Mar 20 2015

Guardians of the Galaxy: Star-Lord 1:6 Scale Figure by Hot Toys

I make it no secret that I am an unabashed Marvel Movie-verse whore. But don’t hate me for it because it could have easily gone the other way if it weren’t for the irrepressible charm of these films. They’re fun movies that capture everything there is about the joy of comic books for me and I have a great time watching them over and over again. In fact, the Marvel flicks are really some of the only Blu-Ray’s that I bother to buy and own anymore. Guardians of the Galaxy, however, goes even one step further. It sits up there shoulder to shoulder with my favorite classic movies of the 80’s. Yup, even those timeless films that have 30-some years of nostalgia fueling my love for them. It’s delightfully goofy and crazy and sometimes corny, but more than anything else it has heart and soul. Was there ever any doubt that I was going all in on Hot Toys’ GotG line? Despite what my checking account might have hoped: No, there really wasn’t. Peter Quill is the first figure in this line to be released, and while Rocket and Groot have already been delayed, Star-Lord is one of the few Hot Toys figures in a while that seems to have shown up right on time.

The box design is totally out there and very unlike anything I’ve seen in my rather modest few years as a Hot Toys collector. You get a colorful action shot of Star-Lord on the front with an 80’s style grid on the bottom and some really cheesy looking effects. It feels more like the box art for a late 80’s PC Game than an expensive collectible figure. I’d like to presume that Hot Toys went this route to intentionally bank on the film’s goofball nature, but I’m not really sure. It certainly looks quite jarring next to the classy and reserved presentation of their other Marvel figures, but I can’t say I hate it. Hot Toys also seems to have cut back on the box itself. Instead of the old shoe-box style with illustrated insert, this is just a sleeve around a window box. Some may take issue, but I just keep the boxes for accessory storage, so I’m not terribly upset by it. Oh yeah, the box also has the “Sideshow Exclusive” foil sticker on the front and in this case that amounts to an extra accessory.

Once I had carefully cut away some of the plastic wrap, Star-Lord came out of the box and was ready for action. His jacket and gun belt are already on and he’s sporting his unmasked head. I’m used to having to fuss with my newly opened Hot Toys figures, but in this case it’s impressive how everything looks so good right out of the box. The t-shirt fits well and the pants have some really nicely stitched detail work, but it’s the coat (RAVENGER GARB!) that is truly the star of this A-Hole’s outfit. There are so many little brass buttons and hooks and embossed patterns littered over the leather-like surface that it only takes one look to know that Hot Toys put some love into this coat, but a lot more intensive study to truly appreciate it. The coat even has a working zipper should you like to go that route. It’s nice to have options, but I dig the look of the open coat so much, I doubt I’ll ever bother with zipping it. And quite frankly, I have bad luck with 1:1 scale zippers, I don’t want to turn myself loose on a 1:6 scale zipper on a $230 collectible figure. The armor pieces are present on his left arm and shoulder, and the bottom of the coat is frayed and tattered and even shows places where Quill has made crude repairs. Speaking of repairs, I should note that while handling the figure one of the dozens of buttons on my figure’s jacket popped off. By some miracle I managed to find the tiny thing and glue it back on, easy-peasy, but it’s certainly something to look out for. Hot Toys actually included extra buttons with Winter Soldier’s tunic, but that isn’t the case here, so be mindful of your buttons! Some could fall off and never be missed, but others could be pretty conspicuous.

The belt is removable and features two open-style holsters, which velcro onto the pants. The guns fit the holsters really well and don’t fall out like that one gun on my Winter Soldier figure. Have I mentioned before how much I love these open-style snap on holsters? Yeah, I’m sure I have. The jacket flaps are billowy enough so that the relatively bulky guns can both be holstered under the coat without looking too obvious, although I’m not sure it would be easy to zip up the jacket with the guns attached. And yes, he also has his thruster jets attached to his boots and the controls for them attached to his pants.

Before getting to the rest of the accessories, let’s talk portrait. I’m really perplexed by the number of people who are on the fence over the likeness here. I will confess the head sculpt looks loads better in person. Most pictures I take give him a bit of a pinhead thing going on, which I attribute mostly to the hair sculpt, but either way it is not at all the case with the figure in hand. The paintwork on the skin and facial hair is exceptional and the eyes look as lifelike as always. I wouldn’t go so far as to say this is one of Hot Toys’ best likenesses, but I do think it’s pretty spot on. I was prepared to use the masked head as a display default if I was unhappy with the likeness, but I honestly think I may go with the Chris Pratt head most of the time. I really do dig it that much.

And that’s saying a lot, because the masked head is extremely cool, despite being an absolute bitch to get on. It feels like the ball joint is just a tad too big for the socket and if there’s one thing I love, it’s having to apply a lot of force to my delicate and expensive collectibles. It was the same story with Winter Soldier’s alternate head. Anyway, the back panel on the helmet lifts off and there’s an On/Off switch to activate the lights in the eyes and damn this thing looks great with the eyes lit up. The sculpt is gorgeous and there’s some great weathering from the paintwork. Either way, this is definitely a figure that I’ll be swapping the head on quite a bit.

Moving on to the accessories… Star-Lord does not come with a huge helping of hands like most Hot Toys releases and that’s fine by me, because as many of you know, I’m not big on swapping out hands. In this case you get a pair of fists (which come on the figure in the box), a pair of gun holding hands, and an extra hand designed to hold The Orb or the Walkman. You also get an extra set of posts in case you snap one.

Star-Lord’s man purse is a nice piece of work. The shoulder strap goes over the figure’s head and under the left arm. The instructions recommend popping the head to do this, but I didn’t find it necessary. Once slung on the right shoulder, you just snap the second strap around the figure’s right side. The strap running under the figure’s left arm has a tendency to twist, but otherwise the satchel looks great on him. You can even unzip it and put The Orb inside. Right now, I have mine just slung on his left shoulder and I think it looks pretty great.

Next up, Star-Lord comes with his pair of distinctive pistols. These are plastic, static pieces with a great amount of detail, both in paint and sculpt. The checker pattern on the grips is recreated beautifully, as are the little copper pieces and the blueish burns around the barrels, presumeably from being fired. There are also all sorts of little scrapes and weathering to make them look well worn. The guns fit the appropriate hands comfortably and the trigger fingers can be tucked into the trigger guards.

Of course, you couldn’t do a movie Star-Lord figure and not include his Walkman. In this case, however, that’s sort of what happened. Yes, you get an 80’s style portable cassette player, but no, it’s obviously been altered so as not to look exactly like a Sony Walkman. I’m guessing there were copyright issues? Maybe? The player itself looks pretty close, but the headphones are totally off. I can kind of appreciate this since as a kid I always wanted a legit Sony Walkman, but always had to settle for knock-offs. Anyway, the biggest discrepencies here are the fact that you don’t get the orange foam ear pieces and the wire only runs to one side. Still, it looks great on him and the cassette inside does actually read “Awesome Mix Vol. 1.” All in all, it’s close enough and a fun accessory, but if a third-party were to cook up a more accurate version, I might be tempted to go for it.

Two accessories I doubt I’ll get much use out of are the set of wrist manacles and the light orb. The manacles feel like a cheap toss-in accessory. There’s not a whole lot of detail there and the cuffs are almost large enough to put on without taking the fists off. The light orb is such a forgettable little trinket that when I was done shooting I realized that I didn’t even bother with it at all. Sorry! I think I would have rather had a rubber alien rat for him to sing into than either of these pieces. But, hey, it’s hard to gripe over extra accessories.

Finally, the Sideshow Exclusive includes the Infinity Stone Orb. Sideshow did a similar thing with Dark World Loki, by including the Aether (another Infinity Stone) as the exclusive for that figure. It seems like a low blow in this case, since The Orb was so central to the film. I’m not one to bother much with exclusives, but in this case it was enough to make sure I went with Sideshow to get it. I wouldn’t miss The Aether from Dark World, but somehow I couldn’t imagine Star-Lord without The Orb. Hell, even the Hasbro Legends figure came with it. Still, in the end, it’s just a sculpted little silver ball.

Of course, every Hot Toys figure comes with a stand and in this case, they have cast off the standard oval black stand that we’ve been seeing with most of the Marvel figures for something a little more movie specific. The larger seven-sided base is surfaced to look like the deck plating of a spaceship with an angled nameplate in front with Star-Lord’s name and the title of the flick. One of those bendy flight style stands would have been cool, but I like this one a lot. It feels a little more premium than what we’re used to getting and I like that all the figures from this film are going to have matching stands.

