Review of Peter Pettigrew (Wormtail) - Harry Potter
Sixth Scale Action Figure

Introduction

Of all the villains in the Harry Potter universe, none are quite as loathsome as Peter Pettigrew, aka Wormtail. He is in the story right from the beginning, and his cunning, lying, and deceit have no equal. He's truly an evil character.

Star Ace have finally gotten around to producing him in their sixth scale line up, releasing a regular and a deluxe version. He's been changed a bit since their first announcement, starting with an updated portrait. The final marketing photos used the new face, but he had sculpted hair still. The final product swapped that out for rooted hair.

The regular is, well, regular, while the deluxe (which I'm reviewing tonight) has an additional accessory. The regular will run you around $210, the deluxe $225, depending on the retailer of course. This is a bit of an early review - he should start shipping soon.

Packaging - ***
The box sports a terrific photo of Timothy Spall as Wormtail, and is an excellent way to compare the portrait to the character. Inside, everything is held safe and sound in a couple plastic trays, but they do use some of the plastic wrap to hold in the smaller accessories. Regular readers know I find this annoying, since it's not a particularly collector friendly method. Still, the box, artwork, and design are all well done.

Sculpting - ***
I think they reworked this portrait quite a bit from the initial reveal, and this final version is a much more accurate look.

As I mentioned earlier, they replaced the sculpted hair with rooted hair. It's longer, and while it has the widow's peak and pulled back hairline, it also has a slightly wild look. You can puff it up more, or use a little product and flatten it out, all to your particular tastes and the scene you're working on.

The accuracy is quite good, much better than I expect a lot of people to admit. While their Harry Potter work has certainly been up and down, this is one of the ups. The jowls are baggy, the skin rough but realistic, and even the buggy eyes look great. The eyebrows add to the ridge of his forehead, and the buck teeth look appropriately rat-like. Perhaps the most important aspect of this sculpt is the proportions - the jaw and jowls are slightly wider than the forehead, as they should be.

The expression is also well chosen. He has a ravenous look, and the large eyes are looking upward, as though he's tilted his head down. It works great for this character, and avoids either a zombie appearance or looking too dynamic.

I do think the nose is a little too narrow, although I get what they were going for. Yes, he was very rat-like, and yes the narrow nose is very rat-like, but the actor's nose isn't quite this thin. The exposed teeth are also a bit too chunky, although that's a very minor nit.

There is a weird sculpt issue with the hands, however. In the books, Wormtail cut off the index finger of his right hand back in the day, before he went underground as Scabbers. Unless I'm mistaken, I swear he was missing this finger in the movies as well. Although they sculpted new hands for this figure, including some nasty, long nails, he has all his fingers on both hands. Unless they are going for a look from long ago, when he battled and framed Sirius, I'm assuming this is a mistake. If I'm just forgetting and he had all his fingers through the movies, please let me know.

He stands about 12" tall, fitting in fine with the rest of the series. That does seem a bit too tall for the character though, who was supposed to be around 5' 6". The actor is 5' 7", which was appropriate, and the figure should be closer to 11" to be correct.

Paint - **
I really like the use of rooted hair, and I think it was a big plus with this figure over the look of the sculpted hair.  But they still made a glaring mistake with it.

But let's start by talking about the paint work on the face, where the skin tone is quite realistic, and the eyes look amazing. The coloration on the bags is life-like, and the eyebrows are subtle.

I have only one complaint with the face itself. With the brushed back rooted hair, they could have added a little color to the forehead to create less of an obvious hairline. We've seen it done a few times now with other figures, and it works pretty well.

However, one of the probable reasons they didn't do this is the color of the hair itself. It's so light blonde, that it would be tough to come up with a good color to add to the forehead. This bleached blonde look is my big issue with this category overall. He had mousey brown hair, which did get lighter later in the films, but never this shade of blonde. This is Marilyn Monroe territory.

The hands have a nice paint job too, bringing out the ugly look of the texture and nails. But that hair - it's going to make it very difficult for people to see the underlying quality of the portrait and rooted hair. And that's too bad, because I think with a bit more brown - something closer to the eyebrows - this character would have really popped.

