Review of Arya - Game of Thrones
Sixth Scale Action Figure

Introduction

It's been a long time since ThreeZero shipped a new Game of Thrones figure. It's been even longer since a new episode of the amazing show was on HBO. With the new and final season right around the corner, it seems fitting to receive the latest in the series of sixth scale action figures.

Arya is one of my personal favorite characters. She has been since the first season, but as a book reader, I assumed she'd have a kick ass story arc. The show has not disappointed me with her development, and the actress - Maisie Williams - is perfect in the role.

This latest release will cost around $170 or so, depending on the retailer, and just started shipping last week in the U.S.

Packaging - ***1/2
Pretty standard stuff, and the thin, long box is similar to their earlier releases. They have the imprinted wolf on the cover, along with the saying "winter is coming". Inside, everything is packed in a collector friendly way, with no damage necessary to free the figure and accessories. It's all safe and sound, but the instructions are pretty weak.

Sculpting - ***1/2
I recently reviewed the QMX Star Trek Scotty, and mentioned a rare occurrence - the final sculpt was better than the prototype. There's lots of good reasons why a prototype is normally superior to the final result, but once in awhile the company continues to tweak and improve right up to production.

I suspect Arya is one of these situations as well, where fans made their displeasure known early and the company took it to heart. There's no doubting the final result I have in my hands is better than what we saw in the marketing photos. Check these out and tell me you can't see the improvements in the eyes, lips, and nose. It's a very accurate Arya, from the shape of the lips, to the placement and size of the eyes, to the geometry of the face. Perhaps most critical of all, they nailed the unique shape of her nose, something that doesn't come across quite as good in photos but is really impressive in hand.

The sculpt is both accurate to the actress and the character, and the expression is spot on as well. It's serious, with concentration in the eyebrows and lips, and this non static look works great. Not only does it add just the right bit of emotion, it enhances the recognizability.

There's also a soft skin texture, age appropriate. The skin surface on the lips looks great, and the eyebrows are subtle. The rooted hair looks good, with a tight style and short cut. You can play around with it a bit too, using a little product.

One of the issues I've pointed out with rooted hair and certain styles is the large forehead and obvious edge at the top. ThreeZero is listening, and both sculpted and painted in a lower hair line. It's obvious in macro photos of course, but in hand it really does a lot for improving the look of the rooted hair and avoiding the obvious forehead gap.

Paint - ***
ThreeZero has been improving their production paint work, one of the hardest aspects for any company to overcome. It's still not perfect, but this one is quite a bit better than several past attempts.

The skin texture and freckling is the highlight, along with the lips. The colors are realistic, and the soft, slightly translucent skin tone improves this realism.

The eyes are sharp and clear, but the eyebrows are still a little thick and heavy. The paint tends to hide some of the detailed sculpting in the tiny hairs.  The eyes lashes are also not my favorite, and the tiny lines are a little too obvious this time. It's a tough line to walk between too subtle and too obvious when it's something this small, but even in hand I was able to notice the definition of each lash.

Articulation - ***
This is a smaller female body, coming in at just about 10" tall. The actress is 5' 1", and 10" in sixth scale translates to 5', so it's appropriate. She'll fit in nicely with the rest of the line, and like most ThreeZero figures, is on the lanky side. She's more legs than torso, which did cause me to drop the score here slightly.

The neck works well enough, but I didn't get as much tilt and lean out of it as I expected. With no restrictive hair or collar I thought I'd get more forward and backward movement at least, but it was a bit restricted due to the design of the joint.

The shoulders, elbows, and wrists allow for most normal arm poses, and there's a crunch torso as well. You can get some forward and backward movement out of the chest, as well as a little turn, but the thick cloth vest restricts it slightly.

The hips and knees are not blocked by the thin pants, and even the ankles have decent mobility in the shoes. Stances from short to deep are possible, and the feet should remain flat in the deeper stances.

My other slight issue here is with some of the hands. Most swapped easily, but one was particularly tight, requiring heat to get it in place. All of them remained in place when I was posing the figure. Even with these minor nits, this is a solid body, with good mobility and articulation.

Accessories - ***
There's not a ton of extras, but what's here is well done.

There's four extra hands to go with the relaxed set she comes wearing. One set is closed fists, while the other pair are designed to hold accessories. I am bummed that there is no weapon gripping right. While I realize Arya is left handed, it would have been nice to have her wield both the sword and knife at the same time. There's a couple extra wrists pegs just in case.

And yes, she has a small dagger, as well as Needle, her sword.  Both look great, but take a little care with the hilt on Needle. The plastic used in the guard is softer, and you could break it with rough handling.

She also has four Braavosi coins, one of them the unique version. These can be put in a large leather purse, with drawstrings. There's also a very nice leather water skin, with a hunk of leather materiel rolled up inside to give it some shape.

There's no display stand, as ThreeZero tends to skip them.

Outfit - ***1/2
The clothing includes her shirt, vest, pants, and boots. Oh, and let's not forget the belt!

The vest is a highlight. The thick, rough material is in scale, and looks fantastic. ThreeZero always does wear and damage on their outfits extremely well, and the quality is evident here again. The shirt underneath is torn and worn, and the pants look like they've seen plenty of use. The leather belt is high quality stuff as well, and fits neatly around her waist.

My one complaint with these soft goods is the velcro closure on the pants. It's cut at a slightly odd angle, and it tends to expose the velcro at the bottom.

The other highlight is the shoe sculpt. Intricate, unique, and realistic, the shoes add a lot to the overall appearance of the figure.

Fun Factor - ***1/2
With good articulation and accessories, and an ever expanding group of characters with which to interact, this figure can be a lot of fun to pose and re-pose. I can't wait to see what the final season brings Arya's way, but I have my fingers crossed.

Value - ***1/2
With most smaller companies charging $200 - $220 for their releases, and with Hot Toys getting close to $250 as an average, getting something like this for $170 is a great deal. The quality is well above what you'd expect at this price, and ThreeZero is clearly working to improve with every release.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not much. Swapping one or two of the hands was more difficult than usual, and you'll want to take a little extra care with the guard on the sword. But otherwise you should be good to go!

Overall - ***1/2
I'm going to be honest with you - I was worried. The prototype was not doing it for me, and I've been generally very happy with the GoT figures. Only Jon Snow was a let down, and while Dany had more nits than usual, she also got more hate than she really deserved. But it was looking like Arya would be a big miss.

So you can imagine my surprise when I popped her out of the box and saw the final result in hand. There's still a few nits, not the least of which is the lanky look that many ThreeZero figures have. But she's in the top half of the group with Tyrion and Ned, rather than the bottom half with Dany and Jon. The overall improvement also makes me even more excited for the release of Cersei, the White Walker, and Brienne, and I hope we see some additional pre-orders go up soon.

I know I already mentioned this, but my birthday is later this month, and if you'd like to commemorate the event with a small token of love, you could buy me the 1/6th scale Drogon. I'm just saying.

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

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth comes in at $177, but includes free shipping.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Other Threezero GoT figures include Daenerys,  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 second 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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