RaginSpoon has been a long time mainstay in the G.I. Joe Collector community, initially making a splash with custom sculpted and cast heads and accessories.
For many years now, the folks there have had a dream of mass producing their own diorama accessories, and I’m thrilled to say that a short while ago, they made that dream a reality! The Complex base building system (available at SmallJoes.com) hit the collector community by storm, and now they’re looking to really branch out and do some exciting things.
A Kickstarter has been launched for series two of the Complex base building system which features some amazing new accessories, catwalks, stairways, as well as additional types of walls (if it can hit those stretch goals). All of these parts and pieces are compatible with the initial build sets, and many of them are also compatible with the peg/hole system of some of your favorite 1:18 scale modern military lines.
The possibilities are truly limitless. I wish this was out there ten years ago while I was still making dio-stories. Anyway, go hit up their Kickstarter and think about pledging for some great looking accessories and parts for your dioramas!
I feel the need to preface this article with a simple fact:
I don’t really love Cowboy stuff. For whatever reason, it’s just never appealed to me a whole lot. Although my dad’s side of my family is from Denver, and I certainly have a lot of the American West in my bloodlines, there’s been nothing that really appealed to me about it.
Closest I’ve come to really being a fan of that era was Mattel’s Bravestarr line, the Galaxy Rangers, and maybe Firefly.
So, needless to say, I wasn’t really 100% committed to the Dime Novel Legends Kickstarter, and I hate to admit it, but I didn’t support it. I feel guilty even saying that, as I generally try to kick in and support most of those independent action figure Kickstarters, especially those run by people I’m friends with, but in this case, I’d over-extended on several others and decided to ease off the accelerator.
But, then they came out. And I heard other friends gushing about them. And they were available on SmallJoes.com (and I was able to acquire a nice selection for a great price from a friend of mine).
Long story short – I now have nearly a complete set of the Dime Novel Legends and good grief they are amazing.
Being as close as I am with the fine folks from Boss Fight Studio, I know how difficult it is to see an action figure line from concept to execution. Each time it happens successfully, especially on a small scale, it takes hours upon hours of pain-staking work, amazing artistic talent, brain-melting attention to detail, and just flat out dedication to releasing a solid product. Dime Novel Legends hits these marks in stride.
As a general overview, the figures are 4″ highly articulated Wild West themed figures of various designs and character. Each figure features a pseudo o-ring style construction (complete with the back screw– LOVE IT) though instead of the actual o-ring, it’s a construct using plastic joints. In truth, the effect is fantastic and does a great job mimicking the o-ring without actually leveraging the fragile rubber connection point within.
The sculpting is fantastic, the head sculpts filled with rich character and amazing detail, all while maintaining a high degree of articulation. Jointed elbows, wrists (as well as swivel), ball-joint heads (with the hole under the chin, compatible with Marauder Task Force). Double joint knees, swivel ankles, ball-joint hips. All the great articulation you’ve come to expect from collector friendly lines of this sort. Even for someone like me who has no real love for the Wild West has found a TON to love about this figure line. It truly is remarkable.
Action Figures
The figures themselves are terrific. Packaged in carded bubbles (bubbles are glued to the cart) with some great vintage artwork on the front and very straight-forward, but enjoyable bio’s on the back, each figure has a wealth of character and comes with a nice assortment of quality accessories. Everything from revolvers (with belts and holsters, naturally), rifles, double-barreled shotguns, knives, hats– heck, even a barrel and some mugs of beer! So many cool little tidbits come with each of the figures in this first assortment. You can check out a full outline and gallery of all of the individual figures right here.
Buckaroos
Similar to Boss Fight Studios’ “Blanks” the Buckaroos assortment is a series of base figures with very simple color schemes that provide a wealth of customizability to an already impressive line up of individual characters. One nice difference between these and the blanks, are that these actually have some paint on the figures, so you can do pure part swapping without worrying about touching up the paint here and there. There’s even a Headhunters pack of heads you can use to mix things up. Check out the Buckaroos outline and gallery to see all of these goodies.
Gear/Accessory Sets
Another excellent compliment to the standard Dime Novel Legends figures are the Gear and Accessory sets, which provide a nice selection of painted accessories. These accessories include hats, vests, holsters and other goodies, with a nice weapons set that adds a ton of extra pistols, rifles and other gear. There’s even a separate “Bucket of Suds” set with additional alcohol and a set with a bucket and some potatoes to peel. Really ingenuitive stuff here. As with the others I have an outline and gallery page right here.
Conclusion
Honestly, I can’t say enough good things about this line. I have been absolutely captivated by the Dime Novel Legends since receiving them, and they are quickly rising to the ranks of Marauder Task Force and Vitruvian HACKS as some of my favorite 4″ action figures currently going, which is very high praise indeed. Although I’m not really a Wild West fan, these figures are making me one… now hurry up and make me a Marshall Bravestarr and a Galaxy Rangers template, will you?
These figures are currently available at SmallJoes.com.
