If Blizzard’s breakout hit, Overwatch, is any one thing, it’s unconventional. I can name exactly zero games where your player choices include an Egyptian mercenary in power armor, a hyper-intelligent ape who’s an escapee from a lunar colony, a grizzled over-the-hill soldier, a grandmother that shoots healing bullets, and a cheeky Englishwoman who’s harnessed a temporal anomaly and leveraged it to create a ballistic mind-trip fighting style.
What Overwatch doesn’t have is a line of action figures. Back when Blizzard was regularly pumping out figures for World of Warcraft, I had an entire shelf dedicated to them at work. The sculpting and decos were so striking, they looked like they were hand-made. I had been holding out hope that they would resurrect the line when Overwatch took off, but so far there seems to be little interest from Blizzard HQ.
Which is why Max Factory has stepped up and created what may be the most perfect, officially licensed, Tracer figure ever (she’d be the Englishwoman I mentioned earlier). Distributed by Good Smile Company, Tracer is a hyper-detailed, hyper-articulated figma figure. For those unfamiliar with figma, it’s a series of standardized PVC action figures created by the Japanese company Max Factory. They’ve been employed to make amazingly detailed collectibles for scads of properties, from anime to Marvel to Nintendo to Renaissance art and sculpture to, well, Blizzard. While not every Overwatch character fits into the figma mold, the diminutive Tracer is a perfect match.
What’s great about figma figures is their poseability, meaning that you can recreate just about any action shot you’d like. Your Tracer can strike your favorite Victory pose or the “over the shoulder aiming” leap that graces the cover of the game. She can even toss out a Pulse Bomb to frag those campers on the point.
From the top of her spiky hairdo, to the Slipstream device over her bomber jacket, to the tip of her coordinated shoes, Tracer’s deco is practically 100% accurate to the character model in game. In addition to the Pulse Bomb I mentioned, the figure comes with two Pulse Pistols and three faceplates: smiling, open-mouthed, and serious. Tracer stands at five and a half inches tall and comes with an articulated stand so that you can execute a variety of complicated poses.
Fingers crossed we’ll see more Overwatch figures from Max Factory in the near future (Genji in particular would be a great fit for the male figma figure, or maybe we could get Emily?)
You can pre-order Tracer today at BBTS (BigBadToyStore) for $69.99 (plus $4 Flat Rate Shipping). If you use the BBTS Pile of Loot program, you can accumulate figures all year long and have them shipped to you in one giant order for the same $4 when Tracer comes out in January of 2018 (you can also have them ship your loot to you at any time when you can’t stand the wait anymore).
Disclaimer: This post has been sponsored by BBTS (but we’re more than happy to write it, because this figure is SO COOL). GeekDad will be working with BBTS throughout the year to highlight some of the best new collectibles on the market. Personally, I’ve used BBTS for years to fuel my sizeable Transformers habit. If you’ve got a fandom, chances are BBTS has the merch you’re looking for.
