yo go re and I have an ongoing argument about videogames: while I personally love First Person Shooters and feel that in simulating the real viewpoint of a character they give a perspective that other artistic mediums cannot, he thinks that they are the outcome of lazy developers who can't be bothered building the extra character model so that players can see the character they're playing. Technically we're both wrong: FPS doesn't realistically simulate how we view the world due to the way our eyes receive light from the sides, and the way we use our ears to sense objects around us, subsequently the Third Person perspective in video games is actually more authentic to how we experience the world; and yo is wrong because he's insane. None of these actually relate to today's loveable, cuddly review, however.
The first Sackperson was shown at GDC 2007 to the public, for Media Molecule's new videogame LittleBigPlanet. "Sackboy" was what Media Molecule named their little Sackperson. Players would enjoy Sackboy's many emotional, however funny expressions. Examples are, sad, angry and happy, from this point Media Molecule knew they gained the public's attention. Sackboy can wear many customizable costumes and colors at once, giving the player enough things to devise their own little sackperson. Sackboy's first costume was from Killzone's helghast trooper armor. From that point, Sackboy has been seen in many other costumes.
Although Mezco's super-lame-for-lamers
Sackboy has only just come out, another unknown company Menkind created a variety of Sackboy action figures available in a variety of different scales - today I'm looking at the smallest of the three, standing at an adorable 3" and looking excellent alongside his videogame action figure kin. (Menkind also released 6" and 12" versions, in a variety of different costumes and facial expressions, but they just seemed too big to fit in with any other action figures.) The smallest Sackboy had two main variations, a happy variant with the smiley face you see here - very cute with his tongue showing - and an angry variant. Like the fun-lovin' guy I am, I nabbed happy!
Sackboy's sculpting is fantastic, with every little stitch and seam gorgeously sculpted onto his little body, matched with superior paint apps - admire the work on the hessian as well as the fine detail on every stitch and on his zipper. His face is just as cute as in the game, with the big eyes and happy open-mouth grin that shows off his tongue. I think this sculpt is better than the Mezco version, whose head is too big and whose joints remind me of Invader Zim, not matching the game at all.
Where this Sackboy does fall slightly short is articulation: Sackboy has swivel-joints at the neck, shoulders and legs, but there are no balljoints here at all. Also to his detriment is that his hands are sculpted closed, meaning he cannot hold any of the accessories you have lying around, which isn't essential, but would have been nice. Fortunately this doesn't matter too much as he moves plenty, and he's very durable and strong, basically unbreakable - he'll stand up to any amount of play and retain his small cuteness, and looks sensational alongside any other videogame action figures - he's great.
There isn't a lot to complain about with this Sackboy - he's a marvelous little toy and wasn't very expensive, retailing for under $10. The other figures in the line were all very reasonably priced for their size, and offered consumers quite a range of choice, something Mezco isn't. Don't get me wrong, I love Mezco, but I also love this little guy!
-- 09/16/10
|