Review : Riddick (Richard B) The Chronicles of Riddick, SOTA Wave/Series : Series 1 (one series only) Released : 2004
Price : N/A
12 years ago Riddick, as played by Vin Diesel, got a follow up to his debut in Pitch Black. The Chronicles of Riddick picked up Riddick's story after his escape in Pitch Black. And like any good Action Movie, a range of figures were released to support the movie.
The figures were about 7 inch in scale, and released by SOTA (State of the Art) Toys. SOTA had been making figures for about 4 years at this point, and would go on to be most famous for their Street Fighter and other Capcom licences.
The Chronicles of Riddick figures were released as a single wave containing 5 figures. There was also a special exclusive release of Riddick in Necro armour with Hellhound.
It has obviously been 12 years since these figures hit shelves, so buying them now is secondary market only and the majority of these now fetch at least double the £20 you would pay for a 7" figure. There are cheaper loose options, which is the route I have gone down, but watch out for missing accessories and some other "issues" which I will discuss over this course of reviews.
In this final review, we take a look at the titular hero himself - Richard B. Riddick, the last of the Furyans.
All the Riddick figures were presented on a plain trapezoid card back, with blister front containing the figure. The front of the card depicts a monolith of the Necromonger on an orange, fiery sky background. The SOTA Toys logo sits in the top left aside the peg cut out. The blister, also Trapezoid in shape, contains the figure - surrounded by the associated accessories. An insert is placed into the front of each blister containing a head shot of the character on top of the Chronicles of Riddick log. Under this is the character name.
Round the back, and all the card backs are identical. The card background continues the Necromonger theme on a fiery orange finish. The films logo sits on top, under which is the statement "Action Figures with 16+ Points of Articulation". Under this is a couple of paragraphs that sets up the plot of the film.
Arranged in a V shape under this are the five key figures, with Riddick himself on the point of the V. The special Hellhound set then sits to one side in the bottom right corner as you look.
Out of the pack and Riddick is supplied with his trademark goggles, weapons and a chest strap - as seen in his escape from Crematoria. We were lucky just to find a Riddick at a decent price, and our review figure is missing his weaponry and that chest strap.
Riddick stands 7 inches high, and is a superb likeness to Vin Diesel with a really strong sculpt that would stand up today, let alone 12 years ago. Like all the other figures we have looked at in this series, the flesh painting is quite flat but there is a good colouring to the eyes (another Riddick trademark). Like Vaako, the way they have painted his head to look like shaved hair is also a positive. The goggles are well designed, and I didn't actually think they came off when I first got the figure - they fit that well. This tight fit though will take its toll, as you will see on our figure, with damage to the paint on the bridge of the nose and the eyebrows.
The torso is made up of a very plain black vest. It does the job, but feels a bit flat in terms of both sculpting and painting. In fact the straps of the vest look just painted onto the chest, rather than sculpted. There is very little definition either in the chest. And yet in direct contrast, the arms are sculpted with plenty of muscle definition and vein details. They finish in leather bracers that are done so that you can even see the straps and buckles.
The legs are a textured finish, with almost puffy effect trousers around the thighs at least. As an improvement on the vest, the trousers do hold some sculpted cloth features. They are however painted a plain black and, like the other figures in the range, they are sticky to the touch as a result of the chemicals in the paint/plastic leeching. This sticky finish attracts no end of dust and dirt, so most loose Riddick figures will be in a pretty poor shape.
The legs end in a pair of trainer/boots. And these hold more detail than you would expect, with individual sewn panels and two tone paint between black and a khaki green.
Articulation is identical to the other figures in the line, starting with a ball jointed head. The shoulders are also ball jointed, and just under this is a bicep swivel. Without any bulkier amour the heads and arms all move fully. The elbows are a single joint and the wrists a simple swivel.
The waist is jointed, and the hips are on a two way joint that see's them move out into a splits position or forward to a sitting position. There is a thigh swivel, that is pretty well hidden, but when rotated they throw the lines out on the trousers. Knees are single jointed and the figure ends on a rotating ankle - with a touch of sideways movement.
Although Riddick's hips aren't as loose as some, he has an issue with balance in that he is back heavy and will topple backwards at every opportunity unless placed in a hunched forward pose. The solution is to take advantage of the peg holes on the feet (not included on the other figures) and drop him onto a stand - he fits the standard Star Wars ones well enough.
The missing strap and weapons are obviously a detraction on my figure, although I think the lack of the chest strapping isn't a huge issue as it means he matches the look he sported for most of the first half of the film up to his incarceration in Crematoria. I will of course continue to look out for a better version.
Scoring wise, Riddick himself is at the higher end of these figures. But he is still a figure of huge contrast - with a painted on vest, against really strong sculpted arms. Tighter joints, but overbalanced in terms of getting him to stand up straight. But you can't look past how cool a Riddick/Vin Diesel figure looks - and unless someone else picks up the Riddick licence, these will be the only figures you can own to represent Riddick in a 7" movie collection. I score Richard B. Riddick a 3 out of 5.
