In 2020, Lone Coconut, a small company out of the Dominican Republic, launched a Kickstarter campaign for a line of original action figures called Plunderlings. They’re basically little imp-like creatures with a pirate motif that have a very charming design. From an engineering point of view, they made for a smart toyline because every figure was nearly the same just with different paint and accessories to differentiate them. They were a hit too and Lone Coconut was able to fund the campaign and also find a partner in Big Bad Toy Store to release more figures beyond that campaign.
Last year, Lone Coconut returned with a new campaign: Plunderstrong and Plunderlong. As the names imply, these are new figures in the Plunderlings universe that happen to take on a different shape. The Plunderstrong is a hulking brute with broad shoulders, square-jawed heads and gorilla-like arms. The Plunderlong is basically a stretched-out version of a Plunderling: longer torso, longer head, longer everything (heh heh). Like the first campaign, this one was a success too. After having passed initially on Plunderlings, I decided I wasn’t going to miss out this time so I joined the campaign for one Plunderstrong and one Plunderlong plus some additional accessories. Product was supposed to arrive back in the late winter or early spring, but delays happened which isn’t unusual for a small producer like Lone Coconut. It’s now the fall, and the Plunderstrong is being shipped all across the globe as promised. As for the Plunderlong, there was some issue with the final factory output that needed to be addressed so that one will ship a bit later. Works for me, as now I can spread out my reviews so lets talk about the Plunderstrong I ordered: Captain Blackjak.
Like the Plunderlings, the Plunderstrongs are essentially the same figure across the board with minor differences. Captain Blackjak is a true pirate figure, and as the name implies, his skin tone is black. He comes in a box that looks just like the one the Plunderlings came in right down to even having optional ears you can slot into the sides. The only difference is it’s much bigger. The Plunderstrong stands at around 6.75″ making him basically twice the size of a Plunderling. And that’s just in height. His shoulders are probably as broad as a Plunderling is tall and he has a big, barrel chest. The big beefy arms extend down to his ankles and he has oversized feet to help him stand. If the goal for this figure was to add some size to your Plunderlings display then mission very much accomplished.
The sculpt on Blackjak is pretty basic. The body is basically a blank. It’s molded in gray and then painted over to give it a nice, matte, finish. This does mean it can be prone to paint imperfections and mine has a scratch in the left bicep which is unfortunate, but I do like the approach. The base head is basically a neutral expression and he has black eyes like the Plunderlings and some teeth poking out of his mouth. There is a belt and it’s soft plastic that’s either glued or pegged in place since it doesn’t move a whole lot. It’s pretty well painted, though they included bits of his torn, black, shorts poking out from above the belt as part of the sculpt and some of the edges are unpainted. Below the belt, the crotch is painted black and the torn parts of the shorts on the top of the thighs are separate pieces that snap onto the top of the legs. The one on my figure’s right leg wasn’t seated all the way out of the box so I had to take it apart and check it out. If you have a similar issue, just heat the piece up with some hot water and then snap it back in place. I couldn’t get it on without heating it.
The only other painted details on the body are the painted toenails and fingernails as well as the earrings. There are some optional parts including two additional portraits: an angry expression and a yelling one. The yelling one is painted very well and I like the toon quality of the mouth shape on it. The other hands are gripping hands and the fingernails are done well on that one. He also has some clothing which includes a pirate hat and overcoat. Both are done in black plastic with gold-painted trim and the paint is done very well on both. The hat fits into place via a magnet, and after having an issue with the magnets flipped around in their second production run of Plunderlings, I am happy to say they’re back to the direction they were in for the Kickstarter. The coat is designed to just fit over the figure’s shoulders, the sleeves aren’t real sleeves. It looks good though and it’s certainly a unique fit. It does hinder the articulation a little bit, but since it’s soft it’s pretty easy to pose the figure however you wish and then slide the coat on.
Blackjak’s main accessory is his big, freakin’, canon. This thing is designed to be held by the handles on the front and rear and basically held sideways. The texture of the sculpt and the paint detail on it are terrific. It’s also very light so the figure can hold it with ease, but it’s also made out of a very hard plastic so there’s no give to the handles at all. As a result, it’s easy to end up with some paint rub when snapping it into the gripping hands. There are also three, gold, hooks included in the box that can slot into the back of the jacket. With the Plunderlings, these were used as weapon holsters. For this particular Plunderstrong, they’re essentially useless because the canon is so big.
Unfortunately, to get the most out of your canon you need to get the Boom Crate. As far as I know, this is a Kickstarter exclusive, but maybe that will change in the future. The Boom Crate includes a blast effect for the canon, four types of projectiles, and another attachment to make the canon look like it’s loaded. The loaded accessory is just clear acrylic with a hinged ball peg at the end. You peg it into the canon, then peg one of the projectiles to the hinged peg to create the illusion that it’s been loaded into the canon. The projectiles you have to choose from include a gray, stone, canon ball, a black bowling ball, a brown coconut, and a black, spiked, ball with gray spikes. These work great, but there is a problem when you get to the blast effect. This is done with clear plastic that’s red-orange at the base that expands into smoke. The projectile plugs into the smoke portion and the effect looks great. The problem is this piece is quite heavy and getting Blackjak to stand and hold it is pretty damn difficult. I’ve managed to get the figure to do it here and there, but the stance never lasts very long as eventually the figure falls over.
