $34AUD, and I wasn’t willing to pay that. He went on sale to a much lower price over Christmas 2013, but still didn’t sell.

So flash forward to a few months ago, and I found myself having a conversation with the salesperson behind the counter. They were very keen to get rid of him (he’d been there for a year and a half at least, and his box took up a lot of shelf space) so they offered him to me for $9. At a price like that, I couldn’t say no.

 

Note: I should point out that I will be primarily reviewing this as a Conan figure, not as a WoW one.  

SCULPT
I know nothing about Lo’Gosh, but I know a good pseudo-Conan when I see one. Though it draws elements from several different stages of Arnie’s look in Conan the Barbarian, it primarily looks like it’s been derived from the beginning of the movie, when Conan was a pit fighter – particularly the leather crown/headgear and the spiked sword handle that looks like a set of knuckledusters.
Of course, being from WoW and not actually a piece of Conan the Barbarian merchandise, it has some differences. The belt buckle is the leonine icon of the Alliance (whom I understand are essentially the WoW good guys), and he’s wearing pants as opposed to a loincloth.  

Everything is sculpted with an impressive level of detail, with Conan posed in a triumphant pose, swords held aloft above his head. It’s a good mix between realistic and comic-y that I wouldn’t mind seeing on other figures, particularly comic-based ones. It’s like a 90s comic book come to life, but without a lot of the negative things that suggests. 

There is only one thing that stood out to me as a little odd – his chest looks a little too narrow for his body. I suppose this may be a result of concept art not translating so well into three dimensions, or may just be adjusted this way because of his pose. Nonetheless, my enjoyment is undiminished!

In terms of actual issues, the only “problem” is that there’s a join line around his jaw. It’s a little ugly up close, but you’re not generally looking at him from an angle where you’d notice it.

As for articulation, there is nothing at all. In the words of Michael Crawford, he’s a “Nerd Hummel”. This is fine, as I knew what I was in for when I bought him – but I can’t help but feel that describing it as an “action figure” on the box is somewhat misleading. Maybe “collector’s figurine” would be a better compromise. I don’t much care for “Staction Figure” which apparently did the rounds a few years ago.  

PAINT

The paint work on this guy is excellent. There’s been a lot of attention paid to the little sculpted details, and very little slop. Particularly impressive is the blood spray on the swords – this is an area where it would have been easy for the company to  cheap out, and in all likelihood gotten away with it, but they do seem to have paid a lot of attention to making sure it looks “right”.

There’s no one area that stands out as having obviously crappy paint – an amazing rarity in this day and age, even among collector’s figures.

AVAILABILITY

This figure was released in 2009, so your chances of picking him up at retail are probably pretty slim. However, he seems to be in plentiful supply on eBay. I’ve seen him as a low as $11, and as high as $80 – but the average seems to be around the $30AUDish mark. As far as I can tell, that would have been about his retail price when he was first released. Just be aware, you may pay almost as much again in postage.

OVERALL

Though I really like the figure, I would have thought it was copyright-infringingly close to Conan. There are lots of urban myths and contradictory stories about whether He-Man was inspired by Conan, and apparently some legal troubles too, so it surprises me that WoW and DC flew so close to the sun with this one. But here we are, and it’s the best Conan figure I’ve seen in a long time. 

As might be expected, I’m disappointed that he’s not articulated – I am still hoping that NECA releases a series of properly articulated Arnold Schwarzenegger Conan the Barbarian figures – but as a shelf decoration for collectors, I think it’s great. At $9, this guy was an absolute bargain. I kind of want to put him on my desk at work, but he sends a much more hostile message than my usual Funko POPs…

 

Playmobil 4694 Special: Ghost Knight

Company: Playmobil

Year: 2009

RRP: See “Availability” 

BACKGROUND

I had a little bit of Playmobil as a kid, but my primary experience of it was actually in my Sunday School, around the ages of 5-7. They had what seemed like a HUGE amount of Playmobil characters – apparently known as “Klickies” stashed in the room for kids to play with. They didn’t embed themselves on my youthful consciousness in the same way as say, Lego or TMNT, but I retain a certain fondness for them nonetheless.