Holy hell, this is a great figure! Star-Lord may be my favorite Hot Toys figure on my shelf right now, or at the very least tied with RoboCop as my favorite. Sure, it helps that I absolutely adore this move and I thought Chris Pratt did an excellent job in the role, but that’s not to steal any of Hot Toys thunder because they certainly did an excellent job on the figure. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve watched the movie so many times, but I already feel like everything about Peter Quill’s look (his mask, his jacket, his satchel, his pistols) is already iconic and all of that is recreated wonderfully with this release. I still stand behind the likeness, but for those who don’t the masked head is an absolutely bitchin’ alternative. As for price, Star-Lord set me back $230. It’s a lot of money for a figure, but Hot Toys has made no bones about the fact that their prices are going up and up and up with no end in sight. On the other hand, when I compare it to the $220 I spent on Dark World Loki, Star-Lord feels like a bargain. Yeah, that’s a warped way of looking at it, but it helps me sleep at night. As I already mentioned, Rocket and Groot have been pushed back until the Summer, but as of now Gamora is still on schedule to ship next month. Here’s hoping she makes it on time.

Jan 14 2015

Captain America The Winter Soldier: Winter Soldier 1:6 Scale Figure by Hot Toys, Part 2

Today I’m wrapping up my look at Hot Toys’ Bucky Barnes, aka The Winter Soldier. Yesterday I checked out the figure itself and today we’re checking out his accessories. Bucky was a walking arsenal in the film and that fact is wonderfully reflected in the satisfying number of weapons that Hot Toys bundled with this figure. About the only thing more impressive than all this guy’s killing implements is that he can either hold or carry just about everything he comes with all at once! Actually scratch that, if you put one of his big guns in each hand he can carry it all! I freaking love that! As much as I dig combat knives, even in Sixth-Scale figures they tend to be rather small and difficult for me to photograph with any effect, so let’s get the cutlery out of the way first!

Winter Soldier comes with no fewer than three combat knives. He stores two of them in horizontal sheathes on the back of his belt and the third has a scabbard positioned just in front of the gun holsters on his right thigh. The ones on his back are an identical pair and he can hold them quite well in his special knife hands. They’re fine little sculpts, but I don’t think they’re meant to resemble the one he used prominantly in the film in his battle with Cap. The third one is a really tiny all-black stiletto with a ringed pommel. I’m glad they included it, but I don’t think it’ll spend much time out of the sheath. It’s just so small, and while he can hold it fine, it’s pretty hard to make out that he’s holding anything at all.

Moving on to the firearms, we’ll start small and work our way up. If you have three combat knives, you might as well carry three pistols right? RIGHT? Of course! Two of Bucky’s pistols are stowed on his right thigh holster and the third on his left. The holsters are the open type where the guns just clip into place and I’m a big fan of these. Not only do they let you admire the guns on the figure when they’re not being held, but they’re a lot less delicate than the full holsters. Plus, they look bloody damn convenient for a quick draw scenerio. On the downside the left holster does not do a great job of securing the weapon. When I’m handling the figure, I find it best to just remove it and prevent having it fall off.

First you have the COP 357. This little guy is a 4-shot .357 Magnum, which I imagine would be a nice friend to have when you’re all out of options. Derringers are famous for being last resort hold-out weapons or easy to conceal for personal protection, but this isn’t even the smallest pistol in Bucky’s arsenal…

Nope, that would be the TEC-38. There are Derringers and then there are Derringers! This one is a cute little two-barrel .38 from the 80’s, possibly picked up when HYDRA thawed him for an earlier mission? I don’t know, but I love it. Both of the Derringers are pretty much just static pieces, but that’s fine. They’re nicely painted and too small for me to expect any articulation or features.

Last up for the pistols is a SIG-Sauer P226, which is probably what comes out before falling back on the Derringers. This gun is the one that likes to fall out of the holster when I’m posing the figure, while the two smaller pistols stay put. The slide action works and the clip is removable, although it does have a habit of dropping out of the gun when handling it.

Next, we have the Skorpion sub-machine pistol, which clips onto the back of his shoulder rig. I know absolutely nothing about this weapon. It has a hinged breaking action and the slide action works. The clip may be designed to come out, but mine is in there pretty good so I don’t want to force it. When you break apart the receiver you can see a teeny painted cartridge in the clip. I’m actually not a big fan of this one. In real life it may be an excellent firearm, but it seems really undersized and unimpressive as a display piece. I think I’ll likely leave this one on his back most of the time. It looks good back there.

Moving on to the BIG GUNS… I believe Bucky’s assault rifle is an M4A1 with a grenade launcher mounted under the barrel. He also comes with a pair of grenade rounds, which fit into the loops provided onto his belt. You can pump the grenade launcher and the rifle has a collapsing stock, which is a very cool feature. As far as Sixth-Scale weaponry goes, this one is a really beautiful piece.

And finally we come to Winter Soldier’s specialty disc-grenade launcher. It’s a showpiece from the film as the scene where he used it to blow up Fury’s SUV was prominent in the trailer. I think I remember reading that this weapon is a custom job from a real mine launcher, but either way it’s one nasty looking piece of hardware. Hot Toys did an exceptionally nice job on this one. The detail is downright amazing and he looks great holding it.

With all these fantastic weapons, I feel bad about complaining about something being missing, but I will anyway. The 140mm grenade launcher was pretty prominent in the street fighting between Bucky and Cap. It’s a great weapon and I sure would have liked to get it, athough I’ll concede that it probably wouldn’t have fit in the box with all the other stuff crammed in there. I’m really not holding the fact that it’s missing against this release. There’s just too much great stuff in the box for that. I’m sure these have been made for some other Sixth-Scale figure out there and I do believe I’m going to have to try to hunt one down.

Winter Soldier retailed at just under $240 and he’s still available through Sideshow and most other Hot Toys resellers. It’s no secret that Hot Toys prices have been jumping up quite a bit, hell I mention it in just about every Hot Toys feature I write, but if you allow for inflation and all that jazz, I don’t think the price on this guy is all that bad. The quality of the figure and tailoring of the costume is certainly respectable and the second head with two alternate display options is something we certainly haven’t been seeing in too many of the Marvel figures. Of course, factor in that I had to bust into another day just to feature all the weapons this guy comes with and it becomes easy to see where a lot of the money went. Despite a little room for improvement in the arm and the ridiculously stubborn head swap (which I’ll concede is really inexcusable), I’m totally satisfied with this purchase and I think I was actually more excited about him once I got him in hand than I was when I pre-ordered him. He’s certainly going to look damn fine next to my Hot Toys STRIKE Suit Cap when he arrives, hopefully in a couple of months.

Jan 13 2015

Captain America The Winter Soldier: Winter Soldier 1:6 Scale Figure by Hot Toys, Part 1

So here’s a feature that’s long overdue. It was almost two months ago that my long awaited RoboCop figure arrived from Hot Toys with this fellow in tow. It was a tough break for poor Bucky Barnes, because he got pushed aside by the perfect storm of anticipation and excitement that surrounded that other figure’s arrival. But if there’s one thing I want to emphasize in this feature it is that my delay in getting to him is in no way a reflection on the quality of, or my excitement over, this figure. Quite the contrary. I’ve been waiting for just the right time when I could take a breather from the holiday madness and really do this guy justice because he is a truly fantastic figure and he shouldn’t be made to share the spotlight, just because he happened to ship with another figure that I’d been waiting on for over a year. And yeah, this will be a two-part feature. Today I’ll cover the packaging and the figure itself and tomorrow I’ll be back to look at all of his gear.

There’s the package and it’s about on par with what we’ve been seeing out of the stand-alone Marvel movie figures. I really dig the the background art as it suits the art stylings of the film quite well. The character art, on the other hand, looks way off from Sebastian Stan. Where are his chubby cheeks that are reflected so well in the actual figure’s portrait. I’m glad they didn’t use this artwork as the basis for the sculpt. The back of the box features a list of all the talented people who worked on this release. When you lift the lid, you’re treated to a cardboard insert with more great artwork and under that is the actual tray containing the goods. It’s not a flashy or elaborate package, but it does fit in quite well with the boxes used for my two Hot Toys figures from the first Captain America film, Cap and Red Skull, and I like that a lot.

