Status: Out

Pictures:

Figure of the Month

Seb's thoughts:

The sculpting on him is still brilliant by today’s standards, and the paintwork (despite varying slightly in skin colour over time) was superb. People who have got the Sontarans are keen to gush over the wonderful ball jointed articulation – but the Slitheen isn’t all that different. The comic and animation this Month shows just how versatile it is.

Now we would all probably like to see a Slitheen variant with a closed mouth, and most of us have probably got at least three for the skin suit and space pig, but they’re great army builders so this doesn’t matter.

I personally love the Slitheen figure and think of it as one of the best. The fact that this came in the first wave shows that whilst the figures have undoubtedly become slicker and more polished, they were brilliant to start with and the basic format of them has always worked. In that respect, they’re a lot like the television series too.

A64's comic:

Jast's animation:

Full review

As I’ve said before, figures from that first wave can’t be expected to be as good as modern day ones. However, at least in the Slitheen’s case, we need not worry! This figure is as strong, if not stronger, than many released today. A lot of thought and effort has gone into it, and it shows.

Two ‘versions’ have been released, each with different paintwork. The original was found only in the single-packaged wave 1 boxes, and was a slightly lighter green. Whilst the colour of the newer one is closer to the television Slitheen, I still actually prefer the original figure because the newer version somehow seems more ‘plasticy’, whereas the old one seemed a bit more realistic.

However, the sculpt is exactly the same so on both the legs are short and stubby, as they should be, but this also means that they can be a little unstable. However this isn’t too much of a problem, and they can still be posed nicely.

The stomach, on the other hand, is truly brilliant in every way! The sculpting and paintwork is simply marvellous. They look so ‘podgy’ and wonderful, just like in the episodes. The arms are also a triumph. The ball joints in the shoulder section are a great addition and add so much to the posability of the figures. Add to this the careful articulation of the elbow and you’ve got something very special. Perhaps, in a perfect world, the fingers could have articulation or something to increase their posability, but it’s not really a problem.

The sculpt of the head is also magnificent, and the eyes are so well painted they really look alive. The head presents the only problem however. The figures of the Slitheen released so far have roaring mouths and look very fierce. Whilst one or two may look good like this, I would dearly love to have new ones released with a different facial expression, just for variation, as otherwise ‘armies’ of them can look too ‘samy’ and it ruins the effect.

However, if you have to be this picky you know you’ve got something special. Apart from this, and the slight lack of balance, it’s hard to find much wrong with these figures and they are certainly among my favourites.