1/6 SWToys FS042 Lady Adler Valkyrie

skywalkersaga wrote:Yes, unfortunately Jean is located in Canada, which currently has astronomical shipping prices to the UK. But you could always send a message on FB and enquire -- Jean does custom requests, from what I can recall. 

Alternatively, I'm sure there are other saddlemakers out there closer to home. There's one in the UK that I know of, but her work is quite pricey as well: 

https://www.facebook.com/onesixthsaddles

I was mostly just showing the Akhal-Teke with the western saddle as an example, to demonstrate that it works for the genre.

ETA: The Akhal-Teke model is quite affordable on SPACE figuren website, even with Brexit shipping added on it.

It's definitely a good looking horse, and the pose is more unusual too. It makes me think of the high-stepping Spanish horses you see in spaghetti westerns, which also found their way to America, of course.

I just keep expecting Mr Z to come out with an American Quarter Horse with western tack, blanket and bedroll - a one stop stop that will finally tempt me.

It would indeed be nice if Mr.Z would put out more 'standard' western-style mounts (or English style, for that matter), but there's no way to predict what they will do next. 

Personally, I'd love something like an Andalusian, as I think it would be extremely versatile for various different genres and settings.

Paid my invoice just now for this.

Stryker2011 wrote:Paid my invoice just now for this.

me too!

csyeung wrote:

Stryker2011 wrote:Paid my invoice just now for this.

me too!  

Me threeso


Just got the regular version (no stable room at home).

'Western' is not really my thing, but even so I'm still debating whether or not to get the Verycool version as well as this one, because it looks... very cool.

skywalkersaga wrote:Ooooh, I like it!!!!

(Too bad the horse doesn't have a western saddle, though I guess it's a clever way for Mr.Z to shift some of their leftover Hanoverian stock ;p )

My thoughts exactly!

Just got mine.

A few points that struck me immediately:

1 - To quote Siouxsie And The Banshees, 'The head is the best part'. It isn't absolutely identical to the promos but it is nice and characterful, reasonably realistic, not too pretty or sexualised. Tough, determined but also slightly weary expression. If I were to compare this sculpt to another, it's not unlike the POPTOYS Griffin Knight sculpt - an older more put-upon sister to it, perhaps. The scar appears to be painted on rather than part of the sculpt. The hair is OK, but the best feature of it is that it is reasonably realistically gathered towards the braid at the back (an effect that a lot of companies don't even bother to try and achieve). The head is also a very good match for a TBL pale body, which is very useful indeed, for me at least. Hilariously though, the supplied generic inner neck peg already has white tape wrapped around it because the head is too loose on it.  

2 - The hat doesn't fit.   (it actually might, with some effort, but personally I don't want to risk spoiling the head sculpt)

3 - The body is fine, seems sturdy enough but is a little small in my opinion.

4 - The feet/boots are proportionately too small, which is something you don't often hear me complain about so it must be noticeable.

5 - Clothing is fine, but the scarf/neckerchief suffers from the usual problem with scale neckwear, where it just doesn't sit right somehow.

6 - Accessories are OK to middling, all plastic (aside from the rope, belt and holsters) and unfortunately the weapons look it. They aren't actually badly designed or crafted, but they don't look like real weapons.

So, altogether a little disappointing, but the sculpt is great - I might pick up another one loose to repaint and untie the braid.

GianToy are definitely (ahem) shooting themselves in the foot by not also offering the Verycool version of this character.

Pics later, unless someone beats me to it.

Hot Pix:

She looks a bit like sad(ie) Adler, but overall a nice sculpt. I like the pants and belts too

Aside from the proportional issues with the head and feet, it's a decent body, too. It actually stands up quite well on it's own, better than a few TBL bodies I could name.

Yeah, this is going to be bash fodder. Hopefully the horse will work fine for the Verycool version. The head sculpt looks usable. Hopefully I can transplant the clothes to the Carol (Walking Dead) body. The weapons are passable, and can go to a “background” character.

It's a really nice sculpt, the expression is more subtle than my quick shots have picked up.

For me, the hat not even remotely fitting is the biggest sin here (maybe if the braid was undone, but that defeats the object for the character somewhat). It's not a huge headsculpt, either.

Well, to be fair, the hat looked like crap and didn’t even fit correctly on the prototype. I knew from the beginning that I was probably going to be throwing that thing in the trash, or giving it to a little kid.

The hat is handy for keeping the harmonica and the whisky bottle in, that's about it.

Thanks for sharing your photos and impressions, Gee.

Thanks GF

Thanks for the pics Gee! Mine has landed in my country so hopefully i should get it soon. Yea I dunno what's up with the tiny boots. I will have to look for some replacements maybe. Also sucks that the hat doesn't fit. I can't get that mad though, SW is just being SW at their price point. They probably repurposed a mold from some other figure.

Thanks CS

Surprisingly the boots are only displeasing from the standpoint of looking too small - practically they do a pretty good job of keeping the body stable and upright. I'll keep the figure pretty much as it is, but with a head swap - this head is too good not to kitbash onto a TBL body and repurpose as a new and different character.

As this is a fairly small body I might end up using it for a teenage character.

So while on the whole I was a bit disappointed with this at first, the kitbasher in me is now stepping up to take charge and seeing the possibilities.

As for the hat, well happily I know a guy who can make me a better one.

Nice! I was looking at the verycool shadi and the hat on that also looks like it sits funny on the head.

...damn those feet thou.  I'm surprised they made them so small.  And the hat fitting is a really odd thing to not QA.

Still, there's something good between this and the other recent pre-order.  Neighter really capture her face though.  Thanks for the sharing the photos

BTW, if you want a stand out horse, try JxK Studio's "American Paint Horse".  I've been eyeballing one of them for its spotted coat that other horses don't seem to have.

A pinto would be cool. There’s something a bit off about them, though, not sure what.

Stryker2011 wrote:A pinto would be cool. There’s something a bit off about them, though, not sure what.

Yeah I haven't seen any reviews yet. I heard it's fairly heavy based on the material, but nothing other than that.

Help! I am no tack expert, anyone able to help me particularly how the saddle and 2 under pieces are supposed to assemble with the stirrups and straps.

You're my only hope forum experts!!!!

I guess maybe this is a bit clearer to what I'm confused with. I am guessing A goes on first then B on top,  ( I have B turned around here in the pic i think) , then plastic piece? 1 goes through slit on B (4)? one on each side, and attaches to stirrup? 2 and 3 attach to the elastic band type pieces? What do the other buckles buckle to on A in the back?