It may be a fairly pedestrian box, but after opening this guy up I was immediately struck with accessory overload. With the plethora of weapons and extra hands, not to mention a second head, there is barely an inch of free space on Bucky’s tray. They even had to toss a baggied hand into the box in between his legs. I think I’d have to look back to my Movie Masterpiece Alice from Resident Evil to come close to the last time I had this many accessories come with one of my Hot Toys’ purchases. I’m trying to get away from doing two-part features, but it took only one look at all this stuff to tell me that I was going to need more time. So, let’s get Winter Soldier out of his box and check him out…

Hot damn, this is a great looking figure! Of course, it helps a lot that was really happy with the design of the movie-verse Winter Soldier. They created a wonderful compromise between the comic character with a dose of so-called realism and this figure captures that aesthetic almost perfectly. I’ll get to the “almost” part in a bit, but don’t dwell too closely on it, because it isn’t a big deal. I didn’t really appreciate how complex Bucky’s outfit was until scrutinizing it on this figure. The tunic consists of horizontal flaps across his chest and each of these are individually tailored and secure with velcro. The faux buttons on these are rather delicate, if you look closely you’ll see one of the darn things already popped off of my figure, but Hot Toys included a pouch of extras to glue back on if you happen to lose one. It should be a quick and easy fix. Bucky is sporting a pair of brown pants with plastic knee pads and beautifully detailed boots. Thanks to both his shoulder rig and his belt, Winter Soldier’s outfit is designed to accommodate almost his entire arsenal, but I’ll take a closer look at that when I cover the weapons tomorrow. I really wasn’t expecting to be wowed by this figure’s costume, but everything about the suit looks so intricate and amazingly detailed. It also fits the figure splendidly, although it is worth noting that the right sleeve is a bit restricting on the shoulder and keeps the arm from hanging straight down and close to the waist.

OK, so let’s swing back to that “almost perfect” comment. There’s something about Bucky’s mechanical arm that doesn’t quite hit the mark and I think it comes down to the paint. It has a decent glossy sheen to it and I like the sculpted panel lines, but I think maybe a more brilliant luster would have helped it along. It looks great on its own, but when I compare it to movie stills, it’s like there’s something about it that is just a few tweaks off from a perfect match. The one specific thing that I can point to is the fact that the exposed hinge isn’t painted. It’s a little jarring to see something like that in a figure from Hot Toys, but I’m guessing that painting it just wasn’t practical as it probably would have rubbed when the elbow was articulated. I do like the fact that the arm is mounted on a floating joint in the shoulder allowing for a good range of motion. This arm is by no means a sticking point for me and my enjoyment of the figure, but it’s the one thing about this guy that makes me stop and think, “there’s room for improvement there.”

Moving on to the portraits, Bucky comes out of the box with his unmasked head and I think it’s a pretty spot on likeness to Sebastian Stan in heavy ~~mascara~~ grease paint. I realize some people weren’t into the “raccoon look”, but I thought it was a decent compromise to the domino mask from the comics, which probably wouldn’t have looked so good in the film. The skin tone is a tad dark, but I think that’s supposed to be tactical camouflage. As for his coif, Bucky sported some long hair in the film and sculpted long hair doesn’t always translate as well as it could on these figures. I’ve probably mentioned it when looking at my Thor and Loki figures. I think Bucky’s hair showcases one of their better efforts, mainly because it isn’t quite long enough to rest on the shoulders. It looks good, but if you search around the Net you can find some rooted hair customs that look absolutely spectacular.

Hey, you know what’s fun? Taking your finely crafted $240 figure and applying excessive force to get the alternate head on it! Yes, the second head that comes with Bucky is an absolute bitch to get on because the socket is just too small for the ball on the post. I’m pretty sure that it was during the attempt that I lost that button off the front of the tunic. The consensus seems to be that the best way to go is to heat up both the post and the socket with a hair dryer… also something I’m not keen to do to my expensive collectible. A more permanent solution might be to use an auger and carve out inside the head. I’m not prepared to do any of that stuff right now so the shots I’m taking with the head don’t have it fully secured.

The alternate head gives you two extra display options. You can go full on mask and goggles or just the mask. The goggles are attached by removing the hair piece and just snapping them on. The goggles have a nice glassy sheen to them and stay on securely. All three portraits have their merits but I think my favorite is the “mask no goggles” look. It gives Winter Soldier a really intimidating look while still allowing me to appreciate some of the workmanship that went into the likeness. I also think the eyes are a little bit better crafted on that head than the unmasked one.

HANDS!!! It wouldn’t be a Hot Toys figure without a bucket full of extra hands. By now y’all know about me and extra hands. I don’t usually bother swapping them out unless I need to for an accessory. Bucky comes with a total of four pairs, plus an extra right hand. You get the token pair of fists, a pair of relaxed hands, a couple of pairs designed to work with the weapons, and an extra open right hand. Swapping these out is pretty simple and the detail on the mechanical hand is quite nicely done.

Lastly, you get the standard issue Hot Toys figure stand with the wire crotch support. The base has the Marvel logo with the title of the movie and the name plate reads “Winter Soldier.”

I’ve already run a little long, so that’s where I’m going to break today. Come on back tomorrow and we will check out Winter Soldier’s arsenal!

Nov 24 2014

Movie Masterpiece Diecast RoboCop (MMS 202-D04) 1:6 Scale Figure by Hot Toys

It’s finally time! RoboCop is here and I’m really excited to check out this figure! Those of you who have been kicking around FFZ, either here or on Twitter or Facebook, know the delays involved in getting Hot Toys’ RoboCop in hand. I pre-ordered this guy in May of last year. He was originally due to ship in Q1, but he got bumped back to August and then to September and then to October. There were times when my faith began to falter, but he finally shipped earlier this month and now that I have him, I can honestly say he was absolutely worth all the waiting and all the precious monies he cost. RoboCop is certainly one of my all time favorite movies, but even more than that I think this design is the one of my favorite iconic sci-fi character designs of the 80’s and that’s saying an awful lot. That’s why I’m so happy to say that the end result of Hot Toys’ labors on this figure is quite spectacular. In fact, I’ll lay it down right now that there are only two issues I have with this him, and one is really just an annoyance. Well, we’ve got a lot to look at, so let’s jump right in and check out The Future of Law Enforcement!

I haven’t been overly impressed with the packaging and presentation of some of my Hot Toys figures lately. I haven’t seen anything bad, but maybe not as special as they could be. I’m not really big into package design as part of the collectible experience, but when you’re paying a lot for these things, a higher level of presentation is expcted. This box mostly delivers by being something different and something special, and for a $300 figure it well should! The front and sides of the top portion of the box have illustrations of Robo and the whole thing is covered in a clear plastic laminate. The back features the cast of artists that worked on the figure. I love that Hot Toys does this. These guys are indeed artists and I it’s only right that they should get mention on the packaging.

The top three-quarters of the box lifts off to reveal a brick of styrofoam underneath with the RoboCop logo sculpted into it. Here we can take the top off to reveal the tray with the figure and his accessories around him. The back of the styrofoam has a smaller tray that lifts out the back and contains the instruction booklet, figure stand, the remote control, a magnet tool, and three button batteries. To activate the electronics you will need two LR-1 batteries which are not included. So, all in all, I think the packaging and presentation is a win. It’s elegant, it’s very collector friendly. The only other gripe I have is that I found it curious that “ROBOCOP” isn’t lettered out the way it looked on the posters or the film’s title screen. Robo comes out of the box and ready for action and he is indeed spectacular. As soon as I got him out I scrutinized the figure top to bottom and front to back to see if there were any QC issues, but this figure is absolutely flawless. There isn’t a scratch or a blemish anywhere to be seen and that’s incredible when you consider that almost every inch of this guy is either metallic silver or high gloss paint. The silver also gives off that exquisite purplish hue when the light hits it just so. In fact, I’m going to come out and say that I actually think the silver on this figure looks better in person than it does in the official publicity shots for the figure. How often does that happen? I’ll confess I was a little apprehensive about the use of diecast in the figure throwing off the balance or making it awkward to pose, but it does quite the contrary. The diecast in the lower legs give him a stable and steady stance even without the stand and Robo has strong ratchets in the legs to support him. And yeah, it does add that satisfying heft that feels good in a figure that just set me back three bills. In fact, that was probably the first thing I noticed when I removed him from the box.

