Review of Katniss Everdeen - Hunger Games Mockingjay
Sixth Scale Action Figure

Introduction

The Hunger Games films were huge, and catapulted Jennifer Lawrence from actress to star. I'm a big fan of all three films as well as all three books, and believe it's one of the better screen adaptations in recent years. But the movies never got much collectible love, leaving a gap in our hearts but money in our pocket.

NECA did do a 7" scale series back in the day, and there were fits and starts with a couple other companies. Barbie did several characters as well, and I even picked up a couple of those. But Star Ace has been the only company to go after Katniss in true sixth scale fashion, but their first attempt a couple years ago was less than impressive.

They're back with a new release, this time from Mockingjay. Katniss is wearing her red armor, and comes with rooted hair. There's a second figure shipping any day as well, this time in her hunting outfit from Catching Fire.

As I said, this figure has started shipping, and you can expect to pay around $240 - $250, depending on the retailer.

Packaging - ***
Nothing too unique.  The box is attractive, and it's all quite collector friendly.  The figure and accessories are safely stored in the plastic trays, and the fact this is the red armor version is confirmed with a sticker on the front. There's some basic instructions, although most of 'assembly' is quite straight forward.

Sculpting - ***1/2
Star Ace stepped up their game with this sculpt, giving us their best rendition of Katniss by far. It's instantly recognizable as Lawrence, and the shape of the head, nose, and lips is just about spot on.

There's a soft skin texture too, giving her a more realistic and less Barbie-like appearance. This is tough to do with younger characters, since too much skin texture would age them. They've hit the right balance between age and realism with this release.

With the unique rooted hair style, they realized they needed to add some sculpted hair long the face to better blend it in. In bright, macro photos you're going to be able to see it, but in hand the effect is much more convincing, and the sculpted hair is finely stranded.

This combination of rooted and sculpted hair is something they (and Asmus) have been working with for awhile, and the fruits of the experimentation are starting to show. Even with the tighter hair style, this combo looks much more realistic than a fully sculpted rendition.

She's a fairly tall female character, and comes in at about 11 3/4" with a little added lift from the boots.

Paint - ***
Star Ace is also improving in this category. The skin is particularly of note, where they've applied a slightly freckled coloration that really adds to the realism of the overall portrait.

The clean work on the mouth and eyebrows stands out as well, and they wisely avoided a heavy lipstick or gloss appearance on the lips. As with the sculpted hair, the paint work along the hairline goes a long way to blending it in. Again, you can tell in macro photos, but in hand the effect is much better.

I would have gone another half star in this category as well, but for the bleed into the eyes. The whites on both eyes show signs of the skin tone and makeup colors seeping in.

Articulation - ***
The underlying body has excellent articulation, but the costume does remove some of the mobility.

The neck still has good lean and tilt action, but I will say that it's a little thin. This can make the head appear slightly bigger than it is. The shoulders, elbows, and wrists are fairly unencumbered, and I could get decent arrow firing poses, one of the trickier poses to attain. I couldn't quite get the right arm up to ear or cheek height, but I was happy with were things ended up.

The armored torso has less lean and tilt movement than I like, however. There's a little, and you can break up the straight lines slightly, but a bit more would go a long way to creating even better poses.

The hips and knees work well, and the uniform is stretchy enough to allow for sitting poses, as well as medium depth stances. However, the ankles don't move much, due to a solid one piece hard plastic boot.While the greaves are a separate piece, they still went with a one piece boot, killing off any ankle articulation, and making it harder to find her center of gravity in every stance.

Accessories - ***
She doesn't have a ton, but everything here is a perfect addition.

She has to have her bow and arrows of course. There are six arrows, and a quiver with slots for each arrow to fit inside. The quiver attaches to the back of her torso armor via a strong magnet. The bow has an elastic string, and is quite sturdy. However, the sculpt on all of these is pretty basic, with very, very little detail work.

She has four additional hands to go with the relaxed pair she comes wearing. There's one gripping left, one tight grip right, one arrow grip right, and one 'throwing the resistance sign' right. Swapping was a little more difficult than average, but they remained tightly held in place when posing.

This costume also sports a set of wings on the back, held in place with magnets. There isn't a great way to have them and the quiver in place at the same time, and they aren't designed to be worn in a outward pose, but the wings stay tightly attached. Again, I'd like a little more sculpt detail in the feathers, but it's a minor nit.

To round things out, she has a Resistance flag. The material is heavy, allowing it to hang naturally. The pole is short, but fits neatly in her gripping hands.

Finally, she has a display stand. While the base itself is quite simple - black plastic with the movie name - it includes a posable metal support rod, perfect for leaping and jumping poses.

Outfit - ***1/2
This is her all red armor, and includes a body suit and various sculpted pieces.

The material is all high quality, and the stitching and construction are excellent. The plastic pieces are well sculpted, with lots of surface detail especially on the chest armor. I particularly like the greaves, with a hard plastic sheen that catches the eye and tight, well made elastic straps in back.

The all red design isn't quite as eye catching as the black and red, but the colors are bright and clean, and the different materials add visual flair.

The magnets hold tight, and the wings look good in place. My only real complaint is with the tailoring, which could be slightly better with this body. It's a really minor nit though, and the fit is actually closer to reality than a super tight fit would be.

Fun Factor - ***
Even with the limited articulation, you can come up with a ton of poses. Using the Resistance hand and the Resistance flag, you can create a defiant look, or go with the bow and arrows and do a battle look. She can fit in with other figures too, and the quality is high enough to hold her own on the shelf.

Value - *1/2
While the figure is a step up overall for Star Ace, it's not at a $250 price point yet. Their getting there, and this is certainly worth the high end market average of $220, but that extra $30 is hard to justify.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing. Everything is sturdy and well made, and I had no issues.

Overall - ***
It's about time that we finally got a decent Katniss. While this one still has some issues, this is well within the standards for the better figures from companies like Star Ace, Asmus, ThreeZero, etc. However, the price point is putting her at the top of the Hot Toys level, and she's not quite there.

If the red armor is not your thing, the hunting version should be shipping soon, and I'm assuming the portrait will simply sport a different hairstyle.

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

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
The only other Katniss I've reviewed is from seven - seven! - years ago, produced by NECA. Star Ace did do an earlier sixth scale version, but I never reviewed her.

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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