Toys / Comics to Toys

Mouse Guard PVC Set

By Hervé St-Louis
October 5, 2008 - 18:56

Anyone raised with adventurous mice like the bunch at Sourissimo, Mickey Mouse, Danger Mouse and Nic & Pic will immediately fall in love with the fantasy universe from David Petersen’s Mouse Guard. Unlike Pixar’s Ratatouille, populated with rats that attempt to survive in a world dominated by humans, the mice in Mouse Guard protect their fellow rodents from threats of the world, proactively. In this PVC set, released by Diamond Comics in August 2007, Kenzie, Saxon and Lieam, introduced in Mouse Guard in 2006, escort their fellow mice hoping to advert trouble.

Sculpted by Rudy Garcia, the Mouse Guard are almost life size replicas of the characters from the comic book series published by Archaia Studio Press. Each figurine stands on a translucent black action figure stand and are available to stores that order comic book related products through Diamond Comics’ distribution network.

I still haven’t read Mouse Guard, although I’ve been meaning to do so, and even interviewed Petersen way back in 2006. Yet, the set and its reduced price for the Calgary Comic and Toy Expo was too good to pass up. The set was sold for $10, instead of the regular $25 mark up announced in most stores and online shops. As the shopkeeper said, “starting to discover Mouse Guard with this action figure set may not be a bad way to get hooked on this comic book series.”

Garcia definitely captured the look of the Petersen’s artwork and it’s not an easy task. Petersen’s ink rendering is minimalist, allowing the painted colours to fill in gaps about the characters’ features, such as their hair. Thankfully, the hues used on the figurines are excellent and mimics the richness of the colours seen in the comic books.

It’s too bad that the figurines have no articulations although, their limbs and heads are attached to their bodies. That would be may first criticism of this set. The second one has tom do with the packaging. The artwork used to create the cardboard diorama and the outer shelf of the box is not detailed enough and shows signs of pixelization. Better quality artwork would have made this set look good inside the packaged box. The fuzziness of the artwork makes this product look cheap.

Obviously, you don’t have to be a Mouse Guard reader to enjoy this action figure set. All you need is to be someone who enjoys well crafted figurines which this set is all about. Thankfully, it’s easy to slide in the diorama inside and outside the box for different display purposes.

Rating: 8 /10

Last Updated: July 21, 2024 - 13:40