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MI6 Review: Telly Savalas "On
Her Majesty's Secret Service" - Sideshow Collectibles
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service saw the second actor
to carry the mantel of James Bond and another actor portray
the leader of SPECTRE (The Special
Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and
Extortion), Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Telly Savalas replaced
Donald Pleasence,
who played Blofeld
in the earlier You Only Live
Twice. The film would be the only appearance for both
actors in the Bond franchise.
Sideshow
Collectibles, founded in 1994, has been exclusively
licensed to create a line of 12" collectible figures
in the likeness of all five Bond actors, key villains and
some of the famous women.
MI6 reviews the Sideshow Collectibles figures...
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Ernst Blofeld -Telly Savalas
Item No: 7710R
Size: 12 inch (304mm)
Weight: 3.00 lbs (1.30 Kg)
Units: 3000
Artist: Oluf W. Hartvigson
Order
Online - Sideshow Collectibles
Official Description
Telly Savalas is Ernst Blofeld.
Accessories
US Fragmentation grenades, a hand mortar tube, a
Colt .45 automatic pistol with removable magazine and holster,
ski goggles, Binoculars and belt case.
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Packaging
The front of the box, like most Sideshow products, carries a movie
poster for the film. It has to be said that, compared to other
packaging in the James Bond series, this one is a little disappointing.
The inner flap gives a brief mission overview and cast list.
Like the front of the packaging, the inner flap is a little less
attractive compared to that on other figures. That being said,
the design is clean and crisp.
The rear of the packaging describes Telly’s career as an
actor both before and after his role as Ernest Blofeld. Following
this brief bio are six images from On Her Majesty’s Secret
Service. The usual film details are listed to the bottom right
of the back, and an image of Sideshow’s George Lazenby figure
is opposite them. To Sideshows credit, the back of the packaging
is good and makes up for the front and inner flap.
Three wires and a plastic band hold the figure in the box; these
are easily removed. The stand has been placed along side the figure,
meaning it’s easily removed and replaced with no damage
to the box. The standee is stamped with the film title “On
Her Majesty’s Secret Service” and character name.
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Outfit
The figure’s clothing is a little under-par when compared
to the high standard usually seen by Sideshow. The material
used to make the clothing gives a look that is close the
film but not quite perfect. What is perfect, however, is
the tailoring, which is some of the best seen by Sideshow
to date.
The simple brown trousers (pants) have a single popper
at the waist holding them up. The trousers are not full
length and finish off at just below knee level. The figure’s
socks reach to the knees to meet with the trousers, and
are then tucked neatly into the soft rubber boots, which
carry a lot of great detailing, especially on the soles.
The figure wears an elasticized white polo shirt, which
fits tightly and is similar to the shirt on the Lazenby
figures. Next is the jacket, sharply tailored and also fitting
the figure well. The jacket is baggy and held in close to
the figure with a belt that has a leather finish and a gold-colored
buckle..
Paint
The intricacy of detailing on the head is outstanding. Varying
levels of creases in the skin have been added all over the
head and neck. The detailing on the eyes, lips and eyebrows
is particularly good. Detailing on the hands however could
be improved by tinting the veins a slightly different color;
the same goes for the fingernails.
Articulation
Using Sideshow's well-established sixth scale male body,
Blofeld has all the movement you would expect. He features
tight-fitting joints from the head, neck, ball-jointed shoulders,
chest, cut biceps, double jointed elbows, and wrists. The
waist is twistable along with the, hips, thighs, and knees.
The loose-fitting costume allows for a full range of movement.
However, the boots slightly restricted the ankles’
full range of movement.
Accessories
The Blofeld figure comes with a range of accessories that
are seen in the film. Firstly a Colt 45 pistol with removable
magazine. The magazine is well sculpted and detailed, fitting
snugly into the handle. The detailing on the weapon is good,
however the overall finish could be improved upon, particularly
the level of flashing.
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The holster for the weapon is made of the same material as the
belt, and can be attached to it if required. Needless to say,
the weapon fits snuggly. It is easy to remove the pistol from
the holster.
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hands come with the figure. One of them does not have a
pin, and after a casual glance this may seem as though it’s
been missed out. However, when comparing the grenades to
one another, it’s easy to see that the lack of a pin
is deliberate. For such small items it is amazing that they
look so realistic with virtually no flashing. This is certainly
one aspect for which the Sideshow team members can pat themselves
on the back.
In the film we see Blofeld using a flare gun to trigger
an avalanche. It’s nice to see that Sideshow has thought
about the accessories and included this as one. The gun
is made of a two-piece construction with a black silver
speckled finish.
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The figure comes with snow goggles as well as binoculars and
a case. All three of these items are finished to a high level.
The snow goggles can be placed on Blofeld’s head and are
retained by elastic. The binoculars not only fit into their case
but also into Blofeld’s hand. The distance between the eyepieces
is perfect, matching the distance between the figure’s eyes.
Sculpting
Oluf W. Hartvigson has done an excellent job with the sculpting
on this figure, which has to be one of Sideshow’s best.
Hartvisgon has been able to capture Blofeld’s calm yet menacing
look almost flawlessly in this scale. The right hand has been
perfectly set to hold the pistol. Upon closer inspection, finer
details on the hands are visible, including veins, tendons and
creases in the skin at the joints. Small amounts of flashing can
be seen on both hands, but it does not distract from the overall
appearance. All accessories have been sculpted with much care
by the Sideshow team and have not lost any detailing in the manufacturing
process, which can sometimes be the case with finer items.
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Accessories
US Fragmentation grenades
H and mortar tube
Colt .45 automatic pistol with removable magazine
Holster
Ski goggles
Binoculars and belt case
Overall
The sculpting and the level of detailing on this iconic
villain make it one of Sideshow’s finest to date.
The quality of materials used for the costume is definitely
the weaker point, however when you put well crafted accessories
with a well sculpted figure it more than makes up for what
the costume lacks. For both the collector and Bond fan alike,
this model is one that needs to be part of a collection.
MI6 Rating
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Related Articles
OHMSS MI6 Movie Coverage
Telly Savalas - Ernst Stavro
Blofeld
Images courtesy Sideshow
Collectibles. Original content is copyright mi6-hq.com ©
1998-2006.
Bond materials © Danjaq and United
Artists. Bond trademarks ™ Danjaq.
