Review of McFarlane's The Walking Dead The Governor's Room Building Set

PRODUCT DETAILS

Piece Amount:  292

Made in China

Put out in:  2014

Recommended Age:  12+ (Small parts--not recommended for children under three years due to choking hazard)

Set Number:  14526

Batteries:  Requires 4 LR44 (1.5 V) batteries

UPC:  787926145267

Put out by:  McFarlane Toys

Box contents:  Instructions, battery instructions, floor base, floor pieces, pieces for 2 walls, 2 light up bases to illuminate fish tanks, 9 fish tanks, walker heads, cage door, leather chair, end table with lamp, 2 crates, bucket of body parts, The Governor figure, Penny Blake figure.

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The model looked bigger in the picture

How I Became Interested In Zombies

For most of my life, I never got why people liked zombies.  Unlike other supernatural creatures, they could be killed usually.  They were usually slow, and mainly their only strength was attacking in large numbers.  They were empty-headed, so they were incapable of psychological terror.  I assumed zombies represented people's fear of death.  I particularly thought maybe there was a religious fear of it as well, as some religions believe the soul remains buried with the body until Judgment Day.  Zombies seemed to represent the Resurrection gone wrong.

The back shows other collections and figures that are available.

I watched the cult classic Night of the Living Dead, and that was when I started getting the idea that the fear of zombies ran much deeper.  Zombie mania seemed to have an underlying current of societal issues.  Later, a sociological study confirmed this.  People showed an interest in zombies when they were dissatisfied with the way society was going.

When TV switched to digital, my television watching days were over.  We didn't have cable even before that.  These days, we watch Netflix and Amazon Instant Video on our computer or Wii console.  I had heard of  AMC's The Walking Dead.  I had read an article about the filming of the Atlanta scene in Season 1, and many of my friends on Facebook were fans.  Though I didn't like zombies, when The Walking Dead showed up on Netflix, I admit I was curious enough to see what all the hubbub was about.

Though zombies were not my thing, I have to admit I found it to be a very good show.  It had a strong plot and interesting characters who were well-developed.  I loved the back stories--particularly any that took place before the zombie plague.

I decided to check out if there were any zombie book series--and that is when I discovered Kellie's Diary by Thomas Jenner and Angeline Perkins.  This is actually juvenile fiction, a series of short stories written in a diary format.  I was a big fan of this series until book five, when it became too dark for me.  Book six, they stopped using the diary format...and I didn't like it as well.  The diary format helped take the edge off.  I also liked Pride & Prejudice & Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith (which is supposedly going to be made into a movie in 2016) and The Swiss Family RobinZOM by Perrin Briar.

Zombie literature, TV shows, and movies generally seem to be well written and have good characters.  I'm sure there are some mediocre titles out there, but I have to admit that the zombie genre tends to disappoint you less than other horror genres.  I often grieve at how hard it is to find a good ghost story--as I am someone who loves ghost stories.  However, there is one thing I do often hate about zombie literature, TV shows, and movies...they often become very bleak.  As a general rule, it seems people who write and produce zombie works have a bleak view of humanity.  Myself, I want to wave my flag and root for humanity.  Even if we are responsible for bringing about a zombie apocalypse, I want to believe that humanity will come together and find a way to survive and rebuild society.  They will learn from their mistakes.  But no....most zombie stories deteriorate into the opposite.

A motto in The Walking Dead series is, "Don't fear the Dead.  Fear the Living."  Season 1 of this series had been fairly optimistic.  The hero reunites with his wife and son, though it does turn out that his wife is having an affair with his best friend.  A few people get eaten, but the group seems to manage.  There is hope.

Though I liked Hershel in Season 2, I started disliking the series.  It wasn't that the story in itself was bad or the characters were less interesting.  Things were just starting to turn bleak, and the characters we loved were starting to become monsters before they officially turned into zombies.  Of course, I suppose it is realistic.  If a zombie apocalypse occurred, all the social problems we have would be made worse by it.  People would probably not be admirable.  Then there is the factor of whether a zombie virus is driving people insane, or whether the conditions are driving people insane.  Realistic?  Maybe.  However, I don't watch TV to see reality.  I watch it to unwind, and having something aggravate my fears and make me want anti-depressants isn't exactly relaxing.

I barely managed to finish Season 2.  The only reason why I kept watching was that I was curious about Michonne and was waiting for her to appear.  Though I lost interest in Michonne pretty early, I did really like Season 3.  I mainly liked it because of The Governor story.  I kept watching the show through Season 4, but after The Governor died, I just couldn't bring myself to watch it.  I might return to it one day.  However, I liked Season 3 enough that I wanted to purchase this building set.

