Review of Khan Noonian Singh - Star Trek
Sixth Scale Action Figure

Introduction

In the history of film, there are certain catch phrases, certain lines of dialog, sometimes merely  a single word, which everyone knows and recognizes instantly. A classic property like Star Trek certainly has its share, but look skyward, clench your fists, and yell "KHAAAAAAANNNN!", and everyone will feel your pain.

Quantum Mechanix has been having some great success with their Star Trek series of sixth scale action figures. They've given us the amazing TOS trio of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, and ventured into TNG with Picard. But that's a whole lot of protagnizing without any antagonizing - you can't have that on your shelf. The first 'villain' is Khan, Kirk's nemesis. Strong, smart, superior in every way, Khan was a true superman, and brought the fear of genetic modification to the world of the Original Series.

Qmx had two versions on display at last summer's SDCC - young and old.  The young version is shipping very soon - he should be up for pre-order shortly, and Qmx ships very soon after pre-ordering goes live.  This is an early review, but he's a production figure.

This figure is limited to 1000, and will run you about $150 depending on the retailer. Yes, you heard that price right.

Packaging - ***
Nothing super special here - it has the ship design on the black exterior, just like earlier releases. There's an edition number and size on the box, and everything is very collector friendly, with no need to damage the packaging when retrieving the figure or accessories.

Sculpting - ***1/2
I used several stills for comparison, including this one in his dress outfit, one with his hair down, and one in the red costume.

But I have to admit to some bias up front, caused by seeing this figure at SDCC. I was blown away by the sculpt there, and when I opened up the production version, that impression persisted.  In hand, he really looks terrific, at least in terms of the overall portrait.

They've nailed the realism, capturing that soft skin texture and extremely detailed hair that sets the best companies apart. The wrinkling around the eyes is very realistic, and even the soft lip texture looks about perfect.

I'm also digging the emotive aspect. The squinted eyes and slightly upward gaze give him a look of determination and strength, and by making slight adjustments, they avoid any sort of mannequin appearance.

And then comes accuracy. When I opened the box, this was Ricardo Montalban as Khan, no doubt about it. Pop the head off, hand it to me without ever seeing it in the context of the outfit, and I'd know him immediately. The hair looks great, but it's the eyes and the jawline that really sell the likeness.

As I played around with him, shot him in different poses, and eventually edited the photos, I did start to have some nits. I think the nose is off, too long and slender by a smidge, and there's something about the lips that's also effecting the accuracy. Neither issue is major, but they are there. Still, it's an excellent Khan likeness overall, and most fans will be pleased with the sculpt.

Unfortunately, I had one of those moments when I was working with this figure where I saw another actor in the sculpt. Once that happened, I couldn't un-see him. I'm going to tell you who it is, and it's all because of the nose and lips...but I'm giving you fair warning. If you don't want to see someone other than Ricardo, don't read the next paragraph.

Okay, I warned you. The slender nose and shape of the lips look an awful lot like George Hamilton to me, so much so that I couldn't stop seeing it. The too dark skin tone doesn't help (more on that in the next category), and seeing him regularly on American Housewife this season is another contributing factor. It's still an excellent Khan likeness, particularly in hand.

Paint - **1/2
The only area where this figure disappointed me was on the paint operations. They aren't horrendous, and this is one of those situations where it's actually more of an issue in hand than in photos.

The face is very dark, and while Khan had a darker skin tone, it wasn't this dark. But it's not really the shade that is the major issue. The face doesn't match the neck very well, and more importantly, isn't consistent across the face. The top of the forehead is noticeably lighter in color, and the rest of the face is a bit splotchy, almost like a bad spray tan.

Other key areas, like the eyes and eyebrows, are clean and well done. The hair line is a little wonky, and it looks like they tried to make the transition from skin to hair slightly subtle, but did it with a heavy hand.

But the killer here is the dark, splotchy, inconsistent skin tone, which is perhaps something that they've already recognized themselves and will correct for in the full production run. Fingers crossed!

Articulation - ***1/2
The base body has all the usual articulation, and the costume and hair do not interfere with the mobility any more than they would with a normal person.

The boots are made from a soft leather, allowing the ankles a greater range of movement than I expected. The hands swap easily, but stay in place when posing. The base body has been padded up a bit, but I'll discuss it in the Outfit section.

