Packaging - ***
These use the same big bubble, cardback design we've seen with earlier Stargate releases.  For some reason, my set was packaged entirely under the Stargate SG-1 banner on the front of the bubble, even though the cardbacks say Stargate Atlantis.  Hmmmm, maybe I got the ultra rare variants :D  The larger bubbles end up necessary to accommodate the Stargate pieces.

Sculpting - Weir, Sheppard ***1/2; Wraith ***
DST is having Jean St. Jean Studios do the work on the Stargate lines, and I think it's perhaps DST's best line.

The Wraith is a general guy, not any specific wraith (unlike the Steve version).  The body sculpt is good, with some nice details and realism, but the face is a little too smooth and clean for me.  The hair is made from a very hard plastic, making it more restrictive to the neck joint than some figures we've seen.  The trademark braid runs down the back of the hair, but I have to say that the hair sculpt has a bit of the tootsie roll effect overall.  The hands are sculpted to hold the accessories or work in gesturing poses, and they look great.  He stands well on his own too, although you might have to pigeon toe his feet in a bit.  He stands about 7" tall.

Doctor Weir has an excellent head sculpt, and matches up with the character look extremely well.  The hair sculpt has some excellent detail, and doesn't look like a wig plopped on her head.  The outfit is a little large in the legs, even for the style of the show, and the slumped off thin 'NECA shoulders' aren't quite as attractive as the rest of the sculpt.  She stands just a hair over 6 1/2" tall.

Sheppard has the most unusual hair sculpt I've seen in a very long time.  On the show, he has this funky tussled looking hair most of the time.  The guy defines bed head.  They went for it with the figure...and you know what?  I think they pulled it off, or at least as good as you possible could in plastic.  They could have just gone with smooth hair, but that would not have matched the character, and I'm glad they took the chance with the trickier sculpt.

The face sculpt is also excellent, maybe even better than Weir.  I'm not hugely keen on the smart ass smile, although it fits the character.  It doesn't fit most poses all that well though, especially with the weapons.

The body sculpt has plenty of detail, and he stands great on his own.  The hands are designed to work well with the various accessories, and the texturing and small detail work on the jacket is particularly nice.  He stands about 6 3/4" tall.

While you don't need stands to keep them upright, all the feet include holes in case you want to use some sort of generic version.

These are done in a 7" scale, and they fit in great with both the previous Stargate figures and the new Battlestar Galactica stuff.

Paint - ***1/2
The paint work is solid, if not outstanding.

Paint is used on the Wraith to put the various marks on his face.  There's no sculpting of them, just paint.  They end up looking painted on because of it, but they are cleanly done.  The eyes are clean and straight, and they used a nice combination of finishes on the clothing to give it a unique, weathered appearance.  Even small details, like the finger nails, are very well done.

Weir has that same cool looking weathering effect on her clothing, and it works quite well.  Her face paint is extremely clean and neat, and there's almost no slop or poor cuts anywhere on the figure.

The paint is top notch on Sheppard as well, with clean lines and cuts all around.  The face is well done, and again, I like the weathering effects on the clothing.  He has more small details on his clothes, like the buttons on the holster, and these are well done.

Articulation - Sheppard, Weir ***; The Wraith **1/2
These aren't really intended to be too articulated, but they sure aren't just Nerd Hummels either.

The Wraith has the ball neck joint, but the hair pretty much restricts it.  It still does tilt a bit though, which is a plus. The shoulders have those 'NECA style' ball joints at the torso, which don't have the range of movement of a regular ball joint, but look much better, especially with the sculpted jacket.  He has pin elbows, cut biceps, cut thighs, cut wrists, and V style hips.  If feels like there's a cut waist up in there too, but the coat restricts it quite a bit.  You can get a couple decent poses out of him, but don't expect any wild martial arts moves.

