Review of Hermione Granger - Sorcerer's Stone
Harry Potter Sixth Scale Action Figure

Introduction

When Star Ace first announced they were doing sixth scale action figures based on the Harry Potter franchise, collectors and fans were cautiously excited.  No one had done the license justice in any action figure line, and 1/6th was the perfect approach, but Star Ace was untested.

In the year that followed, we saw them release a sizable assortment of figures, from the excellent to the mediocre. While the hits tend to be greater in number than the misses, fans were still worried, particularly when it came to their favorite - Hermione Granger.

She's now shipping, and collectors that jumped on their pre-orders early will be able to judge for themselves very soon. You can expect to pay around $200 for her, a slight increase over the Ron and Harry from last year.  This is the Sorcerer's Stone version of course, but fear not - the older Ballroom Gown Hermione is coming from Star Ace in 2016.

Packaging - ***1/2
They've shifted from the more shoebox like package design into something a bit more high end. The outer slip cover sports some great artwork, and the die cut bottom edge adds a little visual flair. Inside you'll find Hermione and all her accessories packed in a single plastic tray, safe and sound and quite collector friendly.

Sculpting - ****
Hermione took a bit longer to produce than Harry or Ron, but that was time well spent, and the end result is fantastic.

It's important to remember that Hermione from Sorcerer's Stone had a lot of hair. A lot. Sculpting that much hair would not have worked. It would have been extremely heavy, and looked like a helmet, not hair.

They've gone with rooted hair, and it was a very wise choice. I'm generally not a huge fan of this option, but the situation required it and they did it well.  The hair is very, very fine, almost human.  It is very full, and matches the on screen look quite well. If I have one nit to pick, it's that the hair is too long. Not too full, but too long, as you can see by comparing to any number of stills.

Right out of the box, it will look really weird. That's because there's a plastic wrap around the head at eye level to keep things relatively neat.  This flattens the hair at the temples, which is not the right look for her. You'll need to futz with it to your liking, and using a little product is a good idea.  The longer I worked with it, the more I liked it, but getting it just the way you like  will be a matter of personal taste.  The one consistent key will be to fluff it out at the temples to get rid of the 'hat hair'. I suspect that those willing to break out the scissors to shorten it a bit will also get a better look, but that's one step too far for the likes of me.

The portrait itself is very accurate to the character, and they've added a wonderful life-lie quality in the smirking expression. Throw in the realism that they are attaining with the skin texture and improved rooted hair, and you have one of their best releases so far.

She fits in nicely, scale wise, with both Ron and Harry, coming in at 9 1/2 inches tall.

Paint - ***1/2
This was sooo close to a four star score...so close. What is particularly well done is the skin and lips.  They've actually included a slight freckling to the skin, super subtle but very, very realistic. She doesn't look like a Barbie doll with perfect porcelain skin, a real trick when doing any female figure but particularly one so young.

But there's some issues with the eyes that pull it down slightly.  The eyebrows and lashes are good, and the pupils and iris' are straight and clean.  But there's a fair amount of bleed into the whites of the eyes, and worse, there's a splotch of eyeshadow on the lower lid of the left eye. I could live with the bleed - in person it can be very tough to notice - but that smudge under the eye is not. Ah, but for that one mistake...hopefully, this is a YMMV sort of situation.

Articulation - ****
Star Ace has a winner with these smaller bodies.  The neck articulation works much better than their full 12" figures, and the joints are solid and tight.  She can take just about any pose, and the shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, hips, knees and ankles all have a great range of movement.

Of course, an articulated body means that in a skirt, those knees can be a bit funky looking. That's something most sixth scale collectors are accustomed to at this point, and it's much less noticeable when she's wearing the outer cloak.

Accessories - ***1/2
She comes with a nice set of extras, although one inclusion seems a little odd...and there's one glaring exclusion.

She has 5 hands in total. There's the set she comes wearing, an open left palm and a loose grip right, along with three additional right hands. One is perfect for the wand, one is just right for the pen, and one is great for the broom handle. A couple more lefts would have been nice, but it's not a deal breaker.

Swapping wasn't too problematic, although the hands are fairly hard and the pegs fairly small. I do wish they'd include a peg for every hand or at least provide one or two extras just in case.

The wand looks terrific, and feels a little sturdier than a few of the earlier releases. It works best if you slip it into her wand hand from the opposite side.

