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Captain Toy/Michael's Review of the Week

Review of Gordon Freeman - Half Life 2
Sixth Scale Action Figure

Mondo
Date Published: 2020-11-16
Written By: Michael Crawford
Overall Average Rating: 3 out of 4

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Gordon Freeman Half Life 2 sixth scale action figure

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Introduction

Back in 2004, Half Life 2 was a ground breaking game. Many still consider it one of the greatest games of all time, certainly in the first person shooter genre, and the hero, Gordon Freeman, is well known even outside the gaming community. And yet, he's never made it into sixth scale format.

That is until Mondo picked up the license. Their sixth scale figure is now shipping, and comes in two flavors - the regular, which I'm reviewing tonight, and the exclusive, which includes an extra accessory. Both retail for $200, making the exclusive pick up the smart choice.

Gordon Freeman Half Life 2 sixth scale action figure

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Packaging - **1/2
I was pretty surprised by the packaging. This is the first time in a long time that a sixth scale box has posed this many issues.

The box itself is nice, spartan in style but fitting the game designs. It's sturdy, and will hold up to shelf wear. Inside you have a single plastic tray with form fitted cover, and here's where it gets weird.

I tried lifting the tray out of the cardboard...and it wouldn't budge. After messing with it a bit, I realized the figure itself was attached to the cardboard tray with several twisty ties through the plastic - huh? I cut these free, allowing me to life the plastic tray out...but then the lid wouldn't come off. Tape? Nope. Turns out the two pieces of plastic are strapped together as well with elastic ties. After I cut those I was finally able to get to the figure and accessories, although he was wrapped in more plastic than my purchase at the deli.

This is the first time in a long time I've come across a sixth scale package that is not collector friendly, and with no discernible reason why. He's not particularly heavy, and the accessories are not tiny. Why they went this route, I have no idea.

Gordon Freeman Half Life 2 sixth scale action figure

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Sculpting - ***
When I first pulled this figure out, I was a bit shocked by the sculpt and paint. He reminded me of something Sideshow might have done 10 years ago. The skin lacks texture, the eyes are flat, the entire look is softer and less realistic than we see from almost any company on the current market.

Then I started to look at photos of Freeman, and noodle on it. While the CGI was truly impressive for a game 16 years ago, it was still not as realistic as games today. The face was clearly animated, and was flatter and less detailed. Most of the impressive work was in the hair, an area mastered back when Pixar did Monsters Inc.

Likewise, the most detailed thing about this sculpt is the hair. I still think they could have done a better job on the beard and eyebrows, but the hair on his head has much more realism than the rest of the portrait.

My initial reaction was to hit them pretty hard in this category, but after thinking about it, I believe this isn't an issue of quality or compromise, but rather an attempt to match the source material. It's a tricky question with video game characters - do you make them as realistic as possible with current technology, or do you match their appearance in a game that is more than 15 years old? I think they went with the latter option, and I graded the portrait based on that assumption. I'll be interested to see how collectors react to their choice.

He's a pretty big dude in the armor and boots, coming in at 12 1/4" tall.

Gordon Freeman Half Life 2 sixth scale action figure

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Paint - **1/2
As with the sculpt, the paint work matches up with the look of the game. The skin tone is fairly flat, as are the eyes.  There's some nice work along the hair line, and the beard has a bit of variation in it. But there are still some sloppy edges, particularly around the beard and eyebrows, and I think they could have given more life to the eyes without stepping too far away from the game appearance.

The work on the armor is great, with some nice variation to create a more realistic look. Of course, the armor and weapons are the most realistic aspects of the game as well.

Gordon Freeman Half Life 2 sixth scale action figure

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Articulation - ***
The underlying body has all the normal sixth scale joints, but the armor does restrict some things.

The neck can turn, but the tilt and lean is hindered by the high, hard collar. The torso crunches and turns, a bit better than I expected, but the shoulders, elbows, and wrists lack the usual mobility. The armor makes it tough to create two handed poses, and even some natural arm poses. The hands swap easily, but they do need to pop in for them to remain in place. You might think they are on, but until you feel the pop, they aren't fully inserted.

