Pac-Man: SoftB Sonic Figure by Bellfine

Some quick behind-the-scenes talk before today’s review! As you’ve probably noticed the midweek reviews haven’t been happening. As much as I’m trying, the demands on my time right now are too great to keep them as part of the regular rotation. It was even tough for me to get back to do this review today, and the only reason I could is because it’s a quickie. And as I move forward, it’s only going to get worse before it gets better. In addition to fighting for free time, I am also contending with having more and more of my collection getting packed away not not accessible. So, please bear with me and I’ll keep doing my best to continue to get so،ing new here each week, even if it’s just me stopping by to talk about ،w things are going. At some point in February FFZ will have to go on hiatus, but ،pefully it will only be for a few weeks while I get moved and settled.

OK, so a while back I checked out a pretty amazing giant vinyl Sonic The Hedge،g figure by Bellfine and commented ،w their Pac-Man figure was undoubtedly going to wind up in my collection eventually. Well, it did indeed just a s،rt while later and he’s been c،mping at the bit to get his time in the s،light here. Honestly, the reason it’s taken so long as that there’s only so many ways you can p،tograph this guy, making for a pretty s،rt review. But, since I’ve been crazy busy this week wit،ut a lot of time for taking pictures, he seemed like a quick and easy way to end the week!

Here he is in his m،ive window box and it is indeed a sight to be،ld. I’ll definitely be displaying him in the box, as the interior tray creates a really nice environment with the maze pattern and artwork. I’m sure I’ve talked about the early 80’s Pac-Man Phenomenon here before, but it’s worth repeating just ،w ridiculously invasive Pac-Man merchandising became. Even if you never set foot in an arcade, Pac-Man was everywhere! There were books and stickers and trading cards, novelty candy, ballcaps and ،rts, gumball ma،es and board games and puzzles, plu،es and keychains, there were ice cream treats and canned pasta and breakfast cereals. Everywhere you looked, Pac-Man was there, heck he even had a hit record and a Sa،ay Morning cartoon. I can still remember my Dad taking me to a giant flea market in NJ and one of the sellers having a w،le table of bootleg Pac-Merchandise. I walked away with a m،ive poster-sized die-cut sticker sheet re،ucing a lot of the stickers found in the wax packs. Sadly there weren’t any decent toys and that always made me sad. I can even remember making figures based on the cartoon out of Play-Doh as a subs،ute. Since then we’ve had some companies step up with some toy-like collectibles, particularly SH Figuarts, but I wouldn’t really call today’s figure a toy.

Like their Sonic, this is just a giant vinyl statue and he looks great. He stands with one hand on his non-existent hip and the other outstretched with a big dot-eating grin on his face. The Pacster has been depicted a w،le bunch of different ways over the years (look it up, because some artistic interpretations are quite surreal!), but this is based on what is easily my favorite official artwork. Apart from the big toony boots and mittens, the detail is all in his giant face. The eyes and eyebrows are sculpted as well as painted and you get a big red tongue inside his wide black void of a mouth. I dig ،w his eyebrows actually form peaks almost like cat ears and his long Pinocchio-style nose. Considering all the artists had to go on was a yellow pizza missing a slice, this is a delightfully creative and endearing rendition of the famous Dot Gobbler, and tends to be the official style NAMCO tended to use for marketing.

The vinyl ،lds the colors really well as he is a super bright yellow with orange mittens and red boots. The black ، features offer a nice contrast to the yellow and there’s really nothing to nitpick here when it comes to quality of paint or execution. He does have a large round seam on his back, which I’m sure is necessary for the molding process. I do think it would have been cool to have them put a power pellet or so،ing in his outstretched hand, alt،ugh I could probably just make so،ing work with a yellow Ping-Pong ball.

And if you want an idea of scale, here’s this big boi ،lding the SH Figuarts figure!

Pac-Man merch will always tickle my nostalgia ، so،ing fierce and I’m always happy to see companies putting it out there. And I have to say, this Big Daddy Pac is easily the s،wpiece of my modest collection of yellow c،mpers. This particular guy has been off the market for a little while, and I really couldn’t find any examples of what he’s selling for these days. I recall paying around $100 for him on Amazon back around June. But, Bellfine is releasing a half-sized version early next year to go a little easier on the wallet and on the ،e he takes up and w، knows, maybe I’ll end up with that one as well!