I love Carol. Of all the characters in AMC's The Walking Dead, she is by far my favorite. When we first meet Carol, she seems nothing more than a meek victim of her husband's abusive nature. But over the course of five seasons, we've seen her grow into one of the most complex characters in the series. She is fiercely maternal, shockingly pragmatic, and a surprisingly competent survivor. Her comic book counterpart died off ages ago, but the TV character is so much more dynamic and interesting that she'll probably stay alive forever. The sad part for me is that I'm not sure what other ladies are on the horizon for this line. Sasha, Beth, and Rosita are likely candidates, but at this point all the heavy hitters are done. The sculpting on this Carol figure is great. However, every version I saw in stores had pretty awful facial paint. I looked at the paint master photos on spawn.com as a guide for a quick touch-up and I'm pretty happy with the results. Let's check out Carol (and my customization) below!
This first group of photos is pre-touchup.
Okay. Now to me there were a few main points of concern for her face. (1) Her eyes are lacking definition. One of Carol's signature features are expressive, almost puppy-dog-like, eyes with really attractive lashes. This figure just has beady little pupils. (2) Her nostrils are too prominent. Carol does have a very sculpted little nose with visible nostrils, but this is overkill. (3) Her lips are painted too sparingly making her look like she's biting her lip. and (4) Her hairline is patchy and there are "smudgy" areas around her temples. This is because the head is cast in dark plastic with the fleshtone painted on unevenly.
These Walking Dead figures are difficult to touch-up because their charm is how they achieve such realism through minimalism. Too much detail makes a figure look cartoony really quick.
My touch-up is very subtle. I turned her nostrils brown (from black) and reduced their size with fleshtone paint around her nose. I widened her mouth, and I added a top lash line to her eyes. The sculpt was already there for all these details, I just added the paint to bring them out. I think she has the best sculpt of any of the ladies so far.
Carol comes with three accessories: a hunting knife (like the ones she was secretly training the kids to use in the jail when everyone thought she was leading storytime), a gas can (that she used to torch the bodies of the infected group members she stealthily and unceremoniously killed), and a pistol. I love Carol. She's so confusing.
Carol has the same crazy articulation that the rest of the figures in the series do. You can basically get her in any pose you want, but the simple ones look best.
Time for a Group Shot!
Maggie (who I really need to touch-up now as well), Andrea, and Michonne.
Cheers!
This is one Iv been keeping an eye out for, she is sure to show up at Walgreens one of these days. I wanted to give you a heads up on a figure from a toy line you might have not seen yet, its a toy line from Europe named Wakfu. I think the character Amalia is right up your alley.
ReplyDeleteOooh yes, I am aware of Wakfu. Amalia and Gwendoline are very tempting, but there are several other Euro properties on my "must have" list before I splurge on Wakfu. I've had an ebay search set up for them since June :)
DeleteAh You are always ahead of me on these things! If you could point me in the direction of any other European exclusive toy lines with cool female figures I would appreciate it. I seem to never find much when Im searching for them.
DeleteOk, i just got these figures. My local shop in London (only two carry them in the West End of London), just got them today, the guy was happy to open not one, but two boxes for me, as Carol is pack one per big box, whatever. My first Carol looked drugged of her brain. i apologised and asks to see another one, in a different case, blah blah. The second looked even worse. i took the first one. This figures are very well done for their size, i feel. My Hershel and abraham are great thou the latest is a bit sad round the eyes. Any how, thanks for showing me in how to fix Carol. I do get it. Part of me thinks it doesn't matter as they are small in a sea of figures, but, same as you i love Carol. Maggie and Andrea weren't great,Michonne is the stand-out sculpt for me, and i think i got spoiled there. But damn! you've sort out that Carol pretty good and inspired me to do so. And yes, i notice the nostrils straight away. Still, im buying this and not GOT figures, considering i love both dearly. I am just too disappointed with GoT. Two companies. Both rubbish. Or simply the actors gave no license, which it would not surprise me. Maybe waiting for a better deal. Rumbling on...hate Carol, gotta fix. love the men. thanks again. you Push me in the right way. Thats why we like you. Polite but assured.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually okay with the GoT funko figures. I passed on Arya because she looked very odd, but I really liked both Danys and Brienne. The Dark Horse ones haven't been very tempting for me at all.
DeleteIf you try to paint your Carol, I feel like I shouls let you know the paint for her skin tone was surprisingly easy. I used a tube of Apple Barrel "Medium Flesh." I don't know if you have Apple Barrel brand in London, but here in the US it's in most craft stores and big box stores for about $1 a bottle. The color was almost a perfect match with no additional blending or mixing. Normally skin tones are the hardest to get right, but this time it was super easy. Good luck!
thank you so much for the advice. best, Ariel (yep thats my real name).
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