Review of Dengar - Star Wars sixth scale action figure

Introduction

If you've been waiting to complete your set of high end sixth scale Star Wars Bounty Hunters, your wait is finally over. Sideshow's release of Zuckuss and Dengar complete the series, giving you the chance to create a bounty hunter brotherhood on your shelves.

Dengar is only available through Sideshow in the U.S., and will run you around $240. In a rare move, Sideshow actually has an edition size on this guy of just 2000.

Packaging - ***
The wrap around flap, magnetic closures, and collector friendly nature of the packaging is well known to collectors by now. There's nothing new here, nothing unique, but the basic design set the standard.

Sculpting - ***
I'm liking this sculpt quite a bit, although it's not quite at the level of other figures at this price point.

The skin texture and scarring look good, and it's one of their more life-like and realistic recent releases. The expression is stern, but not extreme, befitting the character or at least what little we know of him.

I think it was also a very smart idea to not sculpt the hood around his face. The use of cloth adds to the overall realism. They did go with sculpting the layers on the top of his head, and you can remove this piece or re-position it slightly to your liking.

The biggest issue remains with the eyes. They lack the depth and life of the plastic eyes used by other high end companies. Check out a figure like the recent Star-Lord for comparison. These painted eyes end up flatter, less defined, and less life-like.

There's not a ton of small detail work on the armor, but what's here looks good, especially on the pack and front chest piece. The cloth rolled blanket on top adds more realism, as do the various straps and buckles. The edges and details are sharply cut as well, increasing the impression of a protective, hard surface.

Paint - ***
The paint isn't up to the standard of a $240 figure, particularly on the eyes. Again, they lack the life of the better, separate plastic versions.

But the work on the skin, especially the scarring, is quite good. In macro photos it suffers a bit, but in hand I was pretty impressed. Sideshow can get where they need to be with just a few tweaks.

The armor is where the best paint work is. It has a nice, metallic appearance, with some reasonable wear and tear. There could be a little more grime on the head wrappings, pouches, and armor, but they were smart not to over do it.

Articulation - **1/2
The joints are all there, but the pudgy, padded body and restrictive armor doesn't allow it to do a whole lot.

The neck works well, and as I mentioned, you can adjust how the head wrapping sits in various stances. The shoulders, elbows, and wrists are pretty restricted by the armor, but you can get some basic two handed gun grips if you work at it.

The torso will turn and lean a bit, but nothing extreme. The two piece torso armor allows some movement, but you won't be able to get any serious bending or leaning.

The hips, knees, and ankles are less restricted by the armor than you might think. It's really the padded body and tight suit that kill any depth in the stances. You can get natural, flowing short stances, but trying to spread the legs to something more medium to deep in distance isn't going to work.

Which is a shame, because the two piece boot design allows for excellent ankle mobility. If you could get the hips to spread, you'd be able to keep the feet flat on the ground in even the deepest stance. All the joints are nice and tight though, so he'll have no trouble maintaining any pose you can come up with.

Accessories - ***1/2
Zuckuss really suffered in this area - Dengar has him beat by quite a bit.

He has a nice assortment of hands, with eight in total. He comes wearing a set of relaxed grips, and includes is a set of fists, a set of gun grips, and a set of medium grips. They all have their own wrists pegs, and swapping was pretty easy.

He has two guns - a large blaster rifle, and a blaster pistol. The rifle is really detailed, with an opening chamber and spring loaded action that you can pull back. I was pretty impressed with the level of detail, as it wasn't something I was expecting.

The smaller blaster looks great as well, with a nice sculpt and weathered paint job. The blaster fits in the holster on his right leg, but it's a tight fit. It goes in easier than it comes out, so I'd suggest deciding whether you'll be posing him with it in his hand or in the holster, and just sticking with it. The holster has a strap that flips over and is held in place with a magnet.

I mentioned the nice sculpt on the pack, and it is held in place on his back with a very strong magnet. It's hollow and lightweight, so he has no trouble standing with it in place.

Finally, there's the same extremely basic display stand with crotch support rod. The Star Wars logo is on the bottom, but the top is blank.

Outfit - ***1/2
Along with his accessories, his outfit is his best feature. The weathered armor, the detailed pack, the two piece boots, all come together to create a great looking costume.

As I said earlier, using cloth for the hood adds a lot to the realism, as it matches the body suit nicely. The pouches on his belt are held closed with tiny magnets, and the various straps on his boots, pack, and other areas are high quality. This is a sturdy, well made outfit, with little chance for damage under normal handling.

I do wish the holster was a little nicer, but the blaster does fit inside, and the strap does reach its magnetic closure and stay in place.

Fun Factor - ***
He's not super articulated, and you won't be posing him a lot. He's more poseable than Zuckuss though, and he has several very useful accessories to add to the display. He'll make an excellent addition to the rest of the bounty hunters, and you'll have a warm sense of completist satisfaction once he's on your shelf.

Value - *1/2
Unfortunately, he takes a pretty big hit in this category. He's a better figure than Zuckuss, and if he had been the same $225, he'd have done better here. But they raised the price another $15 to $240, and that's pushing it big time.  I'd be happy to go $200 for him...maybe even $220. But $240 is in the range of the better Hot Toys releases, and while this guy is the only Dengar you'll ever really need, he's not at the level of the best figures out there.

Things to Watch Out For -
The hands are quite stiff, so be careful when putting the guns in place, especially the blaster rifle, with it's tiny parts.

The smaller blaster pistol fits inside the holster with just a little effort, but removing it is much more difficult. Keep that in mine before you decide to place it inside.

Overall - ***
I always thought of Dengar as Boba Fett on a budget.  Fett got all the cool stuff, Dengar got the left overs. But this release has me appreciating his overall look and design a lot more.

He's still seriously overpriced, but of course the 'limited' nature tends to drive some of that.  You can feel pretty safe that once you've bought him - unlike ever Marvel character produced by Hot Toys - you won't have the need (or opportunity) to buy him again.

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

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Sideshow is the only place you can pick this up in the U.S., where it's $240.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
I just covered Zuckuss last week, the perfect companion for Dengar. Other bounty hunters include IG-88, Bossk, Boba Fett, and 4-LOM.

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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