Topless Toy Chest – McFarlane Toys’ Walking Dead Comic Series 4 and Exclusive Grave Digger Daryl

WARNING: Walking Dead comic figures may feature potential spoilers for future TV show plot points. There is one I notably left out in the pic above.

When McFarlane Toys first started with the Walking Dead license, the comic line and the TV line were distinctly different entities, with notably different styles. For the latest series, however, there appears to be a more realistic approach, perhaps acknowledging that fans are displaying them all together.

Comic series 4 includes two characters who are familiar to TV watchers, and two that aren’t: Abraham Ford and Carl Grimes the former, and Paul “Jesus” Monroe and Pin Cushion Zombie the latter. Abraham and Carl may not look exactly like the actors playing them, but they’re convincing replicas of the characters if they were recast with new thespians in the role.

Carl is a little the worse for wear in the comics, and comes with three interchangeable heads – normal, eye-bandaged, and gaping hole-in-face. He also comes with his hat and two guns too big for him to properly hold.

Samurai-bedecked Paul comes with sword, sheath, pistol and blood spatter.

The highlight is the Pin Cushion Zombie, who is full of holes, and comes with multiple removable weapons you can run through him.

Most of the figures feature the following articulation: ball-jointed neck, shoulders, elbows, knees; ball-and-double-hinge wrists, cut waist, double-hinge hips. Paul and Abraham, who wear tall boots, just get cut ankles; Carl, who wears shoes under pants, has ball-jointed ankles that are hindered by the baggy pant effect.

Pin Cushion Zombie is limited due to his action feature, with no waist joint, ankles or left elbow; however, he is a lot more articulated than he looks and features almost all the other joints (wrist are cut rather than multi-jointed).

The wrist joints look a little weird close up, especially on Abraham, where they’re a smoother, shinier pink as opposed to his dirty fleshtone on the arms.

Grave Digger Daryl – a Walgreens exclusive whom I’m lumping into this review because he was sent to me at the same time – has the same ball-ankles as Carl, and an added mid-torso ball joint. His legs are a bit loose, but since the joints ratchet he can still stand okay. Despite the fact that you can only see his eyes, it’s obvious McFarlane did pay for likeness rights.

For the most part, the characters come loaded with gear. Pin Cushion has five things to stick him with; Abraham has a backpack, pitchfork and big gun; Carl has three heads, a hat and two guns. Daryl only has a knife and shovel, but he’s Daryl so they know you’ll buy him anyway.

And yes, I’d say the comic and TV figures can play well together. They’d better, since McFarlane annoyingly makes all his figures out of scale with every other popular line.

If you’re lucky, these figures retail for around $15-$20. If you’re strictly a fan of just comics or movies, don’t be afraid of the rest – each line has exclusive characters, and they’re not really that different from each other in looks. It’s not like the Filmation characters in the Masters of the Universe line.

Note: Rick is not part of the series. I just threw him in for fun.