Hey welcome to another Dan's ToyBox review. This time we're looking at something a little out of the ordinary for the site. While on vacation in Garden City, I stumbled across this KISS four pack at Walmart, of all places. Given the surprisingly low price, I figured it would be a fun addition to the collection.
How do you sum up 50 years of fame and music in a couple of paragraphs? I'm not sure, but I'll give it a try!!! KISS was an American rock band established in New York City in 1973. Its founding members were Paul Stanley on vocals and rhythm guitar, Gene Simmons on vocals and bass guitar, Ace Frehley on lead guitar and vocals, and Peter Criss on drums and vocals. The band became famous for their elaborate face paint and stage costumes and gained prominence in the mid-1970s with their shock rock-style performances, which included fire-breathing, blood-spitting, smoking guitars, rocket-shooting, levitating drum kits, and elaborate pyrotechnics. Despite numerous lineup changes, Stanley and Simmons were the consistent core of the group. Adorned with makeup and costumes, the band members embodied comic book-style characters: the Starchild (Stanley), the Demon (Simmons), the Spaceman or Space Ace (Frehley), and the Catman (Criss). With the release of their 1975 live album, Alive!, Kiss rose to become one of the most celebrated rock bands in America and a cultural icon in the latter half of the 1970s. Creative differences led to Criss's departure in 1980, followed by Frehley in 1982, who were replaced by Eric Carr (the Fox) and Vinnie Vincent (the Ankh Warrior), respectively.
The band's popularity waned in the early 1980s but revived in 1983 when they started performing without their signature makeup and costumes, initiating the "unmasked" era that continued until 1996. The era's first album, Lick It Up from 1983, went platinum and garnered a new fan base, with its music videos becoming MTV staples. Vincent exited the band in 1984, succeeded briefly by Mark St. John and then by Bruce Kulick for a twelve-year tenure. Eric Carr passed away from heart cancer in 1991 and was succeeded by Eric Singer. The mid-1990s saw a resurgence of interest in Kiss, prompting the original members to reunite in 1996, complete with their iconic makeup and costumes. The reunion tour of 1996–1997 was a massive success, earning $143.7 million, the band's highest-grossing tour to date.
Criss and Frehley left once more after the 2000–2001 tour, which was initially meant to be Kiss's final tour. They were replaced by Singer and Tommy Thayer, with Criss briefly returning from 2002 to 2004. The band persisted with their original stage personas, with Singer and Thayer donning the Catman and Spaceman makeup, respectively. Commemorating 46 years of performance, Kiss embarked on a four-year farewell tour, the End of the Road World Tour, starting in January 2019, ultimately retiring from live performances after their final show in NYC, December 2023 celebrating 50 years of incredible music and concerts.
I, at one time, had the Psycho Circus figures and wish I knew what happened to them. Anyhow, when I saw this package, I couldn't help but grab it. So, let's discuss: The Loyal Subjects KISS Signature Colors BST/AXN Five Inch, Four Pack Convention Exclusive Action Figure Set.
Accessories: 8.5/10
There is a significant amount of greatness packaged with these figures. Peter Criss comes with a stool, kick drum, alternate hands, pair of drumsticks. (I purchased a 1/12 scale drum set to add to the photos.) Ace Frehley comes with his signature guitar, a pair of posed "guitar playing" hands, a pair of relaxed hands, and a pinwheel effect for the guitar. Gene Simmons comes with his signature Axe shaped Bass Guitar, removable wings, a pair of "guitar playing" hands, and one alternate hand, and a sword with flame effect that is supposed to plug into tabs on the bass... it doesn't work very well. Paul Stanley comes with two guitars, his "flying V" Epiphone and his Ibanez custom style. He also has a pair of "guitar playing" hands, a pair of relaxed hands, and a pair of microphones holding hands. All four band members come with two-piece microphone stands, with microphones that can be clipped into the stands. In a very sad turn of events, Ace Frehley tipped over and knocked the microphone stand to the floor in our hotel room. We found both pieces of the stand but spent two days crawling around trying unsuccessfully to find the microphone. I would have given the set a higher grade, had they included more drum accessories for Criss, an easier way to plug the sword/flame combo into Gene's bass, and a few extra hands for the rest of the band.
Appearance: 10/10
For only being 5 inches tall, there is a ridiculous amount of detail plugged into these figures. I was blown away by how clean all of the paint applications were on the figures and how accurately the represented the costumes for this particular iteration of the band. I could probably write a couple thousand words describing these figures because of how impressively they were done. Instead, though, I'm just going to say that I have to tip my hat to BST/AXN. Every detail from Gene's tongue to the glam rock boots is well thought out and executed. Even the paint applications on their faces for the make-up is astounding. For figures this small, I expected there to be some paint hits and misses... but much to my astonished delight, the apps are all super clean and the colors are vibrant. Heck, even the "hair" on Paul and Peter's chests is applied nicely. Probably my only real issue is with Gene's wings as they can fall out pretty easily. I may drop a bit of glue to help keep them in place. I think one of the greatest details is in the hand sculpts. Each guitarist has a different hand sculpt for the fret/neck holding hand, and with even more attention to detail, Gene is given a pick, though the bass is generally played by plucking the strings with your fingers. Gene was once quoted as saying that he preferred to use a pick as he felt it allowed the live crowds to hear the notes better. I tip my hat to the team that designed these figures. They are truly some of the best-looking action figures I've ever seen, and I would put them right up with McFarlane's Psycho Circus line, as well as the lines based on the actual musicians. Though there have been a number of different companies that made KISS figures, McFarlane has probably made the widest selection and these little figures from BST/AXN can stand tall alongside those other offerings, in terms of how great they look.
Articulation: 6/10
In spite of the fact that there are multiple points of articulation on the figures, their range is fairly limited, partly due to design, partly due to size. All four characters can turn their heads side to side, but have no up/down looking ability. Their arms can rotate and raise out to just about a T pose at the shoulders. Each figure has a bicep swivel that works surprisingly well and double-jointed elbows that are somewhat fragile to work with. The hands can all pivot at the wrists and have very small hinge ability. They can each rotate at the upper torso joint and have limited forward crunch. The waists do offer a pivot, but it is fairly tight, so be careful. Amazingly, the legs can do very nice splits, but will rotate outward when trying to kick forward. They each have upper thigh cuts, which work well and can help getting them into some dynamic posing for playing their instruments. (Peter is really the only one that looks awkward sitting on his drum stool.) The knees are all amazingly flexible with deep bends that can bring their boot heels to their backs. The ankles also hinge and have limited pivot, depending on which figure you are posing. Again, costume design tends to play a bit of havoc with the ability to pose. The design of the articulation falls in line with a lot of what we see in the 6" and 7" scale figures but falls just short because the joints are so much smaller.
Music and lyrics are © KISS
Affordability: 10/10
If you can find this set in a Walmart... grab it. I paid $25 retail!!!! I looked online and this four pack easily lists at $50, $60, and $75 on websites such as eBay or Amazon. For what I paid, I can justify the 10/10 score. If I had to pay the other prices, I don't know that I'd necessarily have bought the set. Maybe at $50 but I really don't think any higher is worth the price.
Overall, this is a pretty cool collector's set, especially for fans of the band. I'm pleased with how much I like it, but disappointed that I managed to lose a microphone. Still, I feel this set is solid enough to earn:
8.5 out of 10 ToyBoxes
If you can find one, I'd say it's worth adding, if for nothing more than the uniqueness of the set. The packaging is very cool, and the figures are better than expected. Thank you, as always, for stopping by Dan's ToyBox. Until next time... GEEK OUT!!!