Review of Doctor Strange
Marvel Sixth Scale Action Figure

Introduction

It seems like U.S. distributors of Hot Toys figures are getting them later and later these days. My Doctor Strange is finally here, and he shipped the same week as Wonder Woman and K2SO. God knows when I'll see the Netflix Daredevil or FA Luke.

But the doctor is finally in, and he's a figure I've been looking forward to since the announcement. I'm pretty much Iron Man'ed out, and I don't really need another version of Cap or Thor, either. Give me unique and new characters, and if they look this good, all the better.

Strange is on the more reasonable side of the price range, if you can call any Hot Toys sixth scale prices 'reasonable' these days. He comes in around $235, although you can find him closer to $225 with a little searching. I expect he'll be one that rises quickly on the secondary market though, so don't dawdle if you're interested.

Packaging - ****
Hot Toys likes to do unique things with their packages when it fits with the character. They've done just that here, creating a 'seal' on the front of the outer slip cover that you turn to open. Inside is a cool window box display of the figure and accessories, and of course, it's all completely collector friendly.

Sculpting - ****
When a character - and actor - have facial characteristics that set them apart, rather than being just another pretty face, it makes the sculptors job a little easier. That doesn't mean just anyone can capture such a character's perfect portrait, but it does mean that when they do, the average man on the street is much more likely to recognize said perfection.

Such is the case here. This is a fantastic Cumberbatch/Strange portrait, and just about every aspect is dead on. It starts with his uniquely shaped head and face, but other key features, like the slender nose, high cheek bones, and general eye structure come together to create a fantastically accurate portrayal. This is the slightly older actor, a little more gaunt, but if you pop this head off (which I don't recommend, simply because it's tough to get it back inside all the collars) and hand it to Joe Six Pack on the street, they're sure to say it's Harry Potters dad. You'll know what they mean.

Of course there's plenty of realism to go along with that accuracy. From the subtle skin texture to the amazing detail in the hair, this is the sort of sculpture that could be mistaken for the real thing with a quick glance at a macro photo.

The perfect head sculpt trio ends with an emotive, appropriate expression. They've done that beautifully - no zombie face here. The slightly squinted eyes and furrowed brow matches the personality and attitude of the character, and this expression works well with just about any pose.

The hands are all sculpted in various key spell casting poses, and they swap pretty easily.

Paint - ****
You can have the greatest sculpt in the world, but without amazing paint applications to support it, no one will ever notice. Companies from Sideshow to ThreeZero to Star Ace have learned this lesson the hard way. Hot Toys learned it well a very long time ago, and they have used their skill with production paint work to elevate the overall impression of quality with all of their figures.

Everything is just about perfect here, and there's some tricky areas. The transition from the various areas covered with hair to the skin tone is subtle and realistic, the eyes are sharp and clean, and the very slight mottling to the skin itself creates a life-like quality even in hand.

Perhaps the best work is the graying of the hair at the sides, behind the temples. It doesn't look like paint, but flows with the rest of the hair color in a clean, realistic way. They didn't make it super obvious or distinct, avoiding a common mistake for this scale.

Articulation - ***1/2
The TrueType body remains one of the best on the market. There's very little to complain about here, and the costume is not particularly restrictive.

The tight tunic can make the arms and shoulders a little tough to work with, but you'll be able to get plenty of spell casting poses. The hands swap easily, but remain in place when attached. The boots restrict the ankles a bit, but the one piece design was necessitated by the cloth wrap that runs from top to bottom.

My only other nit is another of those six to one, half a dozen to the other sort of situations. He has a one piece neck and head sculpt, pushing the neck articulation down to the torso. From a sculpt perspective, this was the smart way to go, and keeps the portrait looking its best. But from an articulation perspective, it does restrict the neck and the amount of 'personality' you can add to some poses.

Accessories - ****
I can trace most of my Hot Toys disappointments back to a weak showing in this category. Sometimes they just don't add much of value to their figures, all the while charging the same price.

Thankfully that's not a problem here. He comes with nine hands - two fists he is wearing, a set of open grips, a set of splayed hands, and three more 'spell casting' poses. As I mentioned earlier, these swap relatively easy and stay in place when attached. There's a couple extra wrist pegs just in case. I still wish Hot Toys would follow Sideshow's lead and give every hand it's own peg, but that's a minor complaint.

