Review of Daenerys Targaryen
Game of Thrones sixth scale action figure

Introduction

"I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror..." No, I'm not talking about Alderaan, I'm talking about the recent announcement that the final season of Game of Thrones won't air til 2019. What the Hell, HBO?!?!?!? I suppose that will give us all plenty of time to watch the show again, once or twice or twelve times.

Thankfully, it isn't *quite* that long between the releases of sixth scale figures based on the show from ThreeZero. They're on number six, and it's a very anticipated character - Daenerys Targaryen.  And if I don't misspell her name at least once in this review, I should get a cookie.

The figure just started shipping in the last couple weeks, and runs around $160 - $180, depending on the retailer. There's a regular version that's available from a wide range of dealers, and there is an exclusive version only available direct from ThreeZero's online store. The latter is the one I'm checking out tonight, although the only difference is the inclusion of a couple extra accessories.

Packaging - **1/2
The overall package design matches the earlier releases of course. The outer slip is a much darker color, obscuring the imprinted house logo, but everything is still collector friendly. Even with the darker, more somber color, I would have gone the same three stars as the others, except...it looked like a gorilla sat on mine.  The outer box and inner box were crushed badly enough to dislodge the inner trays and send the hands bopping around loose. Fortunately, there was no actual damage to the figure, but it wasn't even worth taking a photo of the package for the review. While this isn't threeZero's fault, it still affects the end customer's appreciation of the product.

Sculpting - **1/2
This figure has taken a lot of heat for its likeness, and while it's not completely deserved, it is one of their weaker releases.

The best feature is the bright blonde hair. Going with a rooted approach was definitely the right idea. They did a great job creating the braids along the head - proof that it was possible to do on Legolas - and it's a tight, clean fit to her scalp.  That means there isn't a lot you can do with the hair, because it's not as loose and wild as most characters, but the final result is nice, and only requires a little futzing with the strands around the face.

I think this is a case where all three aspects of this sculpt - accuracy, realism, and emotion - are close, but none of them get beyond a B level. I recognize Clarke as Dany in this portrait, especially in the eyes, nose and lips. But it's not going to wow you with it's accuracy, more like a very close cosplayer than the real thing.

The realism is off a bit as well. While I really like the rooted hair and styling, the eyes are too flat and lifeless.  Of course, she wouldn't have any extreme skin texturing, but what's here is almost non-existent. Again, it's close, but comes up just short.

Then there's the emotive aspect of the portrait. She's looking off into the distance, through you rather than at you, and she's showing no real emotion. It's not quite a zombie or mannequin look, but it's not nearly emotive enough either.

The portrait isn't as bad as some other recent female sixth scale releases, but it's not as good as we know they can do. I would have gone with three stars...but then they used the skin covering on the arms.

Hey, I get it. It does make the shoulders and elbows look much better. When it's done well, it can be a big plus. For example, check out the Hot Toys Wonder Woman, where they used the skin sleeves over the articulated arms to create a very realistic appearance. Sadly, it didn't work as well here.

The big problem is the lack of sculpting and contours. On Wonder Woman, the arms still look like muscled, realistic appendages. Here, they look like sausages, especially from the elbow down. The forearms are tubular, with no definition or shape. It also makes the wrists look weird, which I'll bring up again in the Articulation section.

The hands are in scale, and are soft enough to work well with the accessories. The left hands. have her ring as a permanent sculpt on each one. Dany is in sixth scale at 10" tall.

Paint - ***
The paint quality is reasonable, but like the sculpt, isn't going to wow anyone.

They skated by on the hair in this category by going the rooted route, but that also means the color is a true blonde, rather than some gold/yellow/white hybrid. The skin tone is even and clean, and it matches pretty well between the face, neck, arms, and hands.

The lips are feminine without looking like she has a bunch of lipstick on - important with a character like Dany. The eyebrows are fairly clean, although there's some sculpted hair that's more skin color than hair color.

The lifeless nature of the eyes isn't improved by the paint, unfortunately. There's a little bleed along the bottom edge, and the lashes look good. But the flat, expressionless feeling is only amplified by the paint work.

Articulation - ***
This score could have been much higher, if not for one very annoying nit.

The ball jointed neck works well, with a decent amount of tilt and lean action. The ball shoulders and rotating hinge elbows work pretty well, although the skin covering is somewhat restrictive. It does improve the look of the bare arms...until you get to the wrists.

You know what a cankle is, right? That's when a calf runs down smoothly through the ankle, with no curves, creating a straight line to the leg.  Dany has something new - she has frists. Her forearms are tubular, and run down straight to the hands, creating a weird look at the wrists where the end of the skin covering is clearly visible. Sadly, I don't have any great suggestions for correcting it, but I found it distracting in every pose.

The leg articulation is much better. Between the hips, knees, and ankles, she can take very natural poses, and even wide stances. The boots allow for good rocker movement in the feet, a big plus for any pose.

I couldn't get as much turn and lean out of the torso and waist, which does effect some of the realism in certain poses. But overall it was solid B work, even with the weird looking frists.

