Monday, January 31, 2011

One Of The Villains Of Watchman Is An Off-Balance Pegwarmer: Ozymandias Underwhelms.


The Good: Good sculpt, Decent standard accessories
The Bad: Light on accessories, Balance issues, Light on facial details
The Basics: A remarkably average action figure, Ozymandias falls over even on his base, making him a tough sell even to fans of the film.


I let my wife determine which of the Watchmen figures I would open up for review next and I was a bit surprised when she suggested Ozymandias. Ozymandias entered my collection as the last of my initial purchases because, frankly, he came to me dirt cheap. The figure has been a pegwarmer at every outlet that has sold the Watchmen figures and why he was re-released as part of the promotional push for the DVD release is a bit of a mystery to me. But with my Ozymandias standing beside Rorschach (reviewed here!) and the Dr. Manhattan limited edition figure (reviewed here!), Ozymandias stands out as a particularly underwhelming action figure.

But after a few days of posing my figures (my wife had Ozymandias doing the Macarena!) she and I looked at Ozymandias and shrugged. It's a bland figure, punctuated by a very cool cape.

Basics

To support the film Watchmen (reviewed here!), DC Direct released two series of Watchmen action figures. DC Direct was tapped because they had the ability to create a higher caliber of action figure, based on the film characters. DC Direct created only eight figures based upon the cinematic representations of the essential Watchmen characters.

Arguably one of the most controversial characters in Watchmen is Ozymandias, who was played by Matthew Goode in the film and is now immortalized in plastic thanks to DC Direct. There is only the one figure of Goode's Ozymandias; those hoping for an Adrian Veidt character will have to wait until this cult-classic gets its second or third wind (like the way The Exorcist figures popped up on the market a few years ago).

Standing 6 3/4" tall to the top of his head (which is covered with his feathered hair), Ozymandias is a heavily-armored, well-protected man with the traditional superhero mask and cape. The DC Direct action figure features such details as the tiny mask, the tiara (or anti-tiara as it hooks backward on his head so in front of his temples is exposed and the "front" of the "tiara" is on the back of his head), the mini-loincloth coming off his belt buckle and the breastplate of his armor which protect Ozymandias's chest and support his cape. Ozymandias is cast with pretty extraordinary casting details, so his armor looks precisely as it did in the film with great muscle definition and gauntlets that look like they keep him well-protected. Ozymandias's boots look solid with the molded texture to the top and the fist Ozymandias's right hand is in looks ready to deliver quite a punch!

Most of Ozymandias's face is visible under the mask and it looks well-sculpted and generally well-colored. The lips are thin and pink and his eyes are a sharp blue, but Ozymandias lacks the fleshtone details that would make him look more like the film version as opposed to the comic strip version of Ozymandias.

Accessories

Ozymandias only comes with the standard Watchman base. The base is a 2 1/2" plastic square that raises the figure 1/2" off the display surface and most closely resembles a section of suspension bridge. The base has three holes in it, through which one of the two pegs that come with the figure may be placed. The peg is designed to go into a hole in the figure's foot and Ozymandias has a hole that fits the peg in his right foot only. The other two holes may either be filled in or left unpegged. The base also comes with a simple connector which latches together Ozymandias's base with the base of any of the other Watchmen figures; all of the bases seem to be identical.

The lack of accessories for Ozymandias is disappointing given he used a lot of tools in the film and his genetically-engineered animal would have been cool to have. Still, at least the figure isn't ruined by accessories that don't fit him!

Playability

Watchmen is an adult film and as a result, most everyone who picks these figures up will be using them for display, not play. DC Direct seemed to figure this out well in advance and the bases that the figures, like Ozymandias, come with are designed for support and display, as opposed to play.

On the principles, Ozymandias is a pretty cool action figure. Gifted with eleven points of articulation, Ozymandias is adequately posable for those who do put him on display. He has joints at the knees, groin socket, shoulders, elbows, wrists and neck. The joints make for a decent range of motion, with the knees and elbows being standard hinge joints. The shoulders are ball and socket joints, so Ozymandias may make most of the poses he makes in the film! As well, the head is a ball and socket joint, so he may look in a great number of directions.

Unfortunately, Ozymandias has absolutely terrible balance. His feet may not be moved out of a flatfooted position and the fact that there is only one foot-peg prevents those using this as a display piece from knocking the figure over very easily. Moreover, it must be posed flatfooted! This is annoying, as when Ozymandias actually was one of the most flexible characters in the film!

Collectibility

DC Direct seemed to gauge about the right amount of interest in the Watchmen figures and with the impending DVD release, they are re-releasing most of the figures again. This Ozymandias is one of the figures being re-released, which is probably what is currently depressing the market on these figures even further. Ozymandias has been very easy to find and as a result, never appreciated. The fact that this is one of the three most common before the re-release suggests it will be a terrible investment as it is still found well-below the original release price.

Overview

The Watchmen figures are all right and Ozymandias seems like he would be a safe bet given that he is one of the more obvious potential villains for those who would do so to play with. But his lack of balance more than overwhelms the benefit of a cool, maroon cape which is quite flexible. Fans will want this, but those who are not into Watchmen will have no incentive to pick this one up!

For other Watchmen products, please check out my reviews of:
Watchmen By Alan Moore and David Gibbons
Watchmen Portraits By Clay Enos
Nite Owl action figure

5/10

For other action figure reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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