Review of Newt Scamander - Fantastic Beasts
Sixth Scale Action Figure

Introduction

I'm a huge Harry Potter fan, but I have to admit that my love for the series has not translated particularly well to the Fantastic Beasts franchise. Oh, I enjoy them, but it isn't a license that captivates me in the same way.

Ah, but then there's sixth scale action figures, and when I can get unique characters to add to my shelf...I'm a happy man. I pre-ordered both Newt Scamander and Grindelwald the minute Hot Toys put them up, and both finally arrived this week.

Expect to pay around $235 depending on the retailer for the regular release. I'm looking at the Sideshow exclusive tonight, with a couple extra accessories and a higher price tag of $250.

Packaging - ***1/2
The package is very attractive, sporting beautiful colors and a great Newt photo. It's all collector friendly of course, and the single plastic tray provides a safe space for figure and accessories.

Sculpting - ***1/2
I'm really torn on this one. Hot Toys produces tremendously realistic sculpts...but that realism can sometimes overwhelm the viewer. This is one of those times.

This is definitely a realistic portrait. The hair is finely sculpted, with small strands and a mussy flow. It does gap a bit more at the forehead where the top piece is glued on, but it's a fairly minor issue in hand.

The skin texture is age appropriate and subtle, with a slight variation at the lips and eyebrows.  This is a one piece head and neck, so the sculpted flow looks good between the two.

The expression is fine as well, not too extreme but with enough emotion to avoid looking like a mannequin. The slight squint to the eyes really helps here.

But is it accurate? Is this Eddie Redmayne as Newt? Or is it a really, really good cosplayer? I'm not ready to say it's inaccurate, but it's not the home run we get when Hot Toys is at their best. The big selling point in the accuracy category is the hair and the lips - those two areas nail it. The rest of the sculpt is a bit more generic, a little less spot on. It's one of those situations where from the right angle, it's clearly him, but from another...not so much. While I just said the expression is fine, it isn't actually helping the accuracy. It's a neutral look, not any different than they might give any character, but Newt tends to go through life with a rather befuddled or surprised look on his face, even when he most certainly is not. A better choice of expression - one that matches the actual character's personality - would have gone a long way to getting the accuracy higher as well.

He's a decent height, coming in at about 12 1/4" tall. We'll see how he looks with Grindelwald next to him with the follow up review.

Paint - ****
Yea, there's no comparison with their production paint work, even with companies like Asmus and ThreeZero making in-roads in this area. Hot Toys still has the most amazingly realistic paint work on the market.

The skin tone is subtly mottled, with bright, wet eyes, and even a soft transition at the hair line along the side of the face. The hair has realistic highlights, and the eyebrows are perfect. Overall, it's another impressive paint job.

Articulation - ***
The underlying TrueType has all the articulation you'd expect, but the tightly tailor suit does tend to restrict some things.

I already mentioned that this is a one piece head/neck design, and while that helps with Sculpting, it does not help here. There is much less tilt and lean possible.

The shoulders and elbows are restricted a bit by the multiple layers of clothing, but not any more than an actual person, wearing the same garments, would be. The wrists work great, and the hands swap easily.

The torso has decent lean, tilt, and turn, and the hips and knees allow him shallow to deep stances, and he can sit just great. However, the ankles are the final and most disappointing joint. Thanks to the high top single piece boots, there's not much you'll get out of the ankles themselves.

It's worth noting that there is also a fine wire threaded through the edge of the overcoat in key places. This will allow you to create a more realistic looking flow, especially in more dynamic poses.

Accessories - ***1/2
This is the deluxe version, which includes one more extra.

Let's start with all the common extras. He has four additional hands to go with the two relaxed hands he comes wearing - a set of gripping hands, a splayed left, and a wand holding right with the wand already permanently attached to the hand. They swap easily, and there's a couple extra wrist pegs just in case.

He also has a loose wand, as well as the printed book "Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them". All the pages of the book have printing, but it's just four characters repeated.

There is also Nicholas Flamel's card, printed on both sides on very heavy stock, and four baby Nifflers. These Nifflers each has their own pose, and they are actually designed to stack up on each other. Getting them to do that was tricky, and keeping them that way will be even a bigger trick.

He has his oversized case as well, made from very sturdy materials. It includes hinges for the lid (although they don't actually 'hinge', but are there just for show), and the interior bottom has a lenticular print. Hold it one way, you see the normal contents - shift it slightly and you'll see Newt's room. The case is my personal favorite in the bunch of extras, with an excellent sculpt and lots of detail.

To add some spice to the case, there's a sticker sheet. These can be applied to the interior top.

The regular release also includes a small Bowtruckle. He can stand on his own, but there's also a small clear display stand to keep him upright.

Finally, the regular release has a simple display base with crotch support. The base looks like a tile floor, and includes a name plate.

The exclusive release includes one more extra - a fully grown Niffler, sitting down.

Outfit - ***
The overall outfit is quite nice on first inspection, but there are a few issues that bugged me more as time went by.

It's a lot of layers, as it should be. There's the shirt, vest, suit coat, and outer coat. And pants, belt, and shoes of course. You can take off layers as you see fit, but I liked him best completely decked out.

The bow tie is actually sculpted, and I'm not a huge fan. I also don't love the flimsy feeling leather watch chain on the vest. But the vest itself looks great, and the overall tailoring from the waist up is quite good.

As I mentioned earlier, the outer coat has a wire threaded along several edges, allowing you to work with it. Unfortunately, the collar is too large, something you usually don't see with Hot Toys. It's not way off, maybe 10 - 15%, but it's noticeable.

I complained about the restrictive one piece shoes earlier, but the sculpt and paint work are good. The pants are too skinny though, tailored a tad too tight to his legs. Again, it's not a huge issue, but it is noticeable, particularly if you compare him to other suited figures.

To finish off my complaints, I also had several loose threads on the suit jacket itself that I had to snip off. Again, not something I'm used to from Hot Toys.

Fun Factor - ***
While he's not a figure you'll probably pose in 100 different ways, you will come up with some pretty cool ideas when matching him up against Grindelwald.  The accessories and articulation add to the fun, and while you might not revisit him regularly, you will do so occasionally.

Value - **
Hot Toys tried boosting their prices up to the $250 mark a few years ago - remember? They dropped back closer to $225 though for a regular release, indicating people started to back off at the higher price point.

Clearly, they're taking a run at it again. I can't say this is a $250 figure, but the suit is fairly complex, and there's a nice assortment of extras. At $230, I would have gone that extra half star to an average value.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing. None of the accessories were fragile, and I hand no issues working with the figure.

Overall - ***1/2
This figure is nice - paired with Grindelwald, I'm expecting even more. The set together should make for a great display.

I still have my nits though, and this release isn't Hot Toys at their finest. It's not a bad figure by any stretch of the imagination, but they've set the bar tremendously high both for others and for themselves. Living up to it with every release can sometimes be beyond their reach.

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

Where to Buy 
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Also check out the Newt Scamander produced by Star Ace for comparison. And in a week, I'll have the review up of Grendelwald too!

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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