Building The Governor's Room

Building instructions resemble the booklets Lego give you

At first glance, this seemed similar to a Lego set.  The building instructions resemble the booklets Lego gives you to build their sets.  Unlike Lego, which puts all the pieces for a certain amount of steps in one bag, this set had everything divided into different bags.  You had to go searching for pieces in other bags.  I didn't really like this, and it made me concern that I wouldn't be able to put it together.  Would I be able to differentiate the pieces, which were all varying shades of dark colors:  browns, tans, and dark grays?

As it turns out, it wasn't as hard to put together as I worried it would be as far as finding the right parts.  I did have a hard time getting the pieces to fit together. It was always a tight fit. They claim that this building set can work with other sets.  I don't know whether they mean if it will work with other McFarlane sets or whether it will work with things like Lego.  I'm skeptical about it being compatible with Lego, as this set--though the bricks are similar in design--seems a half inch smaller than the bricks I use in Lego sets.  However, I couldn't test this because my Lego sets were not handy.

In pieces, it didn't seem very impressive.  The face of the governor was not even painted really--though he was very tiny, and I don't know how much you could do.  As it came together, though, suddenly many fine details came out...and the model was actually quite impressive.  You could even see the butt imprint in the chair.

The back of the chair could recline, and you can see the butt imprint.

The chair looked like leather or vinyl.  The back could lean back.  there were many ways to customize the model to your liking.  The wall bricks had grooves on one side.  I chose to have them facing outward to give the outside of the model the look of aluminum siding.  The other side was smooth and marbled looking.  There were one prong bricks that, depending on how you placed them, could give the side of a building a checkerboard appearance.

The outside of the model.

You could stack the fish tanks the way you wish.  The two bases had lights on top to illuminate the fish tanks, which they did successfully.  Each base took two LR44 batteries.  The only problem was that if you had fat fingers, you may have trouble turning on the base on the right.  Each base had a light switch on the side, but on the right it was close to a wall and not as accessible.   You had to remove the base from the floor--which wasn't a big deal. The zombie heads didn't have a lot of detail on their own, but they seemed more striking once they were in the fish tanks.  Many seemed to have personalities.  I swore they were talking to each other.  I could hear them singing David Lee Roth's "I Ain't Got No Body"...though their version would  have a totally different meaning.

Close up view of the heads in the fish tanks (from the front).  The fish tank isn't lit up yet.

The floor had wooden looking planks that had grooves and whorls.  They were in different stages of weathering in appearance.  Some had nubs.  The nubs were used to secure certain things--like the fish tanks, lamp, and crates.  I found them useful when it came to Penny, who could not stand up properly.  Penny gave me a headache.  Aside from not standing up, her arms didn't want to go into her torso.  They didn't seem to fit well.  I did manage to finally get them in there.  I removed one of the smooth planks to put a nubbed one in its place so that I could secure Penny (you have some extra pieces left over).

Close up of the model with the lights turned on.

The cage door opens and has blood spattered on the front.  Penny does not wear the straight jacket she does in the TV series.  Of course, since there is a bucket of gore, The Governor often untied her hands so she could eat.  I believe in the comic series, Penny isn't in a straight jacket--but she is also smaller and younger than she was in the TV series.  The model does not show Penny's face.  It shows the knapsack The Governor covered her head with.  Presumably, this was a precaution to keep her from biting--just as the straight jacket was to keep her from clawing you.  A bite or scratch was how the zombie plague was transmitted...or at least made you turn sooner (as later it revealed that everyone was apparently infected already).

Penny was the hardest thing to build in the model.

When the lights turned on, it was definitely spooky--though sometimes you couldn't see the details of the zombie heads...particularly the ones on the bottom.

I don't know why, but while I was building this model, I started thinking about my favorite TV show when I was a kid--Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.  Perhaps it was because he had a fish tank too.  Suddenly, I was imagining a morbid parody with The Governor.

The thing that amazed me the most was how small the model actually was.  However, I really enjoyed putting it together.

Close up view when the fish tanks are turned on.

I turned off the background lights in my living room so you could see the model lit up in "darker" surroundings.

I did a series of videos where I showed the actual process of putting the model together--though I didn't show every step on camera if it was repetitive (like the floor and walls were).  Check out my Lego playlist if you are interested:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLdcCbWTBhko6oOPKPdauase3YzGNUXYB  You will have to scroll past videos about my Star Wars Lego kits.

If you would like to see a video review of this set: