Chronicles of Narnia Aslan Review
Our good friend Wes, the owner, proprietor, and witty progenitor of pop-culture megazone Scary-Crayon.com has come through for us with a guest review of that neato-looking superarticulated lion from the Chronicles of Narnia toy line. I’ve eyed this thing in the toy aisle many a time, wondering with what figures I might stick it (a beast to train for Kraven, perhaps?), but I’ve always passed it by. Now that I’ve seen Wes’ review, I’m gonna have to pick one up. Expand to post to see what Wes has to say!
ASLAN
While I’ve never read the Narnia books or seen any of the animated or live-action adaptations — my only knowledge of Aslan comes from Wikipedia and a couple of “South Park” episodes — the opportunity to own a superarticulated lion figure was too tempting to pass up. Moreover, whereas other lion figures with articulation have a tendency to look pretty cartoony (for example, the various lions for toddlers and the pictured adult Simba from Disney’s Lion King), Aslan was sculpted with realism in mind. The paint definitely complements his lifelike appearance, with what looks like lots of drybrushing and highlights all over. He looks fantastic — no doubt about that.
But now that I’ve got the figure in hand, the main draw — the articulation — is pretty limiting. Aslan does indeed have the over 20 points of articulation mentioned on the package, and he’s still way more impressive than any other articulated lion to date. But since most of his joints are pin hinges in the legs, he only has cut shoulders, and he’s too heavy to stand on three legs, Aslan is mostly restricted to simple standing poses. The fact that his hard plastic mane prevents his front legs from moving forward at the shoulders further limits Aslan’s poseability, as he’d be able to pull off some decent leaping poses (with a kid or display stand to hold him up, of course) if it were more forgiving. So the Great Lion’s not terribly dynamic, but the excellent ab crunch does allow for some docile stretching action!
Right on! Thanks again, Wes!
Tags: chronicles of narnia
He’s got an ab crunch and freakin’ toe hinges! That’s good enough for me.
I wish that Hasbro had gone with something more along the lines of this figure with the Shanna and Ka-Zar set. I like that sigma 6 tiger, but it just doesn’t match with Marvel Legends.
Agreed — but why would Hasbro do that when it could just repaint a previous figure? The potential for repaints is probably the primary reason that Hasbro acquired the Marvel license in the first place.
The toe hinges are nice touches (if not highly useful for posing), but I imagine those will be among the first things that the kiddies break off.
The head can came off??? because on could change it and put other head to make a decent Zabu…
Toybiz used repaints just as much as Hasbro does… i.e. Captain Britain, Black Panther, Wonder Man, and the Sentry All have the Same Torso , Arms and Legs…just sayin’
They Should have just made a whole new sculpt for Zabu, I agree, but it’s hasbro. What can you expect???? XD
BTW…that aslan looks sweet…must buy…
Easy Meg… what i was asking is if it is possible to replace is head for other to custumize a zabu, and toy biz use reapaints yes, but never use a body with clothes to make a naked guy….
No company uses repaints as much as Hasbro does. We’re not just talking about parts, Meg — we’re talking about whole figures! Heck, the Iron Man and Hulk lines consist almost entirely of repaints.
In fact, while I can’t say for certain given my lack of a thorough education in in toy and action figure history, I’d wager even money that Hasbro invented the concept of repaints for the Transformers line. I mean, there were different-colored toys that shared molds before (1960s Daleks in the UK, for example), but nothing quite so ambitious as what Hasbro devised for the Seekers and such.
well, actually, if my toy history knowledge serves me right, hasbro actually invented the term “action figure” with GI Joe back in the sixties. And, all of those guys were the same figure just with different clothes and heads. So, basically, from the very beginning of the existence of action figures as we know them, they’ve been all about some repaints and reuses. and yes, it’s all hasbro’s fault.