GeneralsJoes Reviews Dime Novel Legends

by generalsjoes | Aug 28, 2019 | Dime Novel Legends

Currently available at SmallJoes.com.

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.