Review of Themistokles -300 Rise of the Empire
sixth scale action figure

Introduction

Twelve years ago, a stylish action drama called 300 retold the story of a group of Spartans who gave their lives to stop an encroaching conqueror. It was a financial and critical success, and you know what that means - there was a sequel.

It didn't make it to theaters until 2014, the same year as the tv show. Yep, there was a tv show too. The sequel was called "Rise of the Empire", and General Themistokles was the protaganist. Star Ace picked up the license for the overall property a couple years ago, and already produced a Leonidas. They are following this up with a release based on the second movie, and of course, it's Themistokles. Other figures have been talked about and even shown at SDCC, but nothing is up for pre-order yet.

This guy will cost you around $225, depending on the retailer, and should start shipping soon.

Packaging - ***1/2
The package looks good, with a very attractive cover and other artwork. It's all collector friendly of course, and you can easily remove the figure and accessories without damaging anything.

Sculpting - ***
This is a weird situation. The head sculpt is very good in several ways, but has one major flaw, at least for me.

The sculpt is very realistic, with some very fine texture to the short hair and nicely done texturing on the skin. The wrinkles and creases match the extreme expression, and the realism on the teeth, gums, and tongue is pretty impressive.

I can't complain about it not being emotive. He's yelling, very loudly, as though he was rushing into battle, leading a charge. The scream is a little exaggerated, making the lower face look too long in macro photos, but in hand it looks much better.

Is it a good match to the actor and character? With a really dynamic look like this it can be harder to tell, but I do think they've captured a better than average likeness, especially in the eyes. The beard adds additional realism, with lots and lots of tiny hairs carved into his face.

The body is sculpted as well, with a covering over the torso and a more defined musculature in the arms and legs. It looks great to me, and does hide the articulation fairly well. It's pretty much the same as Leo, of course. He's pretty big, coming in just a little shy of 12 1/4" tall.

So where's the problem? It's not really a perfect fit for the Sculpt category, but I don't know of a better place to complain about it - the single head with such an extreme expression is just too limiting. They released Leo with two heads, allowing you to swap up between extreme fighting poses and more natural stances. With this head sculpt, you're pretty limited to battle stances only, since anything in a more relaxed stance just looks silly.

Paint - ***1/2
The paint work is high quality stuff, with only a couple real issues.

I like the skin tone on the face, and there's a light freckling over the entire torso and face as well. We saw something similar with Leonidas, but it's more subtle here, applied with a lighter touch.

The best work is on the teeth, lips, gums, and tongue. The overall mouth is very realistic, and is such a major aspect of his look that the high quality paint job improves the overall impression. The wet, glossy look on the tongue and teeth adds a lot to the lifelike appearance.

The facial hair is well done, with a realistic transition between the color of the face and beard edge. This is a tricky thing to do, making it look random and uneven without being sloppy, and creating that natural chaos is usually a problem. Not here, and the beard is really impressive.

The accessory paint work is great too, with a hammered metal look to the helm, and a hand forged appearance to the sword and knife. These sculpted details are enhanced by the paint, a big plus.

I did have an issue with the eyelashes, however. I'm not a big fan of making the lower lashes so obvious, particularly on a male character. Even in hand you'll notice it, and they needed to make the look a bit more subtle.

Articulation - **
This is pretty much the same body we got with Leonidas, with one big change. That change is a negative in this category.

The neck has plenty of mobility, even though you can only get movement at the top below the jawline. The rotating hinge shoulders are tight and click into position, and the joint is fairly well hidden. The elbows don't rotate, which I found to be a big problem with some arm poses. The rotating hinge wrists are standard stuff, and the gauntlets help hide them, creating a pretty clean look for the upper body. The torso turns slightly, but doesn't get much tilt or lean.

