Review of Drax - Guardians of the Galaxy
Sixth Scale Action Figure

Introduction

It's unusual for Hot Toys to put a figure up for pre-order and take a very long time to produce it. It's not unusual for it to take SOME time, and they often start pre-orders 12 months before a figure will actually ship. But more than that is unusual...but not unheard of.

Fans of the film Guardians of the Galaxy were thrilled when Hot Toys got the license. They jumped on it pretty quickly, and we received Star-Lord almost 2 1/2 years ago. Then there was Gamora...and Rocket and Groot followed just a couple months later, just shy of two years ago. We had all four less than 12 months after the movie debuted. Yep, we had four of the five members of the team TWO YEARS ago. Oh, Drax went up for pre-order, in fact I ordered mine when it was first available, 16 months ago.  Hell, we got Thanos from the movie before we got Drax!

This is not the longest wait we've ever seen, in terms of pre-order to production - that honor remains with Hulkbuster, a figure I ordered in March of 2015 and still haven't received. But he's been an exceptionally long time coming, and whatever the issue - licensing, likeness, paint complexity - fans have been pretty patient considering Hot Toys started taking orders for figures from GOTG2 before they shipped this guy!

But all that patience has paid off, and he's finally available to complete the team. He was originally around $220, depending on the retailer.

Packaging - ***
As you'd expect, they've kept the same overall design theme. The boxes will look good together, but they are about as basic as the Hot Toys packaging gets. The slip cover is decent, and the window box is easy to work with. It's all collector friendly, but won't be anything you'll spend much time admiring.

Sculpting - ***
There's a fair amount of sculpting here, since the body decoration on the torso, arms, and head is all raised.

Let's start with the portrait itself.  Of course, it's rocking the realism, even though the funky speckled skin tone does interfere a bit with their ability to create a life-like texture. They make up for it with some great work around the eyes and lips, and of course the raised tattoos are extremely realistic.

Then there's accuracy, and the early photos of the original prototype had folks worried. Of course, that was an awful long time ago, and the final version we got is outstanding.  Dave Bautista has a very unique look to him, especially in profile. The shape of the front of his face, how the nose, lips, and chin all line up, is quite distinctive, and they've mirrored it beautifully here. I'm having a little trouble with the eyes though - something there seems off, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

Finally, there's the emotive aspect.  I think the eyes let him down a bit here too. While I don't mind a bit of a lax expression in the rest of his face - he can be unemotional, particularly in the original film - the eyes have a deadness to them that hurts most fighting stances.

The raised tattoos covering his body look great, with tons of detail. While these decorations look great, there's no doubt he could have been a little bulkier in the torso and arms. This is the biggest issue I have overall with the figure, and the longer I looked at him the more it bugged me. He doesn't seem to have lats, with no width to the torso in that area.  It makes the body look too slim, top to bottom, especially in poses with the arms wide.

I did have one other nit to go along with the eyes and size.  The wrists are pretty obvious here, thanks to the slightly different color (no speckling) and lack of any sleeve or gauntlet. Like I said, it's a minor nit, but it does throw off the realism from certain poses.

He's sixth scale obviously, and stands just north of 12" tall.

Paint - ****
There's a ton of paint detail here to go along with the sculpt detail. All those tattoos need paint, and it's done very cleanly and consistently.

The head, torso, and arms also have that interesting speckled skin tone. Again, it's fairly consistent, and it does look like the screen version from a distance.  As you get more macro the technique becomes more obvious, but in hand it looks great.

Articulation - ***
This is one of those instances where Hot Toys tries to walk the line between articulation and sculpt. For some the compromise is perfect, but others will take issue with the ugliness of the joints, or the lack thereof.

The ball jointed neck works fine, and going with the joint under the chin at the top of the neck is the only option with a figure like this. The rotating hinge shoulders have a good range of movement, but you'll notice that there is more or less of a gap in certain photos. That's because the arm can move in and out slightly, providing more mobility for certain poses.

The rotating hinge elbows and wrists work as expected, and the cut waist is handy. There's no ab crunch or chest joint obviously, but you can work around it.

