Heavy Metal 5-Inch Figures by Incendium – Toyark Photo Shoot

In 1981, an incredibly ambitious animated film based on Heavy Metal magazine was released. The film was an anthology that brought together major Hollywood talent, as well as a number of legendary rock artists for an experience that was unlike anything that had been released at the time. The movie, like the magazine that inspired it, was geared strictly towards adult audiences, with heavy violence and plenty of nudity throughout. Heavy Metal featured a wrap around story of a green sphere, known as the Loc-Nar, that tells a young girl of the terrors it has witnessed.

Incendium has released two new action figures based on the cult film. The first is Taarna, a warrior bent on destroying the Loc-Nar. The next is Nelson, a World War II tail gunner reanimated by the Loc-Nar as a zombie. The figures stand at 5″ tall, and come packed in specialized card backs. They are priced at $29.95 each, and can be purchased directly from Incendium Online (sold out at the moment).

Today I have a photo gallery and review of the new figures. Incendium was kind enough to send over the figures for review. After the jump you can see my thoughts on the figures, as well as a full photo shoot.

Heavy Metal – 5″ Scale FigBiz Action Figures by Incendium

Pros

• Solid sculpts
• Great looking card backs
• Decent articulation
• Colorful paint apps
• Nelson makes a great generic zombie figure
• Nice accessories

Cons

• Needs ankle articulation
• Couldn’t get Taarna’s sheath to attach
• Taarn’s hips are oddly designed

Overall
Each figure is packed on a classic style cardback, with a bubble glued to the backer card. Each card features art from the animated film, as well as details on each character. Taarna includes a sword, an energy effect piece, a sheath, and a strap. Nelson includes an interchangeable hand, a .50 caliber tail gun, and an ammunition box accessory.

For the Heavy Metal figures, Incendium is taking inspiration from late 80’s and early 90’s style Toy Biz figures. As such, they’re a little more retro feeling, as opposed to more modern action figure lines. Both Taarna and Nelson stand about 5″ tall. They have roughly 12 points of articulation. The sculpts are pretty nice looking in hand. They sculptors did a solid job of replicating the look of the animated film with these. Though, Taarna’s hip design looks a bit odd, and breaks up the sleekness of the figure. Nelson, being a decomposing zombie, has a lot more going on with his sculpt, and more defined detail work. The plastic feels decent, in line with say a Black Series or Marvel Legends figure. Articulation itself is okay for a retro inspired line. Paint work is solid, with a few hiccups here and there where paint bleeds outside of the lines a bit. Nothing that looks bad in hand, but noticable once you start inspecting it up close. The included accessories are great. The energy sword effect is a nice touch with Taarna, and that tail gun included with Nelson is huge. I can see that making its way into the hands of other figures. I did like that Nelson included a swap out hand as well.

Fans looking for a highly articulated series of figures are probably not going to be swayed by these. They can do some basic poses, but nothing overly dynamic. Ankle articulation would have been a plus here, as they stand a bit awkwardly when the legs are bent. However, the joints are pretty strong, which makes balancing the figures fairly easy. They never felt like they were going to give out, and there were no paint locking issues.

If you’re into the style, and looking for some Heavy Metal figures, then I’d say these are worth picking up if they come back in stock. While these wound up not being to my taste, I can definitely see why fans of early 90’s style figure would be into these. Check out a selection of photos below, and see the full gallery after that.