Review - Brock Samson - Venture Bros. 3 3/4", Bif Bang Pow!

The Venture Bros. is one of those toy lines that have had a rocky time, to say the least,getting an action figure line off the ground. A couple of years ago, toy company Bif Bang Pow started a line of 8″ retro figures, based on Venture Bros. characters. The idea was that since the cartoon was a parody of Johnny Quest, old Marvel comics, and other Hanna Barbera cartoons, that the toy line should reflect that. The first wave hit Toys “R” Us, as well as comic and specialty shops. After that though, the second wave was not picked up by Toys “R” Us, and as far as I know all subsequent waves haven’t either. That line is still going though, and there seems to be even more figures coming out in that line, though if they will be sold exclusively online, or in stores, is yet to be seen.

Bif Bang Pow last year, had prototype pictures of their proposed 3 3/4″ Venture Bros. toy line. They knew that despite the fans love of the show, many of them wanted real action figures, and not 8″ Mego styled dolls. Well now they’ve finally managed to get the first figure out, the one we’re looking at today: Brock Samson! They actually had a variant of him that you could pick up at San Diego Comic-Con this past July as an exclusive. But we’re going to take a look at the normal release version, which has started hitting comic shops. Their hope is that Brock Samson will sell well enough to warrant more figures in the line.

Is he worth your money? Is he everything a Venture Bros. fan has been waiting for? Continue reading to find out!

PACKAGING– The packaging is pretty standard for action figures. You have the blister attached to a rectangular card back. Really nothing special. The figure is front and center, with his name at the bottom, and the Venture Bros. logo at the top, with a nifty graphic featuring Hank and Dean with their catchphrase “Go Team Venture!. The card back is also mostly taken up by an establishing photo of the outside of the Venture compound.

The back of the card is the inside of Hank and Dean’s room, with another Venture Bros. logo and the word “official” underneath, in case you had any doubts. And another line from the show is featured, when Dean told Hank “I dare you to make less sense!”. A rather non-sequitur to see on the back of this packaging, which fits in with the theme of the show.

SCULPT – The sculpt is undeniably Brock Samson. The figure is on a 3 3/4″ scale, but the figure’s height is at about 5 inches. This makes sense, because Brock Samson is such a tall character that his figure would need to be this tall to fit in with the others. Brock features his almost Justice League Unlimited style of body proportions. He has a small head, huge torso and arms, that tapers into his tiny waist and skinny legs. All cartoon accurate. The head sculpt is a near perfect portrait of the character’s ugly mug, complete with ridiculous mullet. They did very well in translating the 2D images of the cartoon into 3D action figures.

PAINT – The paint is mostly good on mine. It’s clean and smooth on most of the body, but the torso seems sloppy. The shirt looks like it had the paint applied very sloppily, and very thick, making it look rather messy. The head fares better. The hair is painted accurately and with no slop, as well as the eyebrows. His right eye is a little lazy, looking towards his nose, while his left eye is properly looking forward. Not the worst eye painting I’ve seen by far, but it is worth mentioning.

ARTICULATION – Brock Samson features a cut neck, cut shoulders, single elbows, cut waist, cut hips, and single knee joints. Literate people out there will notice the lack of the word “ball joint” in that model. That’s right, Brock Samson features good ol’ fashioned 90’s era articulation. Again, it fits the retro theme of the show, but sticklers for articulation may be disappointed that you can’t put him in some very dynamic poses. He’s mostly going to just be standing on your toy shelf. On the plus side, all the joints are tight, and his legs have no problem holding up that behemoth of a torso.

ACCESSORIES – Brock Samson comes with just one accessory, but it’s very appropriate: his knife. Correction, I meant to say his incredibly large hunting knife. The one that he always has by his side, and is his preferred method of dispatching an enemy. The knife looks great, and is made from a soft pliable plastic, so you don’t have to worry about it snapping. It fits good in either hand, and is easily holstered in its sheath on Brock’s belt. I can’t imagine what other accessories Brock needs, so I think this is perfect for him.

FUN – I’m a gigantic Venture Bros. fan, so I’m definitely biased, but I’ll try to be as objective as possible when giving an opinion. This figure is pretty darn fun. If you’re not a fan of the show, or don’t know about it, then this will just look like some random thug with an anachronistic hair cut and will almost certainly not appeal to you. For those who are fans of the show, you’ll definitely have fun playing with this guy. Granted, he’s the only figure in the line so far, but he looks cool on a shelf, and you can pose him attacking and infiltrating your other toy lines if you wish.

OVERALL – Despite not having the best articulation model, and with the two paint problems, this is still a pretty good figure. The joints hold up really tight, and the sculpt is just amazingly spot on to the cartoon art. I know a lot of fans were wanting 6″ scaled Marvel Legends style figures for them, but I do quite enjoy the 3 3/4″ scale for them. I honestly am looking forward to more figures being released for this line, because I think it has the potential to be really fun.

Their plan was to release vehicles as well as action figures, which would certainly help. I am an articulation stickler, and the lack of poseability does bother me, but not as much as I initially thought. In fact, I got over it pretty quick, because it’s still pretty fun to play with as is. If you’re a fan of the show, I definitely recommend picking this up, and keep an eye out on more figures from this line, because you surely won’t want to miss them.

FINAL SCORE: 3 / 5

Where to buy:

BigBadToyStore has Brock Samson in stock, for less than you’d find him at a local comic shop
Entertainment Earth has him in stock as well.
Amazon also has him in stock