MONDO - THE THING

[Asta]

Got mine in and unboxed today. Body sucks but I'm happy to have one of my fav movies represented in my collection. Gonna try diff poses and whatnot before sticking it in the detolf.View attachment 720584View attachment 720585

Your jacket is looking the best I've seen it since the promo photos. It seems so much more roomy.

Did you change the body?

 

[Monkey-bite84]

“Like hammered s&!t”, love that line and his delivery, from Blade II.

 

[magpie9]

Think I’m calling this done for now although I’d really like to see what a good painter could do with this head sculpt. Repainted the gloves black as well.View attachment IMG_3885.jpeg

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[Alice Adrenochrome]

Mine just arrived. I think this figure looks best when kept in the box. Frankly, the box is the best part about it.


On the other hand, I’ve always said that these 12” figures are just toys, so I shouldn’t complain when I get what I asked for!

Least favorite part: I’m torn between the jacket and the body. This figure REALLY needs a better body.

Like people said, this is Sideshow level from 10 years back. But even then, Sideshow made better bodies.

Someone please have mercy and send me links to a good jacket and flight suit (preferably EU, cause I’d like to avoid paying taxes). And a body! Thank you.

 

[Evil_Deadite]

Got mine in and unboxed today. Body sucks but I'm happy to have one of my fav movies represented in my collection. Gonna try diff poses and whatnot before sticking it in the detolf.View attachment 720584View attachment 720585

Am I just seeing things, or does the hair look much more defined on yours than some of the others people have been posting?

 

[HMC117]

Unboxing yesterday was a major disappointment. The figure looked like a hopeless case with negatives far outweighing positives.

Mondo literally wasted money having those tiny jackets made, but at least it hasn't gone to waste because Zendaya seems to like it.

However, right now just a day later, after modifying the body; swapping to and adapting the new jacket, and finding a pose that works, I'm actually pretty happy with him.

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What jacket??

 

[Asta]

What jacket??

It's from DID's USAAF Rafe figure:

https://www.did.co/portfolio/a80167/

WWII Government Issue A-2 Jacket (genuine leather)

I added the buttons to his pockets, which were spares that were included for his parachute; and took the sheepskin collar off an old Dragon Models flying jacket, and recoloured it with a dark brown ink wash.

 

[Ramman81]

Looking at those youtube reviews, the figure itself looks good as advertised (with some flaws). I don't think Mondo is trying to be Hot Toys here, but gives a good 1/6 representation of The Thing Mcgready. Obviously are expectations will be higher because of that 1/6 Hot Toys standard.

 

[xvsopx]

Your jacket is looking the best I've seen it since the promo photos. It seems so much more roomy.

Did you change the body?

No, I'm using the stock body. I kneaded/stretched the jacket with my hands for awhile to try and loosen it up though.

 

[xvsopx]

Am I just seeing things, or does the hair look much more defined on yours than some of the others people have been posting?

I think it might just be the lighting in my room. I've got a lamp slightly to the left of the figure.

 

[magpie9]

Had a spare body and a few other bits so decided to see if I could do anything to make the jacket look better. It’s far from perfect but I do think it looks a lot better. Might do a full on snow effect on it.View attachment IMG_3891.jpeg

 

[R_R_X]

Mine arrived today. First of all, I need to give props to Mondo for the unbelievably smooth shipping experience considering they used DHL, I was expecting to go through a horrible experience with customs and DHL but it arrived very fast with no import fees whatsoever. Now onto the figure.

I really dig the box, the pop-up gimmick works for me but that's probably because it appeals to my artistic side. As others have said it's one of the better aspects of the release. Upon opening it I was immediately struck by the intense smell of the paint Mondo used on this, it's very strong, in fact I can still smell it as I write this. Then I finally began unwrapping the box's contents.

Norris's head-thing is really nice, the legs do articulate fairly easily but only where they bend, they don't rotate or anything of the sort. It's my favorite accessory of the entire package.

The Dog-thing however is a bit of a let down. They painted it too red, so it ends up looking like something that could be on a plate of spaghetti and meatballs.

Inspecting the accessories like the flamethrower, shotgun and so forth, the paint is very "toyish" for lack of a better word, but I didn't expect it to be on the level of a high-end 1/6 release looking at Mondo's previous releases at this scale. The base is just a simple black base, the waist grabber was useless as I couldn't get it to properly hold onto Mac, it seemed too short, so I ended up switching it for a crotch grabber.

Then I moved on to Mac. I like the sculpts, the likeness holds up in hand. The paint is actually not as bad as many feared, I was surprised by the quality of the printed eyebrows and eyelashes and how well the blended the beard with the rest of the sculpt. What I don't like is how dark they made the hair and beard, it almost feels like they forgot to give the hair a wash with a lighter shade of brown so it sort of just looks like a big blob on his head.

I forgot to take a picture of it but the frosted sculpt is alright even though I don't care more much for it. As I said when this was announced, I'd rather have had a sculpt with the goggles and his iconic hat.

Now, echoing what Asta and others have said, the body and jacket are the weakest parts of this release. The body being the worst, it simply sucks. The arms are single-jointed which severely limit the poses you can do with this guy, just trying to get him in an aiming pose with the flamethrower was a nightmare. The hands are very poor in quality and detail too, the gloves are useless since they're stuck in a relaxed pose. My figure also had brown scratches on the neck because of the beard so watch out for that.

Speaking of the flamethrower, the flame effect (also very "toyish" in appearance) is really heavy, so it always ends up pointing towards the ground, it's not a big deal if you want him torching Norris's head but don't expect Mac to be able to point it higher than that, especially with the stock body.

