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Manufacturer: Sideshow Toy, Inc. (www.sideshowtoy.com)
Series: Monty Python and the Holy Grail
MSRP: $40.00
Edition: 1,000 limited
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Manufacturer: Sideshow Toy, Inc. (www.sideshowtoy.com) |
It's...
The Knight Who Says "Ni!"
This very tall and peculiar gentleman challenged Arthur and Bedevere as they made their way through a dark and sinister wood, demanding that they bring him and his fellow Knights of Ni a shrubbery. One that looked nice. And not too expensive. When they succeeded, the king and his faithful knight were further commanded to cut down the mightiest tree in the forest with... a herring.
Yeah, the movie was wacky like that.
As a Sideshow web exclusive with an extremely limited production run of 1,000 pieces, the Knight of Ni sold out very quickly. Right now, the best bet for finding him is probably the secondary market, where he could run a couple of hundred dollars or more.
Packaging:
Well, there was no way this guy was going to fit in standard 12" figure
packaging. Instead of the usual front flap, the very tall Knight of Ni's
even taller box features a window at the front and top. It's a bit less
rugged than most Sideshow packaging, likely because it wasn't designed
to take a beating while sitting on a store shelf. The overhead window
lets in light for in-box display purposes, but you're probably going to
want to tear this sucker free and stick a herring in his hand right away.
The design of the packaging otherwise matches the rest of the line, with the usual identification labels, Grail art and character-specific decoration. For the Knight of Ni, this takes the form of a shrubbery that wraps around the bottom of the box, complete with a white picket fence. The back of the box features part of the usual inside-flap text, the rest obscured by shrubbery. What it lacks is any description of the Knight himself, although given that this was a limited-edition exclusive, anyone who ordered it presumably knew who they were getting. Also absent is the customary note that posing may require hand support; thanks to the Knight's unique lower-body design, toppling over isn't likely to be an issue.
Inside the box, the cardboard backdrop features a cloudy blue sky (over a shrubbery, naturally), which is a bit out of character for the Knight but may have been the best way to show off the dark-clothed figure. Twisties hold the figure to a plastic tray that keeps the fragile antlers well clear of the sides of the packaging.
Accessories:
The Knight comes with a single accessory: his herring. It's a very good
herring, with detailed fins and a faint cross-hatching that gives the
impression of scales without requiring the sculptor to carve each and
every one. The paint fades nicely from silver belly to a metallic blue
back, and the eyes are black with a red upper rim. The thin fins do look
a bit delicate, so you probably won't want to try sawing down any trees
with this particular fish.
It would have been nice if the Knight had also come with a shrubbery, but alas, it was not to be. The usual stand is also absent, since the figure has no need for one.
Sculpting and Paint:
While still well up there in the ranks of 1/6 scale figures, the
Knight's face is a little disappointing compared to previous figures in
the Holy Grail line. The facial sculpt is immediately recognizable
as a manically jolly Michael Palin, but the bushy moustache, eyebrows
and beard could really use more fine line detail. The Knight's eyes are
very cleanly painted, but the rest of his face is flatly ruddy and seems
to be missing much of the line's signature blend of flesh tones.
In comparison, the Knight's bucket-shaped helmet is very well detailed, with the texture and hue of rough iron. On top sits a pair of tall antlers that bring his height to a whopping 18". They're properly bone-colored, with a darker wash at the base where the surface becomes knobbly, just like the real thing. The tips of the antlers are pointy but not too sharp; still, this is obviously not a toy for small children to play with. The plastic is quite thin and rigid, which makes me wonder how I'm going to safely store the figure when it's not on display. As nice as they are, I'd love to have seen the antlers made from a slightly more flexible material.
The Knight's hands are sculpted to resemble heavily padded gloves and are textured to resemble chain mail or coarse wool (which is probably exactly what they were in the film). The herring accessory fits perfectly in the left hand, while the right is sculpted in a gesture that could be a welcome or a warning, depending on how you pose it.
Articulation:
From the waist up, this is the normal super-articulated 12" male Sideshow body. The beard prevents the Knight's head from turning all the way around, but he has all the normal human range of motion and then some.
Below the waist, the Knight of Ni has only a big black plastic pedestal. There's no articulation, but he sure isn't going to fall over, and it was probably the most efficient way to pull off the character's towering height. In a nice touch, the base is lined with felt to keep it from slipping or scratching shelves and tables.
Costume:
The Knight's costume is simple, but that's just being faithful to the source material. His main item of clothing is a black fabric tunic that hangs about two inches past his base, bunching up on the ground beneath him. Below that he wears a brown woollen shirt with a string tie at the collar. On his shoulders sits a mantle of thick brown fake fur. A thatch of fur has also been attached to the top of the Knight's helmet, and a few additional tufts have been glued to his antlers (the box credits helpfully note that antler floss has been provided by Bjorn Irkestrom-Slater Walker).
Overall:
He's not going to fit into too many medieval military displays, but let's face it -- if you're collecting the Holy Grail line, you need this guy. Even with a lumpy beard and a lack of legs, this is a pretty darned good Knight Who Says "Ni!" -- and the fact that he ever got made is a testament to both the success of Sideshow's line and the staying power of that movie by those British guys about some king guy looking for a magic cup.
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