Big Chief Studios James Bond Series

[Tom Day]

In their defence regarding the bodies I'd say that recently I made a decision to stop replacing bodies generally because it's just too expensive and fixing a problem generally throws up another one. So I can definitely relate to them not getting it quite right especially when the figure is wearing three layers of clothing on top.

It's a shame however that these apparently new bodies weren't designed better to be modular with the option to swap stuff around. And I can never understand why bodies that aren't designed to be seen, for reasonably normal body types, end up with chests like bodybuilders.

 

[Raymond F.]

The issue is that the paint and plastic they used is not a good combination. It can scratch off almost just by breathing on it. The issue is the materials they are using and how it’s being produced and not how it’s being packed.

And as for the bodies... they are just super terrible bodies sculpt wise. Chest is huge stick legs and massive hip gaps.

Oddjob and Goldfinger get away with it because they are fat. I tried different bodies and there is no difference so I might as well save money and use the body it came on.

But I still had to padd the shoulders on each.

They wasted time and money engineering this body and it’s one of the worst sculpts in the market!

 

[gido]

The issue is that the paint and plastic they used is not a good combination. It can scratch off almost just by breathing on it. The issue is the materials they are using and how it’s being produced and not how it’s being packed.

And as for the bodies... they are just super terrible bodies sculpt wise. Chest is huge stick legs and massive hip gaps.

Oddjob and Goldfinger get away with it because they are fat. I tried different bodies and there is no difference so I might as well save money and use the body it came on.

But I still had to padd the shoulders on each.

They wasted time and money engineering this body and it’s one of the worst sculpts in the market!

You don't like Connery sculpt,Ray?

Sent from my EVA-L19 using Tapatalk

 

[Raymond F.]

You don't like Connery sculpt,Ray?

Sent from my EVA-L19 using Tapatalk

I like it Gido! But I don’t love it. It’s a bit cartoony but I think this could be in part due to the super bad paint job.

I have a detailed review coming up soon!

 

[Raymond F.]

Ah I see now... by worst sculpts in the market I meant the bodies not the head sculpts

As a precursor to my review I gave Oddjob and Goldfinger 5/5 on sculpt and Connery 3.5/5

 

[Wor-Gar]

Nice, ymba.

As a precursor to my review I gave Oddjob and Goldfinger 5/5 on sculpt and Connery 3.5/5

That's great for the two villains! I expected a harsher sentence. Especially with the eyes.

I'm curious what doesn't work for you on Connery; I really do like the sculpt. I suppose I can understand the paint criticism from someone who can paint very well.

 

[DVD1]

On bodies: Goldfinger feels like a soft toy!!
Actually, scuffed nose aside, GF is a terrific figure. The head is great, and couldn’t look any more like the character.
The cloth hat, I was a little worried about, but it works very well, adding more realism to to the sculpt.
Accessories are awesome. Favorite amongst them, the golden gun.
I added a golf stick, from Casey Jones. For now anyway!!
Overall, he’s a great figure. Glad I got him.

 

[Jaymig926]

Raymond what are you using to pad the shoulders? and how? Thanks in advance for the help

 

[Tom Day]

The issue is that the paint and plastic they used is not a good combination. It can scratch off almost just by breathing on it. The issue is the materials they are using and how it’s being produced and not how it’s being packed.

Sorry Raymond, I just wanted to highlight this - is it really the case that the paint is not adhering to the plastic on the head? Because that's a complete deal breaker for me. I've seen that happen on knock off head sculpts and it isn't pretty. Has this been anyone else's experience? It certainly explains the nose rubs.

As for the body, you have to ask why they keep making these **** ups. The impression I get is that there's a lot of talent at BCS, and that comes through sometimes, but no system of internal review or quality control regarding the product. I worked for a publishing company once where everyone sat around saying how brilliant their products were, and sometimes they were. I got out before they went out of business.

 

[shells075]

Every HT fig I get comes with a little plastic bag over its head, like its been packed by Dexter.

 

[DVD1]

Oddjob arrived this morning.
Absolutely perfect. Figure is a stunning representation of Oddjob.
Now, if only Bond arrives in same condition, and hopefully before I leave the office.
Technically done for the day, so chilling, looking at the figure and listening to Iced Earth!! Haha
If Bond doesn’t arrive before I leave, I am back in tomorrow, so I’ll get it then.

Oh, a quick pic I took of GF last night.
The nose issue doesn’t ‘shine’ through on iPhone photos!!



Edit. Glad I upped that pic.
I hadn’t noticed the missing button on the waistcoat.
Well, I looked in the box, and there it was. This teeny tiny gold dot!!
Now all I have to do is figure out how to glue it onto the waistcoat without making a sticky mess!!

 

[pjam]

Wow, stunning pic DVD.

Looks like the polls are still open but at this point it appears

OJ is best figure. Even WG's Girl says so.
GF is a pleasant and accurate blown away in hand surprise at #2
007 is trailing and flailing w suit and body issues.