The jacket is made of pleather, which is a shame, it's also very bulky and a bit too short. In short, it's exactly what was advertised.
I do like that the buttons aren't glued on it but properly studded, so there's no worries about losing one of them when messing with the figure. The figure does look better without the jacket but considering what I paid for it I might as well just get my money's worth and have him with the jacket on before it inevitably starts falling apart.

This is the pose I ended up settling on after trying to fight the body and jacket for a while.

For my closing thoughts, the final product isn't much of a step down from what was put up for pre-order, which wasn't anything astounding to begin with, of course could this figure have been better? Yes. Am I glad to have it though? Also yes.

This has been a grail for me for a long, long time, it's hard to believe it took this long for a mass produced Macready to make his way onto the market, for what it's worth I think Mondo nailed the most important part, which is the likeness. I believe a professional repaint could really bring the sculpts to life.

As far as it's shortcomings, mainly the jacket and body, there's ways to improve on it, as Asta, Magpie and other collectors have shown but those two things in particular really drag the entire figure down.

Overall I'm happy to finally have a 1/6 Macready on the shelf after all this time, it's not that beautiful custom by Kjun and perhaps one day a brand like InArt will give us a more accessible high-end offering but until then, Mondo's Mac gets the job done.

 

[Asta]

Had a spare body and a few other bits so decided to see if I could do anything to make the jacket look better. It’s far from perfect but I do think it looks a lot better. Might do a full on snow effect on it.View attachment 720656

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You got it looking good.

I tried getting the collar to lay down on mine, and even on the little Zendaya figure it kept popping back up. I was considering glue or double sided tape but didn't trust the pleather, but it appears to be pretty durable since xvsopx mananged to stretch it.

 

[magpie9]

You got it looking good.

I tried getting the collar to lay down on mine, and even on the little Zendaya figure it kept popping back up. I was considering glue or double sided tape but didn't trust the pleather, but it appears to be pretty durable since xvsopx mananged to stretch it.

I wet the collar and held it in place until it flattened. One the head is on it holds it in place.

 

[Mr. Awesome]

I'm convinced Mondo should just stick to animated/fantasy designs. They're not ready for live action interpretations imo.

I am shocked at what I'm seeing here.

 

[Asta]

I wet the collar and held it in place until it flattened. One the head is on it holds it in place.

I never thought to water treat it, as I never expected it would take.

I'll give it a try, though she doesn't have long hair to hold it down at the sides.

The jacket is surprisingly pretty good in its own right, just not for the bigger body.

 

[R_R_X]

I'm convinced Mondo should just stick to animated/fantasy designs. They're not ready for live action interpretations imo.

I am shocked at what I'm seeing here.

It's basically what many said ever since this figure was announced, this is a 1/6 scale "toy", not a "collectible" so to speak.

I assume a large portion of the $260 price tag went towards the licensing costs but I bet this would've been better received had it been around $150 shipped or even lower that, I honestly don't think Mondo spent too much on production.

Then again I pre-ordered the timed edition fully aware of the type of product I'd get, which is why I'm not being that harsh on it, but it definitely doesn't hold a candle to any modern day 1/6 figure from Hot Toys and so forth. It's basically a big "Mac" that was sold for the price of a quality steak at a fancy restaurant but if you've been hungry for a figure of him in this scale, then the big "Mac" does it's job, however the price tag definitely stings.

 

[Remembermyname]

I think you guys are being way too forgiving about the likeness. He looks like Kris Kristofferson to me.

Kris K was a Heicopter Pilot too.

 

[Asta]

It's basically what many said ever since this figure was announced, this is a 1/6 scale "toy", not a "collectible" so to speak.

I assume a large portion of the $260 price tag went towards the licensing costs but I bet this would've been better received had it been around $150 shipped or even lower that, I honestly don't think Mondo spent too much on production.

Then again I pre-ordered the timed edition fully aware of the type of product I'd get, which is why I'm not being that harsh on it, but it definitely doesn't hold a candle to any modern day 1/6 figure from Hot Toys and so forth. It's basically a big "Mac" that was sold for the price of a quality steak at a fancy restaurant but if you've been hungry for a figure of him in this scale, then the big "Mac" does it's job, however the price tag definitely stings.

That's it in a nutshell.

We went in expecting that it wouldn't compare favourably to similarly priced figures from other companies, yet we went in anyway because MacReady in 1/6 is a rarity.

I was lucky in that I already had the DID jacket as a fall back position as a spare from two Rafe sets. Otherwise that would've been another £39 plus postage (taking the Big Mac to just over $320 at today's exchange rate).

I got lucky again in that I still had an old jacket I could take the fur collar from.

Saved on the cost of a new body by making Mondo's work.


End result is I finally have him in the collection, plus the Norris spider which is the star accessory.

Only problem now is that he's a one and done character from that movie, and that makes him lonely to display. The closest relatable figure I have is the Siberia Expedition Lara Croft, but the only female element in The Thing was Adrienne Barbeau's voice.

Makes me want to create some more cold weather characters.

 

[jaztermareal]

Mondo lacks experience in realistic fabric clothed figures so I am more forgiving. They are USA based so they won't get as great a deal on production in Asia, nor the top choice of factories plus they paid for the licensing. All thise factors mean it won't be as cheap as it could have been.

If Nada has some improvements over Mac it will be a positive signal that they are gradually improving and may catch up with more established brands in the future, gotta wait and see how that figure and any other similar future figures turn out.


What I appreciate most from Mondo is that they are doing characters most other brands will never touch. Gordon Freeman, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Nada, MacReady maybe even Doomslayer falls into that category as only Threezero made anything 1:6 Doom before. Hopefully their quality improves to match the asking price and they continue doing characters we otherwise would never see in 1:6.