Accessories - ***
I bet it was hard to come up with anything to give Khan - he's not a particularly materialistic person.

They gave him some extra hands of course, five to go with the two open posed hands he comes wearing. There's a set of fists, two slightly different gripping rights, and a wider grip left. As I mentioned earlier, they swap easily and stay in place when posing.

He also has a mangled, bent phaser. He crushed it with his bare hands during his confrontation with Kirk. His other accessory is also from his big battle with the Captain - a hunk of pipe that Kirk used to incapacitate him. Amazing what a couple of blows to the head with a heavy hunk of metal will do to even the genetically perfect.

His final extra is the basic display stand, including support rod. While it's standard stuff, it does allow you to have some consistency in the display if you like using the stands.

Outfit - ***1/2
They folks that make these figures really love this license. They work very hard to match the accessories and costume as closely as possible.

The costume is a red jumper, black boots, and black belt. It's not complex, but getting the tiny accoutrements just right was clearly a labor of love.

Let's start with the one area of concern - the color. Any nerd who has ever debated Han's parka knows just how complicated the subject of true costume color can be. Is it the on screen look? The actual in hand costume color? Or some perceived shade created by your own eyes?

Red is a particularly tough color, because it is very susceptible to lighting and backgrounds. From screen captures, the costume looks very red to me. But even in stills, it varies a lot - from this very dark color, to this lighter color in the same scene.

I messed around trying to get a perfect white balance and lighting to replicate the exact in hand look (even though that will vary based on what lighting you're using in the room as well), and the closest I got is the photo below.  The photos with Kirk at the very top and very bottom are also close.  Those that were more orange or pink are off a bit, at least to my eye.

But it's not as dark a red as I see on screen either. It's close, and it's something you'll really need to judge in hand rather than in photos to be absolutely sure for yourself.

The boots are terrific, made from a soft leather-like material with hard soles. They allow for decent ankle articulation, and they look terrific.

Under the jumpsuit is a fat suit, padding up the chest and stomach. The stomach is a little much, but you can adjust it a bit and I think adding a little extra padding to the hips is going to really help out. Out of the box, the thin hips make the thicker torso look a little weird, but it should be easy enough to pad up. The suit opens in the front, and you should be able to stuff an appropriate amount of tissue in the proper areas.

Speaking of the belt, it's designed to sit around the waist, not down on the hips. If you let it slip down, it will make the stomach look even pudgier. Keep it around his middle and it will look much better.

The highlight of the whole thing is the gold detailing. The work on the collar, chest, belt, and wrists looks amazing, taking a simple suite to a whole new level.

Fun Factor - ***
If Khan had a few more accessories to work with, you'd have more fun with the posing and re-posing. Still, he has some great potential to pair off with Kirk, and even a simple stance can be quite dominating on the shelf.

Value - ***1/2
Nope, there's not a ton of extras - but there are key extras. And this guy is just $150. Yep, $150. When was the last time you got any high quality sixth scale figure for that price, even one that was half this size? Add in the edition size of just 1000 figures, and you have a very, very good value.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing. I'd always be careful when rubbing the ornaments on the costume, but mine were extremely well attached and sturdy.

Overall - ***1/2
There's a couple flaws here...but nothing critical, and certainly nothing that a little futzing with some toilet paper won't fix. The tailoring and quality of the costume is excellent, particularly with respect to the gold pieces at the neck, chest, and wrists. And the portrait is quite nice, pretty much in line with the rest of the series so far.

My one big complaint is around the paint, which falls short of what I'd expect. While I can live with the dark color, it's the splotchy variation in coverage, more noticeable in hand than in photos, that bugs me.

But as a series TOS nerd, I have to admit how great it is to have a Khan to go with Kirk on my shelf.  I'm hopeful that the final paint production on the complete run of figures is more consistent, but even with that flaw I'm extremely happy with the figure.

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

Where to Buy 
Qmx doesn't put their figures up for pre-order until they are ready to ship, to avoid long delays. However, that means none of my sponsors have him listed quite yet.  You can see the listing at the Qmx store however, where he will sell for $150. You can also search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
This is the fifth sixth scale figure under the Star Trek license Qmx has released - there's also Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Picard.

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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