SCARECROW 1 (BLUE NECK TIE)
ACTION FIGURE - 61

Information

Status: Out

Pictures:

Full review

As with other scarecrow

There was something quintessentially Doctor Who about the scarecrows in ‘Human Nature/The Family of Blood’. Take a simple concept and turn it into something so terrifying you’ve got children where they belong - behind those sofas. However, how do you go about taking something like that and putting it into figure form?

In many ways, this is a good example of how to do it!

The head, to start with, is really excellent. It looks just like the scarecrows did during the episodes, and the movement of it is wonderful. It would have been a nice thought to have had them on some sort of ball joint so that you could turn them horizontally, to really recreate that lolloping effect, but it’s good nonetheless.

The torso area is very well sculpted and beautifully painted to create something really realistic. The arms are also really great - though notable for the lack of the bicep swivel found in all the other recent figures. However this is no drawback as really you don’t need any articulation in the arm at all! When you put them straight down and move them without moving the elbows you really do get that wonderful effect found in the episodes. The only problem is the straw sticking down. Unless the arm is completely facing down it looks very odd, as it’s all really one big sculpt rather than lots of little hanging pieces, and the paintwork doesn’t really work when you hold it up - it just doesn’t look like straw. Indeed, hold the hand up completely and it looks like it’s fire!

The legs are thick and chunky, just as they should be, and the articulation allowing you to swivel the feet round in circles can be used to great effect in creating the feeling of the scarecrows walking. They have been released with various different coloured neckties, but thankfully this isn’t the only change between the figures as the head is different too. This stops them feeling too similar.

It’s therefore obvious that a huge amount of thought has gone into these figures. They’ve been designed entirely to get the feeling of the Scarecrows from the episodes across, and they do achieve that. As I say, there are still problems. There’s just something lacking - something doesn’t seem quite right, they feel ‘wrong’. However, the great news is that the problems can be overcome!

Yes, unlike pretty much any figure to date all the downsides can be overcome… By army building! The more scarecrows you have, the better they look. Pose one on it’s own and there’s problems, but together they work brilliantly! This is wonderful news and really lifts them for the otherwise lurking depths of forgotten figures. With more colours possibly in the future, I’d love to see some ‘army building’ boxsets of these meanies in different styles myself.

Therefore not the best, but if you’ve got money and space a definite one to get a few of!