Ooga-booga!

SOTA's "Now Playing"

Darkman Review

Ever burn yourself? I'm not talking sunburn or "ouch the bathtub is too hot" burn. Me? I accidentally touched the side of a skillet of fajitas at Chi-Chi's, and that was the worst pain ever, were talking please shoot me and make it stop pain. Now imagine getting the flesh burned of most of your body by an explosion caused by bunch of criminals, what if you were a brilliant scientist who could make synthetic skin and make yourself looks like anyone? Revenge right? Damn skippy.

That is the plot of 1990s Sam Rami flick Darkman, Liam Neeson plays Dr. Peyton Westlake, a brilliant scientist who has discovered a synthetic skin which can be used to help burn victims (anyone else smell irony coming?) when gangsters break into his lab and blow him up with him in it he is found later and taken to the hospital, to keep him from going insane with pain the doctors remove his neurons so he can't feel pain, this also sends his adrenalin into overdrive which gives him great strength. He escapes and sets up a lab and begins his revenge. He is everyone, and he is no one, everywhere, and nowhere, he is Darkman.

A cult classic to be sure SOTA has finally given us Darkman in "Now Playing" Series 1

Packaging 5/10

SOTA's Now Playing packages are big and bulky, they are starting to grow on me, the show off the figure nicely for people who don't "play" with their toys (the soulless monsters)

 

Head Sculpt 10/10

Simply amazing, Darkman comes with 2 heads, on is the bandage wrapped version, which is awesome, dirty bandages with hints of charred flesh peeking out. The 2^nd head is Darkman fully unmasked with ¾ of his flesh burned off, hats off to SOTA's sculptor for the realistic looking burns, the poor guys lips were burned off, the sculpt of the teeth is downright creepy a sort of eternal grin.

 

I AM Collectable! EternallyCollectable! Bwahahaha! (I'm so lonely……)

Sculpting (body) 9/10

The dynamic pose SOTA chose for the body sculpt is straight out of the films climactic battle where Darkman takes on Criminal Louis Strack Jr. high above the city in a constructed building. The wind blown trench coat is probably the best part of the body sculpt, there are 2 sets of hands, one gloved and one bandaged, both are so well sculpted I keep switching them out as they battle for my favorite (bandaged is so far winning) the clothing is sculpted well, every wrinkle looks like it should be there.

 

 

 

Paint 10/10
Probably one of the best paint jobs I've ever seen, Darkman's bandages look like he's been operating out of a dirty old warehouse, his burns look almost wet to the touch, his coat and boots even have mud splattered on them. A job well done SOTA!

 

Curse you McDonalds and your Hot Apple Pies! Curse you both to hell!

Articulation 6/10

OK, this is the one downside to the figure, his articulation is not that great, feet, waist, shoulders neck, hands and elbows. His elbows don't bend, the swivel, making it a pretty pointless articulation, so far I've only found 1 pose that looks good for his articulation (as seen in my photos) this pose is awesome and dynamic, but it would be neat to see a little more articulation in the future

 

Accessories 10/10

Darkman comes with his hat, 2 different heads and 2 pair of hands, both head sculpts are so good, I'm actually contemplating buying a 2^nd figure so I can display both versions. His display base is part of a building under construction form the films climax.

 

Outfit 10/10

As I said above in the sculpt, his clothing and bandages looks worn, not all shiny and new like some companies do. The guy lives in a rat-infested warehouse and he wouldn't be Zestfully clean.

 

Who IS Darkman? Where IS my hat? Where ARE my car keys? These are the burning questions we will try to answer today on Maury……

Overall 9/10

When the movie came out, there was mega hype, you couldn't walk anywhere without hearing or seeing "Who is Darkman?" The film ultimately didn't do that well. But has recently become a cult classic. It really is a great movie. And thanks to SOTA for making a REALLY great figure.

 

You can find this figure at Sam Goody/Suncoast, Spencers, and Comic Shops. Tower Records has an Exclusive Darkman with a white shirt and a different head.