I'm A Grown Man And I Bought This: Bioshock Big Daddy Bouncer Figure

Here's my latest acquisition: NECA's Big Daddy Bouncer figure from the Bioshock 2 video game.

I freely confess that my game playing days ended with Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for the PS2. I declined to jump onto the PS3, XBox and Wii bandwagons. I just ain't got that kind of time anymore.

But despite never actually having played the Bioshock games, I do have a dim awareness of them, and particularly liked the look of the Big Daddy character, hence my purchase.

The Big Daddy figure is a nice big hefty chunk of plastic, and as readers know, we like big hefty chunks of plastic here at BCBW. A large chunky figures helps somewhat justify today's ridiculous toy prices and makes me feel like I'm getting my money's worth.

The figure is sculpted extremely well and looks exactly like the source material (as far as I can tell, never having played the games). He's pretty well articulated too, which surprised me. Large bulky figures such as this often tend to be little more than statues, but they've managed to pack a lot of movement into this one. His drill bit arm even rotates, although not very fast (so don't expect to be doing any home improvement projects with it).

The texturing is particularly nice. There's a wide range of textures on display here, from iron and copper to thick heavy canvas. They all look incredibly real.

The paint job is also very well done. The metallic parts of the figure really look like actual rusty metal and dirty canvas, giving the figure a healthy dose of realism.

The "cage" around the figure's head is made of a softer type of somewhat flexible plastic, which is a pretty good idea, as it probably won't snap into a hundred pieces the first time the figure topples from the shelf.

Speaking of which, Big Daddy stands up very well on his own. There's nothing I hate more than an action figure that can't stand up under its own power.

I forgot to take my traditional photo of the figure standing next to a can of Coke Zero to show the scale. Big Daddy clocks in at around 7" high.

The two tanks on the figure's back come packed separately in the package and are simply snapped into place. This is my one complaint about the figure. The two tanks bracket the on/off switch for Big Daddy's light up feature. Because the tanks are so close together you'll need to get a pen, or else have extremely slender fingers to reach between them to get to the switch. I suppose you could also remove one of the tanks to gain better access to the switch but that seems like a lot of trouble to go to every time you want to light him up.

A better place for the switch would have been on the belt just below the tanks. Who knows, maybe the internal workings prevented that. Or maybe the people at NECA like frustrating the consumer.

The coolest part of the figure has to be the light up feature. As near as I can tell, this is actually the second version of the figure that's been released; the original lacked the internal lighting. If you decide to buy one, make sure you get the light up version. The 3 way switch on his back allows you illuminate his eye ports in red, yellow and green light.

Once again I have little or no knowledge of the game, but I have to assume these lights reflect Big Daddy's mood; green meaning "feeling groovy" while red means "don't bother me while the game's on."

All in all Big Daddy's a cool figure and well worth owning, with one big reservation: the price. The one I bought was marked at a laughably ridiculous $24.99 (!). Yes, I realize it's a big figure with a 3-way lighting feature, but... $24.99? Seriously, NECA? You think $24.99 is a perfectly reasonable price for an action figure? You do know that this is a toy, right? It's not a kitchen appliance.

Fortunately through either some sort of unadvertised sale or a fortuitous cash register foul-up, I paid a very reasonable $9.99 for this figure. If you can find a similar deal, snap it up. If not, even though it's cool, it ain't worth that price.

To all you toy companies out there: I am an adult with a decent paying full time job, and I can't, and won't, pay the obscene prices you're all currently asking for your plastic figures. If I, as an adult can't afford them, then how in the name of Zeus' Mighty Nose Hair do you expect a child to buy them?