Packaging - ***
Pretty nice work for someone starting out. There are only five
twistie ties holding the figure in the box, so you don't have to ruin
anything to get him out. The graphics on the box are also on the web
site, and the insert has some terrific historical information on the
Native Americans represented by this figure. Articulation -
**
The body that's being used is not up to the standards of our current
expectations. Dragon and 21st Century have ruined us! He has a
cut joint neck and waist, ball jointed shoulders and hips, elbows, wrists,
knees and ankles. Think early 90's Joes. But even then there's
good news - swapping the head to most other bodies would be pretty easy. Accessories -
****
There are three accessories - a spear, tomahawk and shield. All
three are extremely nice. The shield is made of a very strong
material, painted in Cheyenne colors and design. The tomahawk is a
British style pipe/tomahawk combination. But the spear is the real
standout here! It is wrapped from top to bottom, and has eagle
feathers along it's length. The spear head is excellent, and the
material used is very stiff, sturdy plastic. Exceptional! Sculpting -
***1/2
Mike has been doing custom heads for awhile now, and his Native American
sculpts are certainly better than anything currently on the market.
The head material is softer than most currently on the market, but it
makes swapping the head on to other more articulated bodies easy. The
hair is rooted, very tight and very well done. The braids are tight,
and the paint work on his face is nicely done. Also newly sculpted are
the hands and feet. The oversized hands of the early Joes weren't
appropriate of course, and Mike resculpted new hands based on the Johnny
West line. The feet are intended to be more accurately sized for a
figure that would be barefoot, or only wearing moccasins. Both
sculpts are well done. Value - **1/2
Part of the problem in doing very low run figures like this is that it's
tough to produce them at the same kind of price that large production,
main stream products can. Forty bucks is a little steep - but it's
really not that bad. Outfit - ***
The best part of this outfit is the embroidery. The beadwork has
been embroidered, and the quality is excellent. The material used
isn't quite as good as I'd like, particularly the moccasins. But the style
is authentic, far more authentic than anything I've seen on other retail
figures. The stitching is great, particularly on the 'leggings', and
I'm really impressed.
Overall - ***
I'm quite impressed with this first result from Dog Soldiers.
I'll be ordering the Apache Warrior as soon as possible, and expect that
things will continue to move upward from here. The body needs to
improve, and perhaps some of the cloth materials could be a little higher
quality, but overall it's an excellent figure.
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