My review of Jack Bauer and David Palmer

[Scarlet]

I wasn't outwardly criticizing EtB and for the most part I've liked their products enough that I stay fairly quiet about my disappointments with some aspects of their figures, but if a comparison between their figures and other company's was made I felt it was the time to air out some grievances. I'm sure in time we'll see figures from EtB that has production quality to match their MINDBLOWING sculpts. That said, I would love one of these Bauer figures, but I'm not getting one because of the few issues with articulation, I'm just waiting for one from a different season.

I'd like one with the same clothes as found on the Medicom figure. I don't have the funds right now to buy both the Medicom one and the EtB one to customize so I'll just have to hope and wait.

The thing is, loose joints aren't hard to fix, but at price points like this, no company is exempt. I remember being pretty damn pissed about the original HT ALIENS figure. I didn't buy one, but a friend of mine did and it was broken right out of the box.

Nah don't worry bout that. Everyones got their opinion and most of them are justified espcially when it comes to breakage or damage to the figure. I guess people like myself would cut enterbya a bit more slack because they are still new. Of course any damages to the figure will be returned or exchanged.
I think with a new company with enterbay, we'll slowly see improvement in other areas. I guess they want to be the market leader in terms of Headsculpt and paint, that's why they seem to neglect other areas like accessories abd body articulation. Time will tell, but for now, i'll cut them some slack(Heck, i'm a medicom collector, you gotta give me props for patience)LOL

It's always sucks to have a figure broken out of the box, no matter what brand.

 

[a-dev]

I guess this is a follow-up response to Creecher, I have nothing else to do whilst standing here in work!

Despite complaints about the body and wonky neck I'm still really looking forward to Jack especially when I can put the day 5 clothes on him. I'm sure Palmer is a good figure too, I simply realised I don't have to have him and I used all those reasons I mentioned in a previous post to help me come to the decision to cancel him (again )...if I can that is. Toys2 didn't get back to me today so I'll have wait and see next week. If I were them I'd be frustrated with me too but this is it for sure.

Sure I could have went ahead and bought him and these things seem to always look better in person, however I'm depleting my in-hand savings rather more than I'm comfortable with. I have to think harder about what I do and do not NEED in my collection. Palmer and Iron Man Mark II were two figures I judged that I do not strictly need. (I also put in a request to cancel the latter) Again I'll pay the 10%.

I want to stop being a completist with every line I start buying. That said, Iron Man Mark III and Jack Bauer will do me just fine as representatives of their respective franchises in my figure collection.

 

[Solidus]

My only real problem with your review, is in regards to your rating for the head sculpt of the Bauer figure. You gave Enterbay's head sculpt 4 stars - the same amount of stars you gave for Medicom's sculpt.

Now, there's no way why the Medicom and Enterbay sculpts should have been rated equivalently. Enterbay's sculpt completely blew Medicom's out of the water, no contest.

 

[plasmid303]

My only real problem with your review, is in regards to your rating for the head sculpt of the Bauer figure. You gave Enterbay's head sculpt 4 stars - the same amount of stars you gave for Medicom's sculpt.

Now, there's no way why the Medicom and Enterbay sculpts should have been rated equivalently. Enterbay's sculpt completely blew Medicom's out of the water, no contest.

Expectations were different back then. What would you have him do, give the Enterbay 5 out of 4 stars?

 

[Solidus]

Expectations were different back then.

"Back then" was only a few years ago. And we're comparing two sculpts that belong to the same character, Jack Bauer. Here's what the reviewer said about the Enterbay sculpt:

"I think using the word WOW here is not an overstatement. These head sculpts don't just look dead on to the characters, they look realistic. The closer the photo, the better they look - how often does that happen?"


Now for the Medicom sculpt:

"Ok, I'm giving this figure four stars for sculpting...

Could it be better? Yes.

Do I care? No.

Like I said, this figure is a couple of years old already and sculpting has come quite a ways since then. Plus, Medicom isn't exactly the best when it comes to sculpting realistic human likenesses anyway. All of the Medicom figures I've seen up close don't ever live up to my expectations (example: Jack Sparrow, Wolverine, etc.) and I never bought them, so buying this one without seeing it first was a huge gamble. I have to say, this one works for me. Yes, the sculpt isn't as detailed as it could be, but it still passes for Keifer/Bauer and that's what counts to me."

His opinions toward the Medicom and Enterbay sculpts sound completely different. The Enterbay sculpt gave him the "wow" factor, while Medicom sculpt was simply: it could be better "but it works for me". He has used two different standards for reviewing the two sculpts, and rated them both as four stars. In my opinion, there's something wrong with that.

How Mr. Crawford conducts his review is entirely up to him, but I don't have to agree with his rating.

 

[Solidus]

Expectations were different back then. What would you have him do, give the Enterbay 5 out of 4 stars?

Edit: Never mind, it's rated out of 4, not 5 like I assumed lol. But regardless, I don't believe that the Medicom sculpt deserved a perfect rating (with the different reviewing standards applied).

 

[samueljd]

Edit: Never mind, it's rated out of 4, not 5 like I assumed lol. But regardless, I don't believe that the Medicom sculpt deserved a perfect rating (with the different reviewing standards applied).

Me neither, I actually bought the Medicom figure a couple years ago and thought it was lacking then.

 

[**16k**]

Once again, this is all a matter of perspective. I like the HT body... so long as you don't have to show some skin where it gets pretty ugly. So, personnally, if I have to chose between aesthetic and articulation, I choose aesthetic! I don't play with my figs, just display them, so articulations are not a big deal for me! Besides, I really hate HT's ankles! For a very lower price point, dragon bodies are great and don't suffer that impossible ankle articulation!