The legs are a little restricted by the tight pants, but the hips and knees can take mid-depth stances, and the ball ankles allow for good rocker movement.  The boot is a two piece design, with the foot separate from the upper, and that was a very smart move on their part.  The joint is well hidden, yet very useful.

You can *almost* get a perfect pose holding the large gun - see below - but I couldn't quite get the shoulder rest in the exact spot it belongs. Still, with a quick glance, it looks good.

Accessories - **1/2
This figure is a tad light in the Accessories department, even for a $220 release. Remember, that price point is from more than a year ago.

There are seven hands in total - the set of fists he comes wearing, a set of tight grips for the blades, a set of splayed hands, and one right gun grip. They swap pretty easily, but remain tightly in place. There's a couple extra wrist pegs just in case.

He has his two silver knives, with complex sculpts and clean paint jobs. Scale looks good, and they slip inside the sheaths on either leg. More on that in the Outfit section.

He has the large bazooka style gun as well, which looks terrific. All the usual detail in the sculpt and construction, and it's a useful add.

Finally, there's the GOTG display base with support. You won't really need it - he stands fantastic on his own - but it's nice to have for consistency.

Outfit - ***
There's not a lot to the outfit: boots, pants, belts. But they've captured the look from the film, and the overall high quality of the material and construction is what you've come to expect from Hot Toys.

The tailoring is spot on as well, and the paints fit tightly but still allow him to take some reasonably deep stances. The boots look terrific, and as I mentioned earlier, the two piece design was an excellent choice in this situation.

My only serious nit here involves the knife sheaths.  They are tight to the boots of course, but the buckles on the belt just above the knee makes the fit tricky. The handle tends to get pushed outward by the buckles, and I'm worried about warpage over time.

Update - there IS the second set of red pants that I overlooked on first pass through.  I'll update the review with a photo and instructions on swapping them tomorrow!

Update 2 - okay, you'll find this amusing. Maybe not. I went back through all the trouble of swapping pants, coming up with a few poses, and then before I remembered to copy them over, I permanently deleted them off the card. *sigh* So no new photos, but hey, they're not that different.

I will make a few observations about the swapping and quality, however. They aren't too hard to take on and off. The foot pops off of course, and the upper top of the boot slips down. The regular pants have a buckle that you pop open (popping it closed again later can be a little tricky, but is doable), and a velcro front closure. Once open, they slide off the legs pretty cleanly. He's actually wearing padded underwear too, that give his thighs and butt a little more bulk.

Putting the red pants on is simply the reverse. The red pair don't have the buckles on the thighs, but do have plastic decorations that still get in the way of the knife hilts.

Fun Factor - ***
While he's not the most articulated, and he's not the most accessorized, he is the final piece in the GOTG puzzle. The real fun here comes from posing him with the rest of the team, perhaps battling Thanos.

Value - **1/2
At $220, he ain't cheap, but he is pretty much in line with the current market average. He's a little light on accessories, but it's not as bad as some we've seen, and I have to give them some extra credit for the amount of sculpting and paint required by the upper body design.  He gets an average value from me, which will have no upward or downward effect on my overall.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing. As I said, I'm a little worried about keeping the knives in the sheaths long term, but most people will be posing him with the knives in hand anyway. Otherwise, it's all sturdy and well made, with little chance for breakage or damage under normal handling.

Overall - ***
There's not too much to complain about here, but there are a few issues. While the likeness is solid and the special work on the torso and arms looks great, the upper body could be a bit bigger, particularly across the back where he needs a little more bulk. The accessories are good, but there's not a ton of them. The outfit isn't the most complex and I'm not digging the location of the sheaths compared to those buckles, but the quality, tailoring, and construction are top notch. As you might imagine, all this left me with mixed feelings - it's a good figure, but not a great one.

We've gotten pre-orders for Star-Lord and Rocket so far based on the second film, but all bets are off as to whether they'll bother with a second Drax or not. If you want a complete team for the display it might be a good idea to grab this version, even with the issues.

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

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Sideshow has him in stock for $220.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
The last Hot Toys GOTG figure to hit was Thanos last spring. Before that, we had Rocket and Groot, Gamora, and Star-Lord.

If you're just a fan of Drax, check out the Marvel Legends version.

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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