At any rate, I found myself visiting a small toyshop on the Central Coast this weekend and they were clearing out Playmobil at 40% off. Recently I’d seen a Wizard figure that I liked the look of, but he wasn’t to be found – but then I saw this Scareglow-looking character and I was instantly intrigued. Intrigue levels rose even further when I realised that he was actually a glow in the dark figure. I’d never seen a GITD Playmobil figure before, so far as I could remember. And should I decide to purchase the Wizard in future, he would make a nice counterpart…

After a quick internal wrestle, I pulled the trigger on the purchase. For $2.40, I couldn’t go wrong.

SCULPT AND ARTICULATION

 

Playmobil Klickies are built on one base figure (like a Lego minifigure), standing just under 3 inches tall. There seem to be a couple of variations (e.g. to allow for child Klickies), but most of the differentiation between figures appears to come from the accessories and paintwork. So this guy is more or less the same figure that I played with 20+ years ago, at his core. If you’ve ever owned a Playmobil toy, you know what you’re in for.

The face is cast in GITD plastic, the body in black, the arms in grey, the hands in white and his boots in black. Articulation is minimal – cut neck, cut shoulders and cut wrists. Due to the belt, the arms aren't able to hang quite flush the body. The hips are on a hinge, so the legs all move as one piece. Though minimal by modern standards, it fits the simplistic aesthetic of the toy nicely. 

ACCESSORIES

The Ghost Knight comes with quite a few accessories – most of which I suspect have previously seen release in other lines, but I am no expert on Playmobil, past or modern. Those with more knowledge than me should feel free to comment below.

He comes with:

*a chainmail “hairpiece”

*a black hood piece

*a black cape

*black gauntlets

*a red belt, with loop for the his sword.

*a silver sword

*a silver greataxe with a silver skull attached to its top

The skull is removable, so the axe doesn’t have to include it if you would prefer it without. All accessories are unpainted.   

  

PAINT

The “paint” on Playmobil figures seems to be largely the work of tampographs. Being a ghost knight, his body is presumably incorporeal, and the black chest and legs have been decorated with GITD paint too. A red strap is slung along his chest, matching the belt piece. Tattered dark grey remnants of his robe are around his neck and waist.

Strangely, his arms are not decorated with bones – as they're cast in grey, I can only assume that his sleeves have lasted longer than the torso covering of his shirt.

Switch the light off and the bones glow nicely. I am a total sucker for GITD, so the purchase price is justified right there for me.

The only real issue was that some of the GITD paint seems to have scraped off the right leg. It was like this when I opened it, and doesn’t appear to have flaked any further as yet. I suspect the tampo may not have been properly applied, or it may have scraped off during shipping. As he’s in a sealed box, you won’t be able to check prior to opening.

AVAILABILITY

This guy doesn’t seem to be too hard to track down on Amazon or eBay. It seems you’ll probably pay about $10 for him (plus postage) which isn’t outrageous, though certainly above retail. In store? I’d never seen him before, but I wasn’t buying toys in 2009. Still, I don’t like your chances.  

OVERALL

It’s probably been close to 20 years since I have played with Playmobil, but it was a really cool experience going back to it. I remember very little about the themes that were available when I was young, but these days it seems Playmobil are cultivating their adult audience by producing a variety of figures and themes that seem to be a little more adult-oriented – age 4-10 label notwithstanding – with this guy being a bit of a case in point. It’s pretty cool move, though judging by the relatively small quantity of Playmobil that seems to be on shelves, I don’t know how successful this has been.

But overall, the Ghost Knight is an excellent little figure, and I’m very glad to have come across him, especially at such a low price. 

As for this guy’s alignment – well, I naturally assumed he was a villain, some kind of evil wizard. But his designation as a “Ghost Knight” leaves it more ambiguous. You’re free to make up your own mind on this one, though I think he’ll primarily be a bad guy for me.