Review of Heisenberg, Walter White - Breaking Bad
Sixth Scale action figure

Introduction

"Say my name". That would be Heisenberg, the pork-pie wearing alter ego of nebbish Walter White. Star of the terrific show Breaking Bad, Heisenberg rose to the top of the meth market in the south west United States.

There's been a number of action figures based on the character, most notably from Mezco, and quite a few customs in the sixth scale world.  But ThreeZero has finally produced the first 1/6th licensed series, starting with the man himself. They've already shown off a Jesse Pinkman as well, and I have my fingers crossed that we get at least a Gus Fring before they are done.

Walter, or Heisenberg, has just started shipping direct from ThreeZero, and is still available as a pre-order from most retailers. This guy is around $150 - $160 at most retailers, although I have some sponsors in the Where to Buy section that will get that down to $135.

Packaging - ****
I love the package, although the basic box inside isn't all that.  But the outer slip cover is a high gloss plastic with Walter's face on one side acting as a window to show off the figure. It's a fantastic design, and shows the sort of creativity that takes simple packaging to the next level.

Of course, it's all collector friendly inside, with no need to damage anything and no twisty ties or bands to toss out.

Sculpting - ***
This was a tricky score for me.  I could go another half star up, given the right angle and light, but overall I felt it was just short of a perfect likeness.

It is quite realistic, and ThreeZero has continued to improve in that area. The beard could still be slightly more detailed, but the skin texture and eyes are exceptional. They also have the lifelike aspect covered, with a stoic expression that implies he's not messing around. The squint and the wrinkling takes it from mannequin to real person, and again, it's really only the slightly soft detailing in the beard and mustache that takes anything away.

But it's not quite as accurate as I'd hoped. I do think it's far superior to most of the customs out there, and from the right angle (and without the glasses) it's clearly Walt/Bryan Cranston, and matches his look later in the series.  But at other angles, it starts to lose some of that accuracy, and with either pair of glasses on, I'm not as happy.  A big part of that is due to the slightly large scale on the frames, but it's also due to the work on the chin, jawline and beard. The best part of the sculpt is in the eyes, and when you cover that up, you lose quite a bit of the feel.

Paint - ***1/2
The work on the skin tone, eyes, and eyebrows is excellent, certainly at the top of their game.  The work on the beard and mustache isn't quite as good, and there's some of the 'rub' technique I'm not real fond of. That means it appears as though they applied lots of paint, then tried to rub it off to the right consistency and coverage. It doesn't really work, leaving some high points washed out. It's better here than we've seen with some recent figures though, and had the sculpt had a little more detail in the hair, it would have been fine.

Articulation - ****
Wow - this is an impressive body.  Super articulated, with a ton of of movement in every joint. The body is also tight and very light weight, making it possible to hold just about any stance long term.

The ball jointed neck, only jointed inside the torso, allows for plenty of lean and tilt in all directions.  The shoulders can lift up quite high, with only minimal restriction from the layers of clothing.  The torso has an excellent ab-crunch too, and it can hold a crunched position.  The arms can fold in tight to the body, the feet can remain flat on the ground in even the deepest stances (the ankles are very impressive), and even the hands swap easily. While Heisenberg shouldn't really be taking any wild ninja stances, you can get very flowing, natural poses.  Better yet, this body is going to kick butt with someone like Rick Grimes.

Accessories - ***
Walt doesn't have a ton of extras, but at this price point I certainly wasn't expecting it. He does have an extra set of hands to hold the gun, his handgun, a pair of regular glasses and a pair of sunglasses, his pork-pie hat, and 5 bundles of printed money (hundred dollar bills).

The hat is key, and it looks great.  Well scaled and sculpted, it fits neatly on his head.  It goes with either set of glasses, although I think both of these are slightly over sized. Not a ton, but a smidge. I swapped in another pair of sunglasses I had from a different company, and even though they were only a tiny bit smaller, they looked quite a bit better to my eye.

Still, both pairs fit well and look good enough. It's also great that the regular pair are gold rims, something we haven't gotten with some of the custom jobs.

The gun sculpt is good, and it fits nicely in the extra set of hands. The hands swap easily, but there's no extra wrist pegs. It's not a big deal - I was never worried about breaking them - but getting a couple just in case is always a nice touch.

The printed money looks good too, and again, seems about the right scale.  I would have liked some meth in a bag to go with this, but that's really the only thing I thought was missing.

Outfit - ***
The outfit consists of his comfortable loafers, tan pants, belt, white t-shirt, checked dress shirt, and windbreaker jacket.

The shoes are an excellent sculpt and good paint job, and work amazingly well with the highly articulated ankles.  The pants are a bit frumpy, but they should be - perfect tailoring wouldn't match up with their Walmart look. The belt is a good quality, but one of my nits involves how it sits on the pants. The loops are a little low on the pants, making the belt ride low and showing too much pant north of the belt line.

The checked shirt has the other issue that hurts the Outfit score.  The shirt itself looks good, but the collar is slightly too big, and difficult to manage.  You many want to dress him down and redress with a tighter fit on the lower shirt in the pants to help drag the collar lower on the shoulders. A crotch strap on the shirt would have gone a long way to help here.

Under the shirt is some additional padding. Walt isn't fat, but he is a normal middle aged man, with a little softness around the middle. This works pretty well, and gives a bit of personality to his look.

The jacket is a nice topper to the overall appearance.  The collar, zipper, and buttons are all nicely in scale, and it's the perfect final layer to the costume.

Fun Factor - ***1/2
When it comes to a collector/fan figure like this, the ability to pose and re-pose makes up the majority of the fun. The body is excellent, and there's no worries about breaking or damaging anything through normal handling. If he just had a couple more accessories, he would have snagged that extra half star.

Value - ****
Oh. My. God. $135? You can get this figure for just $135? Considering the normal price we're seeing these days - often $100 more than that for even a basic release - this guy is definitely priced right. I would have loved more extras of course, but I'm willing to sacrifice slightly if it means saving $50 - $100.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing. Nothing here is fragile or complicated.

Overall - ***1/2
This isn't a perfect Walter White...or Heisenberg. But at this price point, it's a pretty amazing release. The quality is above the price point, and while I have a nit here or a nit there, I'm quite happy with the final product. Pick up a few extras from customizers, like some blue meth crystals in bags and tubs, and you'll be good to go.

I haven't been thrilled with the look of Jesse yet, but ThreeZero tends to be a company that tweaks their figures right up to the last minute, and I've been very happy with all the final production figures so far. I'm hoping that process will lead to another winner with the Pinkman.

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

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth has him on pre-order for $140.

- Sideshow has him at $155.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
We've had a several Walter/Heisenberg figures from Mezco, including the 12" version and the 6" version that got the Florida Mom all up in arms.

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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