 

[Michael Crawford]

My only real problem with your review, is in regards to your rating for the head sculpt of the Bauer figure. You gave Enterbay's head sculpt 4 stars - the same amount of stars you gave for Medicom's sculpt.

Now, there's no way why the Medicom and Enterbay sculpts should have been rated equivalently. Enterbay's sculpt completely blew Medicom's out of the water, no contest.

Of course it did. But as they say, reading is FUNdamental. At the top of the old Bauer review it says, fairly clearly:

"The following is a guest review. The review and photos do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Michael Crawford or Michael's Review of the Week, and are the opinion and work of the guest author."

I didn't review that figure. But then, I don't think Medicom has ever produced a licensed human likeness worth the money they charge, with the possible exception of the movie Wolverine.

 

[wookster]

Of course it did. But as they say, reading is FUNdamental. At the top of the old Bauer review it says, fairly clearly:

"The following is a guest review. The review and photos do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Michael Crawford or Michael's Review of the Week, and are the opinion and work of the guest author."

I didn't review that figure. But then, I don't think Medicom has ever produced a licensed human likeness worth the money they charge, with the possible exception of the movie Wolverine.

.... I liked the Seb Shaw 'Anakin' under the Ep VI Vader, but I'm being obtuse.



I love the Warhol's too, but I'm biased as they are DEFINITELY pop art!

 

[Solidus]

Of course it did. But as they say, reading is FUNdamental. At the top of the old Bauer review it says, fairly clearly:

"The following is a guest review. The review and photos do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Michael Crawford or Michael's Review of the Week, and are the opinion and work of the guest author."

I didn't review that figure. But then, I don't think Medicom has ever produced a licensed human likeness worth the money they charge, with the possible exception of the movie Wolverine.

So then you're admitting that the reviews on your site do not have general guidelines (or a set criteria) for evaluating figures. Now, since that's the case, it's going to be extremely hard to do a side-by-side comparison with different figures. For example, what does a "four star" rating imply? Perfect or acceptable? Well, four stars seemed to imply "perfect" for the Enterbay sculpt, but "acceptable" for the Medicom sculpt.

My point is, if it's up to the reviewer to set his/her own personal criteria for evaluation, then it defeats the entire purpose of having a star rating system on your site (or any rating system for that matter).

All of that being said, it's still not right to have the Medicom sculpt on par with Enterbay's, by having them both with four stars. But, then again, I'm not supposed to take the rating system at face value, right?

Oh well, that's just what I think . It's your site, and you're the boss there, so run it as you deem necessary.

 

[Michael Crawford]

My point is, if it's up to the reviewer to set his/her own personal criteria for evaluation, then it defeats the entire purpose of having a star rating system on your site (or any rating system for that matter).

That makes no sense. Of course it's up to the reviewer - REVIEWS ARE OPINIONS. What one person thinks qualifies as four stars isn't the same as another, and unlike you apparently, I feel that while their opinion might not match mine, they still deserve a voice. If every guest reviewer had to agree with my opinion, there'd be no guest reviewers.

 

[Solidus]

That makes no sense. Of course it's up to the reviewer - REVIEWS ARE OPINIONS. What one person thinks qualifies as four stars isn't the same as another, and unlike you apparently, I feel that while their opinion might not match mine, they still deserve a voice. If every guest reviewer had to agree with my opinion, there'd be no guest reviewers.

Oh it makes perfect sense to me. Of course reviewers are supposed to have their own opinions. But what constitutes a star, is what I take issue on. For example, here are some guidelines that you listed (even though they don't seem to be general guidelines):

**** - only the best get four stars in a category or overall. It isn't necessary to get four stars in every category to get four stars overall, since I don't simply average up the other scores to get the overall. That would be pretty silly, and leave out the factors of your overall impression of the figure in its complete state. Four stars are rare, but a few companies have reached that level. The problem is though that the bar always goes up...

But, it doesn't seem as if your guest reviewer followed your guidelines. Didn't he gave an imperfect sculpt four stars? If you're implying that each reviewer should set his/her own rating criteria, then perhaps he/she should have clearly specified those different criteria during the review to prevent confusion. After all, his idea of "four stars" differs from yours quite markedly.

 

[plasmid303]

You're making an awfully big deal about this.

 

[Solidus]

You're making an awfully big deal about this.

The devil is in the detail my friend. And I'm obsessed when it comes to details.

 

[SwedishHeat]

perhaps he/she should have clearly specified those different criteria during the review to prevent confusion. After all, his idea of "four stars" differs from yours quite markedly.

There's a disclaimer at the top that says "The opinions in this guest review do not reflect those of Michael Crawford". So, yeah, I think it's already specified to avoid confusion.

 

[minivader]

But, what you think may be a 4 star sculpt can vary from what I think is a 4 star sculpt.

Take SS Jedi Luke for example, there are some people here who think it's the best Luke sculpt they've released thus far. I think it looks silly. Reviews are opinions, and I'd give the Jedi Luke sculpt 2 stars, while others would give it 4.

i thought it was 1 star. weird giant drugged out bobble head that you can only see a luke resemblense when he wears the cloak.

 

[Solidus]

There's a disclaimer at the top that says "The opinions in this guest review do not reflect those of Michael Crawford". So, yeah, I think it's already specified to avoid confusion.

You missed my point , but it's cool. By the way, I thought that it was supposed to be cold in Sweden?

 

[Joker]

Palmer is too tall? What? Surely you mean too short.

Typo. Meant too short.

 

[Buttmunch]

Typo. Meant too short.

Actually, not really.

Maybe 1cm or 2 short, which is TINY!