Sometimes you get a new figure in the mail, and even though you have a daunting pile-up already in the queue for review, you have to put this new thing right at the top. Such is the case with this brand new figure from Boss Fight Studio, and the latest entry into the insanely good Bucky O’Hare line: Dead-Eye Duck.
As a kid, I did not really know anything about Bucky O’Hare as a property, but I LOVED the old action figures. I watched a few episodes of the show, and really loved the old arcade game, but I generally made up most of the adventures of the crew of the Righteous Indignation, and they crossed over with the Ninja Turtles on a regular basis. So, when I saw that Boss Fight Studio was going to be bringing the figures back, and promptly put my order in for Bucky and First Mate Jenny. However, when Dead-Eye here went up for pre-order, I went right to the source and got mine from the Boss Fight Shop so I could have him right away. I am glad I did, because Dead-Eye Duck is the best figure in the line yet.
I will admit, as a kid, Dead-Eye was never one of my favorite characters. It was unfair because, since I did not know much about his actual character at the time, I just never really developed much of his storyline because, well, I thought the fact that he had four arms was weird. Don’t get me wrong, he was a major part of play, and he was involved in every mission, but for some reason, I could not get over the four arms. I had no idea WHY he would have four arms, and I even tried to come up with a way to remove two of them off the old figure. Yeah, I cannot really explain it, but I just could not reconcile the fact that a duck had four arms, when ducks don’t have four arms.
However, as I got older and went back to explore the property beyond the action figures, I actually came to really love Dead-Eye as a character, and he moved way up the list in terms of my favorite Bucky characters. I understand the extra arms now, but I cannot shake my original feelings about them as a design choice, though my edge has certainly softened over time. However, those arms add another layer when it comes to realizing a modern action figure, and Boss Fight has given this cantankerous canard quite the treatment in bring him back to life in plastic. In fact, I dare say that Dead-Eye is the best Boss Fight Bucky figure yet, so that makes me like him even more.
When it comes down to it, Dead-Eye just looks like a crusty old gunner from outer space, and this figure carries over every single needed detail to make this work well. Honestly, you really cannot ever cut on the sculpting that Boss Fight puts out. These guys are at the top of their game when it comes to sculpting and this DE Duck figure is simply gorgeous. No detail was missed, and there is so much personality going on in the expression on the head that I cannot find any flaws in nitpick. Dead-Eye comes with three different beaks to help capture his range, and those included a beak with a wide grit, a smaller grit, and a completely closed beak. I will be keeping the wide grit in place, I think, but I am really glad we have options.
Boss Fight is also running at the forefront when it comes to manufacturing quality in their figures. I don’t know the factory they are using, but man, they do great work. All of the details made it through the production process crispy clean, and the plastic quality is second to none. Dead-Eye has all of the articulation you would expect in a BFS figure, but amped up a little bit more due to the extra arms. If I had to nitpick anything with this figure, I would say that the joints are actually a little TOO tight, and I was a little afraid of breaking something when I moved the joints for the first time. The hands were pretty difficult to swap as well. Now, that said, I would MUCH rather err on this side, instead of having a figure with loosey-goosey (ducky?) joints, so I am not really complaining here, just break in the movement slowly. After some posing, everything should be good to go.
In addition to the extra beaks, Dead-Eye also get several different hands, and four guns for his four hands. He has four pistol grip hands, and one of note has the pinky extending, which I love. He also has a fist, “thumbs up” hand, open hand, and a pen grip hand for drawing up plans. Of is four guns, two sculpts are new (while one barrows from Bucky), and the you get two of the smaller barrel guns that work the best in his lower hands. Until we get vehicles in this line where DE can man the cannons, I will be keeping the guns firmly in his feathered hands. I thought that maybe his headphones were going to be removable, but they are not, and I am actually glad about that as I would not want to fight keeping something on the figure that really has no business not being on the figure.
Hot damn this line is rad. I am in for the long haul, so I REALLY hope it continues to be successful so we can get all of the characters. Some TOAD Troopers are up next, and I am going to need to get like, a whole army of them, but I really hope we get to see Blinky or Dogstar up after that, I think BFS will make them amazing. You can pick Dead-Eye and the rest of the line at the Boss Fight Shop right now, and also, they are in the last week of their HACKS Horse Kickstarter campaign, so don’t forget to back that as well.
