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Captain Toy/Michael's Review of the Week

Review of Ghost Rider - Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Sixth Scale Action Figure

Hot Toys
Date Published: 2017-10-18
Written By: Michael Crawford
Overall Average Rating: 3.5 out of 4

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Ghost Rider sixth scale action figure by Hot Toys

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Introduction

While it might seem that anything with the name "Marvel" stamped on it is pure money these days, that's not quite true. Yep, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is cranking along with no real signs of stopping any time soon, and the Netflix shows are *generally* good. Everyone loves Daredevil, I have no doubt Punisher will be a huge hit, and my personal favorite is still Jessica Jones.  Yea, Luke Cage and the Defenders were a mixed bag, and Iron Fist is better off forgotten. But in general, the Netflix shows are solid.

While they aren't part of the same licensing sphere, the shows The Gifted and Legion are based on Marvel characters...and they are both well done. It would seem that Marvel is a money printing machine...

Except for that pesky Iron Fist problem. Oh, and let's not forget the utterly disastrous Inhumans. And then there's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

I watched the first season. It started out relatively decent, and moved downward against all expectations.  Even Agent Coulson couldn't save it. By the time the got around to introducing their version of Ghost Rider - which I understand was a big positive for the show - I had long since given up.

But I'm a big fan of the character, so when Hot Toys announced their figure based on this look, I jumped on it. This guy was one of Hot Toys 'summer' exclusives, and in the U.S. was only available through Sideshow for $230.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Ghost Rider sixth scale action figure by Hot Toys

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Packaging - ***1/2
I love the graphic art on the shoe box style cover. There's a bad ass-ness to it that really makes it stand out from most other boxes in this style. I'm a huge fan of old school art movie posters, and really hate the majority of modern photoshop crap. This reminds me of those old posters in all the right ways. There's not a lot of particular excitement otherwise - it's collector friendly, as you'd expect - but even if you toss the box, you'll want to save that cover art.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Ghost Rider sixth scale action figure by Hot Toys

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Sculpting - ***1/2
When I first pulled this guy out of the box, I was not impressed. There was something annoying about the sculpted flame sleeve that covers the neck, and the large head was wonky. But then I started working with him...and I found him far more interesting and attractive than my first impression implied.

The long, turbulent, sculpted flames look fantastic, and are solid and sturdy. I love the way they wrap around the skull, with small tendrils crawling forward on the face. With the jaw open, you can see the fire at the back of the head, and the design does a decent job of making it appear as though the skull is floating above the shoulders within the burning flames.

I'm still not quite loving the flame 'sleeve' on the neck, and getting it to line up perfectly with the bottom edge of the head can be tricky and frustrating. It also restricts the neck articulation a bit, but you can work around it with a little effort.

While the flames are impressive, a smaller detail is what really stands out to me - the teeth. The skull is made from a plastic that looks like a dull finish human bone. But the teeth are made from a different material, and look like actual enamel teeth. They could have gone with a paint only solution here, but that wouldn't have looked as good as this, lacking the sort of translucent surface that we get with these teeth. It's one of those minor details that sets a Hot Toys figure apart from the rest of the field.

The figure is about the same height as any other sixth scale figure - just over 12" tall.  But the dynamic flames put him up to a full 14", an impressive size.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Ghost Rider sixth scale action figure by Hot Toys

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Paint - ***1/2
While the flames aren't 'painted', they are made from a very realistic, translucent, fiery plastic. All the flames - from the head to the accessories - match in style and color.

The bone skull has a slight mottling, and looks very realistic. I've already mentioned the enamel looking teeth, but the black areas around the nose and eyes are sharp and clean as well. I do wish there was a little more work around the bone color, but it's a minor nit. There's not a ton of small detail work in the Paint area, but what's here is really outstanding.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Ghost Rider sixth scale action figure by Hot Toys

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Articulation - ***1/2
The underlying TrueType works as you'd expect, but I do have a couple nits with specific areas.

I mentioned the annoying yet attractive neck sleeve. It does create the desired visual effect, but it also limits the neck mobility. You can work around it though, and the more I messed with it, the less of an issue it was.

The jaw is also articulated, and he can go from closed mouth to wide open scream. The movement is smooth, and the jaw isn't floppy.

The wrists are, as is often the case, too obvious, but the hands swap easily. They also tend to pop off easily, thanks to the short pegs that I've complained about before. These pegs don't work as well with gloved hands, where the hole is quite deep within the sculpted hand.

The rest of the articulation is top notch. You can get plenty of tilt, lean, and twist movement out of the torso, and the ankles can allow the feet to remain flat on the ground even in deep stances. The sculpted shoes don't restrict them, and the overall outfit is not tight enough to cause issues.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Ghost Rider sixth scale action figure by Hot Toys

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Accessories - ***
There's not a ton of extras, but they did include some nice flame effects.

