OK, so I opened my first box of the three... and it had to be AURIC GOLDFINGER. My favorite Bond villain as many of you know, and one that I actually made a custom version of long ago in this exact outfit and with the exact accessories (except I could never make that hat).
I won't bother reposting my custom, but let's just say this BCS figure makes it look like a toy.
QUICK REVIEW:
First, I have
not futzed this figure at all -- this is purely based on Fresh-from-the-box opinion.
Sculpt: Excellent! Inigo has captured Gert Frobe expertly as expected. It has Goldfinger with his dissatisfied, grim attitude, as if Bond just delivered a witty quip that Auric didn't like. And he has all the bulges a man of his size deserves. Also, the size of the head looks correct to me. Certainly not oversized on Auric.
Paint: Great. The flesh tone is really nice and lifelike, very rosey like Goldfinger should be. His unique pale pallor with reddened blotches is another aspect that makes him difficult to capture correctly, but they've done a really nice job here. The hair -- which I know from experience is so hard to capture -- really comes across with multiple colors. It's the color I wanted but could never achieve. The only issues I have with the paint is that the pupils of the blue eyes are uneven -- but in hand these squinted eyes are so small you'll never see it. I'm not even sure how the heck they painted it. But with a magnifying glass or macro pictures it becomes apparent.
Outfit: Dead-on accurate and beautifully tailored. Two buttons on the coat front, three on the sleeve, 6 on the vest, the pocket shapes, the vest, the riding pants, everything is perfect -- again, I know this from years of building my own. The overall aesthetic is a wonderful palette of golden hued colors for the man that loves gold. The canary yellow vest alone will make him pop on your shelf. And his girth makes him wholly unique. The jacket and vest are nicely tailored to that unique shape. The flaring jodhpurs accentuate his belly perfectly. My only items of note are: his black tie should be dark brown (I've mentioned this since the proto) and his riding pants may be a bit long, requiring a second folded cuff perhaps (I imagine water treatment will help pull those wrinkles down to his shins though). There's been talk about the snaps, which may be more of an issue on Bond who needs to appear crisp and sharp, but on Auric the vest snaps don't appear to be an issue, they remain well hidden for the most part. A few loose threads that need to be cut is all.
Body: I'm not going to review the actually body underneath, but the poseability and "shape" of Goldfinger. His posture is fantastic. Hunched shoulders, big belly, even the vest is tweaked at the correct spot for a man of his girth. He's standing on my desk as I type this, and his posture just screams Gert Frobe. It's truly a challenge to capture that shape and posture but its here. The joints seem firm and he holds a pose and stands on his own.
So yes, you can tell I'm happy. I've been waiting for this figure for a very, very long time.
If you love Goldfinger, I truly believe you're going to love this figure.
Now for some terrible pictures. Apologies, I dropped my phone and its never been the same since for photos.
What's in the FE box:
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Auric Goldfinger out-of-the-box, no futz...
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Yes, that poster in the background tells you all you need to know about my love for this movie.
