Review of Suicide Squad Deadshot
Exclusive Sixth Scale Action Figure

Introduction

We've gotten several Suicide Squad figures from Hot Toys so far - Purple Coat Joker, Tuxedo Joker, Straight Jacket Joker, Batman who is actually Joker...are you sensing a theme? When I returned home from SDCC, there was finally a non-Joker Suicide Squad figure on my table - Deadshot. And let's be honest, between he and Harley, the movie was all theirs.

Hot Toys is producing a regular and an exclusive version of this character. I'll be looking at the exclusive tonight, but there's only a couple extra accessories that sets him apart.

Original price was $245 on either, but the exclusive will be hard to come by now. The regular is available through online retailers, of which I have some excellent suggestions in the Where to Buy section.

By the way, in the photo below you'll see him with a white 'collar'. I actually shot a bunch of photos like that, thinking it was part of his costume (hey, it looked like an undershirt!), but I eventually realized it was just packing material used to keep the neck from being stained. I left the one photo below to show what it looks like, and to point out that I actually liked it better than with the plain neck. Yea, I'm weird.

Packaging - ***1/2
Like the other Suicide Squad figures, the outer shoe box cover is done in an art deco style that looks terrific. Inside is the opening flaps, designed to look like an invitation, another great idea. It's not quite as fancy this time, but they get points for maintaining the theme. It's also very collector friendly of course, and somehow they managed to fit all the accessories and figure in one tray - with a little help from a second, small, plastic tray on top.

Sculpting - ***
This is a Will Smith portrait, but it depends on the angle and the light whether you'll love it or not.

The realism is there, of course, with a fine skin texture, carefully sculpted beard, and just the right variation in the lips and eyebrows. Even the ears are a bit big and set outward, a trademark Smith look.

However, the chrome dome seems a little off in shape and size. Every man's head is a bit different, and this one looks generic, similar to the issues we saw with the Rock and Willis figures in the past.

But my real issue comes with the emotive aspects of the portrait. He looks dead, emotionless, less than alive.  And I don't mean this in a stone cold killer sort of way, but in a store window mannequin sort of way.

There is a second head wearing the mask, and I have to admit it - I like this one better. While there's no way to tell that it's Smith (although you can see his right eye), the detail on the mask is excellent, and it completes the overall ensemble better than the unmasked head.

The heads swap easily, although you'll want to pay attention to the top of the collar, and pull it back up around the neck, particularly with the masked version.

Perhaps my biggest issue for this category overall is not one that revolves around the portrait, but rather the body they've chosen to use. That's an oddity - usually they do a decent job matching up the size of the body with the character. But this time they went awry, and Deadshot seems to have arms, legs, and a torso that's a tad too thin. He shouldn't be huge, but with the tight fitting shirt and tightly wrapped pants, the thinner legs and arms are pretty obvious. And when I'm talking legs, it's really his calves, not his thighs, that seem a bit out of place. Deadshot stands about 12 1/4" tall, maybe just a smidge more depending on the stance.

Paint - ***1/2
The paint application is solid, but the dead look in his eyes isn't improved by the paint work.

The skin texture and coloration looks good, with a life like appearance across the board. The subtle work on the beard, particularly along the edge, adds realism, and the soft, feathered eyebrows look great.

The masked version shows a little slop, particularly between the edges of the stripes. It's not a major issue, and there's some nice shading that's been added, but overall the quality wasn't quite at the expected Hot Toys level.

Articulation - ***
Ignoring the issues with the size and proportions of the body, the articulation is decent.  It's about what you'd expect considering the highly articulated TrueType covered by a rather restrictive costume.

The unmasked head is all one piece, with just the ball joint in the torso.  The masked head is a two piece set up, with the additional ball joint at the chin. You'll notice a lot more tilt and lean action in the photos with the masked head, and it's another reason I like this head a bit more.

The shoulder and body armor does restrict the shoulders, chest, and waist joints a bit, but you can still get some reasonable poses. The elbows work great, but the weaponized gauntlets do restrict the wrists quite a bit. More on that in a minute.

The pants and belts don't get in the way of the hips or knees, but the high top boots will make the ankles a bit less mobile. He can still take solid deep, mid and short range stances, and they can be relatively fluid and life-like.

Back to those wrists, the biggest issue overall with the articulation. They pop on and off easy enough, but the gauntlets, combined with those damn short wrist pegs that I've talked about before, they fall off at the slightest touch. Getting them to remain in place while posing is difficult and frustrating, and I wish Hot Toys would go back to the drawing board on the wrist joints. The post going into the hands is simply too short, and we've seen this be an issue on a number of recent figures.