There’s all sorts of great detail on the armor. Both the sculpted seams and the panel lining look phenomenal, but I’ll just point out a couple of my favorites other points of attraction. First off, I love the way they designed the pistons on the back of his calves. They’re hinged at the ankles and ball jointed at the tops and work like real pistons. The rods are also flexible so they will bend to accommodate the ankle movement until you reposition the ball joints at the top. To me, they also feel like the most delicate thing about the figure and require some care when laying the figure down. I also dig the OCP marking running down his left leg. The fact that OCP branded the hell out of RoboCop was a great extension of the film’s corporate satire. The carved lettering is sharp and looks great, both here and on the helmet.

Speaking of the helmet, the portrait is definitely up to Hot Toys best. I’m not sure if it was easier or more difficult for them to work with just the lower half of the face to get Peter Weller’s half-likeness, but they certainly nailed it. The skin tone is eeriely realistic right down to the pores and the way the entire helmet assembly fits around the facial area is perfect. The sheen on the black parts surrounding the head is so brilliant that it shows off finger prints like crazy, so it’s not a bad idea to have a soft cloth available for when you’re done handling him!

The articulation here is very well done. Let’s face it, RoboCop was a walking tank and wasn’t exactly a fellow with a lot of range of motion. I think what we got mimics his on screen capabilities quite well. The most impressive thing to me is the way the shoulder joints pull out a bit to give him that greater range of motion in the shoulders. Apart from those ball jointed shoulders, the arms feature hinged elbows and ball joints just below the elbows and again at the wrists. The legs have ball joints in the hips, heavy ratchets in the knees, a slight swivel just under the knees, and hinges in the ankles and again in the toes. The lower torso features a ball joint and the neck has a particularly generous ball joint. Weller relied on a lot of head movement for expression and the figure certainly pays respects to that.

Obviously, one of the coolest things about Robo’s design is the leg holster and Hot Toys certainly did it justice. To open it, you simply get your fingernail on the tab and slide the hatch to the back, revealing the holster inside the leg. The gun sits comfortably in the framework inside and is easy to remove. I’m a little surprised that this whole assembly feels as simple and solid as it is. I was a little worried that I would be afraid to open it because it would be too delicate, but in hand, I’ve got no such concerns. It’s just pure functional elegance.

RoboCop actually comes with two Auto-9’s, one plastic and one diecast. The plastic one features all the great detail and features that I’ve come to expect from Hot Toys’ Sixth Scale arsenal. The slide action on it works and you can remove the clip. The diecast gun is just a solid piece of metal. It has the same great detailed sculpt, but it lacks some of the paint apps. Why provide two guns? I’m still not sure on that one, but my best guess is so that you can always keep one in the holster. I tend to keep the diecast one holstered and I use the plastic one for when I want him holding his sidearm. The better detail is nice and I find that the lighter pistol works better in his articulated hands.

Speaking of hands, RoboCop comes with two sets of hands. You get fists and you get the articulated ones. The fists are pretty self explanatory. The articulated ones feature hinges and ball joints in the fingers and these are the ones you use to hold the gun. I’ve found it can be a bit tricky to get him to hold it and the finger tips will sometimes pop out of their hinges and need to be popped back in. I had the exact same issue with the mechanical hand on my Sideshow Major Bludd figure. The fact that the finger tip pops off isn’t such a big deal, but my biggest fear there is that I will lose one of his fingertips. Remember, I said I had two issues with this finger, well that’s number one. I wish they could have found a way to give him a regular gun holding hand.

You also get an extra right hand with the data spike deployed. It’s certainly a necessity to include with the figure, but I don’t have a lot to say about it. It can easily be used for hacking computer terminals or for stabbing bastards in the throat.

RoboCop comes with three extra faces, or in this case half-faces, all mounted on a nifty tray. You get “pursed lip” face, “partially showing teeth” face, and the fan favorite “gritting teeth in pain” face. The swap out is really easy. You just lift off the helmet and make the change. The helmet is held on by a magnet, but I don’t even think that was necessary as it fits snugly on the figure. I do appreciate extra options, especially in this case since with most of his face covered, Peter Weller had to be extra expressive with his mouth when acting the part. That having been said, of the three extra faces, I can only see myself using the clenched teeth expression. The differences between the other two are pretty minor. Plus, the pain face goes so well with the battle damaged parts.

Yes, even though Hot Toys has already revealed their forthcoming battle damaged RoboCop, they still included some extras to kit out this figure with some distress. Those damaged parts include a new helmet and a new chest plate. Once again the swap is easy. The chest plates just clip and unclip at the areas around the shoulder. The sculpting and paintwork on the damaged pieces are really impressive. At first, I thought the helmet looked more like the damage from the cutting torch that Caine used on him in the second film, but having consulted my Blu-Ray it looks pretty much in line with the first film damage. The chest features bullet holes, gashes, some scorch marks, and trails of oil leaking out through the holes and vents. It looks horrible, and by that I mean it looks great!

Of course, you also get a figure stand. In this case it’s a raised hexagonal base with the OCP logo printed on it and layered over with a glossy finish. It also has “ROBOCOP” printed on it in the official title font that was missing from the box. The stand itself is the standard crotch-cradle type, which works well as the wires can be bent out so that they position themselves right inside the gaps of his hip joints. If I had one beef about the stand is that it’s rather small for a figure of this stature. It works fine if you just have Robo standing at attention, but I plan on displaying most of the time with one leg up on the stand and the other on the shelf as he prepares to draw his pistol. To do that you have to turn the base a bit so that the stand will still grab him. No big deal. Plus with the way the remote control doubles as a name plate, you can always place it on the base to orientate the stand no matter what angle your viewing it from.

And that brings us to electronics. Robo features a rotating litany of iconic quotes from the film, but first you have to get him ready to go. First, the three included button batteries go into the remote… easy peasy. Next, you have to put two LR-1 batteries into the compartment in Robo’s back. First you use the official OCP magnet tool (love it!) to easily remove his back plate. Next, you need a small Philips head screwdriver to remove the battery door. This was a little tough as that screw was over-torqued like crazy and I was afraid I was going to strip it. Once the batteries are in you turn on the switch and close him back up. Pressing the button on the remote will cycle through each of his quotes…

“Serve the public trust. Protect the innocent. Uphold the law.”
“Drop the gun, you are under arrest.”
“Thank you for your cooperation. Goodnight.”
“Stay out of trouble.”
“Dead or alive, you are coming with me.”
“Com quietly or there will be… trouble.”

The sound clips are all clear, and while the recordings do pick up some background noise from the film, I think the quality is solid. But, herein lies my second an biggest gripe with the figure. Robo powers down after about five minutes of inactivity. To get him to speak again you need to remove his back plate and switch him off and on again. That sucks! I mean, thankfully the switch isn’t inside the battery compartment itself, but it still sucks. Sounds and lights are usually not a big turn on for me with these types of figures, but I was looking forward to using Robo’s voice chip a lot. With the bother involved, I’ll certainly be using it a lot more sparingly.

If ever a figure deserved the word “Masterpiece” in its title, then Hot Toys RoboCop is certainly that figure. I can’t recall another time when I had to wait this long or built up this much anticipation over a single figure. When I got him in hand, opening him was like an event. It was the culmination of almost two years of excitement and it encapsulated everything about why I collect these bits of plastic. At the same time I was a bit worried that he couldn’t possibly live up to my crazy expectations, but in the end he did just that… and then some. Even after a long wait, and $70 disappearing from my checking account every month for a while, I have no regrets. I’d probably rate it as the finest figure in my collection right now and it’s certainly the best representation of RoboCop I ever expect to own. Lately, I think some of Hot Toys’ releases have been received with a bit less enthusiasm than in the past. At least that’s the feeling I get from reactions in the collector community. Either way, Hot Toys really upped their game on this one. They did a stellar job and it’s made me all the more excited to start seeing The Guardians of the Galaxy figures ship next year! It’s also made me seriously start to consider picking up that Diecast Iron Man Mark III that’s coming out next year.

Sep 12 2014

Thor The Dark World: Loki Movie Masterpiece 1:6 Scale Figure by Hot Toys

My Hot Toys shelves are mostly populated by Marvel figures, but it’s a bit of an eclectic mix from the various films. I was a little late to the party when the Avengers figures were first released and while I was able to finally secure some of them, many others are only available now on the second-hand market for a lot more than I’m willing to pay. One of those figures was Loki and so I was able to take the opportunity of this Thor 2 release of the character to finally get him on my shelf. Sure, this version comes sans his “reindeer games” helmet and Chitauri Spear, but the rest of his costume is more or less the same, so this release made for a good compromise. I often do these Sixth-Scale features in two parts, but since he isn’t overburdened with accessories, I’m fairly confident that I can do Loki all due justice in just the one.

The presentation is surprisingly different from what we’ve been seeing in the Hot Toys Marvel line. The Avengers presentation felt rather utilitarian, whereas the Dark World figures come in this rather flashy style box with a semi-foil finish and obviously based off the design of Mjolnir. It’s a bit bigger and bulkier than it need be, but I still like it a lot and I think it reflects the high price of the collectible better than The Avengers packaging. But that’s not to say it’s any more complex. On the contrary, it’s actually a lot simpler. There’s no flap to open and tray to slide out. It’s basically a shoe box. Lift up the top and there’s your figure in his tray.

And here he is! Loki comes right out of the box and ready to go. The only thing that really requires set up is the stand, which is similar in design to the other Marvel figures only with a Dark World logo and “Marvel” boxed out in red. By now the costume should be readily familiar, as he’s worn the same basic thing in three movies with the main difference here being the lack of his iconic horned helmet. I’m sure there are subtle differences in the Dark World costume design, but I can’t readily pick them out and that makes him a versatile figure. He works fine for me as a Loki from any of the films and that was why I got him. After all, Dark World was a decent film, I enjoyed it a lot, but for me it was definitely the weakest of the Marvel movies so far, and I didn’t have a desire to own a Hot Toys figure that pays respect solely to that film.

The tailoring of Loki’s costume is gorgeous. The garment is a complex mix of different textures and materials all layered on top of each other. You get a rich, hunter green fabric with bronze stitching, you get beautiful brown fabric with a stitched diamond pattern, you get black leather-like material and also some bronze armor pieces with sculpted rivets. All of that is layered onto a black and bronze plastic breast plate. What’s really impressive is that even with all these layers and the breast plate and shoulder armor, the entire ensemble isn’t at all bulky. Quite the contrary, it’s a beautiful fit giving Loki a trim profile and it’s a lot less restrictive than many other Hot Toys costumes. The instructions warn you not to try to take the costume off the figure and that sounds like pretty damn good advice because I wouldn’t even know where to begin if I wanted to.

Moving on to the portrait, this obviously isn’t Hot Toys’ first crack at the Tom Hiddleston likeness. Hot Toys is a company that is constantly advancing and when they do subsequent versions of characters, there’s usually notable improvements made. Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s the case here. Don’t get me wrong, this is still a very solid head sculpt and a good likeness to the actor, but based on in-hand pictures (not Hot Toys own official pictures) Dark World Loki doesn’t represent a big leap forward over The Avengers Loki. It’s more of a sideways shuffle. I do like the expression, which has the hint of a smirk that suits the character so well, but then The Avengers Loki had a great expression as well.

While the likeness is there, I think the complexion is tad off under certain lighting. The skin tone, while eerily realistic, strikes me as being a bit too dark under normal room lighting, while looking much better under bright studio lights. There’s more darkness around the eyes too, which, on the other hand, I think tends to look better in person than under studio lighting. Maybe Hot Toys took The Dark World title a little too literal. These aren’t crippling complaints, I’m still quite pleased with the likeness, but if you already have Avengers Loki and were concerned that this release would render your figure outdated, you can rest easy because that’s not the case.

And that brings us to accessories. First off, Loki comes with the usual array of extra hands. You get a pair of clenched manacle hands, a pair of relaxed hands, and a pair designed for when he’s holding his dagger. By now most of you know that I’m not someone who tends to swap out the hands on these figures a lot, but in this case, each of Loki’s pairs serves a very specific purpose and I like that. Apart from the hands, you really only get two accessories.

One is his little dagger and the other is the set of manacles we see him in at the beginning of the film. It sounds like a pretty paltry inventory, but it should probably be qualified by two things. One, there’s not much else I can think of to give him. Obviously there’s The Aether, but that was exclusive to the Sideshow release, which surprisingly enough sold out rather quickly. I’ll concede that as an Infinity Stone, it would be a cool item to have, but I thought it was the lamest of all the Marvel Movie Macguffins, so it certainly wasn’t a crucial item for me.

The second point is that Loki’s other accessory, the set of manacles, is a pretty complex accessory. It includes elaborately sculpted and painted cuffs for his wrists, ankles, and neck and the individually sculpted links for the chain that attaches it all together. The cuffs themselves are beautiful and even include teeny-tiny runes etched on the rings, presumeably to bind Loki’s power. The Avengers Loki came only with a pair of wrist manacles and from the look of them, the cuffs were not as detailed as these are.

There are no moving parts on any of the cuffs, instead they’re applied by popping off the appropriate appendage, slipping the cuff on and reapplying the hands, feet, and head. Everything fits quite well and it looks very cool on the figure. Obviously the problem here is that no matter how cool this accessory is, not every collector is going to want to display the figure with the manacles, and if you don’t than this truly is a bare bones release with only a tiny dagger to display with.

Originally, I wasn’t going to use the chains at all. My original plan was to give him the Chitauri Spear that came with my Bruce Banner. But then I thought that since he’s going on my Avengers shelf anyway, it would be kind of cool to have him standing in the backgroud subdued in front of the victorious team, and that’s the route I went for now.

Overall, I’m suitably impressed with this figure, but I’m still going to wrap things up by bitching about the price. At $230 Loki feels really inflated for what is a pretty basic Hot Toys release. I don’t want to knock all the great work that went into the costume and the set of manacles, but when you compare him to other figures in this price range, the value doesn’t seem to be quite there. Sure, $220-230 seems to be the new sweet spot for Hot Toys releases these days, but they are still releasing the occasional figure at the $200 price point too (Spider-Man, Black Widow, and Bruce Banner instantly come to mind) and I would have been a lot more comfortable with the value here at that level. In the end it feels like Hot Toys was just banking on the wild popularity of the character, and the high after-market value of The Avengers Loki, rather than price him out more appropriately, they decided to goose him knowing that he’d still sell.

And you know what? They were right… because there he is on my shelf… and I’ve got no regrets.

Jul 5 2014

Resident Evil: Masterpiece Ada Wong Sixth-Scale Figure by Hot Toys, Part 2

Yesterday I kicked off my look at Hot Toys’ Ada Wong figure. We covered the figure and the outfit and a few of the accessories, but today we’re going to go into full accessory overload, because this chick comes packed with a lot of goodies. Indeed, I’d say have to say that I haven’t had this many accessories bundled with a Hot Toys figure since I bought Resident Evil Alice way back when.

Let’s start out with what is probably Ada’s most signature sidearm and that’s her grapple gun. The detail on this piece is quite spectacular right down to the pearl handles and the ring up front where the cord coils up inside. It actually looks like some kind of crazy steampunk weapon. I honestly can’t remember what this gun looked like in the game, but I did go back and watch Resident Evil Retribution recently and this accessory is the spitting image of the gun used by Ada in the film.

The grapple gun comes with two separate grapple hooks. There’s a retracted one that fits into the barrel if you want to pose her ready to fire. You also get the deployed grapple on the end of a string with a little plug that drops into the barrel of the gun. The plug simply pulls right out, so you can’t actually use it to support any weight, but as great a display as it would make, I doubt I would trust it to be hanging the figure from it even if it did.

Next up is Ada’s crossbow and this is a truly impressive piece. It’s quite large and features actual string rigging and a foot stirrup. There’s a removable bolt so you can display it loaded or unloaded and the bolt can be pegged in two different positions, cocked and un-cocked.

I absolutely love the work that went into this weapon and it’s very probably the piece that I’m going to display her with the most. It’s worth noting that as front-heavy as this piece is, Ada’s hands and ratcheting joints are strong enough to hold it in a firing position without any trouble.

Of course, sometimes you want to bring something to the party with a little more oompf than a crossbow, and that’s where Ada’s M1928 drum-fed Thompson sub-machine gun comes into play. Oh yeah! I’ve always loved the Thompson and as impressive as the crossbow is, this gun is the real gem of the set for me. It’s absolutely friggin gorgeous and really outshines the one that came with my First Avenger Captain America. Yeah, they are different models, but this one is just so beautifully detailed that I can’t stop admiring it. If it wasn’t for the drum, I’d probably give it to Cap.

Obviously the drum is removable and you get that great exposed painted bullet peeking out of the top. There’s also a flip up site on the back. The finish on the metal and the wooden grips is just superb. Is there anything sexier than a hot chick holding a vintage sub-machine gun? I don’t think so. I love this thing more than any human being should love a sixth-scale toy weapon. Hang on, let me take a cold shower and smoke a cigarette…

OK. Better. The last of the weapons in Ada’s arsenal is the shotgun, and this is the only piece in the whole set that feels like it was just tossed in to beef things up. Not that this set really needed any beefing up. The weapon features a second hand grip under the barrel so Ada can easily wield it with both hands.

The shotgun is a totally static piece, so you can’t work the action on it so it doesn’t have quite the same gravitas as the pistol or the Thompson, but it’s still a solid sculpt with some nice weathering. It’s not a weapon that I tend to associate with Ada, which also makes it feel like a bit of an afterthought. But, hey, free shotgun! What the hell am I complaining about?

And we’re not done yet, because you also get her briefcase with a whole bunch of stuff in it. I presume the vials are samples of the virus, but I have no idea what the other stuff in here is. What I do know is everything tiny piece comes out and everything is super detailed and all nestled in foam. Very impressive!

And with that, I’m spent. In the end, I can comfortably say that I am delighted that I bought this figure because she certainly represents a wonderful effort from Hot Toys. I will certainly admit that she’s a strange release, as she comes from a game that was out years ago and even the movie she was featured in is now old news. Nonetheless, I’m glad they got her released because Alice is a lot less lonely on my shelf now. Still, I am surprised that Hot Toys released Ada at such a high price point. Don’t get me wrong, even at $199 I think she’s worth every penny, but I don’t think the fan demand for this figure is going to be there. The up side of that is that I’m sure she’ll turn up at e-tailers discounted later on down the road, so I’m hoping enough collectors get to pick her up and appreciate what a great figure she is.

Jul 4 2014

Resident Evil: Masterpiece Ada Wong Sixth-Scale Figure by Hot Toys, Part 1

Every now and then I have this weird dilemma where I hesitate to buy something but keep coming back to it. Part of my brain says, “If you really wanted it, you would have bought it straightaway, so you don’t need it.” The other half of my brain counters with, “If you didn’t really want it, you would have forgotten it by now.” That’s the internal struggle that’s been going on within me ever since Hot Toys revealed their Ada Wong figure. I have only a handful of instances where I truly regret not buying something, and at least two of those are Hot Toys Resident Evil figures. And in the end, that’s probably why I finally pulled the trigger on this one. Plus, I had some money kicking around in Paypal, so in reality she only cost me about $70. Today we’ll check out the packaging, the figure and outfit and tomorrow we’ll look at the shitload of accessories included.

There’s the box and I dig it a lot. It’s white with a very artsy deco of a CG model of the lovely Ms. Wong and the Resident Evil 4 logo. So, here’s where I really had to justify this purchase, because I got her to accompany my lonely Hot Toys Resident Evil Alice figure. And that’s what makes this version of Ada so cool. Yes, she’s technically from the video game, but she’s certainly passable as Ada Wong from Resident Evil Retribution. The portrait isn’t quite that of actress Bingbing Li, (Wow, that’s really her name? I had to look it up!) but it’s close enough to make this figure perfect for display beside Alice. In fact, they could have easily sold Ada as a Movie Masterpiece and I don’t think anyone would have given it a second thought. Not that I’m not happy to have a figure from the game. How much do I love Resident Evil 4? I own copies of it for three different consoles. Anyway, back to the package…

The front of the box is a folded flap that holds in place via a magnet. Open it up and you reveal a tray of weapons and gear on the inside of the flap and a window in the box showing the figure, her extra hands, and the figure stand. It’s a very nice presentation and possibly one of my favorite box layouts. As always everything is totally collector friendly, although it was a bitch getting some of the plastic off the figure, particularly the pieces that were placed between the body and the dress. The stand included is very similar to the basic figure stand included with just about every Hot Toys figure. The only difference here is that instead of a crotch cradle, you get ring that partially encircles Ada’s waist, more like a traditional doll stand. Ok, let’s get Ada set up and check her out!

Ada is a very simple figure by Hot Toys usual standards, but that doesn’t make her any less impressive. She comes wearing her trademark red qipao dress, which features some very neat stitching and a floral motif running up the left side. There are a few stray threads here and there, which I will eventually trim, but otherwise it’s a beautiful costume. It’s also a mighty tight garment that is perfectly designed to shows off Ada’s fine figure. Her outfit is rounded out by a scarf and a pair of high heels. While technically part of the accessories, her ensemble is punctuated by a thigh rig that includes a holster for her sidearm, a sheath for her knife and a case for her cellphone. Yeah, these are accessories, but I’ll still include them today as part of the outfit. Also part of her accessory is her pair of sunglasses. They’re extremely fragile and it can be quite frustrating to get them to stay on, but they do look nice, so I’m glad Hot Toys included them.

The figure itself uses a rubber skin to conceal the joints in the elbows and knees and I still haven’t decided how I feel about it. It’s certainly a good idea when you’re dealing with a figure that has exposed elbows and an exposed knee, but it’s possible that it makes the exposed ankle and wrist articulation a little more jarring. With companies like Phicean turning out some incredible looking female figures with all the joints concealed, I wonder why Hot Toys hasn’t ventured into similar territories yet. Anyway, the skin looks pretty amazing and lifelike. It has an alarming tendency to get marked up when you touch it. The markings, however, brush away with a stroke of a finger. It’s a little creepy, but I have to admit it makes that bare leg look pretty damn sexy. Hopefully it won’t tear like some of the “skin” on previous figures.

As already mentioned, the portrait here is designed from the CG model used for Resident Evil 4 and it looks great. I was a little concerned that Ada’s face might suffer a lack of realism because it isn’t based on the likeness of an actual person. That’s certainly not the case. The paintwork on the eyes have that wonderful, and slightly unsettling, spark of life and the sculpted hair looks great. The skin tone is amazing, right down to the subtle trace of freckles that you can make out when you get in really close and even the lips are gorgeous.

Ada’s thigh rig is like a sexy utility belt. She’s got room on there for her pistol, cell phone, and stiletto. I’ll confess that I do find it a bit bulky and in the end, I’ll probably wind up displaying her with just the weapons on there. It took a lot of work to get the straps rigged right and they will still occasionally slide down her leg when I’m posing her.

The cell phone is a simple enough static piece, although it’s improved by the hinged hard shell case that secures it to her leg. There’s not much more to say about it, other than she comes with a hand that does a pretty good job of holding it.

The “Punisher” automatic pistol is every bit the awesome piece of hardware that I’ve come to expect from Hot Toys’ sixth-scale arsenals. It’s a wonderfully detailed piece with a removable clip and the slide on the action really works. The door to the chamber is painted silver and the exposed bullet in the clip is painted brass. Ada sports a pair of gun-toting hands so that she can wield it left or right, or with both hands when she really needs to take aim and blast a Licker between the eyes. The Punisher fits nicely into the holster, and saints-be-praised, Hot Toys went with a magnetic top flap on the holster rather than a tiny and delicate snap. Magnets, Hot Toys, make all your holster flaps with magnets from now on!

I’ll also point out here that the Punisher comes with an add-on laser sight, which I think is really going above and beyond. The tiny piece simply clips on to the top of the pistol and does have to be removed in order for the gun to be holstered. It’s just one of many little touches that Hot Toys could have easily left out of the box and I wouldn’t have missed it, but really adds value to the overall package.

Last up is the teeny-tiny silver stiletto dagger. For what should be a rather forgettable accessory, I really dig it. It fits beautifully in the tiny sheath and it’s just the kind of weapon that a femme fatale like Ada might keep up there. What’s more, Ada has a hand that’s absolutely perfect for holding it, despite the fact that it’s just so goddamn small.

For what is essentially the simplest Hot Toys figure in my collection, I’m still very impressed with how Ada came out. I have to admit I was a little hesitant picking her up because she’s probably the closest thing to a “doll” I have in my collection. Then again, I’m a middle aged guy who collects toys, so I’m not sure that I need to worry about crossing over any lines that mark the threshold of social approval. Hell, if those Jem and the Holograms dolls put out by Integrity Toys weren’t so hard to get and expensive, I’d probably be collecting those. Anyway, Ada just looks amazing and is surprisingly fun to pose.

Ok, I’ve already run over for the day, so I’m going to break here and when I come back tomorrow we’ll check out all the rest of the accessories that came with Ada. Because this dolly comes with a virtual arsenal of goodies.

