Booker DeWitt

For whatever reason (possibly because we never really see him), NECA chose not to make an action figure of the player character from the original BioShock game, Jack Wynand. Yes, he was just a dude in a sweater, but he's still the main character. But for BioShock Infinite, NECA brought us... ourselves. "One thing I've learned: if you don't draw first, you don't get to draw at all." Booker DeWitt is a man with debts that he cannot repay. Offered a chance to wipe away these debts, Booker must now journey to the city of Columbia, locate the mysterious Elizabeth and return with her to New York. Armed with a sky-hook and shotgun, Booker will need to battle the Founders and Vox Populi alike to complete his mission and find redemption. I just finished BioShock 2 a few weeks ago, so I still haven't started Infinite yet. But as good as Elizabeth was, there was no way of passing up this figure. NECA'd again! Unlike Jack and "Johnny Topside," Booker actually has a face. Oh, sure, those guys "had" faces, but for the most part they were just a set of hands and the bobbing barrel of a gun. Booker doesn't show his face very often in the game, but he's the only person on the front of the packaging, so we know what he looks like, with his stylish stubble and his kind of modern haircut. Seriously, the game's set in 1912, and this guy looks like he stepped out of an Axe Body Spray commercial. The clothes are a bit more era-appropriate. He's wearing pin-striped grey trousers, a dark grey shirt with a white lining (visible at the collar and the rolled sleeves), and a bluish-green vest. The vest has eight buttons, and an ornate pattern on the lapels. It has sculpted seams and pockets, and a whole mess of wrinkles where it bunches up beneath the strap across the back. He's wearing a loose red scarf around his neck, and early 20th-century style shoes. The back of his right hand is branded with the letters "A.D." on the back - they're a raised part of the sculpt. Befitting an ex-Pinkerton agent, he's wearing a shoulder holster; there are two magazines under his right arm, while the pistol beneath his left appears to be his Mauser C96 (judging by what bits of it are visible). Sadly, that's just a sculpted element, not a separate accessory. What is a separate accessory, however, is his "China Broom" shotgun. It's based on a Winchester Model 1887, but it's been given a massive barrel with a ridge along the top and a flared muzzle. The trigger guard is golden, as are plates on both sides and the tube under the barrel. The slide is brown, and while the stock does not have the tiny "memento mori" lettering on the sides (because there would be no way [short of training bacteria to do the job] to sculpt anything that small), but it does have the plates that lettering would be etched upon. The shotgun fits in his right hand, while his left hand is dedicated to the game's trademark device, the Sky-Hook. The Sky-Hook is as much a symbol of BioShock Infinite as the Gravity Gun is of Half-Life 2 or the ASHPD is of Portal. It's the first weapon you're given in the game, and is absolutely essential to your ability to progress - it's the thing that lets you slide around on all those conveniently placed ziplines, thanks to the three rotating hooks at the front. To help ensure the user doesn't lose his grip, metal struts clasp the arm with thick leather straps, and the handle has individual rings for each finger to fit into. The sculpt of the toy is amazing, detailed right down to the fancy little patterns embossed on the metal plates holding it together, like the "Sky-Hook" logo on the top, or the "man in the moon" design on the side, both of which can be seen on the official renders. The only thing that would make this better would be if the hooks actually spun. Booker's articulation is up to par. He has a balljointed head, balljointed neck (yes, those are different), swivel/hinge shoulders and elbows, balljointed wrists, a balljointed waist hidden by his belt, swivel/hinge hips and knees, and balljointed ankles. The waist is a type more often seen on female figures than males, but now NECA's making us wonder why that is - it works really well. The fact that the wrists are balljoints makes using the Sky-Hook accessory very easy, too: you can pop the hand off the arm, get the fingers into the handle, and then reattach it, easy as could be! Sadly, he's not flexible enough to allow you to rest the shotgun on his shoulder, like in the game's box art. Also, he can't put his arms straight down, because the holster gets in the way. NECA's said this is the last BioShock Infinite figure they're making, which is kind of a shame. Sure, he came out about a year later than NECA originally wanted him to, but he's really good! Well, his beard stubble is painted a little heavy, but when that's the worst thing wrong with the toy, you know it's very right. -- 11/05/14

Tweet