Dime Novel Legends by Chicken Fried Toys
Sculpting
Paint Applications
Articulation
Accessories
4.6
Summary
Funded by Kickstarter, produced by Chicken Fried Toys and sold through SmallJoes.com, Dime Novel Legends have quickly earned a spot in my toy collection. Highly articulated, well sculpted, tightly constructed, and with a generous assortment of quality genre-specific accessories, there is a lot to love in this toy line even if, like me, you’re not a big fan of the Wild West.
Whether you’re looking for display pieces, figures to play with, or templates to customize there is something here for everyone. Individual figures, Buckaroo blanks, spare heads and accessories, it’s all here and all designed and crafted with very unique attention to detail.
Very, very impressive debut line from the folks at Chicken Fried Toys.
These figures and accessories are currently available at SmallJoes.com.
Along with the individual figures and the Buckaroos, there are a few separate Gear Sets and Accessory sets to compliment your favorite Dime Novel Legends figures.
Boot Hill Loot – Accessory Packs
Raid the Armory – Gear Packs
Western Weapons Pack and Others
As with other elements of the Dime Novel Legends assortments, these are very nicely designed, and even for folks who aren’t into the Wild West, there are some great potential diorama accessories here, including beer bottles, glasses of beer (with removable beer!!).
If I had any complaints, the belts and holsters are a bit of a challenge to fasten, it took some work and a very tiny screwdriver to sort of ease the peg through the hole, but I’m not sure how you would even get around that with an accessory the size of the belts.
These figures are currently available at SmallJoes.com.
The Buckaroos are similar to the Vitruvian HACKS “Blanks” figures only they have some minimal paint applications (unlike the Blanks) so they can be utilized more or less out of the box for putting together interesting combinations of parts without adding paint to the base figure.
Ultimately slightly less versatility than the Blanks, but a more straight forward template for those not interested in painting their figures.
The figures can be easily disassembled by unscrewing the back screw, separating the torso and removing the torso and arms.
When you’re dealing with most any disassembly especially the legs from the hip sockets USE HOT WATER OR A HAIR DRYER to keep the plastic soft, or you risk breakage.
This is not a defect of the figure. Those joints must be tight to maintain articulation, and sometimes those joints freeze or the material requires softening to loosen up.
Buckaroos
Along with the Buckaroos, there’s a five-pack “Headhunters” set which gives you some assorted heads for either these figures, or for customizing the normal figures.
Headhunters
At the end of the day, the options become almost limitless (especially once you slide in all those great Gear and Accessory Packs).
Yeah, I’m writing about dudes in furry shorts. Get over it. 😀
One of the great things about running your own action figure blog is you can talk about whatever action figure properties you want (which you’ll see again hopefully later this week…)
Over the weekend, PowerCon happened out in California and anyone who knows me knows along with G.I. Joe (and Transformers) I have a passion for Masters of the Universe. The first action figure I ever remember buying was not G.I. Joe, after all– it was Skeletor. Granted, Flash and COBRA came shortly thereafter, but Skeletor was my first real introduction to action figure “collecting”. I still remember asking my dad for Castle Grayskull for my birthday and being convinced it was merely a pipe dream, only to come home from school one day and sit on my bed to find that it had arrived in the mail and mom had hidden it under my covers.
Now, unlike G.I. Joe, I loved Masters of the Universe in spite of itself. I loved it more for what I viewed it could be. I didn’t really like the Filmation animated series, and while I enjoyed the concepts of the figures, I didn’t love the toys themselves. Kinda weird, huh? Yeah, I lived and died by those little mini-comics that hinted at a much more serious, sci-fi/fantasy blended world that went much deeper and cooler than the weekday afternoon 22 minute animated fare possibly could.
So, needless to say, once I finally bought my first Masters of the Universe Classics figure, I was hooked, and I know own several others (as well as Grayskull and most of the vehicles).
I’m drawing the line at Snake Mountain, though. Really, I am.
For this reason, I tend to pay attention to the Mattel/Super 7 news at various conventions and was pretty excited to see that Mattel themselves is bringing MOTU back to retail.
In all honesty, I likely won’t buy these – MOTU Classics fills that void nicely already, but I’m thrilled that they’re taking steps to get MOTU back in front of mass retail. That’s a good thing.
At PowerCon this weekend, not only did they reveal a new comic series and new mini-figures, but they also announced a new Battlecat coming with that MOTU Origins line. Not to mention more Super 7 Conan figures and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figures based on the animated designs were also discussed.
But most important of all, they announced a new Netflix Anime Series! I am all sorts of fired up for this one. Kevin Smith is involved (a fact that already has fans riled up), but my understanding is the same animation company that produced Castlevania is producing this as well, which is a very cool thing.
Anyway, lots to digest. For a guy who is feeling like he already has way too much stuff there seems to be more and more cool things on the way. It continues to be a great time to be a geek. Get all the latest news on PowerCon over on Pixel Dan’s YouTube channel as well as on the Masters of the Universe Facebook Page.
These figures are currently available at SmallJoes.com.
The bread and butter of the Dime Novel Legends line is, without a doubt, the carded figures themselves. A great assortment of various specialties really help bring the Wild West to life.
