Today I'm looking at 2000 AD's very own Judge Dredd. The figure is done by Ashley Wood and Kim Fung Wongs 'ThreeA'. It's a brand that I don't often buy from but my general opinion of their stuff is pretty high.
Let's get on with it anyway and take a look at the figure!
Let's get on with it anyway and take a look at the figure!
This is the second version of the character that's been released under the ThreeA brand. The first one has a black outfit on and comes with slightly different/less accessories. Thankfully I held off buying him as a year or so later this figure was announced. I figured (no pun intended) it would happen eventually as the character is often portrayed wearing blue, for me this look is more in line with how I remember him from the comics. Even when he wore black it kind of looked blue due to the printing process.
This version see's Dredd dressed up ready for a long journey through the Cursed Earth!
Sculpt: One thing is required to nail a Dredd figure, a big grizzled chin. That's exactly what you get here and it's perfect. The face sculpt is somewhere between realistic and cartoonish which is spot on. Clearly you don't get an unmasked head sculpt, god I'd kick off haha. There's actually no face under the mask above the nose, which is good. I wouldn't want to see his eyes. He also comes with an extra interchangeable face plate that simply pops off at the helmet. One has a deep frown and the other has gritted teeth. Perfect.
I'll mention this now as it kind of falls into the sculpt area, his legs are way too thin. You could maybe defend it by saying 'oh they are going for an old comic book look' but nah I don't think the look is intentional. When viewing the figure from certain angles he looks a little silly. His bodysuit is pretty snug so I guess there's no way to fix it with padding etc.
Paint: One area that ThreeA and ThreeZero never dissapoint in is their paint applications. They do their best work when tackling characters that have seen some wear and tear. They love slapping brown mud and rust on their characters. Here it's no different, the dirt on his boots is great. I wish companies like Hot Toys could get their head around weathering like this. The paintwork all over the figure is great too, the gold on his armour shines through nicely and all the reds and blues pop out.
They really nailed the moody green too on his belt, gloves, knee pads and boots. They've applied a dark wash over everything that highlights the great sculpt. You can't beat that blue and green mix. The films never went for the black/blue and green look, I guess maybe it doesn't translate well to screen?
The only niggle I have is that his blue bodysuit has a sort of light dusting on it, I guess they were going for weathering/dust from the cursed Earth. I ended up just looking like shelf dust if I'm being honest. When I first got him I was convinced that I had transferred something from my hands onto his outfit but looking at other peoples pictures it's actually meant to be that way.
Outfit: Another really strong area that I'm very happy with. His bodysuit is flexible to the point it doesn't get in the way of movement but stiff enough that it doesn't crease like mad. His knee and elbow pads are free floating sculpted pieces so they can be moved around when posing, same for his belt too.
It's his shoulder pieces that really shine here though. They are made from a light plastic which is wise, the figure would just topple over with any type of die cast etc. Both shoulder pads are adjustable too, so once again they don't interfere with posing. The sculpting and paint on the shoulders really help raise the quality of this figure.
Lastly we have the dust jacket, rain mac thingy. Never have I been so impressed by a figures piece of clothing as I have with this. It's so simple to put on/take off and dramatically changes the look of the figure. The jacket has large open sleeves that just slip over his arms. You slide the jacket under the shoulder pads and then clip the sides together with small buttons. The material that they've used hangs well and doesn't crease at all. I even think the hood is one of the best I've seen in a long time, it folds down nicely but also looks good up over his helmet. A surprising feat as hoods tend to look weird in this scale, you just have to look at the Star Wars figures to see what I mean.
Articulation: The underlying body lets the figure down ever so slightly I'm afraid to say. It makes me think of sideshows old buck bodies. All of the joints just feel off. I can't quite put my finger on it but if you've ever owned some of the older Sideshow figures you'll know what I mean. It takes a lot of adjustment to get him into a natural pose, almost like he doesn't have a good centre of gravity or his limbs aren't properly proportioned.
Putting that niggle aside though his articulation overall is really good. He even has good articulation at the ankles, his lower boot and upper boot are separate pieces meaning you can get him in all sorts of deep poses. They were sensible enough at least to use a well articulated body under the suit and pad it out. If this was a Hot Toys figure he'd probably have one of their muscle bodies with minimal articulation that's meant to look good with minimal clothing on.
As always he has various hands, coming with 4 sets of hands which provides enough verity to let you do various poses. He also comes with a second Judges shield (name badge) which is magnetic. It's purpose is to simply attach it to his chest whilst wearing the dust jacket. I'm pleased they included this as it means you don't have to detach the other one that's chained to his chest.
Sadly he doesn't come with a stand which is pretty much the norm for this company, it's a real shame and is something they really should change. Figures like these are prone to falling due to changing temperatures in a house or from simple heavy footed people passing, and when you're talking 3 digit sums of money you really don't want them falling from a shelf. Plus it's always nice to get a name plate to show off the figure more.
Can of Coke for scale. Dredd does not approve!
Overall he's a great figure, if you're a fan of Dredd I highly recommend this figure. He looks great on the shelf and I love posing him as per the above pic, with his baton raised ready to crack some punk skull!
ThreeA have also done a 1/12 scale figure of Dredd which looks pretty nice. They also released his bike in that scale, the Lawmaster. I'd love it if they released a 1/6 bike. I'd be well tempted!
I'd recommend you get the 1/12 figure if you feel you can't afford the 1/6 scale figure but to be honest there's not that much difference in the price. Which highlights how stupid pricing is in the collectors world right now.
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| Bonus shot with Karl Urban Dredd! |
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