Accessories - **1/2
While this isn't a super expensive figure compared to the rest of the current sixth scale market, it was still a bit lacking in the Accessories department. It wasn't a quantity issue however. There's plenty of extras here - the quality just falls short.

She has three sets of hands in total: the relaxed pair she comes wearing; a set of fists; and a set of gripping hands. They swap easily, and there's an extra set of wrist pegs just in case.

There's a small choker which you can fit around her neck. I tends to ride up however, and I found myself constantly re-positioning it lower. You'll notice in some of the photos that I forgot - my bad.

The gripping hands come in handy to hold her cat o'nine tails. The thin whips are actually a rope-like material, less likely to break over time.

She has a couple extra outfit pieces too, which I'm including here. There's the plastic vest, which is pretty crappy quality considering the price point. The back has two posts that fit through holes, sorta, to hold it in place. The front came apart on me and I had to re-glue it, and the material feels cheap and hard. I'll be skipping this one on the shelf.

The better outfit extra is the cape, made from a soft material with a real metal hook and loop to close it around her neck. You can adjust the location of the closure too, higher or lower on her chest, and It looks good just about any where. The top folds down over her shoulders, hood-like, and the overall quality and construction are solid.

The regular version finishes up with a little Drogon. He's unarticulated, posed with his wings wide and his mouth open. They included a tiny base to sit him on, but it simply doesn't work. The pegs are too big, the holes too shallow, the feet and legs too thin. You could glue him to it, but I'm not going to go that route.

The exclusive includes two more dragons, Rhaegal and Viserion. They added in a small stone-like base and wooden post to place one upon - the other can stand on the ground I suppose. Again, this is a complete failure. The posts are too small, the feet and legs too tiny, and there's no way - without glue - that you'll keep one of the dragons on the top of the post long term.

The dragons all look good, with a nicely detailed sculpt and paint job. The poses are different enough to differentiate them on the shelf, but without properly working stands for all three, they're still a disappointment.

Outfit - ***1/2
My favorite aspect of this figure is the costume. It consists of the tunic, pants, and boots, and while there isn't a lot to it, what's here is extremely well done.

I already talked about the black plastic vest, which was a fail, and the beautiful blue cloak, which was not. I'm keeping them in the Accessories section, and focusing on the basic costume here.

The tailoring and fit on the pants a tunic are excellent, and the quality of the stitching and materials is top notch. But it's the boots, and their unrestrictive yet realistic design, that really wows me. It's a two piece design, but it is very well hidden. They make posing the figure in natural ways so much easier, and show that even at lower costs, it's possible to do the little things right.

Fun Factor - ***
While the figure has some aesthetic issues, the articulation and accessories - especially the dragons - still make it possible to create some interesting diorama set ups. I wish the stands worked better, but I'll find some way to display them that I'm happy with.

Value - **
This is a bit tricky - on the one hand, $180 (for the exclusive) is pretty cheap compared to other high end sixth scale figures. For example, the recent Prisoner Harley from Hot Toys has far fewer accessories, pretty weak articulation, and a very basic costume, yet costs $220. There's no doubt you're getting far more here.

On the other hand, while you're getting more, it's not a similar quality. Only the costume here can rival (and surpass) the Harley outfit. While I appreciate the articulation, the wonky wrists hurt things, and while there are more accessories, the quality - particularly with the stands for the dragons - is weaker.

In the end, I came up just a little short of an average value score. Improve one more thing, and I'd go that extra half star. Improve several - especially the quality of the portrait - and I'd go much, much higher.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not much. If you do try to force the feet of the dragons onto the posts, take some care and know when to cry uncle. Too much pressure and too many attempts, and those little feet and legs will end up damaged.

Overall - **1/2
I waffled a bit between **1/2 and *** for my Overall score. While Dany isn't as bad as some people have claimed, she isn't as good as other threezero releases (although her and Jon are pretty similar in overall quality). You're getting less...but you're paying less, particularly with a similar release from someone like Hot Toys. She's certainly better than the recent Star Ace Hermione...but not as good as the Hot Toys Harley. And that's where the conundrum comes in.

In the end, my Overall included the general feeling of disappointment, which forced my decision to be **1/2. While there are some good things here, I couldn't help but wish the accessories, especially the dragons, were better, and the lackluster sculpt and paint were too much for the costume and price point to fully overcome.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - **1/2
Sculpting - **1/2
Paint - ***
Articulation - ***
Accessories - **1/2
Outfit - ***1/2
Fun Factor - ***
Value - **
Overall - **1/2

Where to Buy 
ThreeZero has the exclusive with all three dragons at their store for $180, but it's long sold out. There's some great online options for the regular version with just Drogon, including these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth is also at $168, but has free shipping!

- Sideshow has her at $170.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
ThreeZero has done a number of GoT figures so far, including The Hound, Jaime Lannister, Tyrion, Ned, and Jon Snow. If you're looking for other Game of Thrones figures that might be a little cheaper, there's the now defunct Funko original series, as well as their new series. And don't forget that Dark Horse has their own series of 8" statue-like figures.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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