Weir has a bit more useful articulation.  Her ball jointed neck isn't quite as restricted as the Wraith's, although her hair does get in the way of a few things.  She has the same style shoulders, with cut biceps, cut wrists and pin elbows.  Her cut waist works a bit better than his of course, as does her T hips.  She adds pin knees and cut ankles to the cut thigh joints for leg articulation.

Sheppard has the same type and amount of articulation as Weir, although the shoulders look a little better than Weir's.  He has the best ball jointed neck of course, since his hair doesn't restrict the movement in any way.

Accessories - Sheppard, Weir ***1/2; The Wraith ***
The key here is the BAF...or more accurately, the BAA or Build An Accessory.  Each figure comes with a piece of the Atlantis style Stargate, but you'll have to pick up series 2 as well to complete it.

The Wraith comes with a base piece for the Stargate to fit into, along with a blaster, his club-like weapon, and a rock that someone far more familiar with the show will recognize much better than I.  While I have no idea what this stone is, I have to say it's pretty damn cool, with the small pattern actually carved into both sides rather than just painted.

Weir gets points for not only having a nice number of extras, but because most of them are unique.  She has her chunk of the Stargate, as well as the book War and Peace, one of the cool Zero Point Modules, and another item I don't have the name for.  It's one of the funky squid like mechanical beasts, sculpted pretty much to scale.  It's a very nicely done accessory, although bendy legs would have made it perfect.  I'm sure my readers will educate me as to it's proper name!  EDIT: Thanks to Jim, I now know this is a drone weapon.

Sheppard has another hunk of the gate of course, along with a hand gun (that fits nicely in his holster), blaster, another Zero Point Module, an Atlantis tracking device, and a lemon.  The sculpts and paint work on all of these is excellent, and Sheppard's sculpted hands can hold them well.

Fun Factor - **1/2
These are pretty basic figures when it comes to play value.  They aren't just statues, but the articulation is intended to make the display more interesting, rather than to provide much fun.

Value - **1/2
At the current average specialty market price of around $12 - $13 each, with a decent number of accessories, these are a nice average value.  This score means that the value of these figures won't have any real negative or positive effect on my overall.

Things to Watch Out For - 
Not a thing.  Everything seems solid and well made, and I'm betting the paint work is fairly consistent across the line.

Overall - Sheppard, Weir ***1/2; The Wraith ***
When I first glanced at these, they didn't do a whole lot for me.  Admittedly, I'm not the biggest fan of the show, but in the package these seemed...plain.

Once out though, I was very happily surprised by the level of detail and quality.  The head sculpts on Weir and Sheppard are very well done, and the paint quality is much better than we're seeing from some of the other current specialty market companies.  I think DST has found a winner with Jean St. Jean Studios, and I'm hoping to see them used more for future DST projects.

Score Recap:
Packaging - ***
Sculpt - Weir, Sheppard ***1/2; Wraith ***
Paint - ***1/2
Articulation - Sheppard, Weir ***; The Wraith **1/2
Accessories - Sheppard, Weir ***1/2; The Wraith ***
Fun Factor - **1/2
Value -  **1/2
Overall - Sheppard, Weir ***1/2; The Wraith ***

Where to Buy -
Your LCS might have these, or you can try one of these excellent sponsors:

- Right now, CornerStoreComics and Amazing Toys have the excellent deal up, including all five figures for just $60!  That includes the short pack Weir.  If you'd rather just get the short packed Weir, she's $23, and the other singles are $13.  Stock is low at both places though, so act soon.

- Time and Space Toys has a deal for all five (including BOTH Field Ops figures) for $80.  They also have all of series 2 (another five figures) on pre-order for just $60.

- Alter Ego Comics has this set of three figures for $41, or you can get the Field Ops Sheppard for $14.

- Urban-collector has the singles for $16, or either of the Field Ops figures for $20.

- or you can search Ebay with MyAuctionLinks.

- Related Links -
I've reviewed a number of the Stargate figures:

- here's series 1, series 2 and series 3 of the SG-1 figures.

- there's also the similar Battlestar Galactica figures, including the exclusives and the regular series 1.