She comes with two school books, both historical in nature.  The covers are actually stickers that wrap around, but they are placed evenly and cleanly on the underlying sculpted book body.

There's also a quill pen and inkwell. I believe this is the pen she levitated around the room, if memory serves. There's a hole in the inkwell to hold the pen, but the hole is actually a little too big around, and very shallow.  I used a little poster tack to help keep the pen upright.

Perhaps the best extra (other than the very necessary wand) is her book bag, made from a leather material.  You can pop both books inside with room to spare, and she can easily carry it in one of the supplied hands.

Which brings me to the slightly odd inclusion - her Quidditch broom. I don't ever remember her even on a broom, let alone playing Quidditch. I do think they mentioned her playing for fun at some point in the books, but I'm not even sure about that. This isn't merely a re-use of the ride that came with Ron either, as it has a newly sculpted handle.  The bristles may be the same - I didn't compare them closely - but the handle is clearly new.

You could assume they included it for consistency, but that just makes the accessory they left out all the more obvious - where's Crookshanks? Harry and Ron had Hedwig and Scabbers, so it was a safe assumption that Hermione would have Crookshanks, but no such luck.

Lastly, she has the same clear plastic stand we've gotten with the rest of the line. It has supports in various lengths and sizes to accommodate a variety of poses.

Outfit - ****
The outfit consists of the heavy outer robe, shoes, underwear, and school uniform (shirt, tie, socks, sweater and skirt). The quality is excellent, just like we saw with Harry and Ron earlier.

I'm particularly impressed with the tie.  I don't know if I mentioned it before, but it's actually in scale and neatly tied, something that seems so simple, yet is so hard for most sixth scale companies to do. Considering these figures are even smaller than the usual adult figure, getting the tie right was a greater challenge.

I also really like the pleated skirt. I looks great and lays perfectly. The knee high socks stay in place, and even the simple black shoe sculpt looks terrific. The shoe sculpt looks a little big without the cloak on, but with it seems more appropriate. Compared to Ron and Harry's shoes, they are also about the same size.

I do think I have one issue with the shoes, although it's not a problem with the shoe itself.  I'm pretty sure mine are on the wrong feet.  Normally, this is not a big problem since you pop them right off and right on again, but these are quite difficult to remove.  I'm still working on it...

The only serious problem with the overall outfit is the same problem I mentioned with the Ron and Harry earlier - the Griffindor sigil and coat buttons are a bit over sized. I honestly wouldn't want them to alter it at this point, since then she'd stand out when displayed with Ron and Harry, but it's still an issue of accuracy. And yes, the cloak has the same thin wire in the bottom edge to help with posing.

Fun Factor - ****
Hermione is very sturdy, with a solid body and accessories that can handle normal use. You should be able to find plenty of poses and display options, and find new ways to show off the trio over time.

Value - **1/2
Harry came in at $185, but a year later the prices have crept up to $200 for Hermione. That's no longer quite the same deal, but it's still a solid average value. Regular readers know that **1/2 for Value means that the price won't effect my Overall score up or down. I've got my fingers crossed that Star Ace can maintain a $200 price point tops, unless they really add in the extras.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing. She's very sturdy, and can handle posing and re-posing without fear of damage or breakage. The hands swap cleanly, and the accessories are well made and not fragile.

Overall - ****
This is the first of the Star Ace Harry Potter releases to get the full four stars.  It was a little tight, since I'm bummed about that smudged eye makeup, but the overall effect with this figure was so overwhelmingly positive that I had to go for the full score.

I'm on the look out for an appropriate sixth scale cat sculpture to stand in for Crookshanks, so if anyone knows of one please let me know.

Something that struck me as I was working with this figure - I was sure that Hot Toys would be the ones to first perfect rooted hair as a viable option, given their history.  I now believe Star Ace is going to give them a run for their money on that one.

This won't be the last time Star Ace releases a Hermione, as we've already seen the Ballroom Gown version. The prototype is stunning, so I'm hopeful the final production figure will be just as good.  My next review will cover the older Harry Potter, and should be up within a week or so.

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

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Sideshow has her for $210.

- Entertainment Earth is at $218.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
I've covered all the Star Ace Potter figures so far, starting with Harry and Ron, then on to Voldemort, Sirius Black, Mad Eye Moody, Sirius in his Prison Garb, and Ron and Harry in their 'casual' clothes.

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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