I think
pretty much everybody loves Captain Jack Harkness. Certainly Captain
Jack does.
Jack
Harkness is probably one of the best things to happen to Doctor Who
since the return in 2005. He’s a proactive character that very much
has his own agenda and is not beholden to the Doctor, but at the same
time when he shows up the story doesn’t switch to focus on him. He
enhances the show without taking the spotlight away from the title
character. And thanks to the natural charm and ability of John
Barrowman, Harkness very much feels like a character that has a life
of his own; even before he got his own spinoff series in Torchwood.
This
figure is specifically from Doctor
Who, so I’m not going to
discuss Torchwood
here.
Until
this figure arrived the only Captain Jack we had been able to find
was the one in the jumpsuit and cravat from his first appearance in
“The Empty Child”:
That is
not a great figure. The likeness is soft and let’s face it: the
jumpsuit was not Captain Jack’s best look. Even in the context of
the show I was a bit confounded as to why they put him in that thing.
The
Torchwood figure that came out later – and that apparently was not
licensed to feature John Barrowman’s likeness – is probably the
best one that’s come out. I’ve seen it at cons, but I’m a
little weird about things like likeness rights. Especially if I have
specifically heard the actor express displeasure over something,
which I have. So I didn’t buy that one.
Underground
Toys has wisely reissued a number of their older Doctor who figures
recently. I’m pretty sure this was compelled by the 50th
Anniversary, though it took a little while for these to find their
way to the States. And the distribution has been spotty at best. This
version of Captain Jack is part of those reissues and I was only able
to find him from BigBadToyStore.com. There have been a couple of
different releases of today’s figure. The best one came with the
disembodied Doctor hand that would eventually grow into Rose Tyler’s
Love Clone. This one comes with a shitty revolver.
FIRST
GLANCE
That
is a big ol’ coat. And those are some ruby red lips.
It
is impressive that in a line full of aliens, monsters, and robots of
varying shapes and sizes – not to mention several versions of one
peculiarly dressed humanoid – Underground made this human an
interesting figure. You now – as opposed to the jumpsuit one.
PACKAGING
I
don’t like clamshells, but if you’re going to make a clamshell at
least have the decency to make it zany. This design is pretty zany. I
dig all of the different levels of surface and the huge diamond shape
that jumps out at you (and is reminiscent of the classic Doctor who
diamond logo).
This
is a pretty good character synopsis, though it’s awfully blurry.
Wait – that’s my fault.
LOOKS
Unfortunately
the likeness on this Jack isn’t a whole lot better than on the
jumpsuit version. It’s recognizable as John Barrowman, but is not
one of Character Options’ better sculpts. The expression isn’t a
winner, either. As much of a bummer as Torchwood
was, the Doctor
Who
version of Captain Jack was a pretty happy fella. If I were in charge
of this figure I would’ve gone for that trademark Barrowman grin,
not this dour look. The paint is applied well, with the eyebrows and
eyes looking particularly good. The lips are maybe a bit too red, but
they are at least placed well. And I have to say – they nailed the
hair. It has a great thickness and texture and the paint is solid.
The
coat looks great. It has a sculpt that makes it look like it’s a
large piece of clothing as opposed to just a huge, sculpted thing. It
has lines that suggest its weight and a sort of flowing motion
without looking overly swooshy. The buttons, belt, and upturned
collar are well-defined. Aside from the buttons – which have nice
dots of brass color on them – the coat is one solid color, but it
looks good. The holes at the shoulders are tight enough so you don’t
see shirt through them.
Jack’s
hands look good and have decent finger definition. The right is posed
to hold the pistol – the success of which I’ll discuss in a bit –
and the left is relaxed; though it could probably cup or bitch slap
if needed.
Underneath
the coat, this figure is buck naked.
Ha!
Just kidding! This isn’t the actual
John Barrowman, just a figure.
The
detail under the coat is great, to the point where it’s almost a
shame the coat is covering it all up. The shirt and trousers have a
nice amount of wrinkle and fold detail. Jack has his braces and belt
combo, but lest you make fun know that the belt is holding the
holster for his sidearm. Sadly the holster is not functional.
The
paint is surprisingly great. Lots of toy lines wouldn’t have
bothered, but each of these parts has a color and detail – the
braces actually have three colors.
Harkness’
shoes have laces and soles and the soles are even a darker brown.
This is a nice touch. It seems like CO/UT always does a nice job with
footwear.
ACCESSORIES
Captain
Jack comes with a revolver that can’t really interact with the
figure very well.
It
looks great and has some nice detailing with two colors, but it’s
super
flimsy and the figure can’t hold it very well at all. It also
doesn’t fit into the holster.
I
wish I had gotten the one with the Doctor hand.
FUN
This
is a tough call. While it’s a lot of fun just knowing that I own a
Captain Jack figure, the figure itself isn’t very thrilling. It has
the old style of Classic Who articulation, which means that it has a
bunch of serviceable joints but the shoulders are just swivels rather
than the swivel/pivot of later releases. The coat doesn’t hamper
posing too much, as it’s a soft plastic, but there’s not a whole
lot of posing to do. He can’t hold his gun and he looks weird
trying to point it at anything.
OVERALL
While
I’m disappointed in the shoulder joints, the big letdown is the
face sculpt. This just doesn’t feel like the Captain Jack I want in
my figure collection. This guy is all morose. I want happy, lusty
Jack. If he had that head sculpt I’d be pretty happy with the
figure. As it is, I’ll put him on the shelf just to have a Captain
Jack, but he won’t be up front.
3
out of 5
This
isn’t an awesome Jack Harkness, but it’s the best one we’re
likely to get at this scale. Go buy one from Amazon and help out
Needless Things!:
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