Grips the Hand
Mighty Max (Bluebird Toys)
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Grips the Hand
Mighty Max
Bluebird Toys
Appearance – 4 out of 5
As a closed hand there’s some amazingly gory details, you can see hints of the veins under the decaying flesh, holes in the skin and an insect slowly worming its way out. The zombie skin has some great details, like big metal staples holding the skin together and the Mighty Max logo has been added to look like a golden ring. There’s a lot I love about this particular Doom Zone and Grips the Hand is easily my all-time favourite Mighty Max design.
Opening up the set, I find the most striking thing about this particular Mighty Max set is how effectively it establishes an atmosphere. The knuckles open to reveal some burial plots where a zombie is breaking free. The bulk of the hand consists mostly of the graveyard where Max stands outside a mausoleum. A few zombies have been painted, and there’s a coffin sticker but a lot of the detail seems to get lost in a sea of green plastic. Considering the size of the playset, a lot of the smaller details are still painted (hence the 4 out of 5), but I feel that it could have been a perfect 5 if they weren’t quite so ambitious in adding so many elements to the molding of the playset.
Articulation – 4 out of 5
It’s kind of hard to break down the articulation of a playset but I’m strictly not budging from this review formula so, here we go; The playset consists of 3 areas, graves in the knuckles, the graveyard in the bottom palm of the hand and top half forms a vertical wall of red veins where the larger monster (Lignin) is stored.
In the knuckles, the grave-dirt has articulation to reveal a zombie trying to break out. In the main grave area the mausoleum roof opens and there’s a fixed zombie with waist swivel. On the final, vertical plane we can open the red veins to reveal the larger monster and the index finger has two points of articulation that allow it to open like a mouth.
To open the playset itself, there’s articulation at the back of the wrist and around the knuckles, making a total of 7 points of articulation. None of the characters included have any articulation but I feel that the giant finger mouth was added in lieu of that.
Accessories – 2 out of 5
Grips the Hand comes with 3 figures, a Mighty Max, a zombie and a larger tree-like monster (Lignon). This is pretty typical for a Mighty Max Doom-Zone sized playset, but in saying that, I love the fact you don’t ‘gut’ the playset by removing large set pieces that make up accessories.
The zombie does have a cool feature where he emerges from the grave but some of the best Mighty Max accessories (I feel), add to the look of a closed playset or play a larger part in relation to the playset. In my opinion I believe Grips the Hand made the correct trade-off by focusing on the awesome location and ‘building in’ things like the giant monster-finger so, whatever I deducted for lack of notable accessories, I added into ‘Coolness’ section below.
Value – 4 out of 5
Some Mighty Max figures can get particularly expensive. Thankfully, I picked this up in a bulk lot with 5 other Mighty Max playsets and a few War Planets for about $65 including postage. Grips the Hand is one Mighty Max playset I considered mandatory to own and I’m thankful I found it in a lot. Looks like individual Mighty Max playsets can get a little pricey though Grips the Hand has the benefit of clearly distinguishable accessories, so hopefully a complete lot isn’t quite so hard to achieve.
Coolness – 5 out of 5
As a kid, I was blown away by this playset that resembled a zombie’s hand. I would wear longer shirts just so I could pretend it was my own hand. Even years later, this playset remains one of my favourites from the Mighty Max toy line. Opening Grips the Hand up, the playset creates an awesome atmosphere with a cool action feature in the finger mouth. As mentioned in accessories category, some of the built-in features (as opposed to extra/larger accessories) helped bump the coolness score up and make this
1.) Easier to find complete and
2.) Look better because they display well already built into the scene.
Overall – 4 out of 5
This is a great example of an iconic Mighty Max playset. It’s not without its flaws but it’s still popular enough to not command the highest prices and has a lot of style and atmosphere. Checking this playset out on Halloween has been a real treat because the Graveyard setting really exemplifies some of the more horrific designs they released as part of the Mighty Max toy line. I don’t mind admitting this is my favourite playset from Mighty Max, especially for its nostalgic appeal. My final real complaint is that Mighty Max never had an episode built off the playset, I’ve got a real soft-spot for ‘Halloween special’ and Grips the Hand feels like it would have been a perfect opportunity.
In saying that, the Tomb of Torment episode takes the main villain and his desire to raise the dead through a magic ring and applies it to an Egyptian theme.