There are two versions of the Eye of Agamotto amulet - one open, one closed. The cord is a little stiff, which will make it lay funny without the cape covering it, but overall the sculpt and paint job on both is excellent.

There are also two versions of the sling rings. These are unique sculpts, and knowing Hot Toys, probably match two of the different ones he used in the movie. They are a fairly soft plastic, and are designed to hook on his belt in a couple different places. However, because they are soft, they tend to fall off. You'll see them in some of the photos, but in others they're missing. I took them off and stored them away, fearing I'd lose them during the shoot.

Perhaps the coolest of all the extras is the Book of Cagliostro. Great sculpt, excellent construction...and it opens! Yep, there's a bunch of printed pages in there (although it's really only a couple that are repeated throughout) and I was really surprised by how cool this accessory is.

When he did his magic thing, Strange had swirling circles of energy. There's two large orange discs and three small green discs. The large discs are designed to attach to the splayed hands, and can be defensive or offensive. The three green discs come in varying sizes, and are part of the whole time alteration spell. The mid sized disc can slide up onto his forearm, the small disc goes around his wrist, and the largest green disc attaches to his hand - viola! You've just created a time loop.

To finish up, he comes with a fairly large base, complete with Doctor Strange logo and brass nameplate. There's a three walled backdrop, but like most of these backdrops, it's too small. Here it's particularly annoying, since it's designed to sit behind the base, but the base elevates the figure another half inch or so, making him too tall to stand in front of it.

There's a support rod for the base, made in clear plastic, designed for floating poses. It works well enough, and the adjustable waist clamp will remain relatively hidden within the clothing.

Outfit - ****
The outfit consists of the tunic, pants, boots, belts, and of course, the Cape of Levitation.

The costume is gorgeous, matching the on screen version extremely well. The tunic is multilayered and complex, with excellent tailoring and fit. The stitching is high quality stuff, and everything fits like a glove. The embroidery and detailing around the forearms looks fantastic, and while the boots are a little restrictive, the wrapped design looks great.

If I had one negative, it would be the hard plastic belts. They ride a little high for my taste, and there's not a lot you can do to adjust them. Still, it's a very minor whine with an overall terrific outfit.

Easily the best feature is the cape. It's very heavy, with a beautiful lining and excellent construction. The various materials are all high quality, and it is quite posable thanks to a heavy wire along the edges. The large collar is also very posable, and you can go from fully flat to fully up, or any where in between that you prefer. He had lots of looks in the movie, including folded down on his shoulders. I didn't really like the fully starched straight up look, since it tends to hide the face a lot in this scale, But I was able to find something in between that worked for me and I'm sure you will too.

The cape hooks over the shoulders and around the neck, and is held in place by magnets. It's an excellent overall design, and it really looks like it's own entity on his shoulders. By using the wires, you can get just about any pose or look you want.

This is a truly complex costume, and sets the bar for the sort of quality we expect moving forward across the board.

Fun Factor - ***1/2
With a ton of useful accessories, a highly poseable cape, and a great looking sculpt, you'll spend endless hours finding just the right pose for your display...and then changing it up again and again.

Value - ***
Here's a bit of a shock - a better than average value from Hot Toys! But with the overall complexity of this outfit and the intelligent design of the accessories, I could have easily seen this guy having a $250 price point. At $235, you're getting a Hot Toys bargain.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not much. If you leave the sling rings on the belt, be aware that they fall off quite easily and can get lost.

Overall - ****
It's been awhile since Hot Toys released a Marvel figure I like this much. Everything here is as close to perfect as you can get, from sculpt, to paint, to costume, to accessories. They flexed their innovative muscles a bit with the book, the cape, and the energy circles, and the figure shows all sorts of attention to detail and a love for the property. That's a winning combination every time!

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

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Sideshow has him for $235.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
The last Hot Toys MCU figure I checked out was Drax from Guardians of the Galaxy. Prior to that we had Black Panther and the Civil War Hawkeye. Other Hot Toys Marvel characters include Deadpool, Ultron Prime, the very cool Stan Lee, the Winter Soldier version of Nick Fury, the Iron Legion, Ant-Man, Vision, Quicksilver and his sister Scarlet Witch. And don't forget Pepper Potts and the MK IV set. Other related characters include Maria Hill, AoU Captain America, the Winter Soldier, Red Skull, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Nick Fury, Agent Coulson, Hulk, and Bruce Banner. I've also covered a ton of Iron Man releases, and one of my favorites is the die cast MK43.

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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