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| May 22, 2012 |
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HOME...REVIEWS...TOYS...MONTY PYTHON
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
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Manufacturer: Sideshow Toy, Inc. (www.sideshowtoy.com) |
It's...
Prince Herbert and the King of Swamp Castle!
The final two figures in Sideshow's classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail line have arrived. Movie-watchers will recall this unlikely pair as the financially -- if not architecturally -- practical regent of the aforementioned bog-situated royal domicile and Sir Launcelot's damsel in distress who turned out to be rather less of a damsel than previously thought.
Packaging:
I'm going to miss these cheerful blue boxes. The figures come in
high-quality packaging with Terry Gilliam's art and a cast list on the
front flap, a window and character information on the inside flap, movie
stills and a page from the script on the back, bits of silly text here and
there and character-specific decoration. For Prince Herbert, we get a
knotted sheet hanging down from the top of the box and piling up at the
bottom, and for the King we get -- what else? -- a grassy, muddy swamp
around the base. In a first, we also get silly-text continuity; as you'll
see in the photo gallery, the copy writer throws a bit of a fit on Prince
Herbert's box, and the King's packaging notes that said writer has been
sacked. Fortunately, space for writing one's own witty remark is included.
The swamp and sheet themes carry over to the cardboard backdrops inside the packages. Unlike most of the recent figures in the line, there is no base to cut off the backgrounds. The figures are held securely in plastic trays with a few twisties and bits of plastic. As always, you'll want to be careful when removing the accessories from the trays, as they can be a little fragile.
Accessories:
Prince Herbert includes a longbow, a quill pen and an arrow with a note
tied to it. The arrow is reused from the original Sir Launcelot figure
(the note is permanently attached), but it's an understandable bit of
recycling, as a) the original Launcelot is not easily available today, b)
Prince Herbert wrote the note and fired the arrow, and c) the bow would be
kind of useless without it. The arrow is very finely sculpted and painted,
but less flexible than I'd like for such a thin accessory, so handle with
care.
The bow is only a head shorter than Herbert himself. Its paint color is spot-on, and the sculpt has just about the best wood-grain patterning that I've seen. It actually took me a few seconds to realize that Sideshow hadn't included a carved wooden accessory. The bowstring is thin but seems durable, and it's taut enough to actually fire the arrow if you were so inclined (parental supervision only, kids!). The plastic of the bow has just enough give to flex properly when you pull back on the string, which provides lots of great posing possibilities for your 1/6-scale figures.
The white quill is sculpted to appear slightly tattered and has been weathered with a few strokes of grey paint. Thankfully, the very thin feather is molded in a rubbery material instead of the usual resin, so it's not nearly as delicate as it looks. That's something that I've wanted to see since the beginning of the line -- as great as the accessories are, they've always been on the fragile side -- and it's nice to see it finally come about.
The King's accessories aren't quite as snazzy, but I can't think of much
else that he could have come with. The first is his knife. As usual for
Sideshow, it's a very accurate and realistic weapon replica. The silver
blade has coppery weathering to make it look a little tarnished, and the
hilt has a black wash to bring out the details of the wire-wrapped grip.
There's no scabbard for the knife, but it tucks nicely into the King's
belt.
The King's second accessory is Prince Herbert's bed-sheet escape rope, essentially a length of plain white cloth with four knots tied in it. At about 12", it's not really long enough for a 1/6-scale figure to climb on, so it's probably meant to be the bit left over after the King cuts the sheet and sends Herbert plunging to his seeming doom. There's nothing exceptionally unique about the cloth, and it would have been nice to get a longer rope, but it serves its purpose well enough.
Unlike most of the recent figures in the series, Prince Herbert and the King of Swamp Castle do not include stands. Sideshow's stands are quite good, and they've always been a very nice bonus, so I'm sorry to see them absent for the last two figures. Fortunately, the company does sell Monty Python and the Holy Grail stands separately on their website; you won't get the character's name on the base, but they'll otherwise match the rest of the line.
Sculpting and Paint:
I've always liked the linework of Sideshow's face sculpts, and Prince
Herbert is no exception. His lips and eyes are detailed with lots of little
fine lines and wrinkles that really bring out the life of the sculpt, and
his hair is nicely detailed as well. His teeth are a single band, but
making each tooth distinct would probably have taken away from the
Prince's frail appearance. The expression perfectly captures Herbert's
perpetual look of confused yearning. Even his warts (or whatever those
things are) look just right.
The face is a good representation of actor Terry Jones, but there's something very slightly off. I think it may be the nose; comparing the figure sculpt to the movie stills on the box, it looks like Jones' nose is a bit broader than the figure's, with the result that Prince Herbert bears a faint resemblance to Willem Dafoe.
