“Do they speak English in What??”
Way back in 1994, high school me dipped out of school early to check out this new movie that had such a buzz about it. All I knew was that it was a crime movie starring the guy from Look Who’s Talking. I had no idea it would have been the single most memorable movie experience of my life. It’s been over 20 years now, and while we’ve had a spattering of toys here and there, we’ve never really been treated to our much loved 6- 7-inch articulated action figures. Diamond Select Toys have recently released their first wave of Pulp Fiction figures. Has it been worth the wait? Let’s find out!
Packaging
These are the Toys R US versions (Which do not include the base accessory), so the packaging is a bit smaller than what we usually get with DST. They catch the eye, showcase the figure, and even give some character info on the back. Job well done, package. Now off to the landfill with you.
Sculpt
I generally don’t like to point out value until the end of the review, but I feel it’s important to mention that these are $15 dollar figures at Toys R Us — which is pretty much unheard of at this scale anymore. Even mass-marketed 6-inch toys are a good $5-$7 more expensive. So some slack will definitely be cut in some categories. Fortunately, sculpt doesn’t need to be one of them.
Sculpted by Gentle Giant, these figures look pretty fantastic. As they are basically just dudes in street clothes (which puts the “Civilians don’t sell!” argument to the test), the only real WOW factor is with the likeness — and sculpt-wise, I think they nailed it. At first glance, they may seem to be a little off, but I really feel that’s more of a paint issue than a sculpt one. You get a few interesting details in the clothes, but nothing that’s going to blow your mind. They’re pretty screen accurate for the most part.
Paint
As mentioned, the sculpts are really quite good, but the paint really doesn’t do a whole lot to complement them. Jules and Marcellus are decent enough, but the faces are bit soft and the eyes (and painted on eyebrows) aren’t as clean as I would have liked. The suits (as simple as they are) are very well done with minimal slop. Butch unfortunately has a few more issues. There is a lot more subtlety attempted with the face as the character has a tight faded hairstyle and some beard stubble, but they couldn’t quite get it. That, coupled with the same issues with the eyes really hurts the overall likeness. It’s not bad by any means, but I think this is one of those figures that could really benefit from a custom repaint. The outfit is fine from the waist up, but it suffers from that old-school DST dry-brushing on the jeans. The kind where you can almost make out the brush strokes. It’s just way overdone and really distracts from the overall set, as the other two figures look far more polished.
Articulation
We get a pretty standard DST articulation scheme here and everything moves as it was intended. The joints are all tight and I had no trouble freeing any up. One downside is the lack of any ab crunch. As just about all figures come with it these days, you don’t really notice how important it is until it’s missing. There’s just no subtlety you can give your poses as the torso is totally upright at all times. I get that they want to preserve the sculpt, but it’s still slightly disappointing.
Accessories
Despite these being stripped-down basic versions of their specialty shop releases, DST has given us a fair amount of accessories with each figure. Jules comes with two cheeseburgers from Big Kahuna Burgers, a tasty Sprite, his handgun, and Marsellus Wallace’s briefcase. Marcellus has a handgun and his doughnut/coffee holder. Butch comes with the samurai sword and a gripping hand. All the accessories fit the characters well, even if they’re wearing something different in the film (ie. Butch is jacketless, beaten and bloody by the time he gets the sword), but any film with accurate accessories is much appreciated. DST could have cut these for the Toys R’ Us releases, but they didn’t — so I’m thankful for that. The only accessory that I would really have loved is Butch’s watch, as it’s the springboard for the fight scene with Marsellus and everyone’s favorite Gimp.
Overall
Judging the figures on their own merits (and not the awesomely unbelievable $15 price point!), DST has done a great job in bringing the characters to life — finally. They certainly aren’t without their problems, but for a Pulp Fiction fan like me, they’re a most welcome addition to the collection and will probably have a permanent space in the display. Now bring on Vincent Vega!
Thanks for reading!
Buy the full sets on Amazon or head over to Toys R’ Us for the basic versions: