It’s hard to believe that it’s been about five years since I last featured a DC Designer Series statue here on FFZ. I used to fall for this line hard, especially where characters like Catwoman and Wonder Woman were concerned. But I only have room for so many statues so I’ve been trying to be a lot more picky. And yet every once and a while a sale turns up and today’s piece was just an offer that I couldn’t refuse. So let’s have a look at the DC Designer Catwoman by Stanley Artgerm.
Selina comes in a fully enclosed box and if you’ve picked up any of the DC Collectible statues in the past, you should know what to expect here. It’s a sizeable box, but despite being sixth-scale, Catwoman is crouched, so it may not be as big a box as you might expect. Styrofoam protects the resin statue and it comes in three pieces: The figure, the kitty cat, and the base. Assembly is easy peasy, with metal rods connecting the figure and kitty to the base, but a word of caution, the connection is a bit loose, so be careful when transporting the statue by the base as things can get a little wobbly. I am a huge fan of Stanley Lau’s work and I probably have a near complete run of his time doing the DC Cover Girls statues, many of which have been featured here in the past.
And here she is set up and ready for display and I really dig this piece a lot. This is a very animated-style Catwoman and I’ll admit I was a little hesitant because of the design choice to go with some cell-shading type paintwork, and I’ll come back to that in a tick. First off, I love the pose. Selina is down on one knee as if she just landed from a high leap. She wields her whip in one hand and her stolen prize, a pricey necklace in the other. Her catsuit leaves little to the imagination when it comes to the curves of her body. And despite all that, what almost steals the show for me is the way the kitty cat is fixated on the tail of her coiled whip, as if tracking it’s movement. The composition here is just killer with the staged pose and suggested kinetic energy giving up the best of both worlds.
And oh what a smirk! I love the crooked smile she gives as she holds up her treasure. There’s definitely some Bruce Timm influences in there, especially in the shape of the mask and design of the hood. Her almond eyes are perfectly painted as she no doubt taunts Batman with her latest illicit score. Selina has always been a dreamy kitty for me and this statue is no exception!
I mentioned the paint style and cell shading in figures and statues is not usually my cup of tea. Indeed, I recently backed out of pre-ordering McFarlane’s new animated Batman figures because of it. Thankfully, it’s not overdone here and I actually quite like most of it. There’s some gray washed onto the boot to suggest a glean, and some darker shadows on the gray to give it that comic panel look. I think the shading on the belt’s discs is especially well done. I’m not entirely sold on the gray swatch on her mask, but everything about the paint has been growing on me. Aside from all that, the paint quality and precision is very well executed.
The detail in the whip is very nice with a sculpted braid and an arrowhead style point. It’s almost poetic in the way it curves around her body, suspended in mid air. And once again, I have to just say how much in love I am with that cat’s expression. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen that look in my own cat’s eyes as something catches their interest. The base itself is a simple black disc with a cat face cut deeply into it with an orange outline and green eyes. It’s all stylish and understated and I dig that a lot. Production on this one was limited to 5000 pieces, if you can call that a limitation. Each one is hand numbered under the base. Mine is #2730 which figures because I waited so long to get her.
This piece originally retailed for around $170 and while I was smitten with it at the time of the original pre-orders, my willpower held. Of course, that willpower gave way when it was later offered for around $75 and I caved in. Honestly, I’m surprised it took that long since I’m an easy mark when it comes to Catwoman. This one is still available at several retailers at deep discount and I’m very glad I finally picked her up. She looks great with some of the other recent Catwoman pieces in my collection. And while I do love this one a lot, she doesn’t quite bump the Joelle Jones Cover Girls statue, pictured above on the right, as my current favorite.
I’m continuing to try to pepper in some more Sixth-Scale figure reviews this Summer because I have a big backlog. But these take a lot more time than the other stuff I review, so I have to pace myself. There are some excellent releases coming in this second half of the year as well and today I’m bumping one of those new releases to the front of the line, because I was just really excited to get Hot Toys’ Marty from Back to the Future III! And in case you missed it, check out my look at Marty from the first film!
The figure comes in the standard shoebox-style package with a pretty cool old-timey style photo of Marty about to have his showdown with Mad Dog Tannen. The top lifts off and you get an illustrated insert depicting the DeLorean and under that are the goods in the usual black plastic tray. I feel like I surprise people when I declare that I like the third BTTF movie a lot more than the second. I’ll always consider the first a perfect film, the second was fun once or twice, but it gets way too over the top in the goofiness. I think I like the third one best because it scratches my Western itch and they actually go further back in time. It also kind of reminds me of the Classic Trek episode Spectre of the Gun where the protagonist is just desperate to escape the situation without having to engage in a gunfight he knows he can’t win. It was also nice to see Doc Brown get more of the movie to himself. Anyway, let’s get Marty out of the box!
The figure sports two different looks: One in his western suit and the other in his Clint Eastwood-style costume for the big gunfight. He comes out of the box pretty much ready for the first look, depending on whether you want to display him with his gun belt on or not. He didn’t wear it for a lot of the movie, but I put it on right away. The costume looks great and Hot Toys did a nice job conveying the cruder old-time style of the clothes. The trousers have an almost suede look to them and the brown fades a bit at the cuffs. The coat is a little ill-fitting, which I’m sure is intentional, with rounded lapels and rows of buttons running down each side of the flaps. The striped shirt underneath has a button flap running down to the chest and long sleeves with cuffs. The boots are pretty simple sculpts, but look nice and also have some fading to the brown near the toes. I doubt this costume was a big challenge for the tailoring wizards at Hot Toys, but it looks outstanding nonetheless.
The portrait includes the hat permanently attached to the head, and I’m fine with that. The expression is pretty much identical to the one from the first film with the lips slightly parted. The big difference is the sculpted hair is now pressed down over his forehead with some extremely light and delicate strands overlapping and letting some of the skin behind it show through, making for a very cool effect. Some of the freckling and pores in the skin are a little more evident in this portrait, and I think it looks great. Beyond that the likeness is just as solid as ever, but that’s to be expected as this certainly isn’t Hot Toys first time working with Michael J. Fox’s portrait.
Marty is one of those rare Hot Toys where the articulation is not at all inhibited by the costume, nor do you have to worry about the costume getting damaged by keeping him in any specific poses. As a result he is a lot of fun to play with. Naturally, you get a ton of hands to swap out, including fists, relaxed hands, and a bunch designed to work with some of the accessories. Speaking of which, let’s take a look at some of those accessories before swapping out his costume.
First up, you get the package that Doc mailed to Marty from the past. This is just a large flat parcel wrapped in brown paper and tied with a string. It also includes the photo of Doc Brown’s tombstone.
“Hey… Frisbie! Far out!” Yes, you get the Frisbie’s Pie plate that Marty used to disarm Mad Dog when he was about to gun down Doc Brown. Definitely a fun accessory!
Next up is the walkie-talkie retro-fitted with the ridiculously large old-timey battery. It’s very nicely done and a cool bonus, but probably not essential. I doubt I’ll be posing him with it much.
One of the real beauties in the box is the Hover Board. I must have completely forgotten this was included, or maybe I never realized it. Either way, I was super surprised to see it when I opened the box. It’s not featured much in the film, but what a great pack in! It has an elastic foot strap and a sharp and colorful sticker on the front, while the reverse side has the hover disks. Very cool! Next we’ll check out the gun and belt, and to do that we’re going to take Marty’s coat off.
Here we get a better look at the shirt, but more importantly the gun belt. And if you were hoping for some closeups of Michael J. Fox’s ass we got that for you too! The belt has a nice leather-like texture to it and some immaculate stitching. The holster itself has a retaining strap to hold it against the leather backing and a rawhide tie that goes around Marty’s leg to keep it all in place. You also get a brace of sculpted .45 Long Colt cartridges, each one fully painted. The belt itself buckles pretty easily and stays put quite well.
And easily my favorite accessory here is the Colt Peacemaker, and boy is this a beautiful example of the gun in this scale. The finish is gorgeous and the sculpt includes fine details like the screws and even the ejector spring under the barrel. The cylinder rotates and you can even pull back the hammer. I would have liked to see a little woodgrain texture in the handle. But that’s a minor nitpick and this really is a wonderful piece! And now we’ll switch Marty over to his Clint Eastwood look. The coat stays off, but you add his poncho and neckerchief.
And damn, this looks great! The poncho is made of a pretty heavy wool-like material and features magnets inside to help it secure front to back on each side. It can also be cinched up for easy access to his holster. The neckerchief has some nice printing on it and you can even unravel it a bit and have Marty wear it like a mask.
And the final accessory that goes with the Clint Eastwood outfit is the iron stove door Marty used as a makeshift bulletproof vest. It has some sculpted decorations on the front and a bit of a rust-colored wash over the black paint. There is a crude looking piece of rope that’s used to hang it around his neck. Awesome!
And as always, what’s our final stop on these Hot Toys’ reviews? You got it… the figure stand! It has a rectangle base with beautiful printing of the DeLorean being pulled by the horses to try to get it up to 88mph, along with the BTTF 3 logo. I absolutely love the decision to go with this for the base art and I wish Hot Toys would get back into the habit of doing it for more movie figures. It’s so much more attractive than the printed ground texture that they use so often. The base also has a nameplate that looks like it’s printed on an old piece of leather. The only thing I don’t like about the figure stand is they used the waist grabber for the post instead of the crotch cradle, and I honestly can’t figure out why. This thing is such a pain in the ass to attach when dealing with the coat or the poncho and it gets caught on the gun belt to. I will likely swap it out for the crotch cradle from one of the figures I don’t have on display.
Hot Toys’ Marty is an absolutely fantastic figure with a couple of great display options for the costume and some fun accessories. But, this is also a figure that retails for $285 and holy shit, that’s just insane even by Hot Toys pricing. Based on the number of accessories, this is a figure I would have expected to retail closer to the $225 mark and not closer to the $300 price point. Now, I don’t regret buying him one bit, because I was hoping for a long time we would get BTTF3 versions of Doc and Marty. But then again, I’ve always had more money than sense. Hopefully BTTF3 Doc Brown will be shipping soon! Oh yeah… and I’ll get to a review of Sideshow’s Blondie from The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly soon too!
With how much I adore Star Trek, it’s a shame there aren’t more toys out there to collect. And it seems like a portion of what is out there is focused on the new crop of Paramount+ Trek series, of which I am not a fan. And that’s putting it mildly. But Exo-6 has been producing a number of Sixth-Scale figures based on the various series and I’ve jumped on board some of these, starting with Admiral Kirk from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. I passed on The Next Generation figures, partly because the Picard series has kind of soured me on them for a bit, but I am planning on going all in on Deep Space Nine and Enterprise. So let’s kick things off today with Exo-6’s first figure from Deep Space Nine… Captain Sisko!
Oh boy do I love this guy! Everything about him feels so genuine and making him a single dad just upped the complexity of his character. He comes in a window box with a wrap-around sleeve showing a head shot of the figure. You get some foil lettering and the box calls out that this is the EX Version, which distinguishes it from the more expensive version that included a few more accessories. This one is also known as the Essentials Version. Exo-6 opted to go with the character as he appeared later in the series, so Sisko has his head shaved and sports a goatee. Also, he didn’t get promoted to Captain until the end of Season 3. He’s also wearing the uniform which debuted in Star Trek: First Contact, which means this is Sisko from Season 5 or later.
Sisko comes out of the box ready for display and looking damn sharp! I was surprised that Exo-6 went with this later series uniform, as they were already making figures from Voyager with the uniform that debuted at the beginning of DS9. For me, DS9 was love at first sight, so I relate to the aesthetics of any season of the show. But I will confess that I think the bald/goatee look works best for Sisko and these uniforms definitely gave the series more of an epic appearance. The uniform is composed of black dress trousers and a black overcoat. The turtle-neck shirt underneath is red to denote Sisko’s department as being Command. You also get red striping around the sleeves. The shoulders are quilted in gray material with some very neat stitching. The ensemble is capped off with the sculpted communicator badge and rank pips on the collar. Exo-6 has really perfected their sixth-scale tailoring skills and this uniform fits the figure perfectly and looks great.
Exo-6 uses some padding to bring, what I assume is a standard body, in line with Sisko’s impressive physique, and I think it does a pretty good job at that. On the downside the padding takes what should be an easy to work with uniform and makes the figure unnecessarily restrictive in the upper body. The same is true for the crotch, which I didn’t want to overstress with too wide a stance for fear of popping the stitching. I was able to get some decent phaser-firing poses out of him, but for the most part, he’s going to be adopting some pretty conservative poses standing at Ops or on the bridge of the Defiant. Some may be a lot more disappointed at this than I am, but I tend to expect limited articulation out of my high end sixth-scale figures. With that having been said, if you’re prepared to put a little more work and risk into it than I am, your results may vary.
The head sculpt is absolutely amazing. I think Exo-6 does overall great work in this area, but some of their TNG likenesses were off just enough to persuade me to skip them for now. Of course, I gushed on and on about their Admiral Kirk likeness, and now I’m going to do it again here with Sisko. They went with a fairly neutral expression with just a hint of a grin. I think that works great here because Sisko’s default expression was rather stoic. Granted, Exo-6 is not quite up to Hot Toys level when it comes to realism, but I think they’re getting pretty damn close. The likeness to Avery Brooks is one hundred percent here and I think just a little more work on the skin texture and bringing that uncanny spark of life to the eye paint is all that’s needed. Whatever the case, the sculptors and painters should be lauded for what is just a fantastic looking portrait. I love it!
You get three pairs of hands with the figure. These include a set of relaxed hands, a set of fists, and a set to work with his accessories. It’s definitely less hands than we get with some other sixth-scale figure companies, but if I’m being honest, I think a lot of companies just overdo it with the hands. It’s nice to have options, but a lot of those hands just stay in the box after I pick a pose to go with. With that said, I’m glad we got fists, because Sisko is a very physical Captain, and he needs his Q-punching hands. The relaxed hands work well for normal posing, and I’ll address the accessory hands with the accessories…
So, first off we get the baseball that Sisko keeps on his desk. A simple accessory? Yes. But if this one was not included in the EX version, I might have ponied up for the more expensive one. I just love Sisko’s passion for baseball and some episodes have made some rather clever use of this desk ornament for greater purpose. His left accessory holding hand does a pretty good job with the baseball, but you might want to use a small piece of poster putty to keep it in place.
Next up is the PADD, which are the tablets Starfleet uses for all sorts of purposes from reviewing reports to reading books. It’s a simple slab with stickers to convey the panels. The screen stickers are high gloss, which made it difficult for me to get a picture without the reflection looking like scratches. The piece is painted with a sharp silver metallic finish and all in all it’s a good approximation of the props used on screen. The right accessory hand seemed like the best bet for holding it.
His remaining accessories are his tricorder and phaser. Each of these come with holsters which attach to the figure with magnets. This was a great way to go, as they attach and detach easily and hold the accessories very well.
The tricorder is beautifully detailed, and again the reflections off the gloss finish on the stickers makes it hard to get a clear picture, but the screens look really nice and the silver finish looks great. Instead of going with a delicate hinge to open and close the tricorder, there are magnets holding it closed. To open it, you take the front off and attach it in the open position. I’m happy to not have to worry about breaking a hinge, but I think including an open and closed version would have worked just as well.
And the phaser is a beautiful recreation of Starfleet’s famous defensive weapon with some really sharp paint and detail. The right accessory hand holds it perfectly with the thumb hovering over the trigger button on top.
Sisko comes with the exact same transporter pad display stand we saw with Admiral Kirk. The only difference is that there’s no 1:1 scale insignia badge to display on the front. I get that the badge was a special thing for the Kirk release, but it would have been nice to get one here as well. You also get clips to connect multiple display stands together to make a transporter. A nameplate would have been nice, but heck if people don’t know who he is they can get the hell out of my house!!
This version of Sisko ran me $180, which feels about right. It’s getting pretty rare to find a licensed sixth-scale figure of this quality for under $200. My only complaint with Kirk was the complete lack of accessories, so I’m happy that even this cheaper EX Version comes with all the goodies I could want. I think the Deluxe was about $40 more and the only thing I really miss is the phaser rifle, and to be fair, I don’t really feel right displaying my Star Trek officers with big aggressive looking weapons. Sure, Sisko was Captain during a time of war, but Starfleet is still a peacekeeping armada and I like him better with just the defensive phaser on his hip and beloved baseball in his hand. So far, Quark is the only other DS9 figure that has gone up for pre-order and I’m hoping he ships soon because I’m excited for more! But most of all… Miles O’Brien! But next up for my Exo-6 collection will be Captain Jonathan Archer, who just shipped out!
EXO-6 is a company that has been stirring up a lot of noise in the Sixth-Scale figure market, and that’s not an easy thing to do with the Hot Toys and Sideshow juggernauts used to hogging all the attention. They’ve also managed to fill a huge void in the Sixth-Scale marketplace by snapping up the Star Trek license and releasing some pretty impressive figures based on The Next Generation, Voyager, Deep Space Nine, and soon even Enterprise. And now the original crew films with Admiral James T. Kirk himself as he appeared in the original motion picture. It’s a movie that would get overshadowed by it’s sequel, but still one that I will defend until my dying day. To me, Star Trek: The Motion Picture will always ne the most faithful piece of StarTrek ever created. It’s a film about exploration and discovery, and finding one’s place in the vast Universe. In its more than two hour running time, not a single shot is fired in anger. Sure, I love me a good space battle, but that’s never been what Star Trek is supposed to be about. And for you younger fans, you just can’t imagine what it was like to see the upgraded Enterprise and see the crew united for the first time in ten years. So let’s take a look at this figure!
The packaging is pure class! You get a heavy duty shoebox with a trifold top that secures with magnets. The front cover has the iconic rainbow from The Motion Picture’s poster with the original logo, the Enterprise and a picture of the figure’s portrait in the center. There’s a gold foil band across the top with Kirk’s name and a silver foil band across the bottom declaring this a “One Sixth-Scale Museum Grade Collectible Figure” all in the familiar Star Trek font. I also love that the sides of the box are emblazoned with a gold foil Starfleet Museum logo featuring the familiar Delta symbol. Open the box and you get an illustrated insert showing the hatch on The Enterprise where the shuttlepod docks after the inspection. Beneath that, The Admiral is nestled in a black foam tray. The stand requires a little assembly, but otherwise this figure is all set to go.
I have to admit, I was kind of speechless when I got this figure out of the box and in hand. Never in a million years did I ever think that this version of Kirk would get a high end collectible figure treatment, and yet here we are… and it looks quite stunning! I make no bones about the fact that the burgundy uniforms introduced in Wrath of Khan are my favorite uniforms in all of Starfleet history, but with that having been said, I really loved this design as well. It has that clean and minimalist look that gels so perfectly with late 70’s sci-fi. I think this design also bridges the gap beautifully from what we saw in the TV series to what would come in the next film. The Admiral’s tunic is crafted in a nice, heavy material with immaculate stitching along the borders that separate the gray from white. You get golden cuffs on the sleeves signifying rank, very much in line with the original uniforms. There are smart looking epaulets on the shoulders, a metal Delta insignia badge, and the black “belt buckle” device, which was referred to as a bio monitor. The gray trousers are simple and have stirrups that anchor the cuffs to the boots. Sure, Kirk spent the bulk of the film in a more casual short-sleeved shirt, but I sure am glad that this is the look EXO-9 decided to go with.
And then there’s the head sculpt, and oh boy is this an absolute masterpiece in every conceivable way. Not only did they get the likeness to Shatner at this age down beautifully, but they even managed to imbue the portrait with plenty of personality. Kirk offers a slight approving smirk and an overall friendly demeaner. Just the kind of look you flash when you deliver the news that you’re taking over the ship and demoting the Captain to science officer. And then demoting him again when the real science officer shows up! But seriously, I adore everything about this portrait, and I have to say I doubt even the wizards at Hot Toys could have done any better. Either way, I couldn’t be happier with it.
So what’s the downside to this beautiful figure? It comes with absolutely zero accessories. You do get two pairs of hands: Relaxed and fists, but nothing else. Now, granted, the usual gear doesn’t really apply here. It doesn’t make much sense to give him a phaser or a tricorder. But the one big oversight is his lack of a communicator. The Motion Picture used a one-off communicator design that the crew wore on their wrists like a watch and it seems like that accessory should have been a no-brainer. If for no other reason than to at least give him something!
EXO-9 sort of makes up for that with the figure stand. It’s a pretty standard base and post affair, with a wire crotch cradle to support the figure and hexagonal base. The base has a clear acrylic top and a design meant to resemble a transporter pad. The really nic ebonus here is a 1:1 scale replica of the Delta insignia worn in the movie. This piece is designed to be buttoned onto a shirt, but the base also comes with a foam cut out so that the insignia can be pinned to it and I think it looks fantastic.
Admiral Kirk retailed for $175, which is a pretty reasonable price for a licensed Sixth-Scale figure of this quality. Even Sideshow and Big Chief have been topping the $200 mark most of the time these days. Sure, you can argue that value is lost in the lack of accessories, but with how amazing this figure looks, I got over that pretty quickly. It also warmed my heart to see the reception for this figure. The Motion Picture is not nearly as well remembered these days as I think it deserves, and yet this figure quickly sold through pre-orders at just about every retailer I saw. By the time it started shipping, the only options to purchase seemed to be through Ebay. At present, EXO-9 is only planning to do one more figure from The Motion Picture, and that’s Spock in his Kolinahr Robes, and that one also looks to have sold through the pre-orders! In a couple weeks, I’ll revisit with EXO-9’s Star Trek line with a look at another of Starfleet’s truly finest… Captain Benjamin Sisko!
GREAT SCOTT!!! Last week I finally got around to checking out Hot Toys’ new version of Marty Mcfly, thanks to being motivated by the arrival of Hot Toys’ Doc Brown figure! It’s all part of my plan to try to get caught up on reviewing my sizeable sixth-scale figure backlog. So let’s get this DeLorean up to 88mph and see what we got!
Just like Marty, Doc Brown comes in a shoebox style package with a printed insert covering the tray. The cover of the box features some wraparound art of the Time Machine backing out of the truck in the parking lot of Twin Pines Mall. It’s a great picture, but I really think the covers to these boxes should have the character on the front, so I think this was a strange choice. Still, the BTTF logo looks great on the front and side panels. I’m checking out the Deluxe version, which adds the case of plutonium as an exclusive accessory.
Doc Brown comes out of the box wearing his radiation suit and requiring a lot of set up, and I mean A LOT! You have to attach his tool bag to his belt, along with a pouch for his hip printer, then you have to fill the tool bag, because each and every tool is a separate accessory! Next up, you have to clip his notebook to his belt, stuff his chest pocket, put on his watches, and sling his stopwatch around his neck. It took me a while to get him all kitted out, but it was well worth it, because Hot Toys went above and beyond recreating every last detail of Doc’s crazy collection of gear. On the other hand, Hot Toys got off kind of easy with the costume itself, as it’s just a baggy white jumpsuit. Still, they did a nice job detailing his shoes, right down to the treads on the soles, and they gave him a brightly colored Hawaiian shirt under the jumpsuit. The suit also features some padding to bulk up the body a bit, and here comes my biggest complaint with this figure… I can’t get his hands to touch his forehead to recreate a GREAT SCOTT!!! pose. This feels kinda deceptive, since that’s the expression they went with and one of the solicitation photos has him posed like that. I’m sure he could be modded to make it happen, but I’m not all about poking around in my expensive figures. It’s disappointing, but I quickly got over it.
Now, I love this head sculpt, but I really wish we got a second head with a more neutral expression. No, Hot Toys doesn’t usually release two heads with a figure, but seeing as this is the exact same head issued with the BTTF2 version of Doc Brown, that preceded this release, I’m going to cry foul. Actually, Hot Toys kind of shot themselves in the foot on that deal, because if we did get two head sculpts for each release, I probably would have bought both, and that’s saying a lot because I am not a big fan of the second BTTF film. But, I doubt they’re crying about my lost sale, because that figure sold out pretty quickly. Anyway… This is still a great portrait, even if it is a little awkward to have the slots over the ears left over for the 2015 sunglasses that came with the BTTF2 release. And yes, I realized a little too late that I left the protective plastic around his neck for these shots. Oopsie!!! Let’s take a tour around all the gear he’s got!
Like any good science nerd, Doc has a pocket protector with a brace of pens, which is all sculpted as one piece. There’s a trio of safety pins clipped onto the pocket, and large silver clip that holds a paper map. Beside that is a digital stopwatch that hangs around his neck with a cable that runs to a pouch on his belt that holds a hip printer. I also love the random wooden clothespin that he has clipped to his belt. I’m sure there’s a reason for that, and only Doc knows what it is!
Besides the printer pouch is a notebook with the cover blurred out, but if you look really close you can perhaps tell that it’s a Gremlin. And if you couldn’t make that out, the text under it recounts the three rules for owning a Mogwai. Yeah, as usual Hot Toys really did their homework, even if they had to blur the image because of licensing. Either way, it’s cool that they did what they could here. Speaking of which, how the heck is it we never got a Hot Toys Billy Peltzer with Gizmo? Get on that Hot Toys, it’s not too late.
And then we get to the tool bag, and oh boy was this a piece of work to get stuffed right. There are a dozen individual accessories and the instruction manual shows you exactly where everything goes. You get screwdrivers, pliers, a file, a compass, a socket wrench and a pipe wrench, a flashlight and a T-square. You also get a roll of duck tape dangling off the end, which is my favorite piece, because Doc probably uses that to reattach bits that fall of the DeLorean. This looks amazing, and it really shows the kind of research that Hot Toys invests in these figures to make them as screen accurate as possible. Now that I’ve done all that gushing, it would have been cool to get a set of hands so that he could hold a couple of these, especially since Doc Brown comes with the least number of hands I may have ever seen for a Hot Toys release. Obviously they didn’t give him fists, but that would have been a good excuse to give him a wrench hand or a screwdriver hand.
Next up, Doc comes with a silver clipboard with some calculators sculpted onto it, plus a manila folder and three sheets of documents. The print on these is too tiny for my old eyes, but I was able to read them after blowing up the pictures. One looks like an invoice for parts and another is a material safety sheet. I really dig how these aren’t just gibberish. The text is small enough that it could have just been random nonsense, but nope! Here’s also a closeup of his silver calculator watch, which I appear to have on backwards for this shot… go me! It’s not my fault, I was drinking quite a bit during this photoshoot! The black watch on his right hand has a loop for his index finger, which I assume is to quickly activate the stopwatch function.
And you also get a stopwatch to hang around Einstein’s neck, which is set to 1:21 AM and precisely in synch with the stopwatch hanging around Doc’s neck. Of course, this accessory doesn’t do you a lot of good if you didn’t get the recent Marty release that came with Einstein. This is the first case I’ve encountered where Hot Toys packed an accessory with one figure that is expressly intended for use with another. Weird!
Possibly the most impressive accessory in this set is the RC unit Doc used to drive the DeLorean. There is so much wonderful detail on this piece, showing all the modifications he made to a stock RC car controller. It’s so cool!
The exclusive accessory is also pretty damn sweet. It’s the chest of plutonium that we first see Marty’s skateboard bump into in Doc Brown’s lab. We later see it in the Twin Pines parking lot. The same case that Emmett got off the Libyans in exchange for a shoddy bomb casing full of pinball machine parts! The yellow chest has a mix of sculpting and printed illustrations to convey the fortified metal frame. The latches on the front work, as do the handles on the top and sides, but the hinges on the back are just printed on. You get a sticker sheet with additional radiation hazard stickers, but I opted not to use them, as it already has some printed on it, and I think they look fine.
The chest opens to reveal the individual plutonium rods, one of which can actually be removed. And the rod itself can be removed from the cooling cylinder. Oddly enough, the set includes a clear plastic piece that can be used to prop open the chest, because the lid will not stay open on its own, so if you want to display it open, you need to use this piece to do it.
What’s our final stop in every Hot Toys review? If you said the figure stand, you are correct! This one is patterned to match Marty’s with the simple black base featuring the colorful BTTF logo printed on it. And I’m happy to say they went with the usual crotch cradle and not the waist-grabber that came with Marty. That would have looked really obvious against the white jumpsuit. I still get a bit nostalgic seeing these old style stands, as Hot Toys has been employing larger rectangular bases. Those are fine, but these always seemed simple and classy, as if to say, the figure speaks for itself and doesn’t need a complex diorama stand.
And that’s Hot Toys Doc Brown! I love this figure, even if I did have a few nitpicks to call out. I think the figure’s biggest problem is the restricted articulation in the arms. It’s vexing, because this particular costume shouldn’t inhibit anything, and yet the padding does. In fairness, it doesn’t affect any of the ways I plan to pose him on the shelf. More than anything, I think this figure shows just how detail orientated these figures can be, and this one goes above and beyond with some of the accessories. Now, is the Deluxe worth the extra $20? To me it is. The plutonium chest probably isn’t essential to the figure looking complete when displayed, but on the other hand… in for a penny, in for a pound. Now, this is not the last we’ll see of Hot Toys Doc and Marty here, as I do have the BTTF3 versions on pre-order. Is there a Hot Toys DeLorean in my future? Well, it’s possible. The BTTF2 version is still up for pre-order, and while it’s true that’s my least favorite of the three films, it’s my favorite version of the DeLorean. To be honest, I’m kind of hoping it sells out before it arrives in stock, because that will make the decision for me. But before all that happens, I’ll revisit this franchise sometime in the next few weeks with a look at the NECA versions of Doc and Marty.
I’m not one for New Years Resolutions, but I am going to try to up my efforts when it comes to Hot Toys and other Sixth-Scale reviews this year. It seems like I’m always behind on these, some of which have been waiting years to get their turn in the spotlight here. Marty hasn’t been sitting around for years, but it has been a while, and now that Doc Brown has come in, I have new incentive to have a look!
Marty comes in a standard shoebox, which I like a lot more than the crappy window box with sleeve that Hot Toys has used in the past, particularly for their Marvel MCU figures. Sure, the box could be a little more durable, but it gets the job done. The artwork on the box is very nice and features the iconic logo at the top of the front and again on the spine. The OUTATIME TOUR 85 on the side panel is kind of cheesy, but that’s fine. This one was an unusual release, as it comes only about seven years after Hot Toys’ last release of Marty in this outfit and yet almost everything appears to be brand new. He doesn’t require any set up and comes out of the box all ready for display.
Here’s Marty McFly out of the box and relieved of his plastic wrap, and I’ll tell ya, since most of my Hot Toys are space people or super heroes, it’s fun to get one wearing regular clothes now and again. Or at least regular clothes from almost 40 years ago. Marty is sporting a lot of denim, with both blue jeans and a jean jacket. He’s got a checkered, button down shirt over a red undershirt, suspenders, and his life preserver! Everything about the figure’s costume is beautifully tailored, from the stitching on the jacket, to the pattern on the inside liner. The fit is also quite good, and I’m really impressed at that, considering Marty is wearing so many layers. Making clothing in this scale not look overly puffy is hard enough without doing four layers of it. And if the jacket does look a little bulky on his right side, it’s because his Walkman is tucked into the inside pocket of his jacket. If I had one nitpick about the outfit, it’s the way the suspenders pull up the sides of the pants and make the middle dip. You can adjust it, but it’ll always return to the dip in the middle. Eh, but that’s not a dealbreaker.
Of course, you can take the vest off to appreciate more of what they did with the jacket, and doing so makes it easier to sling his backpack over his shoulder. They recreated the pins on the left side of his chest and he even comes with his calculator watch, which we all wore in the 80’s, unless you were posh enough to wear a Swatch. Yeah, it’s kind of a shame to cover up those pins with the vest, but I’ll still likely be displaying with the vest all the time.
The head sculpt is pretty amazing to me. I passed on the 2015 release because of the portrait, which I thought at best looked like a much older Michael J. Fox, or maybe Alex Keaton on drugs from that one episode of Family Ties. The solicitation photos for this one looked much better and I’m happy to see the production head came out pretty damn close to what we were originally shown. As with many of these portraits, there are a few angles where the likeness loses something and others where it excels, but overall I’m extremely pleased. And comparing the old and the new is like night and day. As usual, the paint is absolutely exquisite, recreating all the little nuances of the skin tone, the lips, and the lifelike eyes. The hair sculpt is also fantastic. Well done, Hot Toys!
Running through the accessories… I’ve already shown off the backpack, which looks bang on for one that I carried in High School, only mine was green. Other than some more beautiful tailoring, the only thing worth noting here is that the straps are positioned on top of each other to make it easier to have it slung over the shoulder or carried in the hand, and they cannot be separated and worn on each shoulder like an actual backpack.
The detail on the Walkman is out of this world for such a tiny accessory. At some point, I’ll have to bust out my Hot Toys Star Lord’s Walkman for a direct comparison. I never had a Sony Walkman as a teenager, but had to make due with an Aiwa, but this looks pretty damn good. Sadly, you cannot pop it open and put in a tiny Huey Lewis tape. Also, the headphones aren’t adjustable, so they’re best suited to hang around his neck. Best I could do to get them on his ears is to have the band across the back of his head. Naturally, they’re also very delicate so I wasn’t about to force the issue.
As long as we’re talking AV equipment, Marty also comes with the JVC Camcorder he used to document Doc Brown’s DeLorean experiment. And oh boy is this an impressive little bit of kit! I’ve never owned one of these babies, so I can’t vouch for its accuracy off-hand, but the detail is outstanding. It has a strap on the side for him to hold it while filming and a carry bar on the top. It does omit the JVC branding, which is surprising because I didn’t know they were still in business.
Next up is Marty’s skateboard, and like the camcorder, I don’t know anything about these things, but it looks pretty good to me. My friend gave me one of his old ones once to try out once and let’s just say that didn’t go well. This little board rolls well and I was even able to get Marty to balance on it fairly well with little cursing involved at all! I really like how they gave him a left hand with splayed fingers that perfectly conveys, “I’m balancing on a skateboard!” There’s some realistic weathering on the wheels and some colorful graphics on the top and bottom. Also like the camcorder, this piece omits some of the lettering, presumably for copyright issues, which surprised me because I believe NECA’s retains them.
Getting down to the nitty gritty, we have the ephemera, (that’s paper goods for you non book collectors!) Yes, Marty comes with the Clock Tower pamphlet! Flip it over and it has Jennifer’s love note along with her Grandmother’s phone number! I don’t know why I think getting paper accessories like this is so cool, especially in light of the other highly detailed goodies, but I think it’s a hoot. The printing on the front is great, so long as you don’t want to read the actual article, and the sheet of paper is folded into four quarters.
Is Einstein an accessory or a figure? Well, I’d say he’s an accessory because he’s small and only has one point of articulation at his neck. I remember seeing a lot of criticism of this piece when the figure was first teased, and I never really understood it. No, you don’t get the same level of realism in the sculpt as you do in the figure’s likeness, but it’s kind of apples and oranges. I’m not sure if they were expecting a fully flocked Einstein with rooted hair, but I’m actually pretty pleased with how he came out.
As usual, our last stop on the Hot Toys review train is the figure stand. This is a standard black oval base and post, but we do get the BTTF logo printed on it, and I love it! What I don’t love is that Hot Toys went with the wire waist ring as opposed to the usual wire crotch cradle, and I can’t really understand why, as they hardly ever go with this style of support. It still does a fine job of securing the figure, and with the jacket it isn’t that visible, but it’s a pain in the ass to get it off the figure, whereas the crotch cradle allows you to just pick the figure up off the stand and place him back without any problems. And just before wrapping up, I wanted to point out two omissions in the accessories department. First off, Marty doesn’t come with his sunglasses, and I think that’s pretty outrageous. All Hot Toys had to do was look at the front of their own box and realize, “whoops, we goofed.” It doesn’t seem like tossing some shades in there would have broken the bank, and it’s a pretty important piece to completing a very iconic pose for the character. Secondly, he doesn’t come with a guitar. This one is easily forgivable. It’s a much more elaborate and expensive accessory to create, and it’s not like Marty walked around the whole movie with one.
As it happens, I was able to pick up a really nice looking sixth-scale guitar off of Amazon for $12. It’s not the one he had in the movie, but he looks good holding it, so why not!
Back to the Future is on a very short list of what I consider to be a perfect film. I don’t say that lightly, and I will die on that hill. The sequels are fun and all, but I really regard the original as damn near flawless. It hits all the beats that it’s shooting for, with wonderful performances and a magical soundtrack. It’s a stone cold classic. There was never any doubt that I wanted Marty McFly and Doc Brown in my Sixth-Scale figure collection. I’m just glad Hot Toys took a second shot at this one. Unlike the movie, this figure isn’t quite perfect, but it’s amazingly good and I’m thrilled to have it up on my shelf. Now, so long as I can make the time, I hope to be checking out Doc Brown in the next week or so!
Some of you may know that I have been hooked on TBLeague’s series of Egyptian themed sixth-scale figures. It felt like this line began as a few isolated one-off releases, but it’s grown to include a series of beautiful ladies, as well as both mythological and historical figures. And as much as I love this series, I was planning on just sticking to the ladies. If I’m being honest, that’s always been what has drawn me to TBL’s figures in general. But, an online retailer put Ramses up for sale at 50% off, and I couldn’t resist giving him a go! This figure was offered in three different armor variants. This one is the Black version, while the other options were Blue or Gold. And to be fair, even if all three were on sale, I think this is the one I would have gone for anyway.
As usual, the figure comes in a shoebox style package with a trifold lid that secures to each side with magnets. The box is made of heavy stock and the figure comes laid out in black foam that smells like lemony ice tea. Seriously! TBL usually adorns the front of these black boxes with a symbolic rendering that’s related to the character, but in this case we get a really lame cartoony portrait of Ramses, and I don’t like it at all. I mean, what the hell were they going for here, I just don’t know. Fortunately, the back panel has a great picture of the figure itself. As with most TBLeague figures, there’s a little bit of set up involved, so let me get that out of the way and we’ll have an audience with Ramses The Great!
And great he is, indeed! But before getting to the aesthetics… the first thing I noticed about this figure was the extreme heft. It’s my first male example of the Phicen seamless body, and it is one meaty slab of silicone! Ramses sports an impressive physique and looks absolutely smashing in his regal armor. The cuirass is cast in black plastic and adorned with crisscrossing gold bird wings front and back, along with a plastic belt and sash, all over a delicate black cloth tunic. And boy is that tunic a magnet for cat hair, as you can probably see in some of the pictures! The leather segmented shoulder armor is comprised of one piece that goes over his neck and secures via straps under each arm and around his biceps. Attaching these straps is the most challenging part of the set up, as those clips are tiny and it’s tough to get the loop through them. On top of the leather shoulders sits a plastic gorget with intricate sculpted patterns, all beautifully painted. The grieves and arm bracers are slightly pliable plastic sleeves, which slide on, and he has decorative bicep cuffs on each arm as well. Finally, there’s a thin leather belt that fastens around his waist with loops to hold his weapons. I’ll circle back to those in a bit.
I think the costume looks outstanding, with my only gripe being the jumble of lacing that holds the cuirass on and gathers below his left armpit. It is, however, easily fixed, as a lot of this extra sting can be trimmed and the knot tightened up. The sword belt is a great addition, as a few of my fantasy figures from TBL have come with swords in scabbards but no way to secure them to the figure, so that is much appreciated. Ramses doesn’t show as much skin as most of the ladies, but his exposed elbows and knees do showcase the seamless body quite nicely, while the grieves and arm bracers do their part to obscure the jointing in the wrists and ankles. The skirt does a bit to inhibit the hip articulation, but otherwise the excellent articulation of the figure’s steel skeleton can be taken advantage of to the fullest!
TBL did a wonderful job with this portrait, and I think in terms of realism it exceeds many of TBL’s female portraits. Not that those aren’t impressive, but they do tend to still have something of a doll like quality about them, which isn’t the case here. Ramses sports a prominent brow and nose and an intensive gaze worthy of a Pharaoh. The skin tone is smooth and even, with a bit of flush to his cheeks. This is a fantastic head sculpt with the paint to back it up! The paint and texturing on the lips is impressive, and while the eyes don’t quite have that spark of life we get with Hot Toys figures, they’re still pretty good.
The headpiece is patterned with a sea of concentric circles and a cobra protruding from the front. There’s a bit of a blue and gold gradiant to the helmet, with some gold trim. It’s cast in a slightly pliable plastic and is removable.
In terms of weaponry, Ramses comes with both a dagger and a sword. The dagger hangs off his right hip in an ornate plastic sheath. The hilt looks a bit more Roman to me than Egyptian, but either way it’s beautifully sculpted and features a leaf-shaped blade with a dark iron finish to the plastic blade. Yeah… TBL sometimes uses diecast metal for their sword and dagger blades, but that seems to be a thing of the past. I’m really OK with that, as the heavier blades sometimes take their toll on the figures’ joints.
The sword has a blade similar to the dagger, with a leaf shape and a somewhat dark finish. The guard almost resembles a heart and has some nice sculpted scrollwork patterns, a ribbed grip with painted gold bands and a flattened pommel. The scabbard is plastic, mostly textured black but does have gold painted fixtures. You get a pair of hands perfect for holding either of these weapons, as well as a pair of fists and a pair of relaxed hands.
In addition to the cutlery, Ramses also comes with a very long spear with a pointed tip and bottom, and boy both of these are damn sharp! The shaft has a sculpted woodgrain pattern and there are painted gold rings at the base of the blade and top of the end cap.
And last but not least, you get a round shield. This piece has some great texturing on the outside surface that looks like it’s been covered in stretched leather, as well as some raised gold floral patterns. The interior has an elastic arm strap and a grab bar to secure it to the figure and the system works quite well.
Ramses also comes with a figure stand, which is packaged separately from the box in a Styrofoam brick. It’s a round base with dark, rocky terrain and a bendy post attached to a claw that grabs the figure around the waist. It’s a great looking stand, but it doesn’t feel like it was really intended for this figure. The dark rocks don’t strike me as very Egyptian themed and the claw feels like it was made for one of the female figures, as it’s a pretty snug fit around Ramses waist. I’ll never complain about getting a figure stand, especially one that looks as good as this one, but I may end up handing this one off to one of my other fantasy themed TBL figures, where it will be more appropriate.
Ramses originally sold for $179, and I was thrilled to get him for half that. This is an absolutely striking figure to behold and he’ll look great among my bevy of TBL’s Egyptian ladies… many of which I still need to get around to featuring here. Sure, the overall design needs to be taken with a grain of salt in regards to its historical accuracy and I still consider this Egyptian line to be fantasy concept figures. The Egyptian flavor is certainly there, even if it’s something more akin to Hollywood History rather than being totally accurate. I believe TBL is currently offering an Egyptian throne accessory, and I may splurge for that to give this Pharaoh a place to sit!
My backlog of pre-orders at Sideshow has been slowly whittling down this year. Some actually shipped, a couple I cancelled, and a handful have been bumped back to 2023. But the Dirty Harry figure had to be one of the fastest turnarounds in all my experience with Sideshow. He was revealed and put up for pre-order in March and here he is squeaking in at the end of the year and landing in my hands by December. That’s crazy fast in the world of Sixth-Scale figure pre-orders where delays can often roll wait times into years instead of months. It’s almost enough to make me forget how absolutely insane it is that we got an officially licensed release of a Harry Callahan figure in the first place!
I could write volumes on what Clint Eastwood’s film career has meant to me over the years, but let’s stick with the one particular film related to today’s review. Released the year before I was born, Dirty Harry is an absolute classic of police drama cinema and like many of Clint Eastwood’s films, it’s become a go-to watch of mine for lazy, rainy Saturday afternoons. Hell, even though it was released only one year into the decade, it would go on to characterize the gritty 70’s cop film genre, thanks partly to a successful string of sequels, but mostly because it’s such a wonderfully watchable flick with an absolutely batshit crazy villain. It practically introduced the tough-as-nails, doesn’t-play-by-the-rulebook cop trope that was, and largely still is, appealing to a nation sick of rampant crime. Nowadays, it’s also a movie out of time. There’s throwaway dialogue here that would never fly in a world with today’s ultra-fragile sensibilities, and that’s what makes this seemingly impossible release so unbelievably welcome. I’m curious as to whether Sideshow got any flack for choosing to pursue this decidedly un-politically correct license, but it seems to have done well for them, because while the figure did not sell out in pre-order, it is already listed as Low Stock Remaining. Anyway… the shoebox-style package features some beautiful art from the film, which conveys the gritty subject matter. It’s the first release in Sideshow’s Eastwood Legacy Collection, and you do get a stylish band around the inner tray with a facsimile of his signature. Otherwise, the presentation here is everything you might expect from a Sideshow figure.
Callahan comes out of the box all ready for action, and ready to patrol the filthy streets of 1971 San Francisco. Wearing his trademark herringbone jacket, gray slacks, a white button down shirt under a burgundy sweater vest, striped tie, and black shoes, he’s the epitome of 1970’s fashion. I find that it’s a lot easier for these companies to successfully reproduce flashy superhero costumes in this scale, than it is to make convincing everyday clothes, and with that in mind, I’m extremely pleased with how the tailoring on this outfit came out. The jacket is a work of art, complete with elbow pads, buttons, a sharp interior lining, and some immaculate stitching. The trademark herringbone v-pattern in the jacket’s stitching is absolutely gorgeous. The same can be said about the impeccable tailoring found in the “twenty-nine-fifty” pants and the vest. The tie is a little stiff, but still looks great. The only thing I can nitpick is the collar takes a lot of futzing to make it sit right, and even then I think it looks just a tad too puffy. The costume also includes a dress belt, a shoulder holster for Harry’s trusty wheel gun, and a really spiffy watch on his left wrist. The jacket is removable, but I’m not messing with taking it off. A finely tailored suit may not be the most exciting thing to see on an action figure, but it sure looks great here!
The portrait is an absolute homerun. When the figure was first revealed, I remember wishing that it was Hot Toys doing it, mainly because I think they were better equipped at doing portraits, and I was a little skeptical about the figure looking as good as the solicitation shots. I’m happy to say the final product is an absolutely fabulous likeness. I think a Hot Toys portrait could have awarded a little more nuance to the paint, maybe made the eyes pop with a little more life, but I am still one hundred percent satisfied with what we got here. It would have been easy to lean into a caricature, but I feel like the sculptors swung for the stars and it paid off big time. The bulging brow, the squinted eyes, and the prominent chin all look superb. I also really dig the way Sideshow recreated Eastwood’s majestic bouffant. It’s a fabulous sculpt, which compliments the portrait perfectly. It would have been great to have had an Exclusive with an extra head with more of a sneer to it, but this one will still do just fine.
The accessories are a bit on the light side here, as Harry only comes with his gun and badge, along with a hefty selection of hands. I think the most obvious omissions here are the yellow money bag and the switchblade that he sticks into Scorpio’s leg, as both seem like they should have been included. I suppose you could argue that the outfit isn’t right for those scenes, but still. The hands are pretty standard stuff, with a pair of relaxed hands, a pair of fists, a right hand designed to hold his badge, another designed to hold his gun, and a left hand designed to cup around his right wrist to stabilize his aim when firing. To make the last hand work, you really need to take the jacket off, which is a shame because it would have been great for recreating one of his more iconic poses. There’s some padding in the figure, which can curtail the range of motion a little, and you get more of that in the shoulders of the jacket, but all in all, the joints feel good, and not at all floppy, as has sometimes been the case with Sideshow’s figures. I’ll also note how nice it is that each hand comes with its own hinged peg, so swapping out the hands is extremely quick and easy, and there’s never a worry about snapping a peg like there sometimes is with Hot Toys figures.
The badge is very nicely done, with a beautiful recreation of his ID. The wallet is meant to stay open, so he’ll be perpetually flashing the badge. I would have really liked to see a left hand for holding it, so I could pose him with his gun drawn and his badge out, but then that might have been a little out of character for Dirty Harry.
As for the gun? “My, that’s a big one!” Naturally, “this is a.44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world” and it’s an excellent sixth-scale representation of Harry’s favorite sidekick. The detail includes the checkered grip, safety lever, and the chamber even spins and can flip out. You even get a little rubbing to the blueing around the edges and where the chamber spins, showing that it’s seen its share of action. The weapon is a tad fragile, and once I got it into his hand, I doubt I’ll take it out again, since it’s the only reason that hand would ever be used. With all that having been said, I would not mind picking up a diecast version of this gun and giving Callahan an upgrade.
The last thing in the box is the thing I have the least to say about and that’s the stand. It’s perfectly serviceable with a plain black hexagonal base and an adjustable crotch-cradle in the post, but it represents the absolute bare minimum in effort on Sideshow’s part. This is an expensive figure, and the base gave Sideshow an opportunity to flex a bit and do something cool, and they just passed. I would have loved to see a shield on the front with Dirty Harry and the facsimile Eastwood signature under it, but really just any kind of personalization would have been nice.
Even with this figure in hand, it’s still hard to believe I own an officially licensed Dirty Harry figure, let alone one of this quality and released in 2022! At $275, the price on this one seems high for a figure without a lot of accessories, but I probably would have mashed the pre-order button even if that price tag topped $300. Just don’t tell Sideshow that! What makes me even more ecstatic is that this is only the first of three figures in this line so far. Blondie from The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly and The Preacher from High Plains Drifter are both up for Pre-Order now. Naturally, I’ve committed to each of those figures, and oh boy, am I hoping for a Josey Wales! Indeed, I’d much rather Josey Wales was released before The Preacher, as I just think he’s a far more iconic character and an overall better movie. But the real question is will the universe bless us with Philo Bedoe and Clyde from Any Which Way But Loose? That could be too much to hope for, but at this point, I won’t rule out anything!
As usual, I’m way behind on my TBLeague reviews. I added quite a few of these figures to my collection in 2022, and I only got around to checking out three or four of those here. So, with only a couple of weeks worth of reviews left for the year, I thought I’d squeeze at least one more in before the end! Today, I thought we’d check out another one of TBLeague’s Egyptian themed figures, which seem to be pretty successful for them, because they’ve expanded this line quite a bit over the last couple of years.
As always, the figure comes in a heavy duty shoebox style package. None of that flimsy Hot Toys paper-board here! The top of the box is a tri-fold cover that connects to the sides with magnets, and offers only a symbol on the front panel as a tease. The back panel does, however, have a picture of the figure. Inside, Aset comes nestled in a black foam tray with her head detached and a bunch of accessories spread around her. I picked this one up on the second hand market, and it was missing a couple of the less important accessories, like The Ankh, but it seemed like a good exchange for the discount I got on her. This figure was available in two variants, either Black or White, which denotes the coloring of the costume, and a few minor style changes. There’s a little bit of set up required for her costume, so give me a minute to do that and we’ll get her ready to go!
And here is Aset in all her Egyptian splendor! TBLeague went with one of their more reasonably busted bodies for this figure, and I think it works pretty well. I also like the tanned skin tone. Her costume consists of a sculpted plastic top with shoulders, a plastic belt, along with a cloth skirt. The outfit’s deco is on the darker side, with an emphasis on weathered bronze over bright and shiny gold, but there is a bit of blue and white mixed in there. She has ornamental bicep cuffs and wrist bracers, each with some flashy red gems in them. Her high strap sandals are made from two pieces, the sandaled feet and the straps which slide onto her lower legs. These fit a bit loose, but that’s really the only gripe I have about the costume, which otherwise fits perfectly. The plastic belt can ride up a bit in wider stances and action poses, but that’s to be expected. The top is laced on with string, and there’s quite an excess, so some may want to do some clipping, but I usually leave it be. The costume is clearly designed to showcase the seamless body, and it looks great!
I really dig the head sculpt here, and I always like to point out how TBLeague has come a long way with their portraits. They don’t really do expressive faces, but they sure know how to do pretty ones. The skin is warm and soft, and the paintwork on the lips and eyes is impeccable. Aset features some relatively short black hair, which isn’t too bad to keep under control. She also features an absolutely epic headdress, which includes a bird on the front with wings forming a crown-like tiara. There’s a ring of cobras, a giant red stone at the top, and a flurry of sculpted feathers wraps around the sides and back of her head. The headdress is cast in a softer plastic so it can go on and off the head without fear of rubbing or scratching.
There’s one more costume piece, and that’s her cloak. This ties on with strings, and has a strong wire running through the edges to allow it to be posed with the figure. It’s black on the outside with some fur trim up at the top. The inside has a some red at the top, black in the middle, and a gold crescent running along the bottom and some gold geometric linework radiating from the top to the bottom. This is a beautiful garment, but I think I prefer the figure without it. It’s also incompatible with her wings. Yes, wings. We’ll get to those in a bit.
You get three sets of hands with Aset. Two are variations of relaxed hands, and one pair is designed to hold her accessories. Swapping hands for the first time on these figures is always a crapshoot. Sometimes they can be stubborn and if you aren’t careful you can pull the metal connector out of the wrists socket, but in the case of Aset, they seem to swap out pretty easily. All of the hands are sculpted with an array of gold rings on the fingers and red paint on her long fingernails. You only get the one pair of feet, but they are also nicely painted with red nail polish.
As for accessories, Aset comes with a rather vicious looking curved sword. It has a bird-themed hilt and even some bronze feathers on the back of the lower part of the blade. The blade itself has a painted finish, which is pretty convincing as metal. There’s a bit of a weathered patina to it, but it can still shine in direct light. Back in the day, TBLeague used to do diecast metal for their blades, and while they still do every now and then, this one is plastic and I’m fine with that. It looks every bit as good and doesn’t have the extra weight to stress the figure’s arm joints.
Aset also comes with this rather tall scepter with a sort of fan or floral motif at the top. It’s a pretty basic piece, but she looks great holding it, and I feel it’s a little more in character than the sword. And that brings us to her rather majestic set of wings!
These beauties peg directly into the figure’s back, and boy do they look great! The connecting points do not have hinges, but you can angle them up or down a bit because the pegs swivel. It’s a pretty strong connection and despite their impressive wingspan, they stay in place without drooping. The wings are cast in a fairly lightweight plastic, that still manages to hold the detail of all the individual feathers. I’ll note that the original figure came with a backplate that can be used to cover up the peg holes when the wings are not in use. This is one of the pieces my discounted figure was missing. It isn’t a big deal to me, as I plan on always displaying her with the wings, but even if I didn’t, the cloak does the job of covering the peg holes just fine.
Lastly, you get a pretty good sized base to display her on. This elongated pedestal has some ornate sculpted designs on the sides and top. It also has a flexible wire post to support the figure in standing poses by securing the figure around the waist. One of my biggest criticisms of TBLeague in the past has been their habit of including beautiful bases, but no way to secure the figure to it. It’s nice to see they’ve been addressing this issue with some recent releases.
Aset was originally released at around $190, but I got mine for $150 because she was an opened box and missing the Ankh and backplate, and I considered that a steal. Even at the original price, there’s plenty of value here, and had the opened box opportunity not presented itself, I would have definitely bought her new. With TBLeague seemingly focusing more on original concept figures over licensed characters, this Egyptian line has been a real treat. The mix of Egyptian iconography, beautiful ladies, and fantasy element works so well, and I hope they keep it going. I still have a handful of these figures to check out, and while I doubt I’ll get to any before the end of the year, I’m going to make a resolution to get caught up!
Mondo has been turning out some Sixth-Scale figures based on the Masters of the Universe license, and while the reaction to some of these has been hit and miss among fans, I’ve been enjoying them from afar. But, then they announced She-Ra, and she looked absolutely gorgeous, and I figured, What the hell? Let’s see what these are all about… because I need another expensive line to collect like I need a hole in my head. The made-to-order formula, that has become so popular among smaller collector toy companies, was the rule of the day here, and so I dropped a pre-order. For some reason I didn’t think she was going to be shipping so soon, but here she is, so let’s take a look!
The packaging is extremely well done, both in terms of presentation and quality. When I drop more than $200 on an action figure I like to get it in a premium package, and that is absolutely the case here. You get what appears to be a fully enclosed box, but there’s actually a magnetic flap that opens to reveal a window front panel. The front and back panels have some very nice artwork and the inside of the flap has a picture of the figure itself. Inside, She-Ra comes on a clear plastic tray, with several layers to house all of her accessories and extras. There are a lot of different display options with this figure, so let’s just start with how she comes straight out of the box.
And here she is out of the box and looking drop dead gorgeous! In a lot of ways, Mondo She-Ra looks like an upscaled premium 7-inch action figure, and I don’t mean that as any kind of slight. It’s just that most of my Sixth-Scale figures feature tailored costumes or seamless joints, or something to set them apart from their smaller cousins and justify the high price tag. Here we get a mostly plastic costume (we’ll get to the cloth cape in a bit!), and articulation that is pretty similar to what we’ve seen in some of the more articulated, higher end six or seven inch figures. As a result, She-Ra feels more like a figure that I can play around with, rather than something I’m just going to tweak the pose on every now and then.
Her white dress is cast in soft plastic and has a decent layered effect to make it look like the figure is actually wearing it. I did find the asymmetrical nature of her top rather interesting. Her right breast covering is smooth while the left is scalloped. I’m not sure where Mondo took that particular design cue from, but I think I would have preferred they had gone with one or the other. And I’m not just bringing it up as an excuse to talk about She-Ra’s boobs… honest! Of course, the creamy white dress is complimented by the gold accents, which make for an absolutely exquisite deco. The gold paint that Mondo used here is quite striking, with something of a satin finish. In addition to the gold piping on the dress, you get the large floral motif on the front of her torso, and the golden shoulders, grieves and boots. There are sculpted brown straps “holding” the grieves in place and and some copper paint applications to give the gold armor a little more of a dynamic look. I have absolutely no complaints about the the quality of the paint and coloring on this figure. It’s all top notch stuff!
The belt is removable and can be replaced with a second belt design. It’s pretty cool, but I like the one that came on the figure much, much better, so this piece is going back into the box! They are both made of soft pliable plastic and tab together in the back. I found that this one was tough to get secured properly, whereas the first seems to fit and stay put just fine. Yet another reason to cast this one aside.
The portrait is just about flawless, and clearly favors a toyetic/animated look over any kind of realism, which means we get some very clean but also very basic paint, including red lips, blue eyes, and a hint of purple eyeshadow. An argument can be made that this simple style works better on a smaller figure. I think it’s fine, but it does contribute to the feeling of this being an upscaled figure. Her blonde hair is sculpted to fall about her shoulders and splits so that the bulk of it falls behind her and you still get some curls over the fronts of her shoulders. The stock tiara and headdress also has a simple, animated style to it, with a red jewel in the middle. I get a strong Filmation style vibe out of this one and I do dig it a lot. And you get a total of three headdress options here.
Each of the tiaras peg into holes where her temples are, as well as slotting in above her forehead. It’s very easy to swap them out, but it also means that you can’t display her without them because there are two gaping holes in the sides of her head. This second version is a bit more angular, and sports more detail, and also has a bit of that copper paint that can be seen on her boots. I’m really torn over which of the two I like best. Right now I’m leaning toward this one, as I think it suits Mondo’s take on the character perfectly, but the Filmation style ain’t bad either!
There is a third option, which is clearly inspired by the vintage toy, also includes a hair piece, creating some bangs that hang below the head band. This is an interesting look, and the bangs really transforms the portrait a lot. But despite being closest to the original design, it’s a bit far from the She-Ra that I’m most familiar with. As with the original toy’s headpiece, this mimics the tiara doubling as a mask with eyeholes if you turn it upside down, but that option really doesn’t work with this figure. I doubt I’ll display this one very much, but I’m sure there are some She-Ra purists out there who will favor this look.
She-Ra comes with a red cloth cape with some gold trim, and some very strong wires running through the edges to allow it to be posed in a variety of ways. It attaches to the figure with wire clips, which I think are meant to go on the gaps in the shoulder armor and the shoulder straps, but I couldn’t make this work, so I attached them on the shoulder straps themselves and that seems to do the trick. The clips make for a secure connection and the bright red cloth really pops next to the white and gold deco of the figure. All in all the cape completes She-Ra’s ensemble perfectly, and I’m hoping the red dye in the cape doesn’t transfer to the back of her white costume. At this point, I have to say that if I were basing my take on this figure strictly on aesthetics alone, all I would be doing is gushing, because this is such a gorgeous piece! Between sculpt, paint, and display options, there’s really not much to complain about. But, unfortunately, things are about to take a downturn…
The articulation here looks fine on paper, but it’s problematic in execution. The hips are ball jointed and seem to have a generous range, but the plastic skirt puts the kibosh on that. The knees are double hinged, but when I tried to flex them to their limit, I started getting stress marks on my figure’s lower right knee joint. I wasn’t even coming close to the extreme range, so I’m thinking maybe it was because the joint wasn’t aligned properly. I’m not sure if this is a flaw in my particular figure, or the design in general. The ankles are hinged ball joints, but don’t allow for any significant lateral movement, which means they can’t stay flat at wide stances, and that’s unacceptable for a figure at this scale and price point. The neck has a generous ball joint and there’s a ball joint in the waist, which will pop out if exercised too greatly. Not ideal, but I guess it’s better than breaking it. It took some force to get the two halves of She-Ra together again, but I was able to do it. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and elbows, and hinged pegs for the wrists, which allow you to swap out hands, of which there are three sets: Fists, relaxed hands, and accessory holding hands. Unfortunately, a lot of the joints are very weak, particularly the elbows, knees, and ankles, and that leads to problems with posing. A lot of the posed pictures I took were snapped just seconds before She-Ra took a tumble because her ankle joints gave out. What a shame! Let’s move on to accessories…
Naturally, She-Ra comes with her Power Sword, and not just one but two! She comes with a traditional silver version, as well as a gold version with a golden scabbard. The silver version looks great and very faithful to the Filmation style. It features some gray paint apps on the grips and the center of the blade, a pale blue stone centered between the guards, and overall an even satin finish. I also appreciate that the sword is cast in some pretty stiff plastic, so there’s no worries about warping or bending. Her gripping hand holds on quite well and it looks as iconic as ever in her grasp.
She also comes with her golden shield, which is a remarkably well-made and substantial piece, but unfortunately a little too substantial. The shield is so thick and heavy that She-Ra’s elbow joint really isn’t up to the task to keep it raised and at the ready. The shield is attached to She-Ra’s arm by passing the forearm through the two plastic straps, but her left gripping hand is designed to hold the sword and not grip the wide strap. Mondo’s official photos show them using the fist, but that slips through the strap way too easily. As a result, I tend to find the relaxed hand is best, but that’s not really ideal either. This thing is constantly causing her elbow to droop and the shield just slides off onto the floor. I may eventually use some poster putty to get it to stay put, which is really something I shouldn’t have to do on a $250 figure. I really wish Mondo had equipped her with a wider grip left hand designed to work with the shield better. With all that having been said, the floral motif looks great and matches the decorations on her armor perfectly.
The gold sword has a beautifully sculpted scabbard, complete with sculpted brown wraps and a unicorn head at the tip. As far as I know this is an original Mondo design, and while I love the style, it’s really thick and comes across as being outlandishly large for She-Ra to carry. The scabbard is designed to clip onto her back strap and be worn under the cape and utilize a special hair piece with a hole in the hair sculpt for the hilt to pass through. Unfortunately, my figure came with two of the same hair pieces, rather than the normal one and the one that works with the sword. I contacted Mondo about the issue and they said they would send me out a replacement, but I have no yet received confirmation that it has shipped and it’s been over a week now, so I’m reasonably miffed about that. I was going to hold off on the review until it arrived, but then I thought better to just showcase the figure as it came, flaws and all and do an update when (or if) the replacement part arrives. So, for now, I can’t show her wearing the sword.
Out of the scabbard, the gold Power Sword looks nice. It’s not a drastically different design than her regular one, and I do like how it matches her armor and shield so perfectly. The way the blade narrows ever so slightly in the middle and then swells near the point gives it a distinctive look while not straying too far from the original design. Overall, it’s a very cool bonus item that adds value to the package and serves to make this version of She-Ra all the more unique. And while on the subject of swords, I really wish Mondo had included a right hand that was designed to hold the sword straight up above her head, so she could better do her iconic pose.
The final accessory is the Battle Axe Hairbrush, which is a direct homage to Mattel’s MOTU Classics release. I thought this was an absolutely brilliant way to incorporate the hairbrush that came with the original doll into an action figure accessory, and I’m glad to see that the idea is being kept alive. This is a slick design, with some stylish organic curves and a substantial axe blade. The hairbrush portion is now a spiked backstrap, which looks like it could do some vicious damage to any one of Hordak’s minions.
The final accessory, if you want to call it that, is the Kowl figure, which is absolutely fantastic! He’s big and colorful, and even has articulation at the shoulders. Sure, it’s just rotation, but that was a lot more than I was expecting. He stands really well on his own, and I can’t say enough things about how great this sculpt looks. It really captures all the charm of the character as he appeared in the Filmation cartoon, rather than the vintage action figure. There are a number of accessories in this box that I probably will never get any use out of, but Kowl will certainly get put beside She-Ra as a companion display piece.
Finally, She-Ra comes with a black figure stand, which looks like it’s positively guaranteed to ruin the figure. The post uses a wire loop to grab the figure around the waist and hold her up. So, yeah… tight black wire rubbing on the white plastic dress is a recipe for disaster. It’s not a huge loss, since the stand is pretty ugly. The base has a weird design that doesn’t make much sense unless you flip it over and see that it’s a rather ornate Mondo logo. Why the hell put all the detail on the bottom of the base where you’ll never see it? For the price of the figure I think we should have received a stand that looked a lot better, not to mention was designed to do no harm to the figure itself. But, since the ankle joints aren’t going to support She-Ra, I’ve substituted a generic Hot Toys style stand, which uses a crotch-cradle. I use these for my Phicen/TB League figures, and it works pretty well here.
I was going to do a comparison shot of Mondo She-Ra with Mattel’s 2016 SDCC Sixth-Scale She-Ra, but then I realized I hadn’t reviewed that figure yet, so maybe I’ll use this as an excuse to go back to it and then do comparison shots in that review. All in all, I can’t say I regret buying Mondo She-Ra. To be clear, she is an absolutely gorgeous figure and is going to look fantastic on display with my other MotU toys and collectibles. On the other hand, there’s a lot about this figure that disappoints me. From the questionable jointing to the missing hair piece, and a terrible figure stand, it feels like Mondo stumbled on the easy stuff. If the figure were under $200, I could be a lot more forgiving, but at $250 this kind of stuff is just not OK. And so She-Ra is both my first Mondo Sixth-Scale purchase and my last. In the meantime, if Mondo does wind up sending me the missing hair piece, I’ll do an addendum to this review and some more pictures.
FigureFan Zero 