Like his wave-mate Michonne, Merle here stopped me dead in my tracks when I saw him hanging on the pegs at my local Toys R Us. Merle is one of those characters you love to hate, and on the show he seems to have a particular talent for making everyone’s skin crawl at least a little bit, so I think it was a smart move on McFarlane’s part to release him in the same wave as Michonne — they’re both the show’s ultimate badasses, in a sense, it’s just that you root for Michonne while you kinda want bad things to happen to Merle. So it makes sense to have them released together, and if I never pick up another figure from this line, I’ll feel pretty content if I have just these two. Merle wasn’t even on my list of characters I’d be interested in for an action figure release, but when I got a good look at him in the store, I had to have him, but I will admit that Michonne caught my eye first. Michonne is a fantastic figure, not just by McFarlane standards, and Merle here is every bit as good. Maybe better.
Like Michonne, Merle comes packaged in a traditional blister card. All of his weapons are prominently displayed, and I find it kind of ironic that he comes packing so much heat since he only has one hand with which to hold it all. I guess that’s what makes them “interchangeable guns” since they can only be swapped out one at a time.
Out of the package, all the awesome detail work comes to light. They did an excellent job with the sculpt and paint apps. The likeness to the character on the show is as faithful as one could expect in this scale. I mean, it really does look like Merle Dixon — there is no mistaking that at all. He comes equipped with a holster to hold his pistol, but there’s nowhere to store his dagger despite what looks like a sheath on his belt — it’s all for show. You could sling the rifle over his shoulder and put the dagger in his hand, but the dagger isn’t a good fit and falls out easily. So if I have a complaint about this figure, it’s that he really can’t hold all of his accessories at the same time. Not a big deal, but now there’s the ever-present risk of losing or misplacing something — that drives me nuts.
The weathering on his jacket (shirt?), pants, and boots is done just right and it adds a convincing level of realism to the figure. He really looks great from every angle.
His gimp arm comes equipped with the show-accurate “stump of death,” as I refer to it. Again, the weathered paint apps make it look totally legit. It might have been cool if they had included a swappable right hand in case you really wanted a Merle from the 15 minutes of the show when he actually did have both hands, but given the option, I can’t see many people not choosing to display him with his armored stump. It really is one of the character’s defining traits, aside from his lousy attitude, that is.
For a more thorough breakdown of his accessories, he comes with an assault rifle, as seen above and below. It fits in his hand perfectly. I was a little concerned about breaking his fingers as I moved them around the grip, but there’s plenty of give there, so it ended up being a non-issue. The grip is snug and it really looks like he’s holding it. I know that’s a weird thing to say, but I think you know what I mean. It’s not just resting in his hand by the grace of gravity — he’s really gripping it.
The same can be said for his pistol — it’s an absolute perfect fit in his hand and he looks as natural as can be holding it. I like the way he looks sporting the bigger gun, though. It seems to be more in line with his character, so I can see the pistol spending a lot of time in the holster on his belt. But if posed appropriately, the pistol can definitely be seen as an extension of his personality as well.
The dagger he comes with is cool and all, but it’s rather useless since he can’t really hold it. The handle is very slim, so it just kind of slips through his fingers when placed in his hand. You really have to find the right pose for him to make the dagger work in a display. It wouldn’t be such a big deal if it could be stored on his belt, but it can’t, so you’re just stuck with this loose knife you can’t really do anything with. Annoying.
But as cool as all his weapons may be, does he really need any of them since he comes equipped with a built-in zombie slayer?
Like Michonne, his articulation is totally decent from the waist up. There’s not much Merle would do on the show that you can’t get this figure to do. It’s from the waist down that he suffers — there’s just not much range of motion in those hips of his. His knees can bend to a pretty nice degree, but without the ability to move his legs to make use of that ability, it all ends up being rather superfluous. He may be a legitimate action figure, but there are still reminders here and there that this is a McFarlane figure, and your posing options may be limited.
Being able to have Merle and Michonne face off over a field of dead zombies is a pretty satisfying thing, so if you pick up one of these figures, you kind of have to pick up the other as well. They’re oil and water on the show, but they seem to be a natural pairing as action figures. It’s the looks on each of their faces — you can just feel the hate seethe from them as they stare at each other. It kind of bothers me at times that I have Merle but not his brother Daryl, but unless we get a Daryl that’s at least as good as his brother here, then I will just do without. That goes for all the characters, actually.
Because of the odd scale, it’s difficult to work Merle into any collection besides the Walking Dead series, or maybe Halo, as little sense as that makes. It’s an oddball scale so almost any other line dwarfs him. Despite the lack of cross-pollination options, he’s a cool figure and definitely worth picking up. He’s popping up at Toys R Us stores as we speak and can be had at Amazon.com as well.
