MI6 Review: Wai Lin - Sideshow Collectibles

1997 saw Bond once again free the world of tyranny in Tomorrow Never Dies, this time with a helping hand from Chinese agent Colonel Wai Lin, portrayed by Michelle Yeoh. She has since become one of the most popular modern era Bond girls in the series, and considered to be on an equal par with Bond.

Sideshow Collectibles, founded in 1994, has been exclusively licensed to create a line of 12" collectible figures in the likeness of all five Bond actors, key villains and some of the famous women.

MI6 reviews the Sideshow Collectibles figures...


Wai Lin - Michelle Yeoh

Item No: 7714
Size: 12 inch (304mm)
Weight: 3.00 lbs (1.30 Kg)
Units: 4000
Artist: Andy Bergholtz

Order Online - Sideshow Collectibles

Official Description
Media mogul Elliot Carver has an ingenius plan to lead the British and Chinese governments into World War III for his own financial gain. Then plan goes smoothly until James Bond steps into the picture. In the eighteenth Bond film 'Tomorrow Never Dies,' Bond (Pierce Brosnan) finds himself teaming up with stunningly lethal Chinese agent, Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh), to stop Carver's evil plot.

Accessories
Wai Lin has over 30 points of articulation and comes equipped with a sub-machine gun, a cool outfit and some other stuff.

Packaging
A colour press still of Yeoh is used in conjunction with a reduced alternative UK one sheet on the front the box. The images don’t sit as comfortably as, for instance, the Pussy Galore cover art, which is perfect. The interior flap features small cut-outs from the opening credits of the film and x-ray styled images of girls and guns. The Mission text briefly summarizes the adventure and lists the primary cast.

 
Above: The front flap box art

The rear face has several stills from the film and a picture of the model imposed over the gun barrel. There is also a bio of Yeoh, which covers the actress's life from birth up until her groundbreaking roll in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and beyond. Rounding off the rear face is information about James Bond and the film’s villain, Elliot Carver.

This figure was not as easily removed as earlier figures due to additional ties. Once these have been removed, the figure can be easily replaced for storage.

 

Sculpting
As with all the Bond figures Sideshow has issued, the level of detail is subjective. This figure features life-like rooted hair, which is an improvement, however it's obvious that more work needs to be done in order to get this feature perfected.

Andy Bergholtz returns to create his second Bond figure. He has captured Yeoh’s likeness reasonably well. Bergholtz has missed the mark in capturing the picture-perfect face, although it’s obvious that a great effort has been made to sculpting her likeness.

Both hands have been formed to hold the rifle, however neither the ninja stars nor the grenade clips can be held, due to their size. This particular figure exhibits relatively large amount of flashing on both hands, however this could be a one-off and not common across the range.

Paint
The detailing on this figure is good, with clear lines and a very crisp finish. It would have been nice to see a little more detail on the hands, as we are accustomed to seeing with other Sideshow figures.

The detailing on the head is also very good, especially the lips and the eyes, both of which look sharp and realistic. Unlike other Sideshow figures, Wai Lin has life-like rooted hair. This is something that Sideshow has obviously worked on and cannot have been an easy task.

In order that the hairline does not show, the area around it has been painted. This is a very good idea, however closer inspection obviously reveals how the effect has been created.


Articulation
Using Sideshow's well-established 12-inch female body, Wai Lin has all the movement you would expect in order to place her in the classic poses. The well fitting two-piece costume allows for full range of movement. The body features tight fitting joints, ball jointed shoulders, chest, cut biceps, along with double-jointed elbows and wrists. The waist is twistable along with the hips, thighs, knees and ankles.

Accessories
With the exception of the MP5, the accessories that come with this model are average. The two ninja stars, which are used to silence the guards aboard the Stealth boat in the film, are flimsy plastic. The grenade clips are also made of similar plastic. The ends of each grenade on the clip are detailed in red, which is nice, but not enough to redeem the item. Both the ninja stars and the grenade clips show visible flashing due to their size.

The MP5 rifle is the redeeming accessory; the quality of this piece is excellent. It has four parts; rifle, sling, retractable stock and clip. The weapon itself is realistic, both in dimensions and detailing. It fits well into the figure’s hands and, with the stock extended, can be placed into the shoulder. The sling can be fitted around the figure as desired and is realistic in style to a real MP5 sling. The stock, which is attached to the weapon, cannot be removed, however it can be extended or retracted. The weapon’s clip is well crafted and fits snugly inside the weapon. When removed it is possible to see a round inside the clip; this top round is gold in colour.

 
Above: Reverse box art

Costume
Wai Lin’s costume is made up of two pieces. She is seen wearing it in the film during the final showdown on Carver’s Stealth boat. The trousers (pants) are fairly generic and the quality is sadly lacking. They have no pockets or other features. It's not hard to see that Sideshow has spent the most time on the jacket, which is well made and fitted. The jacket is designed as a combat style robin’s vest and features a poacher's style back flap pocket, which is useful for storing the ninja stars and grenade clips. Other notable parts of the jacket are the D-rings that are located on the back and top left shoulder; these really do add to the jacket’s feel. Two poppers, located at the front, provide the fastening.

Minor items such as the undershirt and socks add to the quality of the figure’s costume. All items of clothing are removable. One nice feature is that the socks are long enough to meet the pants, meaning that when dressed correctly the legs are not seen. The ankle boots are nicely detailed and contain a modelled ninja star in each heel.

 

Accessories
MP5 Machine Gun
Throwing Stars
Grenade Clips

Overall
Wai Lin is the weakest female Bond figure that Sideshow has produced. The figure does have some redeeming features, such as the life-like rooted hair and the MP5 SMG, not to mention some good items of clothing. For a collector this figure is obviously going to be a must, however for someone who only tends to purchase one or two figures, Wai Lin will probably not be at the top of the list.

MI6 Rating

Related Articles
Tomorrow Never Dies MI6 Movie Coverage
Michelle Yeoh - Wai Lin

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