Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples have achieved commercial and critical success with Saga. McFarlane’s Alana and Marko figures weren’t so lucky.
My first review for the Fwoosh was NECA’s superb Nathan Drake figure, so I suppose this set serves as cruel karmic justice. When this set was announced, I knew I wanted Saga toys, but I wasn’t sure that two 5-inch scale figures were worth $50. I knew what I was getting into with McFarlane. I set my expectations suitably low. As long as they could stand in front of my Saga trades looking a little cool (not even moderately cool), I would be happy. Eventually, I decided that I would try to grab them when they became available on the Skybound site. $50 isn’t so bad for two of the best characters in comics, right? Wrong.
Worse yet, Hasbro’s SDCC exclusive sets have trained me to power through any unexpected obstacles to reach that celestial “Order Complete” page. So on that fateful day, July 22, 2016, the kind-hearted Fwoosher Calbretto notified the community that Alana and Marko were live on Skybound. I’m a long-time Hasbro SDCC exclusive veteran. I have the 2011 Thor, 2013 Thunderbolts, 2014 Thanos Imperative, and 2015 Book of the Vishanti sets under my belt. I got distracted binge-watching Game of Thrones when the 2012 Uncanny X-Force set went live and missed it as a result. This was my shot at redemption. No Game of Thrones to distract me (until next year, at least). I tore through the checkout pages.
QTY:
“1”
ADDRESS:
“Yes, I know that one!”
TOTAL – $62.66
“Wait, what?”
As I got to this final page, I heard the faint whispers of a small voice in the back of my head. The voice may be a remnant of millions of years of human evolution. Some instinct for dealing with sabretooth tigers or McFarlane Toys. All collectors know the voice well. I had already accepted the fact that I would spend $25 apiece on two slightly below-average figures. Shipping would add almost $13 to the total. Would I be willing to spend $31.33 apiece? That $62 would cover my Figuarts Han Solo. It’s the price of three Marvel Legends. You would come up pennies short on a One:12 Collective figure for that price. These figures are made by MCFARLANE. Never mind that. There was no time for me to ask silly questions. This was about redemption.
TOTAL – $62.66
“YES, PLACE MY ORDER!”
My figures came in last month, and it’s hard to believe how disappointing they are. The figures are described as 5-inch scale, and surprisingly McFarlane actually hits that mark with Marko, the taller of the two. Then again, I don’t know that it’s fair for me to mock McFarlane for claiming they’re 5-inch and coming up a little short. It happens to the best of us.
McFarlane specializes in sculpting, paint detailing, and realism. Unfortunately for them, Saga features eye-popping, vivid color palettes in every panel. There is no drab Walking Dead grittiness to the world. The paint is applied cleanly and helps to bring out the sculpt work. The question remains, though: are the dark washes appropriate for Saga characters? Alana and Marko look like they were sculpted after real people, which is both a credit to Staples’ art and McFarlane’s sculpt work. The characters look overly stern, though. It’s reminiscent of Hasbro’s recent Sad Guy Superhero line.
Would you believe me if I told you the biggest problem with this set is the articulation? I know what you’re saying, “No, not McFarlane. I know Todd, and he would never sacrifice articulation.” Not only is articulation sacrificed, but the articulation that’s there isn’t functional. It doesn’t make any sense from a design perspective. Alana’s head is on a peg, she has ball-jointed shoulders, single-jointed elbros that reach about 120 degrees, lower forearm swivels???, roll-of-the-dice hinge wrists, DCUC-style hips, single-jointed kneebros, and boot rotation. Marko’s head is also on a peg, he has ball-jointed shoulders, single-jointed elbros that reach about 150 degrees, mid-forearm swivels???, swivel-and-hinge wrists, DCUC-style hips, single-jointed kneebros, and boot rotation. I don’t “get” Todd McFarlane. Articulation is ugly, so let’s give our figures the ugliest, most redundant joints we can. I wonder what McFarlane Toys would be today if they spent their time trying to innovate instead of whatever it is that they’ve been doing for the last 20 years.
Alana and Marko come with a sword and sheath, a pistol, a mace, a set of folded up wings for Alana, and a set of spread wings for Alana. The accessories are mostly fine, with the exception of the wings, which fall out of Alana’s back immediately after you peg them in. The mace, which is Alana’s accessory, is also tricky because it’s almost as heavy as she is. This presents obvious issues when trying to stand her up with it. I also can’t understand why they didn’t include baby Hazel — the most pivotal character in the series. That seems like a mistake. There is a silver lining to that, as I doubt either character could hold Hazel without falling down, and dropping the kid on her head would be wrong.
I would’ve traded all of the accessories for a good old fashioned display stand. Even in vanilla poses, these toys were sculpted in a way that makes them difficult to stand without telekinesis. Marko’s feet are actually sculpted facing outward, like the anti-rocker ankle. I haven’t purchased a McFarlane figure since their Halo 3 line started in 2008. Somehow, in eight years, McFarlane Toys has become demonstrably worse at making action figures. If you were thinking about buying these, I beg you to reconsider.
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