THE WALKING DEAD SERIES 4 - Carl Grimes

I was a bit surprised to see Walking Dead action figures at a local Walgreens store but that's where I purchased a few Walking Dead figures, including this Series four version of Carl Grimes. I was expecting to see these figures at specialty stores such as Toys"R"Us or a local comic book store. However they are a lot cheaper at Walgreens compared to some comic book stores . At some specialty stores these figures sell for around a $19.00 - $20.00 price range compared to a $13.00 through $14.00 price range at Walgreens.In the packaging he looks shorter compared to being loose in my opinion.

If you want to add action figures of children characters to your collection, then Carl Grimes is a decent addition. My only complaint with him individually is that his wrists are made to move backwards / forwards . His hands are posed in a lifting position, a perfect position for holding one of his accessories, such as his keys. Collectively as a unit a majority of the Walking Dead figures are difficult to pose into a sitting position, including Carl himself. As you can see when you remove Carl from the packaging he is just a little under 4 inches tall.

I love the face sculpt on Carl. As you can see he is very well detailed for an action figure below the 6 inch height scale, and so are the other Walking Dead figures. Even though the packaging makes notation of him coming with three accessories, he actually comes with four. They are (1) keys , (2) a small knife,(3) a medical bag, and (4) his cowboy hat. My favorite accessories of his are his hat and keys. Especially the keys, because there are so few action figures that come with a pair of keys as an accessory. A pair of keys is such a rare accessory, for any action figure scale toyline.
However these keys are not your basic house and car keys. These are prison keys, as noted on the packaging. These keys are meant for prison doors, dungeon doors,etc. and you can easily tell because basic house and car keys are not quite as large as prison keys. If you have action figures of police officers or characters dressed as police officers, ( WWE Mattel Big Boss Man figure comes to mind ) then you may want to display these keys with those figures rather then with Carl Grimes.

I tried to see if Carl's hat could fit on some heads of some 6" scaled figures, and apparently the hat appears to be too small as it seems that it was meant for his little head.
Although Carl's bag is not my favorite accessory of his, it is the most interesting one. The reason I say this is because of its mysterious nature, as to what is inside of it ? When you purchase the figure the bag is partially open. However you can use a sharp pair of scissors to open it further like I did to see what's inside. The above pic was as about as far as I could cut, revealing to be what looks like a jug of some sort. It is extremely difficult to try to remove this piece out of the bag because it seems as if it is a part of the bag.
( NOTE ) I do not recommend you do this unless you're curious to see the contents of the bag like I was. Since it was not one of my favorite accessories I did not mind tearing into it to view its contents. However if you like this accessory as one of your favorites than I do not condone this action .
                     As for articulation , the Walking Dead action figures have some of the best head movement.
Carl can easily move his head up and down, and I love the ball riveted joints in the shoulders, elbows, and knees. I think ball riveted joints allow smoother movement of limbs and think that all action figures if not most should have them.

Since he is a child, Carl's upward head movement comes in handy if you want to display him next to 6 inch scaled adult characters from other lines. You customizers out there may want to transform him into just an ordinary kid, as you can see he is the perfect height exactly for just that purpose.
Next to a Star Wars Black 6" Luke Skywalker, he looks as if he could be at least a five year old instead of a teen in my opinion.

                                                            FINAL   THOUGHTS
(1) ARTICULATION - With the exception of two disadvantages, limited wrist movement and difficulty providing sitting poses, the rest of the articulation is perfect. Especially the ball riveted shoulders, elbows, and knees. Excellent head movement as well.
(2) STANDABILITY - You will have to work with him a bit to get him to stand properly. However once you find that perfect stance there are no balance issues.
(3)WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT SERIES 4 CARL GRIMES ? Nice ball riveted joints for the shoulders, elbows and knees allows for a variety of poses. Nice sculpting of his face , clothing and hair. His keys and his hat.
(4) WHAT I LIKE LEAST ABOUT SERIES 4 CARL GRIMES ? Limited wrist movement and difficulty arranging sitting poses.
(5) WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE TO IMPROVE THIS FIGURE ? Normal all around wrist articulation, improve the ability to put into a sitting pose.
(6) GRADING  SCALE - On a scale of 1 through 10 I give this Carl Grimes figure an 8.5. The minuses are for the limited wrist articulation and the sitting poses difficulty. Despite these two flaws he is still a cool action figure.
(7) FINAL  ANALYSIS - Overall I am pleased with Series 4 Walking Dead Carl Grimes action figure. Despite the two flaws there is a lot to like. Cool sculpt, very well detailed, fun accessories, and he is in the perfect height scale for you customizers that may want to add children characters to your action figure collection. Mcfarlane toys did a nice job with this figure. The best part is that you do not even have to be a fan of The Walking Dead television series to like this figure. If you want to add some children characters to your collection than I recommend you pick up Carl Grimes.
  To purchase this figure from Amazon.com, you may click here The Walking Dead Series 4 - Carl Grimes