 

[DVD1]

I don’t have Bond yet (picking up today), but agree with that pecking order,

Oddjob is simply, perfect. It’s a terrific figure.
Goldfinger IS Goldfinger. He’s just outclassed slightly by Oddjob.

The figures work very well together. Looking forward to completing the set today.

 

[Mr.E]

Go figure. Bond comes in last.

 

[Raymond F.]

Ok here we go

My initial excitement was pretty high opening these. The packaging is super well done and I love the dossiers that come with each.

Packaging : 4/5 - they lose a point because of the pixilated images on the box, that’s just a bit silly and easily avoided. But to be honest packaging doesn’t really matter to me it’s what’s inside that counts.

I then got into all of the accessories I was blown away and this is where things really shine. There’s no sparing of attention to detail. Really blown away here and thrilled to have all of this stuff. I also like how they handled the hands when I got past the soft rubber shock. Paint is great as is sculpt. Except Bond.

I’d love a martini, but that leaves stuff for future bonds. That heel system in the shoe more than makes up for it. The note and pencil is also an amazing nice touch.

My nits are the watch face fell off and got lost from Goldfinger, annoying but I won’t hit big chief for that as they were cool enough to include extra buttons and even the little tracking device for bonds heel.

I feel like they just have done new hand sculpts for Oddjob and Goldfinger as those are great but bond is really terrible. Color, sculpt and the size. I mean they look like they could be Deadpool’s regenerated hand they are so small! Awful.

Accessories : 4/5 - bonds hands knock it down.

Then my excitement died a bit when I got into the figures

James Bond:

Here’s where the set really tanks. While I’m ok on a personal level given I have a stellar bbkill and yunsil Bond... it doesn’t excuse such a big ball dropping on the most important part of the line.

The sculpt: 3.5/5

Let’s start with the sculpt. It’s good but it’s the worst of the three it’s a bit cartoony and I know it’s hard as Connery has a bit of a cartoony look to him as a human but the sculpt almost reminds me more of the poster paintings than a real person. I think bbkill still edges it out on realism. I do like this sculpt though I will say. Between the two bbkill wins IMO.


Paint : 2/5

The paint suffers hard here. Greggo is a great painter and the prototypes looked great but where it suffers is production. They don’t match the prototypes at all. Much too aggressive spatter, really sloppy eyes and lashes, lots of nose rubs out there (including mine) and a truly blizzare skin tone for Bond. He looks like a sunburnt plum. It’s bad. Really bad.

Bond also suffered from lack of detail. The washes and depth are not not enough he looks flat. No dark line painted to separate his lips. His eyebrows totally do not match the person or the prototype and they look amateurish and sloppy.

I would love to see a from scratch repaint to see if the paint job contributes more to the cartooniness.


The suit: 1.5/5

No body swap here folks. I tried em all. And I mean ALL of them including crappy DID bodies and the like.

The issue for that not working, besides the long neck is also that the suit was tailored to fit a 90 pound girl... due to the bad body design (I mean... those teenage boy hips... seriously?) . So any body even some of the slimmer hot toys bodies like Bruce lee, obi wan, Coulson or Luke just look ridiculously strange because the shoulders bulge out at the sides under the seam of the suit. Then there is the massive chest and massive vest snaps that just look ridiculous.

They aggressively fought back on Facebook but no way are the tailoring results like the prototypes. All of the shoulders are seen differently including Oddjob and Goldfinger, proportions and fit are different. I know it’s because their production suffers and it’s not their intent but it really does feel like a bait and switch.

Best you can hope for is to pad and tweak it a bit as it came, but you will never get around the anorexic frame and the bobble head effect. War gar and ymba got it about as best as it can be.

I read a few guys sold their yunsils for this and that just makes me sad. I hope they can get them back but let it be a lesson learned never to put blind faith into something that’s not out yet. Especially someone with the track record of big chief.

Suffice to say the suit is the only thing in these figures that I’d go out on a limb to say really sucks. Like bad knock off quality, in some ways sideshow pre 2005 sucks.

They are like stiff and starchy or appear to be built with a lining of paper or something. This seems like an old school move to try and keep things looking crisp without just relying on proper tailoring and material. Oddjob and Goldfinger just barely get away with it but require endless futzing every time you pose it to get things to hang right.

I can see they tried here and it’s leaps and bounds beyond their old stuff but come on. The way these toys city and pop toys suits are fitting its impossible to argue that big chief is super far behind the game and failing on this. I’m happy that the next wave does not have any suits. It gives them time to get with the program.

Overall 2.5/5

 

[Raymond F.]

And here is what I did sorry for the bad photos I don’t have my SLR with me.

Bond:

Obviously on Yunsil. I used the Coulson torso with regular narrow shoulder arms and replaced the neck ball peg with a short one from a regular so the long neck sits deep inside.

Hands are from Han Solo but I did use the big chief shoes. Watch and ppk (not shown) I already had better versions of. Big chief did not succeed in giving me the best of the best on Bond.