Apr 30 2014

The Avengers: Bruce Banner and Hulk Movie Masterpiece 1:6 Scale Figures by Hot Toys, Part 2

I’m back and today we’re checking out Hot Toys’ Bruce Banner! This figure was available for purchase either by himself or bundled with The Hulk. I’ll be honest, I went into The Avengers not giving a crap about who the latest actor was that they tapped to play Dr. Banner and I came out of the movie totally blown away by Mark Ruffalo’s treatment of the character. One might expect to spend every moment Banner was on screen waiting anxiously for him to turn into Hulk and start smashing things, but I was captivated by Ruffalo’s performance. He did an amazing job and there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted a figure of him to add to my Hot Toys Avengers shelf. It’s not like we’re going to get him in any other action figure line, right?

There he is! And yes, to the uninitiated, this is a very expensive figure of a nerdy looking guy in a suit. But we know he’s so much more than that. He’s the unassuming vessel that holds the pure rage of The Incredible Hulk. Let’s face it, Dr. Banner and The Hulk may be the same person, but they’re definitely two different characters. And my Avengers shelf would never be complete without this guy. Let’s start with the portrait.

Hot Toys got a lot of guff among collectors over this portrait and I honestly cannot see why. No, it’s not one of their absolute best. Yes, it has it’s good angles and bad angles. But all I can say is in person I think it’s a solid representation of Ruffalo. At first I thought the complexion might be a little too dark, but the more I look at the more I think it’s just right.

Banner comes wearing the clothes he had on when he boarded the SHIELD Helicarrier. The suit is absolutely fantastic. I genuinely believe it’s a lot easier for sixth-scale figure producers to tailor some of the crazy armors and outfits than it is to do a simple suit. In fact, one of the minor gripes about my 11^th Doctor figure from Big Chief was that the tailoring on the jacket was rather puffy and the collar wasn’t quite right. Of course, that was Big Chief and this is Hot Toys and the tailoring on this suit is superb. The trousers and jacket are wonderfully proportioned and I always thought the purple shirt was a nice nod to The Hulk’s traditionally purple pants. The jacket is also pretty easily removed for when you want Banner to roll up his sleeves and start doing science. The entire ensemble is punctuated by a pair of stylish loafer feet.

What about accessories? Well, Banner is not exactly weighed down with extras. You do get the ubiquitous figure stand with “The Avengers” on it and a nameplate that reads “Bruce Banner.” You also get a ridiculous number of hands. Four sets of hands! Why??? There are two open hands, two item clutching hands, and two fists. I will never use most of these.

You also get two tiny pieces that are basically part of Dr. Banner’s wardrobe. First, there’s the amazingly detailed wristwatch and second there’s the eyeglasses. I don’t have anything to say about the watch, other than it looks great and it comes in handy so that Bruce knows WHEN IT’S TIME TO DO SCIENCE! The glasses are nicely done for such a tiny accessory, but they don’t interact well with the figure at all. There are two tiny and very shallow holes in the figure’s hairline where the arms of the glasses are supposed to go. They fit fine, but there’s not enough depth there to hold them in place. It took a lot of angling trickery just to snap a picture of him wearing them. You could have him holding them, but even with four sets of hands, none of them seem particularly well suited to the task. I’ve decided they look best just tucked into the top button of his shirt collar. I wear glasses most of the time, but I don’t need them when I’m reading, so I tend to tuck them in there.

The only big and noteworthy accessory is the Chitauri Spear. I’m pretty sure this is a straight repack of the shorter of the two spears that came with the Avengers Loki figure. I’m not complaining, mind you. It was a good accessory to include since Banner was holding it in the lab while the team was bickering. I’m also glad to have it because I didn’t buy the Loki figure from The Avengers, and I will likely buy The Dark World version and just give him this spear.

In the end, I really dig this figure a lot. At around $190 by himself, he’s among the least expensive figures Hot Toys has put out lately, but that’s to be expected since he is just a guy in a suit. Nonetheless, had Hot Toys not offered The Hulk bundle I would have still ponied up for him alone, but that’s just because I never expected Banner to be so well integrated into the movie and I just loved the portrayal of the character. Thankfully, Hot Toys did offer the bundle and while $529 shipped is a hell of a lot to pay for a pair of action figures, The Avengers has become one of my favorite movies of all time, so it’s a solid investment for me. It’s an even better deal when you consider that The Hulk is selling for around $400 or so on Ebay all by himself, making this two-pack the most economical way to get him. As of today the set is still available through Sideshow Toys, but it’s been marked with the dreaded, “Hurry less than 90 remain.” Anyone regretting not picking The Hulk up the first time around should definitely give this set a look. I’m certainly glad I did!

Apr 29 2014

The Avengers: Bruce Banner and Hulk Movie Masterpiece 1:6 Scale Figures by Hot Toys, Part 1

Alrighty, toyhounds, strap in because today’s a doozy! I’m checking out Hot Toys massive Bruce Banner and Hulk 2-pack. Ha… 2-pack! That’s a term that sounds appropriate for disposable razors and toilet paper, and not so much high end collectibles. Nonetheless, Hot Toys has taken their massive sold out Hulk figure and bundled it with their new Bruce Banner figure and wrapped it all up in one big $510 package. It may be two figures, but as far as collectibles go this set represents the most money I’ve ever dropped on a single box. Today I’m going to look at the packaging and The Hulk and tomorrow we’ll look at Dr. Banner.

The box is massive. It’s so big that there was no way it was going to fit within the confines of my backdrop, so I just snapped it on my coffee table along with a can of Coke to establish scale. Sideshow wouldn’t lend me their apple. Despite its size, the box is designed to complement the package designs used for the other Hot Toys Avengers figures. The only real difference is that this one doesn’t have a sleeve. The front has an excellent shot of The Hulk and a rather poor shot of Dr. Banner. I’ve heard at least a few people complaining that the packaging here isn’t more special, but I’m rather pleased that they kept it in line with the rest of the series. Anyway, the top flap of the box opens and you can slide out the contents.

Inside, you get a large foam tray that holds The Hulk and his two swappable hands. On the other side you get an equally large clear plastic tray that has Banner and all the other accessories. It’s certainly an impressive layout and there’s no better way to demonstrate the sheer size of The Hulk figure than seeing him in his tray next to Banner. Keep in mind, Banner is not a tiny figure. He’s actually taller than Black Widow and less than a head shorter than Thor. But we’ll get to that tomorrow. Suffice it to say, opening these trays and laying them out gave me a nice sense of value, even considering the ridiculous amount of money I laid out for this set. Let’s get The Hulk out of his tray and check him out.

When standing fully erect, I’d say this guy is about 18-inches, putting him at about the same height as NECA’s ¼-scale figures. Of course on display, you’ll want to have him hunched over and even then he towers above your average Hot Toy figure and one of his fists is considerably larger than Thor’s whole head. What’s more this entire figure feels like solid, heavy plastic. The only place there’s any squishy parts is in the elbow jointing and the rest of The Hulk’s body is rock hard. Obviously a big part of Hot Toys’ wow factor comes from a combination of superb head sculpt and outfit crafting. The Hulk doesn’t have much to offer in the costuming department, although the torn pants are quite nice and fit the figure very well. The rest of the figure still manages to impress with an intricate muscular sculpt all sorts of tendons and veins and even some sculpted chest hair.

Yes, there is exposed jointing in the figure, which can be a bit jarring for Hot Toys collectors, as they usually do a good job hiding it. Hulk’s elbow joints are concealed under the “skin” of the arms and the hips are concealed under the pants. The ball jointed shoulders are easily the most obvious and unsightly of the joints as you can clearly see the gaps in the torso where the shoulders fit in and move. Depending on how you pose Hulk, you’ll likely also be able to make out the knee joints. The wrist and ankle joints are also visible, but not nearly as much. None of what I’m saying here is meant as a criticism of the figure, but it’s worth pointing out just because it’s not the norm in a Hot Toys figure. It’s just a necessary evil for the articulation.

And how about that head sculpt? The portrait here is nothing short of phenomenal. It’s obviously Hulk from The Avengers film, but at the same time it works beautifully as just an iconic Hulk portrait. The expression is pure rage and the eyes and teeth are so real looking that it’s just plain eerie. The sculpted hair looks great, although if you look close enough you can make out the seams where the top of the hair lifts off to grant access to the PERS system. PERS is the Parallel Eye Rotating System and it basically gives you access to tiny joysticks on the back of each eye so you can reposition them. It’s a very cool, and slightly off-putting, design that I honestly think could have been left out of The Hulk. His eyes are set so deeply that even when I reposition them it’s hard to notice any difference. Plus, the system works well with figures that require expressive changes based on different poses. The Hulk’s only expression is rage and the only place I need his eyes pointing are at the thing in front of him that he’s about to smash. I’m guessing Hot Toys wanted to add some value to the figure and seeing how big he is, it was rather easy to put in the PERS feature. Still, I doubt I’ll ever make use of it.