Let's start with the hands, and these are in scale, unlike the recent Luke Skywalker. There's five additional hands to go with the fists he comes wearing - a tight grip set, a wider grip set, and one pointing right. You don't want to be on the other end of that pointing right. They swap easily enough, but tend to pop off too easily thanks to the tiny wrist pegs and deep set holes.

The wider grip hands are designed to work with two ball flame effects, and one effect that encircles the entire hand. This works well, and the hand sculpts line up nicely with the indented areas on the effects.

Another ball of flame attaches to the end of the red plastic chain. Be careful here - the chain seems fairly delicate.  There's a second chain, this one solid metal, but it's not directly designed to work with the ball of fire. I'm sure you could figure out a solution, however.

To go along with these various fiery extras that he can hold and use as weapons, there are four hunks of fire that can rest on the ground around his feet. They can also form a half rectangle, the perfect size to encircle the included black base.

There's nothing special about the base, but by adding the flames you can create a more interesting visual. The nice part is that you don't need the base to use them, as you'll see in a couple of the photos.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Ghost Rider sixth scale action figure by Hot Toys

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Light Feature - ***
Hot Toys is pretty hit or miss when it comes to their light features. A character like Ghost Rider certainly benefits from one, but it has to be designed well enough to be useful.

This one has its annoying features.  The battery compartment and switch are on the back of the neck. You have to pop off the head and remove the neck sleeve to get at it, but you don't have to remove the jacket. That's fine for the batteries - you won't be changing them a lot, at least after you put in some decent ones - but popping the head off and on to use the switch can be frustrating.

There are batteries included, but they don't last long. You might as well buy yourself three new ones before you ever open him up, because the include set only lasts a few minutes before dimming to almost nothing.  When fresh - and with good batteries - the entire head lights up, creating an eerie look to the head and eyes.

Thanks to the translucent plastic, you can actually get a pretty good effect on the shelf just by properly positioning the lights in your Detolf.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Ghost Rider sixth scale action figure by Hot Toys

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Outfit - ***1/2
The outfit consists of his jacket, pants, and shoes. Yep, there's not a lot here, but it's well done.

The leather jacket is very well made, with nice stitching and high quality materials. They claim it's real leather, and it certainly feels like it. The zipper is in scale, and the decorative stripe looks great.

The jeans fit fairly well, although not quite as good as some of the recent work we've seen from Sideshow (see Lobo). They're a bit baggie below the knee and long, but the tailoring in the waist and thighs is extremely good.

It's all capped off by a goofy pair of sneakers. Yea, I know, they're accurate to the show design, but I still hate them. At least they don't restrict the ankles or create any other issues, other than looking less than bad ass.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Ghost Rider sixth scale action figure by Hot Toys

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Fun Factor - ***1/2
I expected the neck to be more of an issue with posing than it was - I found him way more fun than I initially expected. You'll keep going back to him and finding new looks, and as you add other B Marvel characters to the group, he'll fit right in.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Ghost Rider sixth scale action figure by Hot Toys

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Value - **1/2
He will run you $230 - sound familiar? Yep, that's pretty much the current Hot Toys go to price point these days.  Sometimes it's a ridiculous amount based on what comes out of the box, i.e. the recent Luke. Other times it's at least reasonably justified. Here I'm going with an average value score, thanks to the light up feature and the limited (theoretically) run of this as an exclusive.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Ghost Rider sixth scale action figure by Hot Toys

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Things to Watch Out For -
Take some care when working with the red plastic chain, as it's a little more prone to breakage.

Overall - ***1/2
I'll be honest - I don't love the shoes. But the jacket looks great, and this is one of my favorite Ghost Rider head sculpts, thanks to the way they managed to create that 'floating' effect. If you're a fan of the show you're obviously going to like this better than the straight up comic character fan, but I think if the latter keep an open mind, they'll be pleased as well.

If you're looking for something a bit more traditional in a sixth scale Ghost Rider, Sideshow has their comic based version shipping soon, and he's $10 cheaper.

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

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Ghost Rider sixth scale action figure by Hot Toys

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Where to Buy 
This guy was only available in the U.S. through Sideshow. It was available there for $230 originally, but your best bet now is to search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
This is not the first Ghost Rider from Hot Toys. Their first version was based on his movie appearance, and included a very cool motorcycle. Medicom did a sixth scale version as well, as did Hasbro.

You can also add Agent Coulson or Maria Hill to the mix, creating a nice S.H.I.E.L.D. display.

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

Discussion:
Want to chat about this review?  Try out one of these terrific forums where I'll be discussing it!

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Ghost Rider sixth scale action figure by Hot Toys

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This product was purchased for the review by the reviewer. Photos and text by Michael Crawford.

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