Friday, February 10, 2012

Review 1: BBK 1/6 scale Cowboy OR Josh Brolin as Jonah Hex 12-inch Wild West figure

Jonah Woodson Hex is a Western comic book antihero created by writer John Albano and artist Tony DeZuniga and published by DC Comics. Jonah Hex is a surly and cynical bounty hunter whose face is horribly scarred on the right side. Despite his poor reputation and personality, Hex is bound by a personal code of honor to protect and avenge the innocent. The character is portrayed by Josh Brolin in the 2010 film adaptation of the same name.

This is the BBK 003 Cowboy 12-inch figure. The cowboy was the quintessential symbol of the American Old West, or the Wild West, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the end of the century (1830 - 1920). This BBK boxed figure set should rightfully be titled "Jonah Hex" or "post-Civil War Confederate cavalryman" since the character is clearly based on Josh Brolin as Jonah Hex and what he is wearing belongs to the military uniform of the Confederate States of America (1861 - 1865) which were fighting the Union forces during the American Civil War.


Already there's a boo-boo on the box cover! It says that this is "A Clown" 1/6 scale collectible figure (obvious reference to BBK's other 12-inch figure being released at the same time which is more of a JOKER than a CLOWN) when clearly the picture on it is that of a American Wild West figure. So does this mean that BBK stands for "Boo-Boo" King? I hope not. Read on or scroll down to see more pictures of this BBK product (code no. BBK003 - Cowboy).


Out of curiosity, I googled "Rhyolite Mercantile" (it appears on the box cover) and it turns out that Rhyolite is a ghost town in Nye County, in the U.S. state of Nevada. It is located in the Bullfrog Hills, about 120 miles (190 km) northwest of Las Vegas, near the eastern edge of Death Valley. The town began in early 1905 as one of several mining camps that sprang up after a prospecting discovery in the surrounding hills. [source: wiki] What's even better? There's even a picture of Rhyolite Mercantile, an abandoned general store that is still standing!


BBK003 Cowboy 12-inch figure straight out of the box. He already has everything on him minus his hat, two revolvers and spurs. BBK003 Cowboy "Jonah Hex" comes with a 1/6 scale Josh Brolin as Jonah Hex head sculpt, 12-inch figure body, a shirt, vest, pants, leather gun belt with double holsters and 50 individual metal bullets, overcoat and leather boots.


Doesn't look promising, does it? Sometimes you have to shake it up a bit to get the ideal look :) Scroll down to see how good this can look :)


The two revolvers have removable cylinders (where the individual metal bullets may be loaded) and working hammers. The spurs are to be attached to the boots. A spur is a metal tool designed to be worn in pairs on the heels of riding boots for the purpose of directing a horse to move forward or laterally while riding. Western-style cowboy spurs have rowels, chap guards and buttons for the spur straps.


This is how BBK-003 1/6 scale Cowboy 12-inch figure without his overcoat, vest and gun belt. Jonah Hex is just wearing the basic shirt and pants with suspenders and boots.




And here's BBK Cowboy figure with vest and gun belt added. Like I said earlier in this post, this figure is more of a military figure than a Wild West gunslinger or COWBOY as he's wearing the uniform of the Confederate States of America (1861 - 1865) rather than the attire of a cowboy which is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of special significance and legend.


BBK 003 Cowboy 1/6 scale collectible figure is based on the character of Jonah Hex as played by Josh Brolin in the 2010 film of the same name, which also starred the hot Megan Fox as Tallulah Black / Lilah: A gun-wielding prostitute and Jonah Hex's love interest.


Scroll down for more turnaround views of this 12-inch Jonah Hex figure with spurs added.


In the 2010 film, Jonah Hex is tied up and and forced to watch as his house is burned down with his wife and son inside. Turnbull then brands Hex's face with his initials, "QT", and leaves him to die of thirst or exposure.


Days later, American Indians find Jonah and revive him with their mystical powers. While they did manage to bring Jonah, for the most part, back from the dead, it is stated that they couldn't bring all of him back. As a result Jonah acquired the ability to, as long as he maintains physical contact with the corpse, temporarily resurrect and communicate with the dead, bringing the corpse physically and mentally back to it's condition prior to death (apparently, only Jonah sees them restored like that. To everyone else, they continue to seem decayed and lifeless).


The buttons on the vest that Jonah wears have the initials CSA for Confederate States of America.


Even Jonah Hex's belt buckle has the initials CS (Confederate States of America). Check out the individual metal bullets he carries on his gun belt. Pretty neat, don't you think?


BBK 003 Cowboy boots or rather, Jonah Hex's 1/6 scale Confederate Army boots with spurs added



And here are some close-up pictures of the BBK 003 Cowboy head sculpt i.e. Josh Brolin as Jonah Hex head sculpt, after having his face branded by the evil Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich), the man who killed Jonah Hex's family and disfigured Jonah.


IMHO I think this is a pretty good sculpt of Josh Brolin as Jonah Hex. You can see the resemblance immediately and the likeness is quite spot on.


I like to have a variety of 1/6 scale head sculpts in my toy collection and I don't want just the "pretty boy" ones either. There are good looking sculpts and then there are great character sculpts and this here is a great character sculpt. You look at the head sculpt and you can imagine the torture and hunger for vengeance this man has inside, not the typical blank stare look we used to get from 1/6 scale manufacturers.


Jonah Hex is almost like Two-Face (click HERE to see pictures) in terms of looks, being scarred on one side of his face. Jonah Hex is bound by a personal code of honor to protect and avenge the innocent yet on the other hand, is a surly and cynical bounty hunter whose face is horribly scarred on the right side.





Here's 1/6 scale Josh Brolin as Jonah Hex 12-inch Western gunslinger comic book antihero figure with both guns drawn and ready to collect some bounty. This Wild West bounty hunter should be called as he is, and NOT a cowboy as BBK claims because he's wearing the military uniform of the Confederate States of America.


Being a "non-superhero" in the DC universe, Jonah Hex did not have a "Rogues gallery" comparable to costumed comic-book heroes, though he had a few adversaries who returned from time to time. The first and most notable of these to date was Quentin Turnbull, known at first as simply the man with the eagle-topped cane.



MORE of this BBK 1/6 scale Cowboy 12-inch collectible figure in the next post aka (also known as) OR more accurately, 1/6 scale Josh Brolin as Jonah Hex 12-inch Wild West Gunslinger / Confederate States Cavalry figure.

3 comments:

Richie said...

He needs a horse and a repeater would have been nice.haha :D

PALADIN said...

He needs Period correct guns....
Those are Colt Python .357 Magnums, circa 1980.

alex teo said...

The company that produced this figure obviously didn't do their research properly. Thanks for the info :)