Prince Herbert's hands are thin, with long wrists that make him look even more scrawny. One hand is sculpted to hold an object, while the other has an expressive pose with the fingers partly extended. The plastic is just flexible enough to bend without breaking, resulting in a firm grip. His grasp of the quill pen is a little bit loose, but the extended hand can hold onto the feathered base of the arrow while pulling back on the string, and looks good doing so.
The Prince hasn't seen much sunlight, and the paint portrays his sickly complexion well, using several shades of greyish-pink on his face and a wash to bring out the details of his white-blond hair. His hands perfectly match the plastic used for his body. All of the paint is very precisely applied, without a single line out of place.
The King of Swamp Castle is the Prince's polar opposite. Big, loud and
maniacally jolly, his look is captured in the figure's facial sculpt,
instantly recognizable as actor Michael Palin despite the thinning hair and
bushy beard. The lines on the forehead and around the eyes are very good,
although the King's hair is a little less finely detailed than the Prince's.
His skin is darker than Herbert's, with reddish tints to match the
on-screen character's ruddy complexion. The large bald spot is a little
strange-looking -- it's completely smooth and a totally different color
than the rest of the King's face. An examination of the scene shows that
it's actually a pretty faithful recreation of Palin's low-budget bald cap,
but this may be the rare instance where a figure might be a little more
accurate to the source material than necessary.
The King's hands have shorter wrists than Herbert's and are larger overall, reinforcing how delicate the Prince looks next to his father. I didn't expect that kind of subtle distinction between the figures, and it earns definite bonus points. Both of the King's hands are sculpted for gripping, but one has a slightly extended index finger that works well for gesticulation. He can hold his knife (loosely) or the escape rope in either hand.
Articulation:
Both Prince Herbert and the King of Swamp Castle use Sideshow's standard super-articulated male body. They have double-hinged knees and elbows, mid-torso ball joints, multi-jointed necks and shoulders with fore-aft movement. Basically, if your body can do it, so can theirs. I've had occasional trouble with loose arms on the Python figures, but here the joints are all stiff enough to hold up accessories and maintain most poses indefinitely. Even without stands, both figures stand up fine.
Costume:
Prince Herbert's costume is about as simple as it gets. He wears a plain white shift and leggings in the movie, both faithfully reproduced here. The sleeves are gathered in by stitching at the shoulder and elbow, and the top is laced with a string tie. In a particularly good touch, the fabric folds and drapes at the base of the collar to complete the puffy medieval nightgown look. I'd have liked to see a little more detail on the high green collar, which features a dark green zigzag pattern but was a bit more decorated in the film. Herbert's pants are the same color as the shirt but made of a softer material, with elastic to hold them up at the waistband. His low boots are painted a solid dark greenish-black and have a nicely patterned texture, with sculpted seams running up the front and back. There isn't much that Sideshow could have done to improve the basic film outfit, although a thinner material might have made the shirt a little more billowy.
The King of Swamp Castle's outfit is much more detailed. At the base is a pair of brown pants made from slightly stretchy fabric. Over these and around his torso is a black, padded "fat" suit to replicate the King's stocky frame. On top of the suit is a long tan shirt with a heavy string tie. In the prototype photos on the box, the shirt is slit down the front and has a series of black leatheresque straps and faux-brass studs down the sides of the chest. On the final product, these details are printed directly on the fabric, which doesn't look as realistic. I'm sure that there were budgetary constraints at play, but those three-dimensional details could have made this the best costume in the line.
Over the shirt, the King wears a dark brown sleeveless tunic with a low-cut chest. On top of this (and attached to the tunic by an almost invisible clear tie) is a soft plastic belt. Molded in a smooth, leather-colored dark brown, the belt has painted silver studs and a round black buckle. On the left side is a separate pouch with nice sculpted detail and painted weathering. Over all of this, the King wears a long fabric cape with a string tie and a mantle of coarse, woolly "fur" at the shoulders. (Okay, I'm starting to realize why they had to cut out the extra details -- that's a lot of costume!)
And let's not forget the King's boots. They're mostly black, with brown straps around the top and ankles. From the ankles down, they're a sort of lumpy brownish-green, and it took me a second to realize what that was supposed to represent -- it's mud from Swamp Castle's swamp. It's the little touches like these that I love in this line.
Overall:
Prince Herbert and the King of Swamp Castle are solidly secondary characters, but memorable ones. Both figures are executed well, although I miss those extra costume details from the King's prototype. Herbert has that great bow, but the King probably offers a little more bang for your buck due to the sheer mass and quality of his multi-layered outfit. Still, who are we kidding? If you're going to get one, you'll get .em both. Whether you're a fan of the movie or a collector of the line, you won't regret it.
And so the Holy Grail line comes to an end. On the bright side, we'll be seeing figures from The Life of Brian soon, and Fawlty Towers is on its way as well.
And you always have to look on the bright side, right?
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