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The Mad Hatter - Alice in Wonderland
Mattel
"The
following is a guest review. The review
and photos do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Michael Crawford
or Michael's Review of the Week, and are the opinion and work of the
guest author."
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My buddy Travis is back with
another look at a Barbie figure based on the latest pop culture thang -
take it away, Travis!
Thanks to Michael, I'm back for my Fifth guest review!
Now, my last review was of the Edward
Cullen Barbie doll, so this next one will make it look like I
buy Barbie's on a regular basis. I assure you, that's not the case, but
I never pass on one that I deem cool and this one literally made me
stop in the isle and say, "HOLY COW!"
Before I begin, let me state right now I'm a huge Johnny Depp fan.
Always have been and, hopefully, always will be. I'm as old school as
they come and I've liked him since the very first Nightmare on Elm
Street and I absolutely loved 21 Jump Street. He's one of those actors
that I love no matter what role he plays and I've never seen him in
anything that I didn't like. With that said, when I heard that he was
cast as the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, I was all
smiles. The movie doesn't open until March 5th, but from what I saw at
a 3D screening of Avatar, the trailer (which was also in 3D) looks
amazing. 3D movies aren't what they used to be when I was a kid, that's
for sure.
I'm sure everyone knows the original Alice in Wonderland story and in
the new film, an older Alice returns to Wonderland to find that the Red
Queen has taken over and she must help it's inhabitants rise up and
fight back.
Tonight, as I was waiting patiently for the movie to open, I came
across something I had to have: a Mad Hatter doll based on Johnny
Depp's appearance in the film!
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Now, you might say to do a review of this doll, you would need to be as
mad as a Hatter...which luckily I am.
Oh, and always, I apologize in advance for the cruddy photos.
Packaging
-
***1/2
The package is a pretty basic Barbie window box and the details and
text are sparse, but it captures the look and feel of the movie nicely.
I'm assuming it's overall look is supposed to be the Mad Hatter's hat
box since it has his name and leather straps and buckles on it. Other
details include a small photo of Depp as the character, a separate
cardboard Key hanging on a string and a punched keyhole on the back.
Also on the back is a small painting of the tea party table and a small
blurb about the movie and doll. One of the smaller box details is my
favourite: it says "Made with care in Wonderland."
The window lid slides off and has no tape holding it in place, so
there's nothing to cut to get into it. Removing the doll from the
inside cardboard card (decorated with shadows of top hats) on the other
hand will be the usual Barbie fare. As I said in the Edward Cullen doll
review, I've bought my share of Barbie dolls over the years and they
always drive you as Mad as a Hatter (no pun intended) to remove them
from the packages. It's almost like they aren't meant to be
opened...EVER! I know they do that to "pose" the doll in a way that
shows it off and make people see it in all it's glory, but sometimes it
feels like you're actually destroying the doll as you open it. Add to
that, the fact they never look as good in the package after you open it
and replace them. I wish they were a bit more collector friendly. Oh,
one additional detail is a small cardboard teapot that's held in place
on the Hatter's right hand.
Sculpting
-
****
Now, this doll is in no way Hot Toys quality and it would be unfair to
make comparisons that way. Besides, it literally costs a fraction of
what Hot Toys figures run, so I guess you get what you pay for.
The sculpting in this category includes the head, torso, hands, hat,
shoes and even a bandolier.
The headsculpt is unlike the usual Barbie/Ken dolls in that it doesn't
resemble either of them in the least. This truly is Johnny Depp as the
Mad Hatter. Sure, it's a cartoony version of him, but he's in there.
It's just nice that they went the full movie route instead of doing
some strange Depp/Hatter/Ken version. You can see all of Depp's
features and the smile even has his slight gap between his front two
teeth.
His hair is rooted and although it's styled as he appears in the movie,
it's not as glued in place as most Barbie hair is. It's nice and loose,
but still holds the look.
Also on his head, is his trademark hat complete with hat pins and the
10/6 tag. The details are not only painted, but sculpted as well. I do
wish the tag wasn't made of paper, but really, isn't it supposed to be?
He has a sculpted bandolier made up of spools of thread which looks
very cool.
Without stripping him, the body appears to be a lanky male Barbie doll,
only this time, it's sculpted in porcelain white and not in flesh
tones. The body reminds me of the boy Barbie MyScene dolls, but without
removing the clothes I can only guess.
Lastly, his shoes have sculpted laces and even etched tiny writing
carved in them. It's so small, that it first appears to be creases or
wrinkles, but upon closer inspection, you can make out pieces of the
phrase "Downal wyth Bluddy Behg Hid." Loosely translated, it means
"Down with the Red Queen." I love details like that!
