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Captain Toy/Michael's Review of the Week

Review of Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy - Quidditch Twin Pack
Sixth Scale Action Figures

Star Ace
Date Published: 2016-08-22
Written By: Michael Crawford
Overall Average Rating: 3 out of 4

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Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy Quidditch 1/6th action figures by Star Ace

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Introduction

Every kid in every school in every country has that one other kid, the antagonist to their story. It's true in real life, and it's doubly true in fictional life. Creating rules around bullies will reduce the physical conflict, but the reality will never change - there's going to be that one kid you really hate, and who really hates you. Welcome to real life.

Fictional life has always mirrored this, giving every hero kid, male or female, an arch enemy. While defeating Voldemort was Harry's quest, this was a goal shared by many.  But at a personal level, his own arch enemy was Draco Malfoy.

It's fitting that Star Ace produced a two pack in their excellent Harry Potter sixth scale series with both Harry and Draco together, and even more fitting that they used quidditch as the theme.  This was the battleground on which they physically fought as a precursor to their later conflicts. This set is from their early days, based on their look in Chamber of Secrets.  It's just started shipping, and is available for around $350 - $380, depending on the retailer.

Click on the image below for a Life Size version
Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy Quidditch 1/6th action figures by Star Ace

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Packaging - ***1/2
The package is attractive, and the two cover photos are clearly the look they were going for with the sculpts. That makes it easy for you to compare, which can be a good thing...or a bad thing.

It's all very collector friendly of course, and there's lots of plastic wrap to protect clothing from plastic and paint, but all this wrap is quite easy to remove with no need to cut pieces and risk waving a sharp knife around your $180 figures.

The box is surprisingly small for a two pack, but remember that these are kids.  They also did a very good job stacking two trays to hold the figures and accessories, and there is very little wasted space.

Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy Quidditch 1/6th action figures by Star Ace

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Sculpting - Harry ***; Malfoy ***1/2
I was a little worried about Draco from the marketing photos, but in hand he's quite nice. Capturing the younger versions of the kids is not an easy task, and with less wrinkling and 'personality' (that's what us old people like to call it) in their face, they can become more doll-like.  They've avoided that here with both sculpts, thanks in large part to high quality, detailed hair sculpts.  The stranding is very impressive, and this is an area where Star Ace has it over most of the other competition outside of Hot Toys and Enterbay.

While there isn't the sort of skin texture you'd see with an adult, they have increased it over the first release of Harry, Ron, and Hermione.  It's not extreme, but it does give them a very realistic appearance.  They've also given them enough of an expression to avoid being a mannequin, but not enough to look silly. I would actually like a little more with this release though, since they are in the quidditch gear and most people will pose them mid-air and mid-battle. I'm not looking for any constipated grimaces or wild eyed screams, but a little more determination and grit would have been a nice touch.

I think the Draco portrait is a solid likeness to the actor and character as well, fulfilling the accuracy portion of my score card.  Draco's hair style is a big key of course, but I think the eyes, nose and set of the mouth all look accurate. Check out this photo for a comparison. I do expect some folks will have an issue with the visible neck joint at the jawline, which is pretty obvious, particularly on Draco. But it's a critical joint with this set, because without it you can't get great broom riding poses. He's slightly shorter than Harry, coming in at 10 inches tall.

Harry isn't quite as good this time, but I can't quite put my finger on it. It might be the shape of the head is a little too triangular, it might be that the mouth seems just a smidge off. Whatever the case, it's one of those situations where it's *this* close, but something is throwing off the final result to my eye. The glasses are metal of course and permanently attached, and he stands about 10 1/4 inches tall.

Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy Quidditch 1/6th action figures by Star Ace

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Paint - ***1/2
There's a nice consistent skin tone, and Draco is slightly lighter in color than Harry, as you'd expect.  The paint work on the hair is exceptional, with a nice wash to bring out the details in Draco's blond locks. Both characters have straight, clean eyes, and the eyebrows and lips are very realistic and lifelike.

They do have a little more black around each eye than I really like, particularly on Draco, but it's a minor nit and largely unnoticeable in hand. Overall, we're seeing much better quality production paint work from Star Ace.

Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy Quidditch 1/6th action figures by Star Ace

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Articulation - ***
This is the same underlying body that we've seen with the earlier kid releases, and it does take and hold plenty of great, natural poses.

The double neck joint that I mentioned earlier, with a joint at the jawline and at the torso, allows for lots of tilt and lean action, critical for broom riding poses.  The shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees are all tight and very mobile, with a solid range of movement.  There's also great ab and waist articulation, allowing him to crunch forward and back, as well as twist side to side.

The wrists and ankles are quite restricted, however.  The wrists can turn, but the long gloves interfere with much tilt.  And the hard boot sculpt pretty much takes out the ankles as well.

The biggest issue, at least for me, was the wrists.  This is one of those situations where the hole is buried deep in the gloved hand, and getting the hand on can be very difficult.  In fact, unless you press very hard, the hands will simply pop off every time you touch them.  At first, I thought this would be the only option, but I eventually did get the hands to snap back on tightly, but it required a lot of force. This is particularly difficult with these two because of the loose fitting forearm pads, which you don't want to squeeze, pull, or push while you're trying to shove the hand in place. Once I had the gripping hands on and tight, I was loathe to swap them again.

Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy Quidditch 1/6th action figures by Star Ace

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Accessories - ***
These are quidditch themed, so it's no surprise all the accessories follow that theme.

There's a golden snitch of course, with soft extended wings. This snitch can sit upon a loop at the top of a small wire. This wire slips inside one of the plastic posts - the smallest ones - which can in turn be attached to the base, or if you're like me, you can use a little poster tack and stick it to the shelf.  It is important to note that while both figures come with the stands, and both stands come with two of these same small, clear posts, only one set has the holes for the snitch.  That's Harry's stand, and it's the only distinct difference between the two base sets.

Since we're talking about the base, let's finish up the discussion. There are various plastic caps, grabbers, and support posts designed to hold the broom in a flying pose or the figure in a standing pose. You can play around with these in multiple ways to get the best look, and it works much better than the original design, at least for me.  The base itself is covered in a fake green grass this time, perfect for a quidditch field.

There are two extra hands for each figure, done in a tight grip that works well with the broom. They each come wearing the relaxed pose hands, and I've already discussed my annoyance with how difficult swapping hands is. Otherwise, sculpting and paint work are quite good.

Obviously they can't play without their brooms, and both have their respective models.  Both look great, and as you might expect, Draco's is as ostentatious as he is.

One interesting extra this time around is the display backer.  This is an cardboard insert, and the baggy that holds the clear display stand has two small stands to attach to the bottom of the card and hold it upright. It shows the quidditch court, and I used it for all the flying poses.

Finishing off the quidditch theme is the Bludger (the smaller ball, made to appear like iron), the Quaffle (the larger dimpled ball), and a bat. Scale on all of these is pretty good, and there's some very nice realistic detail work in the paint applications.

Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy Quidditch 1/6th action figures by Star Ace

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Outfit - ***
The outfit consists of the sculpted boots, pants, sweater, quidditch robes, knee pads, forearm pads, and calf pads.

The robes look great, and there is a thin wire around the outside edge to allow for windy poses. The underlying sweater is also nice, and the quality of materials, construction, and stitching is excellent.

The forearm pads look good, and the knee pads, while a little oversized, are decent.  I'm not super fond of the calf pads, which aren't sculpted to wrap around the leg quite the way I'd like, but the leather straps on all the armor pieces work well. The pants are on the baggy side too, with the tailoring not quite there this time around.

My other issue with the outfit is the aforementioned sculpted boots.  This sculpt and paint application is a little too cheap looking, much less impressive than the rest of the overall outfit and below the level of quality you've come to expect from Star Ace at this point.

Draco Malfoy Quidditch 1/6th action figures by Star Ace

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Fun Factor - ***
Normally these would get a higher score in this category - the general quidditch theme and useful display stand makes for some very interesting possibilities on the shelf - but those damn hands made it a little more frustrating to work with these than usual. That frustration means I'm less likely to do much re-posing once I have them in a stance I like, cutting down on the long term 'fun'.

Harry Potter Quidditch 1/6th action figures by Star Ace

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Value - **1/2
While you're getting quite a bit with each figure, I still think this set is closer to a $320 - $340 value.  Each figure coming in at $160 - $170 feels right, but the reality is that the demand for the lesser characters will never be as strong, resulting in a lower production run.  Star Ace has minimized some of that by re-using the Draco head sculpt between the two pack and the single release in his school uniform. The $180 each top end price is a bit harsh, but not too far out of line considering the overall quality and the rest of the market.

Harry Potter Quidditch 1/6th action figures by Star Ace

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Things to Watch Out For -
Not much.  I don't think I'd take off the outer quidditch robes, simply due to the amount of work necessary to get them back on, and be careful when working with the shin and arm guards.  If you pull the straps loose from the buckles (which is pretty easy to do), it can be a royal pain getting them back strapped.  Trust me, I learned the hard way.

Draco Malfoy Quidditch 1/6th action figures by Star Ace

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Overall - ***
I waffled around (or quaffled around?) a lot on this final score, because in hand I really do like both of these figures.  They add a lot to the display, because they are the perfect pair to match up across the shelf, and the display stands were able to hold them in flying poses far better this time around. All my nits are actually quite minor, but there's a cumulative effect. The boots are minor, the sculpt issues are minor, the costume nits are minor...but add it all together and it pulls these down below something like the recent Dumbledore, which has set the bar for all future Star Ace releases.

Next up is the casual wear Hermione!

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

Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy Quidditch 1/6th action figures by Star Ace

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Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- has the two pack for $360.

- also has the two pack for $360.

- Entertainment Earth has the pair for $380.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
I just covered the Star Ace Dumbledore, a terrific release. Prior to that we had Hagrid, Snape, Tri-Wizard Harry, the young Hermione, young Harry and Ron, Voldemort, Sirius Black, Mad Eye Moody, Sirius in his Prison Garb, and Ron and Harry in their 'casual' clothes.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

Discussion:
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Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy Quidditch 1/6th action figures by Star Ace

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This product was provided for the review by the manufacturer. Photos and text by Michael Crawford.

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