I started collecting Kotobukiya’s Avengers ArtFX+ line back in April of last year with The Hulk and now with only two more statues to go, I’ve reached the home stretch. I’ve been putting off looking at Hawkeye until the release of the final statue, Iron Man, drew closer and now that Mr. Stark has hit my Pile of Loot, I figured it was time to get Hawkeye his due. No disrespect to Hawkeye, but this was the statue in this line that I was least excited about. I don’t mind Hawkeye’s Marvel NOW! Look, but compared to the likes of Hulk, Thor, or even Black Widow, it isn’t the most exciting thing in this lineup to me. Still, there was never any doubt that I would get him to complete the set. Let’s see if this statue can hit my mark.

The statue comes in a completely enclosed box with some great shots of the piece itself set against a monochrome collage of comic art. I’ve been a big fan of these boxes as they’re not only collector friendly, but they display really well too. On the downside, each box has been individually sized to fit each statue, so they don’t really stack evenly or line up all that well on the bookshelves. But hey, they’re sturdy and I can rely on them for storage if I ever move or have to rotate these pieces out of my current display and that’s mostly what I’m looking for in my statue packages.

Inside the box, Hawkeye comes pressed between two clear plastic trays and does indeed require some assembly. You have to connect the top and bottom half together at the waist, his left arm at the bicep and equip him with his bow, quiver, and arrows, all of which are separate pieces. Yes… I was delighted to see that each arrow (eight in all) is separate rather than just having the ends molded into the top of the quiver! I may have underestimated just how cool you’re going to be, Hawkeye. The assembly here is a tad more involved than any of the others, mostly because of the bow, but everything still goes together easy-peasy.

With Hawkeye all set up I’ll confess to being surprisingly impressed with the Koto’s execution of this statue. I think what really makes it stand out is the way they did all the gear. The pistol actually looks like it could be removed from the holster (even though it can’t) and the way they designed the bow to peg together in his hand is rather clever. It reminds me of the way they did the lariat for the first Bishoujo Wonder Woman statue. Had they gone with one single assembly for the bow, arrow, and draw arm I don’t think it could have possibly came out as credible looking as it did. Even the way Clint is knocking the arrow (any one of them will do) works beautifully. Hawkeye’s pose has him on the move as he’s preparing to shoot. It’s nothing original, but it works well for the character. At this point, I’d dare say it’s an iconic look for him, and it displays beautifully from virtually any angle.

The portrait is clean and definitely represents a little Marvel NOW! And a little Jeremy Renner. The sunglasses are part of the sculpt and the texturing in the hair looks great. My one complaint here would be the back of the neck where it’s pretty obvoius that the hair is a separate piece as there’s a channel running between hair and skin making it look artificial from the back. Also, as good as the head sculpt looks, I still can’t help be reminded of Albert Wesker from Resident Evil whenever I look at it. That’s not really a criticism of the sculpt, but rather the character design.

The coloring here is mostly black with a little purple to pay fleeting respect to Hawkeye’s classic comic outfit. While the potential was there for the costume to be rather drab and boring, Koto mixed up the black with a matte finish for the outfit itself and a glossy finish for the pouches, belt and holster. You also get a little gray on the buckles and straps. The paint lines are sharp, even around the fingerless gloves and the hairline.

As always, the statue comes with a plain black metal square base that interacts with the magnets in the statues feet to keep him secured while on display. This comes in handy if you want to put all the bases together to make one large platform and have the statues overlap on different bases.

So, yeah, I wasn’t expecting much from this one. I bought Hawkeye mainly to complete the Avengers team, but he turned out to be a very pleasant surprise in the end. In fact, right now I’d probably even rate him in higher standing than Thor, even though I think both are great pieces. The wizards at Koto obviously looked at what made Barton unique and put a lot of their efforts into that aspect of the statue, meaning his bow and arrows. Hawkeye would have been an easy one to phone in, but instead they turned it around and delivered something special. He set me back just a smidge over $40, which makes him a little bit on the low end of what I’m averaging for these pieces and he was well worth every penny. And that brings me to the last release in the ArtFX+ Avengers series. Next week, we’ll check out Iron Man!