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MI6 Review: Wai Lin - Sideshow
Collectibles
1997 saw Bond once again free the world of tyranny in Tomorrow
Never Dies, this time with a helping hand from Chinese
agent Colonel Wai Lin, portrayed
by Michelle Yeoh. She has since become one of the most
popular modern era Bond girls in the series, and considered
to be on an equal par with Bond.
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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Wai Lin - Michelle Yeoh
Item No: 7714
Size: 12 inch (304mm)
Weight: 3.00 lbs (1.30 Kg)
Units: 4000
Artist: Andy Bergholtz
Order
Online - Sideshow Collectibles
Official Description
Media mogul Elliot Carver has an ingenius plan to lead the
British and Chinese governments into World War III for his
own financial gain. Then plan goes smoothly until James
Bond steps into the picture. In the eighteenth Bond film
'Tomorrow Never Dies,' Bond (Pierce Brosnan) finds himself
teaming up with stunningly lethal Chinese agent, Wai Lin
(Michelle Yeoh), to stop Carver's evil plot.
Accessories
Wai Lin has over 30 points of articulation and comes
equipped with a sub-machine gun, a cool outfit and some
other stuff.
Packaging
A colour press still of Yeoh is used in conjunction with
a reduced alternative UK one sheet on the front the box.
The images don’t sit as comfortably as, for instance,
the Pussy Galore cover art, which is perfect. The interior
flap features small cut-outs from the opening credits of
the film and x-ray styled images of girls and guns. The
Mission text briefly summarizes the adventure and lists
the primary cast.
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Above: The front flap box art |
The rear face has several stills from the film and a picture
of the model imposed over the gun barrel. There is also a bio
of Yeoh, which covers the actress's life from birth up until her
groundbreaking roll in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and beyond.
Rounding off the rear face is information about James Bond and
the film’s villain, Elliot Carver.
This figure was not as easily removed as earlier figures due
to additional ties. Once these have been removed, the figure can
be easily replaced for storage.
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Sculpting
As with all the Bond figures Sideshow has issued, the level
of detail is subjective. This figure features life-like
rooted hair, which is an improvement, however it's obvious
that more work needs to be done in order to get this feature
perfected.
Andy Bergholtz returns to create his second Bond figure.
He has captured Yeoh’s likeness reasonably well. Bergholtz
has missed the mark in capturing the picture-perfect face,
although it’s obvious that a great effort has been
made to sculpting her likeness.
Both hands have been formed to hold the rifle, however
neither the ninja stars nor the grenade clips can be held,
due to their size. This particular figure exhibits relatively
large amount of flashing on both hands, however this could
be a one-off and not common across the range.
Paint
The detailing on this figure is good, with clear lines and
a very crisp finish. It would have been nice to see a little
more detail on the hands, as we are accustomed to seeing
with other Sideshow figures.
The detailing on the head is also very good, especially
the lips and the eyes, both of which look sharp and realistic.
Unlike other Sideshow figures, Wai Lin has life-like rooted
hair. This is something that Sideshow has obviously worked
on and cannot have been an easy task.
In order that the hairline does not show, the area around
it has been painted. This is a very good idea, however closer
inspection obviously reveals how the effect has been created.
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Articulation
Using Sideshow's well-established 12-inch female body, Wai
Lin has all the movement you would expect in order to place
her in the classic poses. The well fitting two-piece costume
allows for full range of movement. The body features tight
fitting joints, ball jointed shoulders, chest, cut biceps,
along with double-jointed elbows and wrists. The waist is
twistable along with the hips, thighs, knees and ankles.
Accessories
With the exception of the MP5, the accessories that come
with this model are average. The two ninja stars, which
are used to silence the guards aboard the Stealth boat in
the film, are flimsy plastic. The grenade clips are also
made of similar plastic. The ends of each grenade on the
clip are detailed in red, which is nice, but not enough
to redeem the item. Both the ninja stars and the grenade
clips show visible flashing due to their size.
The MP5 rifle is the redeeming accessory; the quality of
this piece is excellent. It has four parts; rifle, sling,
retractable stock and clip. The weapon itself is realistic,
both in dimensions and detailing. It fits well into the
figure’s hands and, with the stock extended, can be
placed into the shoulder. The sling can be fitted around
the figure as desired and is realistic in style to a real
MP5 sling. The stock, which is attached to the weapon, cannot
be removed, however it can be extended or retracted. The
weapon’s clip is well crafted and fits snugly inside
the weapon. When removed it is possible to see a round inside
the clip; this top round is gold in colour. |
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Above: Reverse box art |
Costume
Wai Lin’s costume is made up of two pieces. She is seen
wearing it in the film during the final showdown on Carver’s
Stealth boat. The trousers (pants) are fairly generic and the
quality is sadly lacking. They have no pockets or other features.
It's not hard to see that Sideshow has spent the most time on
the jacket, which is well made and fitted. The jacket is designed
as a combat style robin’s vest and features a poacher's
style back flap pocket, which is useful for storing the ninja
stars and grenade clips. Other notable parts of the jacket are
the D-rings that are located on the back and top left shoulder;
these really do add to the jacket’s feel. Two poppers, located
at the front, provide the fastening.
Minor items such as the undershirt and socks add to the quality
of the figure’s costume. All items of clothing are removable.
One nice feature is that the socks are long enough to meet the
pants, meaning that when dressed correctly the legs are not seen.
The ankle boots are nicely detailed and contain a modelled ninja
star in each heel.
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Accessories
MP5 Machine Gun
Throwing Stars
Grenade Clips
Overall
Wai Lin is the weakest female Bond figure that Sideshow
has produced. The figure does have some redeeming features,
such as the life-like rooted hair and the MP5 SMG, not to
mention some good items of clothing. For a collector this
figure is obviously going to be a must, however for someone
who only tends to purchase one or two figures, Wai Lin will
probably not be at the top of the list.
MI6 Rating
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Related Articles
Tomorrow Never Dies MI6 Movie Coverage
Michelle Yeoh - Wai Lin
Images courtesy Sideshow
Collectibles. Original content is copyright mi6-hq.com ©
1998-2006.
Bond materials © Danjaq and United
Artists. Bond trademarks ™ Danjaq.
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