Accessories - ****
Now this is what I call a well outfitted figure!  It's nice to see Hot Toys load it up on this one, even if a lot of these extras are multiples of the same thing.

Let's start with the hands, the usual extra.  There are five extras to go with the wrists he comes wearing: a set of gun grips, a set of relaxed hands, and one tight grip left that works with the rifle. As I mentioned earlier, they swap easily, but a bit too easily. There's a couple extra wrist pegs too, just in case.

Speaking of the rifle, it's a beaut. Great sculpt and paint work, and a nice cloth strap as well. Obviously the magazine can be removed, but the stock telescopes as well. The custom work on this AR-15 is what really makes it special.

There's three handguns to go along with the rifle. Two Glock 18's fit in the holster at his lower back, while his cool custom Glock 17 can slip in the holster on his hip. All three handguns look fantastic, although it's the custom job that really shines.  I did manage to pop the custom sight off the back, but it glued in place again easy enough.

The regular release also includes a carabiner, a knife (that fits inside the sheath on one boot), and his ear piece/eye piece combo. This last item works great with the unmasked head, improving the look of the slack expression at least a bit.

Like other recent Hot Toys releases, there's also a cardboard display backer, which stands about 14" tall and is about 6" wide. It's a little too small to be useful in most displays, but at least they're being consistent.

Finally, the regular release includes the Suicide Squad display base, with the printed decoration and crotch support. As an extra bonus, this one has a bent, dirty Stop sign you can lay on the base.

Here's where the exclusive parts ways with the regular. There are two additional accessories only available with the exclusive - the handcuffs, and Batman's rebreather. The rebreather is kind of interesting, since it's not intended to be used with this Deadshot, but rather the MMS342 Batman.

Outfit - ***1/2
The outfit is fairly complex, and sports the usual realism and high quality workmanship that you expect from Hot Toys.

The underlying stretchy shirt looks great, and fits tightly without too much restriction on the articulation. Over this he wears the body armor, as well as shoulder armor and belts. There's various holsters as mentioned earlier, as well as a pack or two and other added details. One of the big pluses here is there's no assembly - all this comes right out of the box. Just pop the guns and knife into the holsters (as well as the bazillion magazines, all of which have their own slot), and you're good to go.

The tailoring on the pants could use a little work, since they are wrapped tight at the ankle to fit in the boot and end up looking weird. You might want to add a little padding to the calves to improve the flow yourself.

Perhaps the highlight is the gauntlets, which are actually guns. They even have a spring action to them, much like the handguns. The sculpt and paint are excellent, and while they tend to cause issues with the hands, it's not really their fault.

I did have to re-glue one of the straps on the right knee pad, which pulls the score down slightly for me. I don't like repairing things right out of the box, particularly when you spend almost $250, but was my only real issue.

Fun Factor - ***1/2
This is a fun figure, even with a few nits. He's fairly posable, and by using the various weapons to their fullest extent, you should be able to get some pretty cool battle poses on the shelf. Let's not forget, we've finally gotten someone other than the Joker from Suicide Squad!

Value - **1/2
At almost $250, this figure is above the average price right now, even for Hot Toys. I'm going to cut them some slack though - he has two head sculpts, and a plethora of extras, something that's been lacking from the last couple DC Hot Toys releases. I'd like to see this bevy of extras continue, and I'm willing to pay an extra $20 or so to get them.  Therefore he's getting an average score here from me, which won't effect my overall either up or down.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not much. As I mentioned, I had to re-glue the custom sight back on Deadshot's funky Glock, and I did repair one of the knee pad straps. It was nothing serious, but take some basic care.

Overall - ***1/2
Maybe it's just because I'm so damn glad to have something other than another Joker based on this film, but even with a less than thrilling Smith portrait, I'm quite happy with him. Yea, he looks a bit zombiefied, and this is an issue that Hot Toys has got to find a way to correct on a consistent basis. The lifeless eyes hurt what otherwise would have been a fantastic figure. While I have a few other nits, none of them are serious enough to cause heartburn. Even the slightly higher price tag is somewhat justified, and once we get Harley, I'll be quite happy with my display for this flick.

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

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Sideshow was the way to get this exclusive, but he's on wait list now. You can also get the regular from them for $245.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Other Hot Toys Suicide Squad figures so far released include the Purple Coat Joker, the Tuxedo Joker, and the Straight Jacket Joker.

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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