Review of the Hawkman, Thanagarian Warrior action figures

Introduction

When Mattel first released their DC Infinite Heroes line, I was interested. It had been awhile since we'd gotten a 4" style DC figure line, and I was willing to overlook the oversized hands and lack of articulation on a number of the figures. In fact, when I reviewed the first couple three packs, I gave them a decent if not glowing review. I had every expectation of collecting the whole line.

And then...I never saw anything new on the pegs. Oh, months later I finally saw a couple of the Toys R Us exclusive sets, but our stores have still never had characters like Black Adam, and if I am not interested in another line I have to kill myself to find.  And so I never bought another DCIH figure.

But then I ran across the Hawkman three pack, with the man (bird) himself and two Thanagrian Warriors. Hawkman was cool enough in the package to convince me to pick him up.

You can expect to pay around $15 for this set - yea, you heard that right. I found it at Toys R Us, although some lucky Targets may have them in as well.

Packaging - ***
I've always liked the general DC Universe packaging, and these boxes work well for the three packs. There's no twisties or rubber bands either, and I'm all for that. There's also very little waste comparatively speaking, which I nice as well.

Sculpting - Hawkman ***, Warriors **1/2
These figures are around 4" tall, depending on the character. They fit in pretty well size wise with other 3 3/4" and 4" lines.

However, there's some style issues.  The big hands are too much for some folks, although Mattel has said that they'll be altering that a bit over time.

I really like Hawkman, even with the large hands, but his musculature is very heavy, and he does have a bit of a pin head. It's a style choice though, and it works for me.

I also like some of his smaller sculpting details, like the feathering on the wings, and the cool hawk-like sculpted feet on the front of his boots. The helmet is a little soft, but it's a good design.

I found that looking closely as specific areas of Hawkman pointed out more issues, but if you step back and look at the figure in it's entirety, the style works much, much better.

I wasn't as happy with his warrior sidekicks. The wings are soft rubber, and tend to come out of the package at some pretty weird angles. There's far less detail in the various areas of the costume, like the belt or helmet, and they had more trouble standing on their own without leaning forward,even when the wings aren't really that heavy . Their sculpted butts don't allow for the legs to sit back as far as I'd like, making the limited articulation even less useful.

Paint - Hawkman *1/2; Warriors **
Unfortunately, the paint work here isn't even up to average mass market standards. I was disappointed with all three figures, but Hawkman was the worst.

Different pieces don't match in color, like the arms, chest and even shoulder discs. There are plenty of rub marks, lots of slop between colors particularly on the small details, and even at this small scale, it's not up to the level of quality you'd expect.

The Warriors are a big better, with cleaner lines in most areas.  Of course, it also helps that the Warriors have fewer sculpting details. Less details on the outfit means less paint detail as well.

Articulation - **1/2
The problem here with the articulation is not that there isn't enough, but that's what here really doesn't work all that well.

There are a couple basic improvements they need to make to what's here. First, instead of a cut neck (or a joint that acts like a cut neck), they need a ball neck that works well. They have ball jointed shoulders, but the hips are standard T style, and figures in this scale can really benefit from ball hips. Finally, there's a cut waist, pin elbows and pin knees, but no cut wrists or biceps.

Still, even with the joints that are here, a better design would make them more useful. As I mentioned, the way the butts are sculpted, the thighs can't move back far enough to give them the ability to stand straight up. And pin knees don't do you much good if the rest of the leg articulation is this limited.

Accessories - Bupkis
Nope, nothing. No weapons for anyone. And they even have gripping hands just begging to hold SOMETHING.

Value - **
The three packs are a much better deal than the single pack figures. You aren't going to find too many action figures - even in this scale - that are just five bucks each. Unless they are on clearance.

However, there's still two problems with that price on this set. First, there's NO accessories, even when they gave you two of the same figure. Second, the quality of the paint is just not up to even average standards. I was much more understanding with the first three packs in this category, but the paint was better and they did have a couple accessories with the cops.

The single pack figures are running closer to $7 each at many stores, and that's just ridiculous. Most of the figures in the line are not good enough to command that kind of green.

Things to Watch Out For -
Paint. And you probably want to watch the paint. And don't forget to pick out the best paint job.

Overall - Hawkman **1/2; Warriors **
I was ready to be a fan of this line, but poor distribution, poor paint quality, over priced single packs, and a lack of accessories have pretty much soured me. I'll pick up the occasional Batman related character IF I actually see them on the peg someday, but this line has turned out to be a bust overall for me.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - Hawkman ***; Warriors **1/2
Paint - Hawkman *1/2; Warriors **
Articulation - **1/2
Accessories - Bupkis
Value - **
Overall - Hawkman **1/2; Warriors **

Where to Buy 
I found them (finally) at Toys R Us, but Target has been getting some in as part of the reset. You can search ebay for a deal as well.

Related Links -
My only other DCIH review was the first couple three packs.

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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