Review of The Comedian - Watchmen
Sixth Scale Action Figure

Introduction

When I picked up my new blu-ray player last fall, the first film I popped in was Watchmen. While other comic book geeks have been less than enthusiastic about the film, I prefer it to the original series. Blasphemer!

DC Direct gave us a series of 7" figures, as well as a handful of 13" figures in their 'deluxe' line. But the small figures were...well, small. And the DC Deluxe line is questionable at best.

So the announcement that Hot Toys would be producing sixth scale figures based on the film characters was certainly welcome. I've already checked out Silk Spectre, and sadly, she isn't my favorite HT figure. Jeff Parker checks her out tonight as well, and feels a bit more positive.

One of the characters that DCD covered in their large line was the Comedian, but with one of the coolest uniforms and best accessories, he was a perfect choice for the HT touch.

He's just started shipping, and runs around $150. There was no exclusive version this time around.

Sadly, we haven't gotten any additional announcements yet from HT on continuing the series. Let's face it, Rorschach is a must, and Night Owl would be stupendous. I can live without a Manhattan (he is just a big blue guy after all, and the DCD version can stand in), but those two characters really need to be added to the shelf. Let's hope that as we get closer to the summer and SDCC we get another announcement.

Packaging - **1/2
Everyone loves these boxes, and there's some good reasons. Most notable are the colors and terrific graphics that give the boxes that comic book feel.

Sadly, I'm not in this camp.  I appreciate the attractive qualities, but the boxes are very thin, much thinner than other HT licenses. Both the outer shell and inner box are easily torn, and I fear that over time they won't hold up.

Sculpting - ****
Hot Toys inveterate quality is apparent once again in another amazing sculpt.

This is the older version of Comedian from the film, showing the age and scars after years of mercenary work for the United States government. One scar in particular, given to him by a women carrying his child moments before her own death, stands out prominently on his right cheek.

The skin texture is about as realistic as you can get in this scale, and the teeth are each sharply and cleanly cut, making them stand out in his psychotic grin.

The stubble is also quite realistic, and the edge of the mask is cut into the skin slightly, just as it would be on the soft tissue of his face. I don't know if it's possible to create sculpts that are more realistic than these - more accurate at times, but never more realistic.

Fortunately, this one is very accurate to the screen character as well. It's far, far superior to any of the Comedian sculpts we saw from DCD last year.

There are four hands included. The right he comes wearing works with the cigar, as with several general poses, and the left is designed to hold a gun. The other right is also designed to hold a gun, while the second left is intended to hold the stock of a gun, or perhaps the hilt of the knife. They all work fairly well, but one designed to allow him to hold the stock of the launcher or shotgun closer to his shoulder would have been nice.

He stands just about exactly 12" tall, allowing him to fit in with just about any other normal sixth scale line.

Paint - ****
If you compare, very closely, the production paint job to the original hand painted prototype, you'll see differences. Of course, that's always true, but it's a sign of Hot Toys production paint quality to see just how minor those differences are.

Once again they get the stubble and skin tone just about perfect, and the variation in the slightly graying hair looks amazing.

They've even used a color transition between the skin on the forehead and the hair line, creating one of the most natural hair lines I've ever seen in this scale.

There is one issue that is technically paint, but which is also costume, and I'll be beating him up for it in that category. You know what I'm talking about, but if you don't just read on.

Articulation - ***
This is Hot Toys 'muscle' body, similar to what you saw with Dutch in the Predator line (some folks think this is the same torso as Wolverine, but he seems much bigger to me - we'll see when Jeff checks him out, since he owns both). The shoulders are fully articulated, but the elbows are more restricted by the sculpt. Add in the tight, stiff pads, and the elbows have even less mobility.

The costume restricts quiet a few of the other joints as well, such as the mid-torso, ankles, and wrists. You can still get some posability out of them, but don't expect anything like you'd see with a less cumbersome costume.

Hot Toys has a shot of the figure holding the grenade launcher in a very natural way - I wish I knew how they managed that. I tried with both right hands, and was completely unsuccessful.

Accessories - ***1/2
The Comedian is the kind of character that begs to be outfitted well, and Hot toys rose to the challenge.

There's the usual display stand of course, as well as extra wrist pegs on the off chance you manage to snap one.