The other challenge with the Boom Crate is that the gripping hands that come with Blackjak aren’t that great. You’re better off using the hands from another Kickstarter add-on: the muscle crate. That set includes two fist hands, two open “palming” hands, and two “tea-sipping” hands. The tea-sipping hands, which have the index and middle finger in a pinching pose with the pinky finger extended, actually seem to grip the canon better than the gripping hands. It at least definitely helps to use one for whichever hand is gripping the front handle. It might not help much in keeping the figure upright, but I’m glad to have it. The palming hands work well to hold the various projectiles. They even have magnets in them and if you have any of the second-run Plunderlings you can have your Plunderstrong palm some heads with those.
The other accessories I shelled out for were some more Hatchling crates. The Hatchlings are small, barely articulated bodies that basically are a fun way to store the extra heads and hands. Well, with the Plunderstrong the hands no longer work, but the heads still do. As a result, Blackjak comes with a set of Plunderling fists and each Hatchling set comes with another set of fists so you can complete both Hatchlings since you’ll always have two extra heads. As kind of another bonus, the Plunderling heads work with the canon effect parts so you can simulate a Plunderling being shot out of a canon. I definitely like that, and the Plunderlong I ordered is essentially made for this. The Plunderstrong head can probably work as well, though it’s boxier and doesn’t seem to move as freely. I also had a hard time getting one onto the ball hinge, but I bet if I dunked it in hot water first it would go on much easier.
That’s a lot of stuff covered, but we still need to talk about the articulation. How well does this big guy move? Pretty well, though there are some issues and peculiarities to point out. The head is on a ball hinge which isn’t my favorite setup. It’s okay as you’ll get some upward movement on the hinge and obviously it rotates fine. There’s very little nuance posing though and it doesn’t look down. To get these guys to look down at the Plunderlings, you’ll need to use the ball hinge in the chest. It’s a bit weird, but it does work to provide some forward and back movement. Go too far though and the hinge is exposed. There’s also no rotation there.
At the shoulders, we get ball hinges with butterfly joints. The arms raise out to the side past 90 degrees and the butterfly lets the figure move forward and back at the joint a little. It’s not a ton, but it’s probably enough to be worth having. Some might not like how disconnected the shoulders look from the body, but I like the range and the size of the arms works for me. Past that, we get a biceps swivel which is fine and single joints at the elbow that will give you a 90 degree bend, maybe a little better. The hands peg in and all feature a hinge. Gripping hands have vertical hinges and the rest have horizontal – good! At the waist is a simple twist. The hips connect via large ball pegs and you get a little swivel on that ball joint plus a full thigh swivel where the thighs meet the shorts. The knees are double-jointed and bend well past 90 degrees while the ankles feature hinges and ankle rockers.
In terms of joints, there’s a mix of really tight and some loose. The wrist hinges on the gripping hands were very tight, I’d go so far as to say stuck, on mine. Most of the hinge joints were pretty tight, but I didn’t need to use heat to free anything up except for one of the gripping hands. And even there, the peg is pretty short and thick so I wasn’t overly concerned about breaking anything. The left shoulder on my figure was also partially disconnected out of the box, but it was easy to pop back in. The only loose joints are the hips. The right hip was okay, while the left was way too loose. My figure had no chance of standing with the canon as the added weight forced it into splits. I popped the leg off and coated the ball joint in glue, let it dry, then popped it back on. Now it’s much better and I may do the same to the right hip as it could be tighter. Swapping the heads and hands is also a little tough, but nothing has broken or seems stressed so I’m not considering that a critique, just an observation.
Overall, if you enjoyed the Plunderlings then I think you’ll enjoy the Plunderstrong. The approach is essentially the same, it’s just a brand new mold. I like the design of the Plunderstrong and I think it’s a really fun character to look at. Captain Blackjak was just my favorite of the bunch, but there are others out there that also look pretty great. That said, the figure is not without its problems. The joint tolerance could be, and should be, better and I think that canon needed a little bit of refinement. If it was going to be so hard to pose the figure with that blast effect in the canon, then maybe the Boom Crate should have included a tripod like attachment for the canon? Something that would allow it to be handheld or stationary would have been cool. And it probably should have included a flame effect for the fuse. Are those nitpicks? Maybe to some, but these also aren’t cheap as they ran for 60 bucks a piece.
If you would like to add some Plunderstrongs to your collection, your only avenues right now are either on the secondary market or via Big Bad Toy Store. They essentially partnered up with Lone Coconut on these and they ordered a bunch to sell. It will cost you extra though as BBTS is looking to get 70 bucks for each. That’s pretty steep, but this is coming from a small shop. I like supporting the indies, so I’m going to recommend getting at least one Plunderstrong. My review is for Blackjak and I’m pretty happy with this one, but probably any of them are just as good. It comes down to what your preference is as far as the looks go. Here’s hoping it won’t be much longer until the Plunderlong arrives!
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