I repainted some definition into his lips to accentuate the likeness was darkened some tones around his eyes repainted them brown a bit darker (they were too light). Eyelashes and whites are still sloppy the eyes were painted so bad I need to fix that still

I also painted the thin black line between his lips. They left it off.

I also redid his eyebrows. Aside from being sloppy they were an inaccurate shape even the prototype had them accurate I don’t know what happened

 

[Raymond F.]

Goldfinger:

The sculpt: 5/5

Second best of the bunch I really love the sculpt here it’s insanely good. I had a nose rub which was annoying and hard to fix.

I find the realism of the sculpt shines here as does the likeness. It far exceeds Bond. Super happy here. Great job Inigo!!

The outfit: 3.5/5

His outfit is good too. All but the shirt and tie which was really crappy (though not nearly as crappy as Bond’s) I replaced with a yunsil. I also padded up his shoulders a tad. But still can’t get them as square as I like.

The jacket is not as accurate material wise as it could have been but it works. And the snaps on the vest are ok as they get lost in his fat.

The hat amazingly doesn’t suck in fact it looks great and I love his accessories.

Body on mine worked ok for the fat suit. Was nice and tight. I tried other bodies but came back to the original.

My main knock on him are the pants (a bit sloppy). May try to fix.

The paint: 3/5

Whoa boy... well it’s not as bad as Bond but suffers from all the same problems especially around the eyes. But his complexion is better. They need to work on their paint a bit especially in the production form.

Overall 3.5/5

Most of the time was spent fixing his annoying nose rub.

I replaced his shirt and tie with a yunsil Vincent. Instant improvement. I also padded his shoulders to square them a bit.

 

[Raymond F.]

Oddjob

Sculpt 5/5

One again this is a killer sculpt super amazing likeness realism and detail! Just perfect all around and the hat looks amazing on him too. Bravo!

Outfit: 3/5

It works, it has all of the issues that I listed with bond but he gets away with more of it. It’s not up to speed with what’s out there on the market but it’s by far from the worst.

I found padding him up more in parts helped a lot but he still looks odd in the shoulders and arms.

And yeah... those vest snaps.

It can be better. Prototype was much better.


Paint: 3.5/5

It’s honestly better than the other two. It almost works. But they gotta get a handle around the eye areas.

Overall 4/5

I really repadded him a lot as seen in my pics. It’s not evident from my bad picture but it cleans up the chest so much reduces the baggy wrinkles and the massive gap left from the vest. That thing is from red skull with some gause stuffed under it. I use athletic tape to pad my figures. The arms helped the jacket be less baggy.

Same thing for his thighs. The pants tailoring looked instantly night and day better now that they didn’t sink unnaturally in at his knees. I may pad the back of his thigh under his butt more for additional improvement.

I ripped out the giant vest snaps and replaced them with ultra thin magnets

I replaced his tie with a DID tie.

 

[Raymond F.]

So what’s my verdict? I was one of the biggest naysayers undoubtably one of the “whiners” that caused Big Chief to speak out and complain. Mark my words it also made them realize they could not phone it in with these. The backlash is totally responsible for the improvement so I think it was more than warranted.

They win massively for me because I can see how hard they tried and they really upped their game. They gave me some things I can use and two characters done right.

But I’d say they are a 6.5/10 from where they should be. And they need to continue to try and push harder.

If they can work out the suits, rework the body again (sorry guys it sucks, you have to redo it like it or not) and get a handle on their paint issues we could be dealing with a force here and they might have the opportunity to start pushing the needle on the bigger companies that are getting lazy .

I want more bond figures. Many more... so Keep trying, keep improving and keep the train moving... you will have my money and support but also my vocal criticism (and praise when warranted).

 

[Dieselpunk2]

A small Tipp to DVD1s Button problem:
. . . Now all I have to do is figure out how to glue it onto the waistcoat without making a sticky mess!![/QUOTE]

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Hi, to stick the dropped little button on Goldfingers vest:

one way is to buy some of these small iron on buttons:

(https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/144pcs-2...779238&hash=item3f3c990475:g:pUIAAOSwd4tUDBSi)

and fix them with a small doll iron like this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Clover-Mini-Iron-II-Adapter/dp/B001BLU4SA

Sometimes on ebay are also some of these small iron on buttons offers with just 1mm diameters.

Another way is:
Take a Double-Sided Carpet Tape, wrap it around a small wooden or plastic rod, pick up the small button at his front side with the adhesive Double-Sided Carpet Tape, then carefully fill the back of the button with a small amount of superglue (NO Super GEL - ´CAUSE THE ADHESIVE PHASE TAKES TOO LONG). Then carefully put the button on the right place on the vest. When the superglue on the vest gets tough/dry, you can pull the plastic rod away with the Double-Sided Carpet Tape.
This has worked on some of my other figures clothes.


(Sorry i´m no native english speaker, Hope it will be clear what i mean)