The doll stands around 12" tall.
Paint
-
****
The paint includes his eyes, eyebrows, lips, teeth, make-up, hat,
bandolier and shoes. All done with crisp detail. As I said above, the
doll is actually molded in white and not flesh tones. The eyes are
painted very light green and are surrounded by pink make-up and huge
orange bushy eyebrows. The cheeks have pink blush and the lips are
lipstick red. His teeth are molded without any detail, but the paint
separates his teeth and makes the doll look that much more real. As I
said above again, he also has a slight gap between his front two teeth.
His hat has gold paint trim around the etched details and the spools on
his bandolier are painted with pastel thread colours. The spools
actually have a little bit of bleed, but I think it's due to the
plastic they used to make it. It's not enough to bring the score down
in the least. Lastly, his shoe laces are painted red.
Articulation
- ***
The body has more articulation than the previous Edward Cullen doll I
reviewed and appears to be a male MyScene Barbie body. Typical Ken
bodies have rubber covered legs with that clicky knee action. The
MyScene bodies (and some newer Ken's) have action figure like legs and
arms, complete with articulated knees and elbows with great range of
motion. To me, this is more of a dressed action figure than doll, but
who am I kidding?
Without stripping the doll, I can only guesstimate on the articulation
as best as I can. The body has shoulders, elbows, upper leg joints and
knees that have basic ball jointed articulation. I'm not sure if they
are ball joints, but they move like it. The neck is your basic Barbie
doll articulation with no extra movement.
Accessories
- **
The only thing I count as an accessory is a doll stand, but I can
always use one of those.
This time, though, there's no logo and it's just basic black. There's
also a Certificate of Authenticity and although it doesn't say it this
time, the Mad Hatter is a Pink Label collectable. The labels include
Pink, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Basically, the Pink's aren't limited
in production and shouldn't be hard to find.
Outfit
- ****
Ok, this is what makes an already cool figure even cooler. The Mad
Hatter's costume has tons of nice details and they certainly didn't shy
away from adding them. His top hat is complete with sculpted hat pins,
size tag and a long pink ribbon. The ribbon is even hemmed! I hate it
when things like that start to fray and the extra sewing ensures that
won't happen easily. The rest of his outfit consists of:
- A bright blue shirt with a collar and string lace cuffs on his
sleeves.
- A vest which sports a diamond pattern and brass coloured buttons.
- An oversized floppy bow tie that has a spotty design on it.
- A light purple waistcoat with a large lapel and sewn on colourful
ribbons and handkerchief.
His mid-calf pants are brown with stitched pinstriping and wild colored
stitching on his right leg. His stockings are almost knee length and
are mismatched. One is purple, the other is red and yellow striped.
Lastly, he has the aforementioned Spool Bandolier and orange shoes.
Value - ***1/2
Ok, this is tricky because when I found the figure first today, it cost
$59.99 and I had to have one. I justified that most 12" figures I want
these days run $100.00 to $150.00 and this was a pretty good deal
considering that I couldn't afford the Medicom 1/6 version of the Mad
Hatter and, in my humble opinion, I'm just as happy just having a 12"
version of the character. Now, after I bought the doll, one
hour later, I found the same exact doll at another store for $49.98! To
me, under $50.00 is a good deal. Sure, it's still expensive, but I can
live with it.
Fun
Factor - ***
Judging it by it's articulation and outfit, I think this figure has
lots of playability, but I'm guessing that this doll will mainly reach
collectors and not kids. Kids would love it if they know who it's
supposed to be but I think the price alone assures not many kids will
get one.
Things
to Watch Out For -
I'd take care with that little 10/6 paper hat tag. It just looks like
something that could be damaged easily. Everything else looks pretty
sturdy.
Overall
- *** 1/2
This figure is beyond awesome in my opinion. It has a crazy outfit,
great articulation and is based on, not only the Mad Hatter, but also
Johnny Depp. What else could I ask for? Ok, I wish it had been cheaper,
but I really don't feel like I got ripped off. He looks great in and
out of the box and I really hope that Alice follows him down the Barbie
rabbit hole soon...
Score
Recap -
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpting - ****
Paint - ****
Articulation - ***
Accessories - **
Outfit - ****
Fun Factor - ***
Value - ***1/2
Overall - ***1/2
Where
to Buy -
The first one I bought ($59.99) came from Toys R Us where they had two
of him.The second ($49.98) came from Walmart and again, they had two of
him.
Thanks again, Michael! Until next time, folks: Same Bat Time, Same Bat
Channel!
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This product was purchased for the review by the reviewer.
Photos and text by Travis.
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