McFarlane Toys: Warhammer 40,000 Blood Angels Primaris Lieutenant Review

Warhammer stuff has always appealed to me despite never getting into the whole miniature thing. I love the designs, and the overall “feel” of the property. McFarlane’s stab at the line might not be the fastest moving line, but I’m all in for anything they put out, in the hope that they’ll start to go deep into the truly bizarre looking creations.

When Bandai came out with their version of the Space marine, I reluctantly passed due to the price. I definitely wanted to collect Warhammer stuff, but I’d rather do it at a price that was affordable enough to lend itself to army building, or at least buying a handful to fudge an armyesque collection. Over one hundred dollars a piece doesn’t do it, but 20-25 each is way more reasonable.

The regular armored Space Marine has already seen a regular blue-with-red-helmet release (with solid gray artist’s proof) and a red-with-blue-helmet upcoming. This red version with a gold helmet is part of McFarlane’s Gold Label release. It’s probably the snazziest version of all, and has quickly become my favorite.

As anybody who has been collecting Mcfarlane stuff in recent years knows, there has been a concerted effort to bump up the amount of articulation. The days of barely poseable statues seem to be dying off, replaced by…actual fun toys that do actual fun toy things. I think I would have been mortally wounded if these awesome looking toys had been barely mobile things with only a few paltry points of articulation.

There are of course some points that don’t work as well, but that’s more on the actual design of the character than it is the articulation. The figures has:

Ball jointed head

Ball-jointed shoulders into the shoulder (the arms pop out if forced to go too far)

Disc hinges on the actual shoulder

Bicep cut

Double jointed elbow

Ball jointed wrists

Ball jointed torso wobble joint

Ball jointed waist

Hinge-disc hips with minimal swivel

Double jointed knees

Ball jointed ankles

Overall everything works well taking into account the various thick armor plating and overlays. The hips are probably the weakest area. You get some motion for rudimentary poses, but he’s not going to be going full ninja with those hip panels hanging down. But the torso, elbow and knee range are all great, and allows you to pull off some cool stuff despite his bulk. I will definitely admit to being an articulation snob, but I am also able to take into account the factors that inhibit what is there, and the limitations are allowable. He looks good just standing there, but he can do way more than just stand there, so I’m satisfied. If the hip panels had a ball joint to allow them to be moved along with the leg I think the entire figure would benefit, but that’s me asking for the next step, and I understand why it’s not a thing here.

Red is my favorite color, so while I love the blue guys, I’ve been looking forward to getting this mold in red, and the result is sweet sweet eye candy. The black and gold accents make it feel even perkier. While the red and gold didn’t end up being as vibrant as they looked in the hand-painted prototype, it still looks good.

For accessories, the Lieutenant comes with his pistol, sword, backpack and the gold…ok, I’m just calling it a thingie…that attaches to the top of his backpack. The backpack stays on fine, but that spikey gold thingie comes off if you mutter at it under your breath, so you’re either going to have to glue it on or leave it off depending on your proclivities. I’m probably going to leave it off. I don’t mind it, but I don’t need it permanently attached.

I know it probably has a name…

The sword was quite warped in the package, but it straightened out well enough, so be aware of that.

I’m all in on this line. I want everything, and I’m going to have to stop myself from buying multiples of everything just because they’re so damn affordable. Entire legions of these would look great. So far I’ve managed to stop at two of each release (plus the gray artist proofs that I can’t even bring myself to paint despite the fact that I bought them to paint) but a part of me is thinking how cool ten would look. Good grief.