DST’s Plants vs Zombies Action Figures Toyark Photo Shoot and Review

The zombies are coming! Actually, they’re already here and they’re hungry for brains. Diamond Select Toys has released a series of action figures based on the characters EA’s shooter; Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare.There are four different 2-Packs currently available:

Gatling Pea with Scientist Zombie
Cactus with Foot Soldier Zombie
Chomper with Engineer Zombie
Shadow Flower with All-Star Zombie

They can be purchased at local comic shops, assorted online retailers, Diamond Select Toys and ToysRUs.com. they sell between $14 – $20 depending on where you buy them at. Check out our gallery of nearly 90 photos along with my thoughts on the figures.

Plants vs Zombies Action Figure 2-Packs

Pros

Great game accurate sculpts
Figure stands included
Fantastic paint applications
Good for troop building
Articulation points are well hidden
Surprisingly heavy figures

Cons

Some figure could use a couple extra points of articulation

Overall
There have been a few different attempts to bring Plants vs Zombies figures and collectibles to fans of the game. The results have been a mixed bag at times. From Jazwares completely unarticulated, but beatufully sculpted PVC figures, the limited number of Jazware large scale figures, the K’Nex play sets and minfigures and assorted other collectibles. But Diamond Select Toys is the first to give us fans a shot at full blown articulated action figures. I do kind of wish they were from the tower defense games, as opposed to Garden Warfare, but that’s more about the packaging than anything else. Owners of the video game, though, do get some bonus downloadable content for buying the figures!

The figures themselves are roughly 5″ tall. They feature some articulation, though it’s not on par with their Select Series figures. I do with the Zombies has some articulation in the hips, knees and elbows, but I can see it was more of a calculated choice. With these designs, the characters are extremely gaunt. To keep the designs as close to game accurate as possible, some articulation points were axed so that the thin appendages didn’t succumb to breakage. All that said, there is more articulation than it seems at first. There are some nicely hidden swivel joints here and there, which are nearly undetectable until you have the figures out of the package. The Plants could have easily just been sculpted as static figures, but DST went to great lengths to give them some nice articulation and play value. The Soldier Zombie comes off as the best articulated Zombie, while the Cactus and Gatling Pea Shooter offer a surprisingly good level of movement.

What DST did excel at with these is the paint application. There are some really fantastic uses of paint on each figure. Each Zombie face has some beautifully subtle gradations. They eyes all have a bit of light shadowing paint to add just a bit of griminess to them. The care taken with the paint is something you would normally see in small scale statues. The plants really stand out as bright and vibrant against the pale Zombies. Chompers paint and color offer an especially nice mixture. The added paint on his teeth is a nice touch, as many companies would have just left them static white. The Cactus is adorned with a number of extra sculpted and painted details. My favorite of the Plants, though, is the Shadow Sunflower. The mix of blue and black paint apps just look fantastic as does the detailed individually sculpted petals.

These figure aren’t for everyone. If you simply have to have super articulated toys only, then skip them. However, if you’re okay with some limit to articulation, then these are worth picking up. The sculpts, character selection and paint apps are all excellent. The price point, and inclusion of two figures each, makes it easy to troop build without killing your bank account.

See some selected photos below and the full 89 photo gallery after that.

*Diamond Select Toys provided these figures for review purposes.