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McFarlane Toys- The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Lord Voldemort.
I consider myself to be a fairly big fan of Harry Potter. I’ve read the books a few times, listen to the Audio Books and know the movies pretty well inside and out. I suppose I was a bit late to the party, what with being out of school when the books were initially released, but did manage to catch the bug in the middle of the movie run and consequently around the time that my favorite book of the series: ‘The Half Blood Prince’ book was released. So when McFarlane Toys announced this line of well overdue figures, I was VERY excited to say the least. But instead of my typical “rate a movie” series, I'm going to do something a bit different that involves another one of my interests/hobbies/obsessions: Theme Parks.
For those who do not know, Universal Studios Orlando has been home a fully immersive and industry changing land called “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” or just Harry Potter World for short and it has really changed the theme park game. Gone are the days that one ride based on a movie or a comic will do: one must experience being a wizard and given how popular it is, there is little doubt that the general population is all in and for good reason, it is cool as hell. I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy Harry Potter World a few times in Orlando throughout the years and I gotta say, it does not disappoint. I thought it might be fun to talk about one notable ride from the Wizarding World for each of these Harry Potter figures culminating in the eventual review of the newest,/greatest attraction “Hagrid's Magical Creatures MotorBike Adventure” that I’m hoping to ride in April. If you are interestested there are literally hundreds of youtube videos and websites dedicated to these lands/rides that will do a better job of talking about these rides, but these are just my silly thoughts / experiences on what I recall. Given that this is now a defunct ride (RE; Closed down and demolished to make way for Hagrid’s confusingly named ride) I thought I would start with my least favorite: Dragon Challenge (Dueling Dragons).
Dragon Challenge was a re-skinned ride that originally deputed at Universal Islands of Adventure when the park was first built. When Harry Potter land was being built, the team at Universal Creative did their best to re-theme the twin coasters to Harry Potter by including details from the Tri-Wizard Tournament throughout the cue to emulate 2 “Dragons” that were featured in The Goblet of Fire book/movie. As I understand the initial story for the ride involved a Fire and Ice Dragon “dueling” so the new theme is really not that much different. The ride itself is actually two different inverted (The Track is above you rather than below you) coasters that intertwine with multiple twists, inversions, hard banked terms and quite frankly a lot of other movements that basically turn the rider into jelly and make him rethink his life choices: seriously, I like roller coasters, but this one was really rough and basically made me feel ill for a few hours after.
For those who never got a chance to ride (or were smart enough to stay away) here is a Youtube ride though done by one of the many Theme Park Vloggers:
https://youtu.be/3t6nZ_CEMpw
Overall the ride was REALLY thrilling, but maybe a bit too much for the general population of the park. I’m glad that I got to experience it, but ultimately glad that it was removed to make way for a much better option.
Pros: It has been awhile since I have been legitimately excited about a toy line, but when McFarlane announced this line of fully poseable, 6 inch figures based on the movies from Harry Potter I was immediately sold. I suppose there had been a few lines here and there, but they never much appealed to me. There is a good chance that these were perfectly good lines, but I was just not really into other lines at that moment. In any case, I had some high hopes for McFarlane and for the most part they did not disappoint. I picked up Voldemort first as I thought he was the most interesting of the bunch. Overall the sculpt is great and captures the Dark Lord’s likness nicely. He is draped in his trademark black robes that fit and flow nicely for a 6” figure and also comes with the Elder Wand and his pet Snake/6th Horcrux Naginie that boasts some decent articulation. And speaking of articulation, the elephant in the room for all McFarlane figures, Voldemort has plenty enough to pose this figure in any way or shape that you see fit.
Cons: Honestly nothing, This is a great figure that belongs in any Harry Potter fans collection. And, while I do not know what Mcfarlane is planning, I will be really pissed if they do not continue this line; I need Dumbledore. Please Todd? PLEASE!!!
