Review of Eleven - Stranger Things action figure

Introduction

With two successful seasons under their belt and a third already on the way, Stranger Things has proven it wasn't merely a 10 episode gimmick. I really enjoyed the second season, in many ways more than the first, and the young actors involved are all on their way to stellar careers.

The show wouldn't be the show without Eleven, the enigmatic young lady at the center of everything. Played by Millie Bobby Brown, she's part enormous strength, part scared kid, and every bit a star.

McFarlane announced a 7" scale line based on the show, and have the first two figures shipping - Eleven and Hopper. I found Eleven at the local Target for about $20, but no sign of Hopper yet. The rest of the kids are coming soon, and hopefully the line will run fairly deep before it's through.

Packaging - ***1/2
As you know, the entire show revolves around 80's pop culture, riffing on classic movies, tv shows, and toys.  When they decided to do marketing artwork, it only made sense to go for a look that was also very much a part of the 80's. They hired Kyle Lambert, and tasked him with creating a design that would be reminiscent of the great posters of the era.  He succeeded beautifully, creating a very Drew Struzan-like collage (although I can see some Richard Amsel in there too). They've used the most popular of the designs for the card art, and I really like it.

The card and bubble are also very 80's, and while they are not collector friendly, they are certainly attractive. The poorly conceived twisty ties warped one of her legs, hence the less than perfect score, but this is one that you'll have a hard time opening.

Sculpting - ***
Eleven is a middle school age girl, and in this 7" scale, she comes in at just under 6" tall. That seems about right, although I need to get Hopper to see if the internal scale of the line really works.

The portrait is reasonable, but not exceptional. She looks too old, too much like an adult version of Eleven. There's some paint issues that are holding her back as well, but more on that in the next category.

The clothing looks good, with some nice sculpted textures on various areas. The wrinkles and folds are natural looking, and the upper body articulation is relatively well hidden.

The lower body articulation is not. The knees and ankles are really obvious and ugly. This wouldn't be a major problem if these joints were particularly useful, but as you'll see in the Articulation section, they are not. I can get behind ugly joints when they make the figure more posable - these do not.

Once upon a time, McFarlane sculpts and paints set the industry standard in this scale. When I look at Hasbro's Marvel Legends or Star Wars figures, or NECA's many current licensed figures, I see how far these companies have come in overall quality. But this figure looks to me like a McFarlane figure from 5, 6, or even 10 years ago. Somehow they need to find a way to set a new bar, rather than sliding by with the old one.

Paint - ***
McFarlane created the 'throw a lot of paint at it and it will look realistic' method, with plenty of stains, blood, and dirt added to every figure. That has always served them well, and it has become the norm for market.

It works pretty well here, at least from the neck down. The staining on the dress is going to vary from figure to figure, and mine was a little too much, but your mileage will vary. The jacket and shoes look great, and the stripes on the socks are straight and smooth.

The skin tone is a little clumpy and uneven, and I'm not happy with the eyes. They are much too big, and it looks like they are using the dot printing method that we are seeing from other companies. It does make the application clean, but the huge size of the eyes doesn't really match with the character, throwing off the portrait quite a bit.

They did give us that little dab of blood under the nose (which is also what Funko did - the more I looked at my Funko figure, the more I was positive it was on purpose) and the lips, eyebrows, and hairline are good for this scale.

Like the sculpt, the paint work was decent but felt dated. I suppose there's some irony in that, considering the show.

Articulation - *1/2
Here's where my big annoyance comes in, and my greatest nit overall. Don't give me ugly articulation that doesn't work. You're hurting yourself two ways for no good reason.

The ball jointed neck works pretty well, although mine felt sticky. I heated it up a bit before turning it too much, because it felt like the joint was painted stuck, and I might tear something if I didn't get it free first.

The 'NECA' shoulders, so named because they really used them a lot back in the day, allow for in and out, front to back arm movement. They work well enough, and don't harm the look of the sculpt.

The hinge elbows are a little restricted by the sculpt, but they allow for reasonable arm poses when combined with the ball wrists.  The hands are swappable - there's a couple extras - and they pop on and off with relative ease considering the tiny scale. Again, a little heat on the hands can be your friend.

I'm betting the hips are similar to Hopper, with double hinges, but it's tough to tell and the dress makes it a moot point. The legs won't move in or out, forward or back, any great distance. The knees are rotating hinge joints, and there's something going on with the ankles - maybe ball joints. The shoes make the ankles almost worthless as well.

All this means those ugly knees and weird ankles are left to handle any leg poses, and they do it poorly. It's hard to get her to stand on her own, and even with the supplied stand it's near impossible. Argh! You know how much I hate it when a figure can't stand on it's own...

Accessories - ***
She comes with six additional items, all straight from the show.

There are two extra hands, one right and one left. The right has a peg on the palm, designed to attach the walkie-talkie. The left is perfect for holding her Eggo waffle.

And yes, there's a huge walkie-talkie and smaller waffle. While the walkies were big back then, they generally weren't this ridiculously huge unless they were military grade, and I'm assuming this one is supposed to represent the versions the kids had. The Eggo is pretty thick too - improvements in scale would have been welcome.

Eleven wore a blonde wing early on, and they've included one of those as well. It does fit over her head, but the hard rubber may leave scuff marks and paint behind. The sculpt is pretty rough, with little detail in the hair.

Lastly, there's a clear plastic stand with a foot peg. I mentioned how difficult it was to get her to stand even with this base, and that's due to the poor fit between the peg and the hole in the bottom of her right foot.

Fun Factor - **
While the accessories help this category quite a bit, the wonky articulation makes posing her a frustrating experience at best.

Value - **1/2
Most figures at mass market in this general scale are running $18 - $20. This series is falling right in that same area, making it an average value for me.  Regular readers know that a **1/2 here won't effect my Overall either up or down.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not much. If you have a choice when picking her out on the shelf, I'd pay special attention to the paint. Some will have more or less staining on the dress, so you can find the one you think best matches her on screen look.

Overall - **1/2
This isn't a terrible figure, but this is one of those rare cases where they would have done better with less articulation. While the sculpt and paint could use a little help, it's really that ugly and worthless leg articulation that pulls her down a half star below my expectations. As is often the case though, these are really the only game in town for Stranger Things figures in this scale, so I'll be picking them up.

I'm also hopeful that we see the overall line improve with time. That's what happened with McFarlane's Walking Dead series, and I wouldn't be surprised if the same thing happens here. The Eleven and Hopper were most likely rushed to get to market close to the second season release and Christmas. With more time, I'm hopeful that the overall quality (and decision making) improves.

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

Where to Buy 
I found Eleven at Target, with the rest of the Stranger Things goodies. Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth is also at $18.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
I haven't covered a lot of Stranger Things stuff yet, but I did hit up the much smaller Funko action figures.

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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