The Walking Dead The Governor figure review
Long before Negan started terrorizing Alexandria, The Governor gave Rick Grimes and company nightmares. As far as villains go, I liked the portrayal of the character more in The Walking Dead TV series more than the comic version. I’ve had the Series 4 Governor figure from McFarlane Toys for awhile and decided I needed to finally review him. Let’s see how he fares.
Packaging: One aspect of the McFarlane Toys presentation I really liked was the effective use of the smaller blister card. It was simple and to the point. I also dug the yearbook style layout on the back although as always, I would have preferred some sort of bio.
Likeness: Even at this smaller scale, the McFarlane Toys sculptors do a tremendous job with the actor likeness. You don’t even need the eye patch head sculpt to tell that’s The Governor. The expression works pretty well also with just enough character to suggest he could do something crazy at any moment.
The rest of the figure looks just as good. The vest with the cross-cut pattern is solid and the key for his daughter’s prison is prominently displayed and impressively scale accurate. My biggest complaint is the awkward sculpt of the legs and hips, which make it look like The Governor is wearing Depends.
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Scale: The Governor was above average height so he should be a little taller compared to other figures. I kinda think Herschel might be slightly taller than necessary so The Governor is scaled correctly.
Paint: This is always the second toughest category for McFarlane Toys with this line. The sculpts are always great, but the paint tries hard to ruin it.
Besides a ghastly pale skin tone, The Governor turned out alright. There’s even the appropriate amount of shading for his five o’clock shadow. This is no small victory in this line as bad paint has undercut many a figure.
Articulation: More than anything else articulation has been the line’s Achilles heel. Series 4 figures had less articulation than later series, which is largely why I got the updated Governor figure. From the torso up, things aren’t too bad. But it’s the lower half with those pesky diaper legs that hinder any useful movement and the lack of knee range also hurts. There is waist articulation here, which allows for a bit more posing options.
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The Governor has:
- neck
- ball-jointed shoulders
- elbow
- wrist
- wrist hinge
- waist
- hip
- knee
- ankle
That’s not a lot of articulation points. We can’t even have The Governor sitting down threatening Rick or Glenn.
Accessories: On this front, The Governor is loaded. He’s got his pistol, which fits in the holster well enough. The pistol isn’t a great fit in either hand though and looks awkward.
A long knife and a smaller knife, which fits in the side scabbard and might be the one Michonne used to gouge out his eye, is just as nice. But the best accessory is the eye patch head. That increases his display options and is also well done.
Or at least it would be if the pegs for the heads weren’t so tight. I tried to remove the regular head, but the peg was stuck and snapped off. After some tedious surgery, I was finally able to free it up, but I’ll definitely have to use hot water to swap the heads now.
Worth it? I got The Governor for $10. That’s the sweet spot for these figures and I can’t help but think charging double that price in some instances is what doomed the line for some retailers.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Those stupid hips and botched head swaps hurt an otherwise strong figure. This works best for a Woodbury diorama.
Where to get it? Amazon or eBay are the only real options at this point. He won’t be that expensive with either place now.