There's an extra set of said hands, and they swap pretty easily and relatively safely. I doubt you'll need the extra pegs, but it's nice that they are included.

He also has his stogie, which can be held in his hand or in the corner of his mouth. The cigar is a little large for the scale, but not something that's ridiculous, and I think it looks terrific sticking out of the corner of his grin. It barely hangs in there though, so if you plan on displaying him that way, keep an eye on it.

Then there's the weapons. There's the shotgun, with a moving pump, as well as the two .45's presented to him by the President. These have moving slides and poseable triggers, along with removable clips. But they do NOT have the smiley faces on the grips. What's up with that? I decided to deduct a half star in this category for the issue, but rather than discuss it here I'll moan about it all at once in the next category.

There's also the grenade launcher, which can be opened and loaded with one of the 16 included rounds. These are tucked in a shoulder belt that he can wear over either side. And yes, I know that in some of the photos the belt was upside down - I didn't notice it until I was editing the photos.

There's also a bunch of shotgun shells on his back in another ammo belt, but these are not removable.

The final weapon is a large boot knife, which fits neatly in a sheath on the outside of his right boot. Once you get the knife in place (and the hand guns as well), you won't want to pull them out, but they look great when you manage to get the stiff straps closed.

Outfit - ***
The tactical body harness and underlying body suit look great, and fit him like a glove. The outfit does tend to give him thunder thighs, but that's due to the style of the underlying body.

The boots look terrific, and while they tend to restrict the ankle movement a bit, it's worth it considering how great they look. Appearances might not be everything, but it makes up for a whole lot.

The holsters fit great, but you will have to work at getting the straps in place with the guns inside. Once I did, I decided that's the way they were going to stay.

So if I'm gushing about the boots, the body suit, the tactical harness, why the drop in score? Because of one simple issue - where's the smiley face? I mentioned earlier that they were missing on the guns as well, and that's inexcusable. Even the DCD versions had them - even the figures that were half this size. There's no technical reason they couldn't have been included, so I have to assume that a) there was some sort of weird licensing problem or b) they neglected them.

This is a good example of something that is easy to miss in promo photos. I never realized it was missing the smiley face on the button and guns until I had him in hand, and yet they were missing on the prototypes as well.

Value - **1/2
At $150, he's a fairly average Hot Toys price, and with a decent assortment of accessories and fairly complex outfit, he's an average value. If they don't announce any further releases in the series, I suspect you may see his price drop for at least a little while.

Things to Watch Out For -
Be very, very careful with the small release on the launcher. I managed to snap it off the second time I messed with it, and now it's glued back in place, never to be touched again. It was still broken in the photo, as a warning.

Overall - ***
The Overall score is not merely an accumulation of the previous scores. Instead, each of those scores has a weighting and a priority, and then there's the intangibles - those things that create an emotional response.

Just reviewing my other scores, I assumed that the overall would be 3 1/2 stars. And yet...that didn't feel right to me. Why? Because of those damn smiley faces.

I generally don't read threads about figures that I'll be reviewing, since I don't want the opinions of others to color mine. So perhaps there's already a reasonable explanation out there as to why these are missing. But I'm having a hard time imagining such a beast, and I have to say that their absence is disappointing.

If you don't feel that strongly about this particular issue, than you can rest assured that you're overall will end up a bit higher than mine. The amazing sculpt and paint, along with the other features of the outfit and accessories. are certainly nothing to sneeze at. 

Now if we can just get a Night Owl and a Rorschach, we'll have enough of the Watchmen to make a decent display.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - **1/2
Sculpting - ****
Paint - ****
Articulation - ***
Accessories - ***1/2
Outfit - ***
Value - **1/2
Overall - ***

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Sideshow had him for $150, but he's wait listed at this point.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Other Watchmen reviews include:

- Hot Toys other release so far is the modern Silk Spectre.

- I've checked out a number of the cheaper Watchmen figures, including some of the variants, and series 1 split in two reviews, one of Ozymandias and modern Silk Spectre, and the other of Rorscach and modern Nite Owl. There's also the series 2 review, and I also checked out one of the 13" deluxe figures, Dr. Manhattan.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

Discussion:
Want to chat about this review?  Try out one of these terrific forums where I'll be discussing it!

Enjoyed this review? Be sure to head back to the main page to find thousands more just like it!