Review of Zorro - Mask of Zorro
Sixth Scale Action Figure

Introduction

When Blitzway announced they were doing a Zorro sixth scale figure, I simply handed over my credit card. I grew up idolizing Batman and Zorro, and the only reason I have about a thousand times more Batman collectibles than Zorro is because the poor guy has never gotten his due.

So yea, it didn't matter if this was a generic version or a movie version or a tv version. I was in. While a Tyrone Power would have been my first choice and a Guy Williams my second, I was more than happy to get the Antonio Banderas release, based on his first of two Zorro movies, The Mask of Zorro.

It's not a cheap figure, however, coming in at $280. That's a steep price, even by Hot Toys standards, and this isn't Hot Toys. Zorro just started shipping in the last couple weeks, and most retailers should have him in by now.

Packaging - ***1/2
The outer box is attractive, with the infamous mark on the cover 'cutting' through the surface. They use a spot gloss technique to give it a little more visual depth.  Inside, the two plastic trays hold everything safe and sound, and it's all quite collector friendly. There's some very basic instructions, but you should be able to figure most of it out.

Sculpting - ***
The figure comes with two heads - an unmasked Banderas' head, and the masked head wearing the hat. I suspect most folks will be sticking with the masked head, but having the second portrait does conjure up potential customs.

The masked portrait captures the general look from the film well enough. The sculpted mask looks good, and they included the long strips of cloth where it is tied in back. The hat is properly scaled and fitted, and the string normally used to hold it on his head (like when he's riding Tornado) or hang it around his neck is looped to the back, out of the way.

The unmasked portrait is sorta, kinda Banderas. The hair is the best feature, slicked back with great detailing in the strands. The hairline is uneven and realistic, but the skin doesn't have the super realistic texture that most companies have mastered at this point. Various sections seem slightly out of scale - the nose a bit too big, the eyes to close together, the jawline too wide - making it one of those portraits that looks better or worse from different angles.

The hand sculpts are useful, particularly the right designed to work with the sword and whip. Swapping is a bit tricky though, because the gloved hands are all one piece. That makes popping the post into the hole buried deep in the glove a blind activity.

He stands right about 12" tall, fitting in fine with most other sixth scale lines. And yes, he has sculpted chest hair, just as he should.

Paint - ***
The detail work is clean, with no real slop or missed edges.  The hairline is particularly good on the unmasked head, with a subtle, uneven transition that's quite realistic.

However, the skin tone doesn't quite have the uber realism that we've come to expect in the market, and the eyes are slightly wonky. It's not awful, particularly in hand, but it is noticeable.

The gold detailing on the hat is quite clean and the silver work on the belt is nice, but there's not a ton of other paint detail on the accessories or costume.

Articulation - ***1/2
The base body works well, but they failed with the big boots.

The ball neck has plenty of tilt and lean, and swapping heads was no problem. The shoulders, elbows, and wrists allow for natural arm poses, and they were tight and sturdy. The torso can crunch and twist and the costume doesn't restrict the movement, allowing you to break up most of the unnatural straight lines in poses.

The hips and knees work great, but they went with a single piece boot. The sculpt is good, and you can get him to stand in shallow poses quite well, but deeper poses won't have the feet flat on the ground. Considering the style of boot, with its wrinkles and folds, there wasn't really an excuse for not going with a two piece design, particularly at this price point.

Accessories - ***1/2
The second portrait goes a long way to boosting this score, even with its issues.

There's also two extra sets of hands to go with the general gripping hands he comes wearing. There's a flat left, a shallow grip left, a sword (or whip) grip right, and a tight grip right perfect for holding the edge of the hat. Of course, the hat doesn't come off, but you can still have him hold the edge as though he's tipping his hat to you. This hand should also be able to hold the paper extras.

The hands are a little tricky to swap, since the long gloves hide the hole from view. It wasn't terrible though, and I swapped back and forth a couple times with limited frustration. There's no extra pegs.