Which brings me to another request - if you have a good technique for darkening the hair a bit, please let me know.

Articulation - ***
The standard Star Ace body works fine for a character like this, although I already noted that it's slightly too tall for this particular dude. The suit is a little tight on the shoulders and hips, but you can get reasonable stances, and a natural flow to the arm and leg poses. The neck has good mobility as well, allowing for some nice tilt and lean, and the crunch in the torso can help break up the straight lines.

The hands swap easily, always a plus. My one disappointment is the ankles, where the tall shoes don't allow for much movement beyond turning.

Accessories - ***
Pete comes with a nice assortment of extras, particularly with the deluxe version.

He starts out with two extra hands. He comes wearing a set of relaxed hands, and you can swap in a gripping right, or the silver right, given to him by Voldemort after he cuts his own right hand off. As I mentioned earlier, these swap easily.

He has his wand of course, as well as his knife. These fit nicely in the gripping hand provided.

He also has Scabbers, although I'm not sure why. He is Scabbers, so getting another one seems redundant, but perhaps if you didn't pick up one of the Ron figures, you'll find it useful.

The regular release also comes with Voldemort's bone, nicely sculpted and painted. It finishes up with a basic display stand with crotch support.

The deluxe version adds in one key extra - baby Voldemort!  He's such a cutey!  Okay, not so much, but the sculpt and paint work are great, and he's wrapped in a nasty villainous blanket.

Outfit - ***1/2
Star Ace did something new here - they weathered the clothing. I don't mean the usual dirt and grim approach, but rather actual damage and wear!

The costume includes the funky shirt, suit coat, pants, belt, socks, and shoes. The tailoring is great, and various aspects - collars, pockets, buttons - are all in scale.

They gave him a fat suit, pudging him up a bit around the middle. It's definitely appropriate to the character.

The jacket and pants have added wear, areas where the fabric is scraped and worn thin. It's a great look, adding to the realism, and fits with his personal story.

The shoe sculpt looks great, but they are tall enough that the ankles won't give you much movement.

Fun Factor - ***
Wormtail certainly played a big part in the overall story, and there's a number of dioramas you could set up using him. He can face off with Harry, or Sirius, or simply serve as a backup to Voldemort.

Value - **
I like the figure more than I anticipated, thanks to the improved portrait and the rooted hair. But I don't think he's a $225 figure. If the deluxe version were closer in price to the regular - $200 - $210 - I'd be much happier. Likewise, the regular release needs to be closer to $180, based on what you're getting.

Of course, that's all without knowing how expensive the Harry Potter license is, which can play a huge role.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing. Everything is sturdy, and you should have no problems working with the figure or accessories.

Overall - ***
The last really good Harry Potter figure Star Ace released was Newt.  Bellatrix wasn't bad but had little expression, and Lucious was messed up by an oversized head.  Griphook is nice too, but he's not exactly a main character.

I'd put this Wormtail in the middle of the pack overall. He's not as good as their best work, but he'll look decent with the rest of the line up, and he's certainly recognizable. The quality of the costume and accessories are great as well.

There are a few minor things fans will take issue with, like the height of the figure and the complete fingers. But for me, there's only one really annoying issue, and that's the color of the rooted hair. I think if I can come up with a way to get a more appropriate mouse brown look, even if it isn't perfectly screen accurate, I'm going to be much, much happier overall.

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

Where to Buy 
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Related Links -
I've covered many of the Star Ace Harry Potter figures, including the Dementor, Griphook, the prisoner version of Belletrix, the regular Bellatrix, Lucious Malfoy, Newt Scamander, teen Hermione, Dobby the House Elf, Dumbledore (Gambon), Teen Harry,  young Draco Malfoy, the Draco/Harry two pack in their Quidditch gear, the casual dress Hermione, the Casual Ron and Harry, Dumbledore (Harris), Hagrid, Snape, Tri-Wizard Harry, the young Hermione, young Harry and Ron, Voldemort, Sirius Black, Mad Eye Moody, and Sirius in his Prison Garb.

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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