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Hot Toys Firefighter 

Jeff Parker is back tonight with another terrific sixth scale review - let's hear all about it, Jeff!

Thanks as always to Michael, and a happy New Year to you all. IMHO in the world of 1/6 collecting 2006 really was Hot Toys (HT) year, SST delivered some great figures and Takara gave us a Batman that would have won my figure of the year in ANY other year than this, but HT Alien pips him at the post for me! I’m sure some of you will disagree with the praise I’m heaping on HT, in fact I hope you do; I for one want these companies to constantly try to out-do each other. The competition leads to a far more dynamic market place and us collectors get a constantly improving product.

But as I said HT have it in the bag for me personally, (I would like to point out that the views here are not necessarily those of the management) not only have they delivered some devastatingly good Movie Masterpiece (MM) figures, but they’ve continued to plug away at modern military and the figure I’m reviewing today comes from their ‘Custom Makers Choice’ series. And it’s easy to see why these babies are going to appeal to all the customisers out there; the attention to detail is astounding.











Though I do have to point out that this figure should really have been part of the MM line, as the sculpt is obviously John Travolta and the Rookie figure that accompanies him bears a striking resemblance to Joaquin Phoenix, so these are basically ‘Ladder 49’ figures, but without the licence.

Packaging - ***1/2
I’m finding it increasingly difficult to mark packaging as most seems pretty good these days, sure every now and then companies like SST break the mould and their ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’ lines deserve special mention (I don’t feel it’s even fair to compare Enterbay’s first release as the packaging probably added another $40 to the price!).

So suffice to say this is a very nice box….not as nice as the ones I cite above…but nice all the same. 

It’s basically two trays facing each other that flap open, held in place by Velcro. One side is deeper to hold the figure and his helmet and the other is shallower for his many accessories. The whole package is covered in some great photographs of the figure including some tight close ups on his accessories. All the accessories and the figure lay securely in vac-formed trays, with two twisties to hold the figure at the neck and waist.

Sculpting - ***1/2
There is a ton of sculpting here as he comes laden with accessories, but most of them will be covered in that section. So let’s stick to the head and hands. 
I mentioned above the fact this bears an uncanny resemblance to Travolta, but as this isn’t officially him I shouldn’t mark down for not looking like him, but I wouldn’t have to anyway as it looks a hell of a lot like him. But it also has to be said that if you’re not a Travolta fan (who is?) you could easily swap for another HT head or just fully kit him up. By the time you have his bunker coat done up, fire hood on, respirator in place and top off with his helmet, quite frankly it could be anyone under there!

You only get one set of hands and they’re gloved. Fantastic sculpting again, but I feel another couple of sets wouldn’t have gone amiss. I’d have liked another gloved set in a gripping position and a gloveless set. But when I get onto accessories later you’ll see that this is a relatively minor quibble as they more than make up for it with his other stuff.

Paint - ****
The paint ops on the head and hands are tight and clean, but you’d expect that from a high-end figure. It’s the paint on his accessories that shine here and the weathering on his outfit is outstanding. All the ultra-fine detailing show HT to be at the top of their game. I’ll try and take some detail photos to get this across. I can’t find any over-painting or slop whatsoever, so top marks.

Articulation - ****
This seems to have become HT standard body now, and though not quite as versatile as the Medicom RAH 301 it’s certainly more robust and can achieve any amount of natural poses. The thickness and bulk of his uniform do hamper some movement, but no more than wearing a full bunker suit would a real fire fighter. And like the RAH series this base figure looks very natural when posed.

Accessories - ****
Don’t go by the HT website description, as they list all the items that you get between the two figures (naughty, naughty) but you still get a ton of stuff. 
Where to start? He comes with an axe (metal with wooden handle, in fact most accessories are metal) Jemmy/door pry, respirator system (oxygen tank, webbing harness, full face mask and time/pressure gauge), helmet with flip-down visors, leather neck protection and adjustable chin strap, flame retardant balaclava hood, hand torch, helmet torch, large light stream torch with strap, door wedge, US flag, jaws of life with gas hydraulic canister and a walkie-talkie with harness and straps. There, I think that’s everything.

All these items are made very well, but the standout piece for me is the air-tank and respirator system, as this pretty much gets my accessory of the year. The actual mask is the same as the one you got with the MM Terminator, Kyle Reese, but to be fair I think he got his from the original HT fire fighter.

Outfit - ****
If it hadn’t been for that pesky DiD Samurai, he’d have got ‘my’ outfit of the year as well. This is as near a perfect scale realisation you’re going to get of a full bunker suit. He comes in a T-shirt, braces (to hold up), bunker pants, bunker coat (the metal clips on the front of this are great) with detachable lining, insulated boots and gloves (OK the hands are the gloves, but you know what I mean!). The detailing on these is magnificent, and the weathering on all is spot on as well, and really adds to the figure’s authenticity. But it’s not till you fully kit him up that you get to see how well it all works together. Another small work of art from Hot Toys!

Fun Factor - ***1/2
It seems to be a pretty specialist market making figures from the various emergency services. BBi gave us a few cool cops and a fire fighter a couple of years ago. But military and fantasy would appear to be where the big money hitters seem to get the most interest. So all I’d say is, if this figure doesn’t ‘fit’ into your collecting category take a closer look, it might change your mind. I’m certainly glad to own it and it’ll make a great display item. But if you’ve got a kid (OK a rich kid!) into fire fighters it’d make a great toy. He’d have to be careful with some accessories but the basic figure could stand up to plenty of play.

Value - ***1/2
Being UK based I got mine from Forbidden Planet. They have him on offer for £69 (RRP £99) not the cheapest of figures, but with all those metal accessories you get a lot for your money.

Things to Watch Out For
No problems with mine, but keep an eye on the smaller accessories. The wooden wedge slipped from the helmet band on mine, but luckily I found it again.

Overall - ****
Like I say, this won’t appeal to all comers, but to those it does, you’ll be knocked out. And if you have a fire fighter in the family this would make a fantastic gift. I really can’t think of any faults on this figure, I know it would be nice if it were a little cheaper, but with this much detail and with these many (mostly metal) accessories, it all looks good to me.

SCORE RECAP:
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpt - ***1/2
Paint - ****
Articulation - ****
Accessories - ****
Outfit - ****
Fun Factor - ***1/2
Value - ***1/2
Overall - ****

Where to Buy -
He’s been out for a while now, so most specialty stores should have it by now if they’re gonna get it. I got mine from Forbidden Planet, so if you’re UK based try’em out. I’m having trouble finding a retailer in the US, so eBay may be your best bet.

KEEP SCROLLING DOWN FOR LOTS MORE PHOTOS!



Figure from the collection of Jeff Parker.

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