If you've read my review of Otak, the rat villain from the new Realm of the Rodents line at Michael's Review of the Week, then you can skip the next couple paragraphs. I'm using the same intro because, well, it's just so damn interesting, and I'm such a lazy bastar.

Back in days of yore, before I was born, my dad did taxidermy work as a hobby/side business. By the time I came around, he'd pretty much stopped, but all the equipment and nifty tools were still there, and as a young outdoorsy type, it was only natural I was fascinated by the whole thing.

The branch of the hobby that was called anthropomorphic taxidermy fascinated me the most. This was the art of putting animals into human situations, and first gained popularity in Victorian England. It had pretty much died out by the 1940's, but I've always wondered why some young, hip, edgy artist didn't try to resurrect the use of animals in human situations to make bold statements. Hey, I think it would be an excellent idea, and certainly more interesting than Campbell Soup.

Hey, just look at Potter's work with kittens and tell me that it wouldn't make more waves than any Tortured Soul Mcfarlane could come up with!

So why the long discussion of something completely non-toy related? Because it's what I first thought of when I saw early photos of the new sixth scale line, Realm of the Rodent, from Lazy Bonz. The back story is fairly simple - a young mouse named Cryket lives in an idyllic little mouse village. But the evil Otak, a rather nasty rat, is leading his army of other nasty rats to destroy the village and take over the world. Or at least the 'realm'. Cryket and his mouse friends have to defend their world against the evil horde of rats. If you're a rat lover, you might notice that they get the short end of the stick once again.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, you can always reach me at mwc@mwctoys.com. If you enjoy this review, take a minute to check out my other site at Michael's Review of the Week, and let me know what you think. Now on to the review!

"Realm of the Rodent - Cryket"

Not only does mouse-boy have himself a cutesy name, it's even spelled incorrectly to give it that hip flair that all the youngsters dig. I'm reviewing Cryket here tonight, and I have a review of Otak up over at MROTW.

Packaging - ***1/2
Just like last week's review, we have a very new company here just getting their feet wet in the world of sixth scale. Yet they've done a number of things like the old pros, one of which is the excellent packaging.

The box art and style is terrific, with a nice fantasy feel. The only real disadvantage is that neither figure looks a whole lot like the figure on the box, at least in terms of head sculpt. However, Cryket looks a lot more like his early prototype than Otak does.

The basic story is included on the box, and it's fairly collector friendly, so you can remove the figure and put it back for storage later if you desire.

Sculpting - ***1/2
There's very little sculpted surface that is visible on Cryket, but of course, what's under all that fur is still critical to his overall appearance.

The general head sculpt is very mouse-like in appearance, and much more realistic than you might anticipate. He's also much closer in appearance to the prototype, with longer fur covering almost all of his face.

The hands and feet also have terrific sculpts, designed to do their jobs (holding accessories and standing) quite well. These have tufts of longer fur above, but have the mossier type of flocking on them directly.

Further extending the comparison with the anthropomorphic taxidermy, his eyes are a glassy, rounded oval, much like you'd see on any unfortunate deer or moose, up over the mantle at the gun club.

Scale-wise, he's about eight inches tall, very similar to the hobbits and dwarves in the 12" Lord of the Rings line from Toybiz. His size fits in good with Otak, and will work fine with other characters as well.

I did have one question though - where's his whiskers?

Paint/flocking - **1/2
There's not a lot of paint ops, but the nose has some, as do the accessories of course. What paint work is here is very neat and clean, with no real issues. It's the flocking that covers the majority of the 'skin' of this beast, and that's what I'll focus on.

The soft, mossy flocking on Cryket's hands and feet is excellent, and is done in a soft, fairly clean white. It looks terrific, and is very consistent, with no breaks or oddities in the texture.

The longer fur looks good in general, but is not really flocked. Rather, fur covered cloth has been glued to the underlying sculpt, and in the case of Cryket, it's done extremely well up front. Unfortunately, in back he has a few more issues.

Maybe I just got a bad one, but the fur isn't well attached back behind his ears, and I have one piece that is loose for about 1/8". This hurt what was otherwise a great looking head sculpt and a pretty innovative idea.

Articulation - ****
The coolest thing, at least to me, about both of the Realm of the Rodent figures is the underlying sixth scale bodies. They are brand new designs, with pudgy little stomaches and poor posture, just like me!