He has the necklace from the film, with a real chain. He also has three weapons - his whip, his dagger, and his sword.  The dagger fits in a small sheath on his belt, and the sword slips into a larger scabbard that you have to attach to the belt. I'll talk more about that in the Outfit section.

The blade of the dagger and sword are real metal. However, the hilt of the sword is plastic, some of it VERY soft. Be extra careful when putting it in his hand, as it would be very easy to break. This soft hilt is the sole reason they lost a half star here. Again, at this price point I have higher expectations.

The whip is well made, although I don't see myself using it in the display. He also has his cane, another item I suspect will go in the Accessories bag.

There are two paper pieces - the map, and the wanted poster. Both are very worn, almost too worn. Reading the map is near impossible, but it is pretty accurate to the movie.

Finally, he has a basic display stand with name plate and crotch support.

Outfit - **1/2
While I have my nits with the other areas, it's really the costume that let me down.

There's the shirt, pants, boots, belt, and cape that I'm counting in this section. Let's start with the good.

The cape is very nice, made from the soft almost sticky material we've seen used a lot recently. It hangs nicely, but it doesn't stay up over the shoulders quite as well as I'd like. Still, that's a minor nit, and the real chain around the neck and detailed edging look great.

The shirt and pants suffer from poor tailoring. The shirt sits too far back on the torso and shoulders, pushing the collar back and the edges up. If they had a strap at the crotch to help hold the shirt tucked in you could futz this around a bit more, but alas, they do not. Every time you handle the figure, the shirt tries to shift backwards, making it tough to pose him without the cape. Obviously the cape helps cover up the wonky collar placement, but since my personal all time favorite Zorro never wore a cape, I would have liked the option.

The pants are a weird fit as well, saggy in the crotch. Trying to get them to stay up, the shirt to stay down, and the belt to remain somewhere in the middle was an exercise in frustration. The pants are short as well, only extending a little past the knees. You'll end up tucking them back in with deeper stances.

The belt has the sheath for the knife, which works great. It also has two hangers to attach the sword's scabbard, and this is much weaker. These are plastic hooks, which are supposed to attach to small metal loops on the scabbard. Yes, you can get them to attach, but it's tricky, and breaking one of the hooks is way too likely. Again, at this price point, plastic attachments like this are unacceptable.

Fun Factor - ***
The cape takes care of most of the annoyance with the shirt and collar, but you still have to take a lot of care with the plastic hooks on the scabbard/belt. He's fun to pose, but you may be reticent to do it very often because of this.

Value - *
And here we come to the crux of the issue. Not all that long ago, Quantum Mechanix produced the excellent Dread Pirate Roberts from the Princess Bride. They did so for a retail price of $200. And that figure blows this one completely away, all for $80 less. In fact, Qmx, Asmus, and ThreeZero are all regularly doing work this good or better in the sub $200 range. There's simply no way this is worth the price tag, and I recommend only the Zorro nuts like me pay full price.

Things to Watch Out For -
I mentioned those tiny, plastic hooks on the scabbard hangers. Take care!  It's also important to e careful with the soft plastic hilt on the sword when putting it in his gripping hand.

Overall - **1/2
The simple fact, right up front, is that this is not a figure worth almost $300. At $200, I could have excused a few of the issues, but the quality of the sword hilt, the cheap plastic hooks, and the tailoring issues are magnified when you consider how much you're paying.

He is the best sixth scale Zorro I now have, but that's not saying a whole lot. The last one was from Triad many years ago, and it's not a fair fight. But this figure pales in comparison to the recent Dread Pirate Roberts, and I wish we could get a complete pulp line from one company that had consistent quality.

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

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Triad Toys did a sixth scale more generic Zorro back in the day, and you can add Flash Gordon, The Shadow, and Buck Rogers to the sixth scale Pulp Heroes display. Another nice companion piece is the Dread Pirate Roberts!

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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