#74: Alice: Madness Returns - Alice

Remember a couple days ago when I posted about Hysteria Alice? Well, this is the standard version, so pretty much the same thing here. The accessories are the same, so it's just the paint job that's different. Hysteria Alice has proven with time to have weak ankles, so she has difficulty staying upright, but this Alice seems to have better ankles so far. Also, there is are swivels on the forearms that are stuck (probably due to the painted blood all over them) on Hysteria Alice that function properly here. While I do like the spookier appearance of Hysteria Alice, regular Alice is more easily identifiable to the casual observer.

"WHERE'S THE DETONATOR?"

#72: Alice: Madness Returns - Hysteria Alice

Remember a year ago, when I got the Alice Minimate based on the Alice: Madness Returns game? Well, now the first (only?) wave of figures based on the game is finally available. I had this figure pre-ordered way back in January, but when it showed up on Figureoftheday.com I ordered it there because the site I pre-ordered at still didn't have it in stock. This isn't regular Alice, but Hysteria Alice. In the game, Alice can use hysteria, which basically makes her temporarily invincible, while causing everything in the game to go into black and white. Except for the blood, of course. I think Alice is covered in more blood than my Leatherface figure! This figure corrects the Minimate's omission of the Vorpal Blade, Alice's signature weapon. Also included are the hobby horse for blunt object trauma action and the pepper grinder for ranged combat. Articulation is decent, but the legs are somewhat hindered by the dress. It's also kind of hard for Alice to stand for extended periods of time without the stand, so it's good that it is included. The stand has four pegs, with one set being larger than the other. I'm guessing that the same stand is included with the larger Card Guard figure as well.

Weapons!

#102: Alice: Madness Returns Minimates - Alice

American McGee's Alice was a computer game featuring a twisted, more "mature" take on the further adventures of Alice In Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. I think it was a better Tim Burton style take on the story than Tim Burton's actual film turned out to be. As a life long console gamer, I found the controls somewhat clunky and annoying, so I never got around to finishing the game. Earlier this Summer, a sequel to the game, Alice: Madess Returns, was released for consoles and computers. I got the XBOX 360 version for my birthday and enjoyed it. To commemorate this, Alice was released as a Minimate, but only as an exclusive for San Diego Comic-Con. Fortunately, a friend of a friend was going and willing to pick one up for me, which is how I ended up with mine (they are ridiculously overpriced on Ebay now, but you can buy one for five bucks at Diamond Select's webshop). Incidentally, mine is labelled 321 out of 1,000 on the box.

As far as I can tell, this is the only Minimate based on the property that will be made, although there is an upcoming line of larger scale action figures that will be released in the future. So depending on how that turns out, this may be my only Alice toy. This is a good adaptation of Alice's in game look to Minimate form. Perhaps since it's an exclusive rather than a normal release it has a nice amount of paint apps, which includes the back of her dress as well. The only complaint is that she doesn't have any accessories. At least a Vorpal Blade (it goes snicker-snack!) should have been included, as it's her main weapon throughout the game. I'm kind of surprised they're only doing this one version of Alice in Minimate form. Maybe the character designs in the game didn't seem like a good fit for Minimate bodies (which is pretty reasonable), but they probably could milk the license a little more with variants on Alice, since she wears a  few different costumes during the game.