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Captain Toy/Michael's Review of the Week

Review of Avengers Quicksilver
Sixth Scale Action Figure

Hot Toys
Date Published: 2016-04-18
Written By: Michael Crawford
Overall Average Rating: 2.5 out of 4

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Avengers Quicksilver 1/6th action figure by Hot Toys

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Introduction

The new Marvel movies - Captain America: Civil War and Doctor Strange - are looking like massive hits already.  The early reviews for Civil War, opening in just over 2 weeks, are tremendously positive, and the early trailer for Strange is getting everyone excited, just like a good trailer should.

But let's not forget some of the past films, and past heroes.  Tonight I'm checking out one of the Avengers B-listers, Quicksilver, a character we are unlikely to see again on screen, and therefore unlikely to see again in action figure format. Hot Toys, ever vigilante when it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, recently shipped their sixth scale version. You can pick him up at most retailers for around $210, although some deals are available.

There's no exclusive version or special edition this time around - just getting one version was pretty surprising.

Click on the image below for a Life Size version
Avengers Quicksilver 1/6th action figure by Hot Toys

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Packaging - ***
It's the usual, including the character photo on the front with the Avengers logo prominently displayed.  I'm not a big fan of the selected photo, although it's the official marketing image for the character.  The problem is they tilted it to the left, or his right, making it look much more awkward. The package is all collector friendly, and the single plastic tray inside holds him safely.

Avengers Quicksilver 1/6th action figure by Hot Toys

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Sculpting - ***1/2
This one is tricky - there's not a lot about the character that allows him to look like something more than 'generic good looking dude'. That's tricky for a sculptor to capture in a way that you can instantly recognize the particular person.  Comparing this sculpt to stills from the movie, you can see they came very, very close...but something is still not quite right in the jawline and face shape.

The defining feature that they used to best capture his look is the hair, and they did a marvelous job here.  Hot Toys has been expanding their use of rooted hair, and doing it quite well.  Quicksilver's sister, Scarlet Witch, sported long rooted hair, and it was a reasonably good facsimile. This time, they show how good they can mimic reality with sculpted hair, proving it can be done, and done extremely well.

The trick is the finely sculpted strands, along with a fairly unique application of 'extensions' over the forehead. While we've seen this sort of extra hair added in limited ways before, we've never seen it used this much for wavy bangs, and it captures the windblown, wild look of his hair extremely well. They also hid where the extra pieces are attached quite well, a critical factor in making it look realistic.

The sculpt also suffers a bit from the obvious jawline joint. From straight on (or above) it's not a major issue, but any side view makes it quite plain to see.

The only other sculpting aspect this time around is his additional hands, and these are designed to work in various poses. There aren't any gripping hands - more on that in a bit.

Avengers Quicksilver 1/6th action figure by Hot Toys

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Paint - ***
Hot Toys paint is always outstanding - well, almost always. On the rare occasion they'll get a skin tone too dark, or end up with something out of the ordinary, but it's an exception.

The work here is exceptionally clean, with a nice even skin tone, terrific beard work, and good lips and eyebrows. The slight skin mottling adds that extra layer of realism, and as you expect from the better Hot Toys paint applications, he looks like an actual person, not a toy.

The best feature this time around is his eyes, done in a striking blue. They even include a ring of color right around the pupil, which makes them mesmerizing. Get too close with the macro lens and you will see the obvious details, but in hand they simply look stunning.

On the opposite side is the hair color. I have a hunch that blonde is a really hard trick to pull off in sculpted hair, based on the simple fact that I've never seen it done well. There's a translucent, ethereal quality to blonde hair that is probably close to impossible to create in plastic. And so every company tries some shade of paint or dye, and it's never quite right.

Hot Toys tried with a rather odd color, at least to my eyes. It's more gray than blonde, and matches his shirt a little better than it probably should. I get that it's tough to pull off this hair color, but it still means a slightly lower score here.

Avengers Quicksilver 1/6th action figure by Hot Toys

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Articulation - ***
The underlying TrueType body does everything you'd expect it to, and is largely unencumbered by the uniform.

There were three issues that pulled the score down.  First, there's the neck joint. With a figure like this - who is going to end up posed in running stances - it's important to have some decent backward movement in the head. That's limited here, thanks to the thick rubber skin and very short neck post. You can get a little tilt, but not nearly enough.

