The Toy Guru: NECA's Bloody Marv

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The Toy Guru: NECA's Bloody Marv

August 31, 2005

Greetings net denizens, the Toy Guru is here to guide you through the wonderful world of collectible action figures and other toys based on the movies and comics you all know and love. Our twice-a-month stop will take us from the silver screen of your local megaplex to the off-white pages of your favorite comic or graphic novel. For our trial run, we'll take a look at a figure with crossover appeal – NECA's Bloody Marv from the recent Robert Rodriguez film Sin City – adapted for the big screen from a trio of Frank Miller graphic novels. This color version of the gritty, nail-chewing hero was an exclusive to the big two summer Cons this year – San Diego's Comic Con International and Wizard World Chicago.

Sculpt (7 of 10)

Marv's overall sculpt is pretty solid, with a good likeness of a latex-ladened Mickey Rourke. The detail of his grooved undershirt, heavy work boots and scarred face are especially good. Where the sculpt suffers most is in the articulation, especially his legs. The figure has no conventional V or T-crotch articulation, so beyond a pair of knee cuts to aid with positioning him to stand, Marv lacks lower body articulation. Given his static pose is designed to be one foot slightly ahead of the other, this makes Marv a bit of a pain to stand. Once you do get him self-supporting, he tends to have a lean, which does add a bit to the overall ‘swagger' of the character, but also adds to his physical instability.

Another issue I have with this particular Marv was the glasses on the Kevin's head accessory. The glasses appear to be affix via a small peg and hole system on either side of Kevin's head, but one side of my figure refused to stay attached.

Paint (9 of 10)

Usually sloppy paint apps are a bad thing, but look at who we're dealing with here! He's a bloody mess! That said, there is such a thing as bad blood splatters. Fortunately, Marv's blood shirt, face and arms are well done. Elsewhere, the paint is fine with no substantial globs, bleeds or runs to report.

Articulation(7 of 10)

Marv has eight points of articulation – neck (ball), shoulders x2 (ball), wrists x2 (cut), waist (cut) and knees x2 (cut). Overall, movement is fairly limited, especially his legs as previously mentioned. The ball joined neck gives good range to his head, giving him the ability to stare down his enemies or cock his head just so for a pithy remark before he smashes their teeth in. The ball jointed shoulders give decent range, but without elbow articulation – either cuts or hinged – Marv's arms only really look good in two positions – at his side, or pointing a gun straight out.

Accessories (9 of 10)

Marv comes with five accessories in total – Gladys (his gun), a hacksaw, handcuffs, a fist-clinched hand and Kevin's severed head. NECA gets high marks for these. The only trouble I had with accessories was with the aforementioned glasses. The hacksaw, while thin, is a sturdy, yet flexible – just like a real one. While Gladys is a good representation of the hand cannon Marv wields in the film, the handcuffs are the real treat here. Made with metal components, they really work! The locking ring has grooved teeth to snap in to the other half of the cuffs. The necklace as a true accessory would have been a nice touch. As it is, it is painted on Marv's body, but it is raised up to appear real.

Overall (8 of 10)

NECA's Bloody Marv is a solid figure and a winner for what it is designed to be – a statuesque representation of a R-rated movie character, and not a highly articulated kid's toy made to be played with. The main draw back to the figure was the lack of poseability from his belt down. The lack of crotch articulation gives the buyer a grand total of one stance to choose from. The figure could have also benefited from better knee articulation and maybe even cut ankles. Elbow articulation would have also opened the door to more dynamic poses with his uber cool accessories.

While the color version of Bloody Marv was a summer Con exclusive, a black and white version of the figure is shipping now from NECA in its Series 2 assortment of Sin City movie figures. Series 2 also includes Shellie, Miho, Goldie/Wendy and Kevin.

See you in the aisles!

Bonus Pics