The legs are the least restricted, with plenty of movement in the hips, knees, and ankles. There's even some decent rocker movement in the ankles thanks to the boot design. You're not going to get a million poses here, but you should be able to find a few you're happy with.

Gordon Freeman Half Life 2 sixth scale action figure

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Accessories - ***
He comes nicely outfitted, although the exclusive does include one additional extra I don't have here.

Both releases have five sets of hands - a relaxed set he comes wearing, a set of fists, a set of tight grips, a set of gun grips, and a set of medium grips. They swap pretty easily, and I had no worries about breakage. Every hand comes with its own wrist peg as well.

There's three fragmentation grenades, as well as a Pheropod (bug bait). He also has key weapons including the crowbar, 9mm pistol, and assault shotgun. All of these are well sculpted with good paint work, and are standard issue stuff in the game.

Gordon Freeman Half Life 2 sixth scale action figure

His one slightly more out there weapon is the gravity gun. A terrific sculpt with lots of detail, it's also the source of his light up feature. More on that in the next section.

Gordon wears glasses, and the set he comes with are perfectly scaled. They look great on him, but I did shoot a few of the shots without in case you were going for a 'contacts' look, or thinking about using this head for a custom of some sort.

Like most sixth scale figures, he comes with a standard base and crotch support rod. The exclusive includes one more goodie - a Headcrab. Since you can get the exclusive for the same price as the regular, I'd say that's you're better buy.

Gordon Freeman Half Life 2 sixth scale action figure

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Light Feature - ***1/2
The gravity gun features a light in the barrel. While it's not as wildly bright as they show in the marketing photos, it does do a nice job illuminating the tube and is easy to see in a normally lit room. The switch is right by the handle, making it easy to turn on and off. The batteries are more than just included - they are already installed.

Gordon Freeman Half Life 2 sixth scale action figure

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Outfit - ***1/2
The sculpted armor pieces look great, fitting nicely to the underlying body. The body suit is fabric, but looks just like a metal mesh. That means it looks great, and yet can stretch and move with the figure. It's all well tailored, and both the sculpting and paint work is nice.

My only complaint is with the codpiece, and it's a minor one. It sags a bit below the actual crotch, which can look odd from certain angles. However, there's a plus side - this allows much more mobility in the hips and legs.

Gordon Freeman Half Life 2 sixth scale action figure

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Fun Factor - ***
While the arm poses are limited, the legs make up for it a bit. I was able to get more poses out of this guy than I had expected, and while he's not one I'd change up a lot, there is some re-posing potential. You can also show off the light up feature pretty easily, always a plus in this category.

Value - **
While the overall figure is nice, he's not $200 nice. This is much better than the $230 that Kratos runs, but I think he'd be much more appropriate in the $180 range.

Gordon Freeman Half Life 2 sixth scale action figure

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

Overall - ***
I had to think long and hard about this one. At first glance, I was not particularly happy. The sculpt and paint are not realistic and life-like, missing the mark for the current expectation.  Both those scores would have been lower, and this overall certainly would have been lower as well.

However, compared to the actual source material the work is quite accurate, and I think this was an intentional decision on Mondo's part. I don't think it's appropriate to dock them for it when they were going for a game look, rather than a life-like look.

Of course, your mileage may vary, and you may find the choice unacceptable, particularly if you plan on putting this figure with other more detailed characters.

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

Gordon Freeman Half Life 2 sixth scale action figure

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Where to Buy 
You can pick up the regular or the exclusive (with an extra accessory!) for $200 at the Mondo site. Online options include these site sponsors:

- has the regular for $200.

- Entertainment Earth is also at $200.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Another recent sixth scale video game figure from Mondo is Kratos, from God of War.

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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Gordon Freeman Half Life 2 sixth scale action figure

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

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