The ball hips work great, but the hinge knees have no rotation, and neither do the ankles. It's the ankles where the big issue arises. Leo had decent ankle joints, making various dynamic poses easier. The boots and feet are sculpted as a single piece here, with no ankle movement at all. That really hurts your ability to get decent deep stances or kneeling poses.

Accessories - ***
Themis has some nice extras, thanks to the sculpt and paint work.

He has three extra hands to go with the relaxed pose set he is wearing in the box. There's a gripping left and right for the sword and large knife, and a specially posed right for drawing the bow string.

Yep, there's a bow with one arrow. And there's a special hand to hold the string...but there was no real way I could get a good bow pose.  The articulation in the arms - particularly the elbows - is too limited to get the sort of poses we've seen with figures like Legolas. While that makes the arrow somewhat useless, the bow can still be held in one hand.

He has two bladed weapons as well, a large knife that fits in a sheath on his right hip, and a large sword that slips into a sheath on his left. These are plastic, but look quite good, thanks to the detailed sculpt and paint work.

He has a very large shield, also sculpted and painted to look like old school hammered metal. There's a sleeve and handle on the back which allows him to hold it easily.

Topping it all off is that cool helmet. We saw something similar to this with Leo, but the iron color and slightly different design makes it stand out.

Finally, there's the basic base, with the 300 movie logo and a support rod. Nothing special here, but it provides some consistency, and gives you more posing potential and better stability.

Outfit - ***
The outfit consists of his blue - very royal blue - cape, plastic belt, and cloth 'skirt'.

I love the cape. It has a very sturdy plastic closure, and hangs neatly over his back and shoulders. There are thin pleather straps that go around the shoulders as well, making the overall fit tighter and cleaner looking.

The thick, plastic belt gives you a spot for the knife and sword, and protects his thighs. However, it tends to ride up his torso when you bend the legs at the hips, making deeper poses a little silly looking. You can turn it to one side or the other and correct it a bit, but it only lays down around the hips properly when the legs are close together.

There's also the cloth skirt, which can be adjusted thanks to the velcro closure in front. It's good quality material, and has some dirt and wear.

Fun Factor - **1/2
Leo was a pretty fun figure to work with, but a big part of that was his posability. The loss of the ankles on this guy really hurts him in this department, way more than you might assume at first.

The single, screaming head sculpt doesn't help this category any either. You're much more limited in the poses that look good, making re-posing over time less likely.

Value - *1/2
The average price for high end sixth scale figures these days is $220. This figure is in that ball park coming in at $225 - $230, depending on the retailer.

However, it's not at the same level as many of the other figures on the market. It's not the sculpt or paint - these are in the right neighborhood. But the lack of ankles and the reduced posability, along with the less complex costume, makes it a tough sell at anything over $180.  Had they included a second, less extreme head sculpt the price point would have made sense, but it's hard to justify with what's here.

Things to Watch Out For -
It can be a little tricky to get the sword all the way into the slot on his hip. The hand guard hits the top of the plastic belt, but if you use something like a thin blade to push the belt out of the way, you can slide it all the way down.

Overall - ***
There are three issues here: the extreme nature of the only head sculpt; the lack of ankles; and the price.

The first issue just limits you on some of the poses that make sense. You'll have to stick with something dynamic and battling - just standing there looks pretty silly (as you can see in some of the photos).

The second issue makes fixing the first issue harder. The lack of ankles is my biggest personal problem here, and while I was able to get some stable fighting stances, I think you'll need to use the display stand for anything really good.

The third issue is one that might be fixed by time.  It's quite possible that we'll see this guy go for less on ebay, at least in the first few weeks of his release when retailers are looking to turn him over. Over time that might change - I doubt they've made a ton of these - but initial pricing might drop if demand isn't there.

It really comes down to this - if you liked their Leonidas and can accept the less articulated ankles, you'll like Themistokles. If you didn't, you won't.

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

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth is also at $230, but they have free shipping as well.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Check out the King Leonidas that Star Ace released awhile back, or the Hot Toys version.

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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