This is Dr. Voodoo. He didn’t go to magical medical school for four years just to be called brother, thank you very much. I couldn’t be more timely with this review, this figure is already on sale on Amazon! Let’s do it!
I really like the artwork on this box, but it does make me wish there were some cool accessories like magic hands, more elaborate jewelry, or maybe this version of the Voodoo Brothers’ grimoire.
Brother Voodoo comes with his cane, two sets of hands (two grips, open right hand and left fist), two explosive effects and Blackheart’s legs.
Blackheart’s legs have sharp carvings that are so sharp it hurts to close him. He spends most of his time together, which does make me wish they’d made him a little bigger. I think it was my Capcom video game training, but Black Heart is much bigger in my opinion.
Legba’s staff seems to be reused from the Vishanti Book of Voodoo Doctors and is very detailed, but I don’t like how the shrunken heads look more like demonic skulls with pointed ears. I’m sure there’s art out there that inspires this, but most of the time I see them depicted in a more humanistic way. It might be fun to carve some heads and attach them to sticks with some movable wires. It’s cast in a translucent purple so it has a glowing effect, and the two explosions wrap around the staff nicely, giving the impression that magic comes from his hands and is transferred to the staff.
The character itself looks to be based on a newer Vulcan body, complete with a new belt and cape and the old head from the Book of Vishanti version. The newer, bulkier bodywork was more imposing than the original. The cape has a nice way of hanging and can be inserted into the back. I noticed that when I moved the character, it would often become skewed. I don’t recognize the bracelet, but it’s a bit loose and will fall off accidentally when I change hands. I ended up dropping one on the way from the garage shooting area to the house and now I can’t find it!
The green part of his belt is obviously new, with more wrap and flow, and the string connecting the skull is now beaded. The skull looks the same, but the skull details here are a little clearer than on the original.
If you wanted, you could swap the cape and bracers of the Old Dr. Voodoo figure from the Dorum BAF wave with this, although the head swap wouldn’t work very well. The new one is a little tight and a little low on the old body, and the old head is a little high and a little loose on the new body.
The best part of the painting is the portrait. To me it looks the same as the original, but the new paint gives it a completely different quality. The skull face paint really feels like real face paint as it fades out, and the Doctor Strange vs. Skull Halloween Costume symbol is larger and more solid on the body, which I think improves the overall look. One thing I do miss is that the cape trim was often painted with the diamond pattern from the Voodoo Brothers’ original costumes, it would have been nice to have that painted on the capes.
Articulation is typical Legend style and all moves well except for raising the left arm which is restricted by the cape.
Overall, Dr. Voodoo is a vast improvement over its previous incarnation, despite reusing many of the original characters. Admittedly Dr. Voodoo is pretty low on my list of existing legendaries that I’d like to see reworked, and if they made another Drums of Jericho I’d prefer the classic Voodoo Bros. look. I would have liked more jewelry and more interesting bracelets around his neck, but since I lost one of the bracelets, I may just have to customize a few. In the photo below you can figure out where I lost the bracelet as it switches to the original figure’s glove.