And just like a vermin would have, if that vermin stood on two legs and wore clothes. All the articulation you expect from the best 12" bodies is here, including double jointed elbows and knees, wrists, ankles, ball jointed shoulders and hips, and even one of the very best ball jointed necks I've seen. This neck allows Cryket to look forward, and also turn his face skyward almost completely. That's pretty important if you want to make a big war cry, or feel the need to drop back to all fours.

There's also his short little mouse tail, which is bendy and easy to pose.

The joints are all nice and tight, and I had absolutely no problem getting him to stand in a variety of poses.

Accessories - ***1/2
Cryket comes with a nice assortment of goodies - there's his wooden shield, emblazoned once again with a 3-D version of his leaf symbol, a short sword that fits nicely in his scabbard, an extra bone piece that I haven't quite figured out yet, and a terrific bird skull helmet, accessorized nicely with some real feathers. I have a feeling if this was Realm of the Bird, Cryket might be the one on the villain side.

The bird skull helmet looks great, although the white is a little too white for reality. Actually, all the bone accessories are a little too white, since real bones tend to pick up a grayer appearance with age. Still, the helmet looks great, fits great, and makes excellent sense.

The shield and sword fit nicely in his hands, and both look like they could do the job intended. I'm still confused on what the extra bone is for though. If we stick with the bird killer theme for Cryket, you could assume it's some sort of breast bone I suppose, but I'm not exactly sure what he's going to do with it. Thoughts?

Outfit - ***1/2
Cryket's outfit reflects both his mouse sensibilities, and vermin style. There's a shirt, pants, armor vest, and flags/colors that can be attached to the vest, marked with a leaf symbol. I'm assuming the symbol represents the mouse team, intended to incite onlookers into yelling catchy phrases like "Go Mice!"

The flags look nifty, reminding me of something from our own feudal period, and the knights of yore. The outfit is well tailored, and maintains the illusion that it was designed and created by a rodent. The material is rough, but unlike the surly and uncooth Otak, the edges are hemmed and neat. Clearly, mice not only have sweeter personalities, they also are more concerned with fashion.

There's also some plastic ankle and wrist bracelets, that are intended to appear as metal. They fit tightly, but aren't designed to be easily removed.

Finally, there's the rope belt, which holds his scabbard. Overall, the outfit is eye catching in a earthy, woodsy sort of way, and fits the character physically and spriritually well.

Fun Factor - ***1/2
Kids are likely to find these a lot more fun than adult collectors. Why? Because they speak to them on a different level, one of play and imagination, rather than pop culture. Collectors these days tend to only focus on licensed products of their favorite shows and movies, whereas kids still have the imagination - hopefully - to see the play potential in toys like these.

If my kids were old enough to be into sixth scale, I'd grab these for them. I think that the average six year old boy, who loves Harry Potter or LOTR, would find all kinds of possible uses for a rat villain and a mouse warrior.

Value - **
At $40, the price is really about average for a licensed sixth scale figure in the current market. Of course, these aren't licensed, but considering the size of the company, and the number of new, innovative ideas that had to cost extra (unique bodies, flocking techniques, etc.), I'm surprised they managed to keep them this cheap.

However, Cryket took a slightly harder hit on price than Otak did, simply because he's so much smaller. It's always a tough sell to convince people to spend just as much money on a small figure as a large one, even when they logically understand that the costs involved are very similar.

Things to Watch Out For
My only real issue with Cryket was the aforementioned hair problem. It's nothing that requires The Hair Club for Mice yet, but if you get one that has loose sections of fur, be sure you glue them down to avoid issues in the future.

Overall - ***
I thought this line sounded pretty goofy at first, but once I picked up the figures, the concept really started to grow on me. It's sort of like Wind in the Willows meets Kill Bill.

He does take a slight hit though due to the hair issue on the back of his head. Otak didn't show any of these issues, so perhaps I just got a bum Cryket, but it's definitely something that hurt what was otherwise a clever and unique figure.

And that's really the key here - this is a unique figure. It certainly won't be for everyone, especially if your collecting tends towards modern, licensed properties. But if your a fan of fantasy, than having a couple of these might just add the right panache to your shelf.

Where to Buy -
Options for picking these up are a tad limited right now. I'd suggest using the company site, where you can pick them up for $40 each.