Thursday, December 8, 2011

Hot Toys 1/6 Jill Valentine BSAA Ver. Part 1

Another "first" before end of the year

Since it's the end of year, I might as well go with another big one for my review after MG Char's Gelgoog Ver. 2.0. ^^

Rolling out another huge action figure after RAH Mari Illustrious Makinami reviewed last October. ^^


Hot Toys' 1/6 Jill Valentine BSAA Ver. from "Biohazard 5", which happens to be my first 1/6 scale action figure from Hot Toys. ^^

For most of us who live outside Japan, the game where this character originated from is better known as the "Resident Evil" series instead. I never played any title from the franchise, but I hear about it on and off from friends who have being supporting the whole series for a very long time. It's definitely one of the most popular title in the zombie FPS category.


Gameplay video of Jill Valentine BSAA Ver. from "Resident Evil 5"
Video clip is from Youtube. Follow this link to the website if you can't see anything.

Because of the game's popularity, I believe most people's introduction to this character is through the game itself. For me however, even though I know about the character many years ago, I only get to see her in some real action from the second "Resident Evil" movie called "Apocalypse" in 2004, who was played by the lovely Sienna Guillory. ^^

The two versions of Jill are not exactly the same actually, since the story is different between the movie and game. It would be of the greatest ignorance if I got this Hot Toys figure thinking that it would be anything even remotely related to the movie. ^^;

In the S.T.A.R.S. version from that movie, Jill Valentine wears a light blue tube top, black mini skirt and long black boots. For the BSAA version from "Biohazard 5", only the light blue color of her outfit is the same. Her overall appearance, including hair cut (^^) and all her combat gears have been changed.

By the way, BSAA is "Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance". ^^ Just the name of another organization that kills the monsters and enemies in the story setting. ^^

As mentioned above, I never played the game, but I always like the character even before the movie came out. My image about her was "reinforced" by the movie though. ^^ It was great to see Sienna Guillory fighting zombies in light blue tube top, black mini skirt and black boots, ^o^ but I always felt that it was a bit illogical, when she in such a casual wear is doing just as well as Oded Fehr's character in full combat suit. XD By the same token, Milla Jovovich too, but she's artificially enhanced as a stronger fighter in that movie, and she's the protagonist. Still, the sense of reality is somewhat missing there. ^^; That won't matter at all for Jill Valentine in the game series, since it's always great to have a cute girl fighting zombies and monsters in a game, the cuter the better. ^o^


Jill Valentine's debut in Resident Evil: Apocalypse".
Video clip is from Youtube. Follow this link to the website if you can't see anything.

Anyhow, I really like the BSAA version of Jill from the game. It's the most realistic and mature look for the character in my opinion. Her outfit design is easy to accept for it's close to what we have in real life, and the "designated" color of light blue which defines the character is still inherited. ^^ Looking at the outfit, equipments and weapons, I believe folks who are interested in military action figures but not very much into game or movie characters would appreciate this action figure as well.

Personally, I'm all over the place about this figure. ^^ I made the purchase because I like (1) the character, (2) the sculpting and paint work of the face, (3) the outfit's material design, (4) the abundance of weapons included, (5) the figure's large scale. There's no single preference over any of the factors mentioned. I just like how all of them seem to be really well done for this action figure. ^^

Anyway, more about those mentioned features will be shown through this entire review series. ^^


Full front view of the box.


Jill Valantine's image on the box art.



The game's title, Hot Toys' logo and the product line's name ("Video Game Masterpiece").


The right portion of the front cover has a rough coating that gives Jill's image a sandy feel. ^^



Design on various sides of the box.


Item introduction on the back of the box.


A large closeup on the figure's face. ^^


The rough coating as seen on the front cover can also be found on the back, with very distinct "border" with the item info section printed on the right hand side. ^^


The entire lineup of Hot Toys' 1/6 action figures for the "Biohazard" series.


Some images showing Jill's equipments and weapons.


The magnets at the top and bottom corners of the box used to secure the package are easily detectable. ^^


Comparing the box with that of RAH Chunli (same box size as Mari Illustrious Makinami from the same series).


While the height is the same ...



... everything else isn't.
Jill Valentine is a way more hefty package. ^^


Box open. The image of "Biohazard 5" can be seen printed on the inner side.


With the side panel opened up, Jill Valentine's full box cover image can be seen. ^^


The interior view of the package.
A whole set of accessories are attached behind the front cover, with corresponding sunken area on top of the figure's window to store it.


The image of a mansion behind the front cover.
It's an element from the game I suppose.




A mini arsenal of weapons and other equipments! ^^


A piece of tracing paper separates the front window and the plastic tray containing weapons and other accessories for Jill when the box is closed.









The figure itself, and pretty much all the other accessories inside the box can be seen through the front window.


The entire tray of accessories can be removed.


Nothing fancy about the backdrop, just a dark creepy-looking forest under the moonlight. ^^



Weapons inside the tray.


With the top cover taken off.


Many of the same weapons here would appear again for the second version of Jill Valentine from Hot Toys - the Battle Suit Ver. which I also have. ^^




Closeups on all the items.


Box open (again) to remove the main content.


The emptied box.


A huge tray for the content. ^^


You can see that there are actually two layers of top cover from the image above.


The space between the immediate figure cover and the top-most cover can be used to hold all the weapons once they are released from their own tray shown earlier on.
A very considerate design from Hot Toys. ^^



Full view of the figure and some accessories.


A little "bridge" confines the figure within the container.



The instruction sheet is stuck right beneath the display base.




With the "bridge" and instruction sheet removed.


As compared to all the other items, the instruction sheet certainly didn't get any special packaging treatment XD
A pair of spare wrist joints is included as well.






Very simple instruction on how to equip all the weapons and equipment onto the figure.


Also in the instruction sheet is a specific warning on not to hand paint the figure with materials that might corrode it.


The pair of extra wrist joints.



More protection for the figure's body with more plastic wrappings on the head and the exposed portion of the forearm.

A very long posting this is, just for the introduction bit. ^^; The review shall resume in the next posting with images of a straight-out-box Jill Valentine and some of her accessories. ^^

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Nice intro. Just a couple points of correction though. First, Biohazard/"Resident Evil" is not an FPS. It's a third person survival game. (Though you could make the argument that "Resident Evil 5" is pretty much a third person shooter.) An FPS (first person shooter) would be something like Halo or Killzone.

Second, the outfit Sienna Guillory is wearing in "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" is based on her outfit from "Resident Evil 3: Nemesis." This outfit is from a flashback scene in "Resident Evil 5."

Here's some artwork showing Jill Valentine from "Resident Evil 3: Nemesis" - http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs50/f/2009/295/9/5/Jill_Valentine_Nemesis_by_ChrisRedfieldBSAA.jpg

Other than that, good stuff. I really like this figure, and I really wish it were easy to find now.