The second problem area is the ankles. On the plus side, you can get a complete range of movement out of them, and keep the feet flat on the ground in even the deep stances. This was not true of his sister, who had the high top boots. Unfortunately, the ankles on the one I received were very loose, not something I usually see with the TrueType.  The floppy ankles made it tough for him to maintain poses, something that was surprising considering the base body.

The third issue is with the wrists. I'm going to give them props for wrapping the ends of the sleeves around the ball joints of the wrists, because that creates a more seamless look. However, the hands pop off quite easily, and I found it tricky to get the wrists and hands into various poses.

Avengers Quicksilver 1/6th action figure by Hot Toys

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Accessories - *
And here is where we run into trouble - big trouble.  This figure comes with three additional sets of hands to go with the pair he's wearing, a basic Avengers display stand...and that's it.

As I mentioned earlier, none of the hands are in a gripping pose.  That's because they have nothing to grip. They swap easily enough (a bit too easily), and there's a couple extra wrist pegs just in case. The sculpts are good, and these are slightly less paw-like than most Hot Toys hands. But that's way, way too light in accessories for a figure in this price range.

Avengers Quicksilver 1/6th action figure by Hot Toys

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Outfit - ***1/2
Pretty basic stuff here - outer shirt and paints, along with shoes and socks. There's also a white undershirt that you can't see that adds a smidge of padding to get that smooth look over the abs and waist.

The quality is outstanding of course, and as I mentioned earlier, I'm glad they wrapped the sleeves around the ball wrists.  You have to be a little careful not to pull the wrist pegs out when swapping hands, but they swap so easily that it shouldn't be an issue. This wrapping gives the arm a cleaner, more consistent look, hiding the wrist joint effectively.

The pants and shirt do a nice job matching the on screen look, and the tailoring is excellent, showing off the underlying musculature in a realistic way.  The shoe sculpt is terrific as well, right down to the yellow tread.

While it maintains the usual quality, it's still a pretty basic outfit. Add that to the overall lack of accessories, and you can see where this is going.

Avengers Quicksilver 1/6th action figure by Hot Toys

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Fun Factor - **1/2
While the body is quite articulated, the sloppy ankles and lack of accessories make him less likely to get much re-posing over time.  You're more likely to find one pose you like (particularly as a team with his sister), and leave him be on the shelf.

Avengers Quicksilver 1/6th action figure by Hot Toys

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Value - *1/2
I hit Scarlet Witch pretty hard in this category as well, so this should be no surprise. Quicksilver comes with even fewer accessories and no rooted hair, but they did throw us a bone - he's $20 cheaper. Still, at $210 other companies are providing greater value these days, and this is a figure that shouldn't cost more than $180.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not much.  Try not to pull the wrist pegs loose when swapping hands, since they are wrapped inside the shirt.  It shouldn't be a major issue, since the hands pop off super easy, but it's worth paying attention.

Avengers Quicksilver 1/6th action figure by Hot Toys

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Overall - **1/2
If money is no object for you when it comes to your action figure collection, then you'll be much more generous in the Overall assessment of this figure. Sculpt and paint have minor issues, but the costume is excellent and this is probably the only time you'll get to add this character to your Avengers display. If this were Cap, or Iron Man, or Thor, or Black Widow, you could happily skip a weak release, knowing a stronger one was right around the corner. But, much like Agent Coulson or Maria Hill, if you want a Quicksilver on the shelf, you've really only got one option.

And I have to applaud Hot Toys for giving serious fans the chance to complete the team. Those of us with that particular form of action figure OCD appreciate that they are producing figures that simply don't have the demand of the A-list characters.

Still, coughing up over $200 for an extremely basic figure is rough on the wallet, and your friends and family will probably use it as another example of your occasionally obsessive behavior when it comes to your collection. Hey, they knew what they were getting into...as did you when you started buying Hot Toys figures in the first place.

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

Avengers Quicksilver 1/6th action figure by Hot Toys

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Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Sideshow has him for $210.

- is at just $200.

- comes in at $210.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
As you can tell from the photos, Hot Toys also released his sister, Scarlet Witch. Befor that we had Pepper Potts and the MK IV set. Other related characters include Maria Hill, AoU Captain America, the Winter Soldier, Red Skull, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Nick Fury, Agent Coulson, Hulk, and Bruce Banner. I've also covered a ton of Iron Man releases, and one of my favorites is the die cast MK43.

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

Discussion:
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Avengers Quicksilver 1/6th action figure by Hot Toys

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This product was purchased for the review by the reviewer. Photos and text by Michael Crawford.

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