ideshow Toy has introduced the first two in a series of figures based on the 1963-65 TV show, The Outer Limits—Gwyllm Griffiths, from the episode "The Sixth Finger," and the Ebonite Interrogator from "Nightmare."
In "The Sixth Finger," a professor seeks to speed up the evolutionary process by inventing a machine that takes a being through time on an evolutionary scale. Belligerent, down-on-his-luck coal miner Gwyllm Griffiths (played by David McCallum of Man from U.N.C.L.E. fame), volunteers to be the first human guinea pig in an attempt to increase his intelligence. Griffiths emerges from the device with a larger head, less hair and the stub of a sixth finger—the results of a supposed 10,000 years of evolution. He soon discovers he can harm people with his now-telepathic mind. Eventually,
his contempt for the lowly unevolved humans around him makes him go on a psychic killing spree until he sees that he is no better than they are. He asks to be devolved, giving up his intelligence to regain his humanity.
In "Nightmare," Earth is at war with the Ebonites. During a failed strike force, six humans are captured and held as prisoners of war. The six are tortured by a large, gargoyle-like creature called an Interrogator, who uses a wand to control their five senses. In an episode filled with torturous mind games, the humans soon find that the war with Ebon has ended, but as a way to test soldiers in real conditions, the Ebonites have agreed to continue the appearance of war, unbeknownst to the army's rank and file. This Ebonite, disgusted with the immorality of continuing the torturing of human prisoners, tries to put a stop to the charade.
Sideshow's Gwyllm Griffiths has an accurately molded head sculpt resembling David McCallum in his most evolved state. He is dressed in his white lab coat and pants, black socks and shoes. The figure comes with an informative display stand and two books.
The Ebonite Interrogator also features an accurately molded head sculpt. He is wearing a purple painted lycra jumpsuit with lavender wing flaps that stretch along the sleeves and legs of the outfit. His hands feature claws, and webbing between the fingers. He comes with control box and torture wand,
as well as printed display stand.
Nothing wrong with your action figure
Sideshow burst onto the 12-inch licensed action figure scene just a year or so ago with Frankenstein. Following the success of this figure, they produced Dracula, The Phantom of the Opera and other well-known monsters from classic horror films. But they did not stop there. Their broad range of licenses now includes The Dark Crystal, The Twilight Zone, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Army of Darkness and James Bond.
Using excellent sculptors, Sideshow is able to create superb character likenesses combined with highly articulated bodies that bend in so many ways that no human could compete. Outfits are elegant and accurate without bulkiness and ugly out-of-scale additions such as visible snaps and large
zippers.
Each figure comes in a display box with a wealth of information about the figures, the episodes and the series, with many images from the episodes. These images make it obvious that the sculptors did their jobs very well.
Gwyllm Griffiths has a fabulous head sculpt with great detail and paint. His body has over 20 articulation points, many of which are double-jointed, including wrists, elbows, knees and shoulders. His hands, however, with their six fingers, are held in an open position, making it difficult for him
to grip anything.
The Ebonite is based on the same body but has hands that can grip his accessories easily.
Each figure comes with a stand printed with information about the episode and the character. The stands, however, are rather awkward. The wire holding tongs that should grip the figure about the waist spring out of their holders if used in that position. Placing the grips around the legs prevents
this problem, but also makes for an unstable position. If these metal tongs were just a little longer, they would better serve their purpose.
One failing in these figures is the looseness of some of the many joints, the most noticeable being the rotating joint at mid-calf which spins the foot around the leg's axis. This joint is necessary in order for the ankles to achieve certain poses, but they are very loose, making it difficult to
maintain any posture.
Despite this minor flaw, these figures are beautiful, and capture the essence of what is now and will always be a classic TV series.
