FLASH! AAAH-AAAH! Savioroftheuniverse! Kingoftheimpossible! Boss Fight is back with more figures from the classic Flash Gordon live action film and were kind enough to send us some samples to review, so let’s take a look at Prince Barin and Flash!
I absolutely love the packaging on these two figures. First off, the card art by Erica Henderson is bursting with personality and captures the swashbuckling spirit of the film and these two characters. Secondly, the collector friendly bubble is always a nice touch, allowing people the option to put it back on the card if they like or just toss away the bubble and keep that sweet card art. Thirdly, the bios are nice and robust, and finally, the fact that Flash’s descriptor on the card is KING OF THE IMPOSSIBLE is perfect. That’s right out of the song lyrics that blast on screen as he’s wearing this outfit and it tickles me to no end.
Both figures come with a chunk of stuff, Flash with two blasters, a sword, a stand, and alternate fists and Barin with a sword, whip, crossbow, stand and two open hands.
The stands are pretty neat with the logo inlaid and several foot pegs on red plastic. The hands swap out with a little force and stay on securely. Barin’s gloves are an overlay on the Flash forearms, so you can swap Flash’s hands onto him for a gloveless look too.
The whip is perfect for Barin’s fight with Flash at the Hawkmen’s Floating City and is sculpted in a cool action pose with a nice sense of movement.
The sword fits well in Barin’s hand or the sheath attached to his skirt. The sheath swivels, so it can be posed and the grip hands hinge up/down for nice sword holding poses.
The crossbow has an arm stabilizer to help him fire one handed, but it seems slightly overlarge compared to the weapon in the film.
The guns look familiar to me as weapons used in the final act of the film. The smaller one with the strap makes me think of the weapon Prince Barin uses after he and Zarkoff escape, but I’m not sure. I guess I have to rewatch Flash Gordon. Oh darn. At any rate, they are cast in solid black with a little bit of gold detail paint and have pretty sharp sculpting.
Finally, the iconic sword that I would stare at daily on my childhood Flash Gordon poster gets some good detail and great metallic paint.
I’m really impressed with the detail on these smaller four inch figures, especially Prince Barin’s woven shirt, wrinkly pants, complicated belt, and leather-textured boots. The figures straddle the line nicely of super-heroic and realistic proportions, being slightly buffer than the actors in the film. The likeness strike me as fantastic for this scale of figure. It looks like there is some smart re-use between the figures, including forearms and legs.
Articulation is solid with:
- Swivel/hinge shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, and ankles
- Swivel thighs and waist
- Ball and socket head and mid-torso
- Double-hinged knees
I especially like all the movement in the barbell ball and socket in the heads and mid-torso. There’s some great tilt there. Barin’s shoulder movement is somewhat limited in hinging outward due to his thicker sleeve detail, and sometimes I found that Barin’s massive collar got in the way of how I wanted to pose the head, but that was the only articulation issue I had.
Paint is minimal and clean and precise on the details like Barin’s gold trim and belt and Flash’s T-Shirt symbol. Barin is mostly cast in the green of his outfit which works because he’s decked out in green, but I wish there was some wash or drybrush to bring out that shirt texture and add a little variety to the green. Flash’s hair is a little brighter here than on his earlier Football Flash figure, but the heads from that figure are fully compatible, so if you have that, you have a couple of expression options.
Overall, I’m super happy with these two figures and had a lot of fun playing with and posing them. I hope the line continues on and I can get Vultan, Zarkov, Dale, Aura, Klytus and Ming eventually to go with these guys. I’ve got that Lunchbox from the Football Fight Flash that would make a great carrying case for them.