Hulk comes with his two fists installed, but he also has two open hands, each with four poseable fingers. It’s rather easy to swap the hands and chances are I’ll probably have him displayed most of the time with a left fist out in front and his open right hand hanging back. The open hands also come in “handy” (HA!) for a couple of the extras that Hulk comes with in this set. And that brings us to the accessories!

One of the complaints about The Hulk’s initial release was that he was very light on accessories. In fact, there were no accessories, not even a stand. All you got was the figure and the two extra hands. Hot Toys remedied that a bit with this release, by tossing in a few bits from previous sets. First, you get a diorama base with a dead Chitauri on it. I’m pretty sure this piece is a straight repack from the battle damaged Mark VII Iron Man Armor. It’s still a surprisingly fitting stand for The Hulk. It’s certainly big enough for him and there are even two places on the base that look like they were made for him to stand.

You also get a pair of twisted girders or support beams, which Hulk can hold in his poseable hands. I’m pretty sure I read that these were recycled from another set too, but I don’t know what they came with originally. They’re pretty lightweight accessories, but I can’t deny it’s nice to have something for Hulk to look like he’s tearing apart.

While I think Hot Toys had to sacrifice a bit of their wizardry for the type of figure this is, I’m still absolutely amazed by the way he came out. Sure the visible jointing steps on the uncanny illusion of realism that you get with most Hot Toys figures, but I find that it’s not making me love this big guy any less. Besides, I’d rather have the jointing than some kind of experimental rubber skin that’s going to tear over time. If you’ve already picked up the first release, the extras certainly aren’t enough to make anyone want to double dip, but probably enough to cry foul that the stand and girders weren’t included with the al a carte version of the The Hulk. Tomorrow, I’ll wrap up my look at this set with the Bruce Banner figure!

Jul 27 2013

Avengers: Thor Movie Masterpiece 1:6 Scale Figure by Hot Toys

While I am most certainly not going for an entire set of Hot Toys Avengers, (sadly, my wallet won that fight) I have been cherry picking the characters I want the most. I kicked myself for not picking up the first Hot Toys Thor, but as was the case with Black Widow, sometimes taking a pass on a first effort pays off later. The Avengers Thor is said to be a huge improvement over the initial release and looking at photos of the figure online finally wore me down to the point where I threw him on Flex Pay. Four months later and the God of Thunder has shown up at my doorstep. I often do these figures in two parts, but Thor is a pretty simple, albeit spectacular, figure so I think I can probably do him justice in just one shot.

The packaging is designed to mesh with all the Hot Toys Avengers. You get a sleeve with a B&W shot of the character’s portrait and “The Avengers” in foil lettering. The top of the box has Thor’s name in big type and the sides have his Mjolnir symbol. Pull the sleeve off and you reveal a window box showing off the goods. It’s a very basic presentation compared to some of Hot Toys’ previous efforts. I suppose it’s fair to expect a lot of bells and whistles in the packaging for a $200 figure, but honestly the simplicity doesn’t bother me a whole hell of a lot. Besides, the $200 price point is pretty much Hot Toys’ new bottom line. Sure, I do keep the boxes for these figures, but mainly as a means of storing the extra parts and in case I ever need to put the entire figure away at some point down the road. At the very least, your Avengers boxes will look nice and uniform on the shelf if you are collecting the whole line.

The layout of the figure in the tray should be readily familiar to anyone who has picked up one of Hot Toys products before. The figure comes partially wrapped in plastic with the extra hands and accessories flanking him on both sides. In this case, the cape is passed through a slit in the tray, which seemed to do a nice job keeping it from getting all rumpled. The personalized figure stand is placed between the legs. Everything fits into the tray snugly. It’s a good economy of space without making everything seemed cramped.

While Thor’s appearance varied a bit throughout The Avengers, Hot Toys recreated him in his full sleeved armor. I think that was a good choice because I absolutely love the scale armor turned out for the sleeves. It’s rubbery and looks dead on to the movie outfit. They also hide the joints, which would have been the big downside of a bare armed version. I suppose you could take the sleeves off if you wanted, but I tend to follow this rule about futzing too much with my $200 figures: I don’t do it. The arms also feature bracers on his wrists, which are strapped around bright red cloth sleeves. Yes, the rubbery sleeves do inhibit the arm movement, but not much more than First Avenger Cap’s uniform shoulders did. Sure, it would be nice to pose him with Mjolnir above his head calling down the thunder, but I knew that was an issue going in, so it wasn’t really surprising or disappointing. Articulation whores will certainly take issue at this, but I think the trade off was a worthy one.

The chest armor looks outstanding. It’s sculpted with cutouts to show the garment underneath, giving the outfit a very convincing and layered look. I am a big fan of the armor design from the movie and it’s captured really well here. The pleather trousers have stitched stripes and the boots are actually two parts. You get the ball jointed feet plugged into the ankles and the top of the boot is separate. It still looks great and serves to offer a little more poseability in the ankles than stiff boots would have allowed. The trade off is that the ankle joints require you to fiddle about a bit to get him to stand in some positions. And then there’s the cape… by Odin’s beard, I love the cape! It’s bright red fabric and the way it hangs over the shoulder armor gives it that iconic hovering look that we’re so used to seeing in Thor’s design. The back of it is tailored to hang in folded layers. I was a little concerned that the cape was going to require a whole lot of adjusting to make it look right, but it’s designed to look fine right out of the box.

Thor’s portrait has come a long way since HT first showed him off. Early shots were a bit spotty but the final product turned out just fine and I think the likeness to Chris Hemsworth is up to their usual impeccable standards. Yes, from certain angles the mouth can look a bit derpy, but let’s face it Thor isn’t necessarily the braintrust of The Avengers team. The hair is the only minor issue I have with the figure and that’s just because sculpted hair this long tends to take away from the realism of the rest of the head sculpt. But when you consider the alternative is rooted, I’ll take the lesser of two evils. The truth is it still looks fine and it’s flexible enough so as not to inhibit the head movement too much.

If you’re looking for an abundance of accessories, Thor will disappoint. You get a copious amount of hands (more on that in a bit) and just two other items. But seriously, what does Thor need other than Mjolnir? It’s the one thing that was absolutely required to come with the figure and it is indeed a very nice piece. I knew the head was going to be die cast metal, but I was still surprised by how satisfyingly heavy it is. The grip on the handle is sculpted and painted and there’s a lanyard attached to the end.

The other cool piece is the Cosmic Cube in the containment tube. Ha! That rhymes! Like Mjolnir, this is an extremely nicely crafted accessory. It’s also one that was really not necessary and so it makes for a great bonus. I had originally though this accessory came with Loki and not with Thor. Maybe it was issued with both figures, and I just missed that.

And no discussion of a Hot Toys figure would be complete without… HANDS! Seriously, does anyone actually use all these hands? Thor comes boxed with a pair of fists, but there are three additional pairs, which include two open hands, two partially open hands, two hands for holding Mjolnir. You also get an extra left hand, which seems to be designed for holding Mjolnir out at an angle. I’m not sure what that one is all about. It might be the one designed to hold half the containment tube so that Loki can hold the other. I’m not big on swapping hands. Obviously the right Mjolnir hand will stay put. The left one may vary between a fist and the open hand. You also get a couple of extra wrist posts in case you snap the ones on the figure by swapping out all these hands.

No doubt about it, Thor is another amazing effort from Hot Toys. I always have those little twinges of trepidation when ordering these things, but whenever they show up I’m always glad I did. He looks amazing on my shelf, and I really envy the collectors that are putting together this entire team because those displays are going to be EPIC! Granted, at $200 Thor ain’t cheap. He doesn’t come with a lot of stuff, but there’s nothing conspicuously absent either. Like I said earlier, $200 is the new bottom line for Hot Toys and for the most part, the days of the $160 figures are probably over. But hell, I still think he’s well worth it. The only downside is that now I’m seriously re-considering whether I need Loki on my shelf… and he is still available at a few retailers.

FigureFan Zero

Action Figure Reviews, Toys & Collectibles…

Tag Archives: hot toys

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