“Walk down the right back alley in Sin City and you can find anything”. – Marv
2005 saw the release of one of the stricter comic book adaptations in Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City. The film completely embodies Miller’s stylized sense of pulp — complete with muscle-bound anti-heroes, crooked cops, and curvaceous femme fatales. Diamond Select Toys have recently released three figures from 2005’s Sin City movie adaptation: Marv, Hartigan, and Nancy. Today we will be checking out the ugliest mug in Sin City — Marv.
Sculpted by Jean St. Jean, Marv is in DST’s typical 7-inch scale and has all the level of sculpted detail that you’d expect in a figure of that size. Small details like the ribs on his tank top undershirt and the half–laced boots are there, which really add to the overall look of the figure. The trench coat, while sculpted in a windblown action pose, is just spectacular. The two sculpted features that I’m not completely sold on are the head sculpt and the left hand. The hand is well done, but it has that weird carpal tunnel hand cramp vibe to it. It’s a bit limiting on poses, and I would have much preferred a hand that could grip the accessories or a good old fashioned punching hand.
The face sculpt isn’t bad as it’s definitely recognizable as movie Marv, but there is just something a little off. In the film, like the comics, Marv is a hulking brute whose ugliness is a key trait of the character (along with his “condition”). It’s a reason why he latched on to Goldie in the first place — as no woman was ever that kind to him. Mickey Rourke played that part to perfection, and, unfortunately, this figure only has a mild resemblance — though I do think the profile is pretty close. The exaggerated nose bridge is there, but there is something about the jaw and narrowness of the head that makes him a little too ordinary to be Marv. They’ve done a decent job in giving his face some texture to mimic the scars and pock marks, but that’s a tough thing to do at this scale. I’m also voicing my opinion based on what I see with the naked eye. Macro photography picks out every little flaw in the plastic, and with that, he’s downright hideous!
I’m counting 19 points of articulation with Marv, and am happy so say that each point both works and looks great. He has a great ball-jointed head, ab crunch, cut waist, pin and disc shoulders and elbows, bicep cuts, wrist cuts, DCUC-style hips, thigh cuts, single-jointed knees, and pivot ankles. The forward motion on the thighs is slightly limited by the sculpt, and I would have loved double-jointed knees, but there’s really nothing I can complain about with this figure in terms of articulation. DST takes a lot of hits in this category, but they’ve done a great job in the articulation of this character while preserving the sculpt.
To mimic the film, DST went with the black and white color palette for the regular release and a colorized version of Marv and Hartigan as a Toys R Us exclusive. I had no difficulty in deciding which version of Marv I wanted, and DST has definitely delivered. Black and white figures can be tricky, but they’ve incorporated just enough variations of grey to make it interesting. I do have a fair amount of slop on mine (particularly around the undershirt and necklace), but everything else is tip-top. And thankfully the eyes are done perfectly. My one little complaint is that I would have liked it if they were able to paint the sides of the tank top black instead of white. As with most trench-coat figures, the arms are sculpted with the coat sleeves while the rest of the coat is removable. This often leads to a gap being visible when the arms are lifted, which is far more noticeable when the white undershirt is peaking through.
As with most DST releases, Marv comes with a pretty sweet display base. It’s a standard alleyway complete with rat and empty bottle, but its simplicity and black and white paint complement the figure perfectly. The figure also comes with a gas can, hatchet, and his trusty sidearm — Gladys.
All things considered, this is a pretty terrific action figure. The now standard $24.99 DST retail price applies, and while expensive, they are least keeping up the quality and accessories that fans have come to love. If you’re a fan of the film or of Bblack and white figures in general, then I highly recommend Marv.
Thanks for reading!