Tuff

Back to the beaches! Goyle wasn't the only "Nomad" in the initial Plunderlings offerings - the Kickstarter opened with two Raiders (light fighters), two Berserkers (heavy fighters) and two Nomads. Also two translucent "Drenches," some kind of little swamp monsters or whetever, but those were Kickstarter exclusives, not part of the "line" proper. Anyway, the Nomads are not wanderers or vagabonds (call them what you will), but sneakier/distance fighters. Which doesn't really mesh with the name "Tuff" very well, but maybe it was an ironic nickname the other goblins gave him? Tuff is a little cutie - of course he is, all the Plunderlings are. He uses most of the same parts we saw on Goyle, but with a key difference. Remember the ragged little cut-offs we got last time? They apparently weren't concealing anything, because Tuff's in the buff! Other than his accessories, he's not wearing a stitch of clothes. If you're an afficianado of miniscule goblin butts, have we got some good news for you! This one is a pale purple, with a slightly pinker shade on his elbows and knees. The shapes of the body are soft and round. Yes, even the sharp finger- and toenails. That means that the face still looks friendly even when he's baring his fangs at you. Each figure includes three heads: one with the mouth closed, one with the teeth together, and one with the teeth apart. Tuff's head is not identical to the one we got last time, because he has little gold earrings sculpted on: three on the right ear, four on the left. A Plunderling stands just under 4" tall, which puts them in a 6"-7" scale. Seba Dom's sculpt for the figure is slightly cartoony, so it's more Fortnite than Marvel Legends. Tuff has swivel/hinge ankles, double-hinged knees, swivel thighs, balljointed hips, balljointed chest, swivel/hinge wrists, swivel/hinge elbows, swivel/ hinge shoulders, and a balljointed head. Everything moved perfectly well straight out of the box, and swapping parts was easy: the head and hands simply pop off, to be replaced with the ones you want. The joints hold their poses well, and the alternate hands have joints that run north-south instead of the open hands' east-west. If Goyle was a Rogue, then Tuff is a Wizard. He wears the same kind of cape, but instead of a hood he gets a pointy wizard hat, which allows us to appreciate a feature we couldn't last time: the Plunderlings have magnets in their heads, like the Palisades Muppets, so their hats will stay on nicely. This one has little notches so it can fit over the ears, which also means it will only fit on the head in one direction. We again get a frog, though this time in bright red - is that his familiar, or a spell ingredient? It's possible he's not really meant to be a wizard, and that the pointed hat is just a pointed hat, because he comes with a humongous mallet instead of a magic wand. But who's to say a mallet can't be a wand? If the TV version of Harry Dresden could use a hockey stick, Tuff can use a mallet. Even if he runs out of spell slots for the day, he'll always have "heavy wallop" prepared! The packaging for the Plunderlings is awesomely on-brand. They are fully a cube, with clear panels on the front and top so you can see the Plunderling within. They're designed to look like crates, the sort these 'lings would plunder, but they're also designed to look like a Plunderling themselves: the front is a face, with eyes and a wide open mouth; the bottom is feet; and inside the box there are two separate ears that you can slide out through the sides to complete the look. It's totally cute, and each box is also color-coded to the Plunderling inside, so Goyle's was bluish-gray, Tuff's is lavendar, and... well, that would be telling, wouldn't it? You'll have to come back to find out who else we'll be reviewing. Lone Coconut has recently given some hints at what the future of this line may be - we won't spoil them here, because it was an update only for Kickstarter backers, but they've definitely got some ideas. Right now these little goblins are hot, with an almost-immediate sell-though on Big Bad Toy Store, their official retail partner. And once you get a few of them in-hand, it's easy to see why fans are so ready to sign on to their crew. -- 01/16/21

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