Packaging - **1/2
This line of figures is clearly geared toward the kid buyer, and as such the
packaging is 80% utilitarian, 20% looks.
The design is basic, with minimal text, and
is intended to keep it unbroken on the shelf, and easy for young eyes to see
the figure and the cool accessories.
Sculpting - ***1/2
The sculpt is surprisingly good - not that it's surprising that Art Asylum
does good work, since they almost always do, but that in the sixth scale
world, collectors are accustomed to less than stellar likenesses.
They got it pretty damn close to perfect
here though. The sculpt is a little soft, with less facial detail than
ideal, but it is easily recognized as Hawk.
The hand sculpts are well done, and look
very realistic. They pop on and off easily, making switching with the
extra set simple and quick.
The shoes are actually sculpted feet, and
that was a bit of a disappointment. Rubber tennis shoes would have
worked as well, but obviously would have been more expensive to produce.
Paint - ***1/2
The majority of the paint ops are good, particularly around the shoes and
the accessories. There's not much else, although the paint work on the
eyes is slightly off. That's the only negative, and the only thing
that pulls down a perfect score. There's not a lot of paint
application here, but what is here is extremely well done.
Articulation - **1/2
The body is less articulated than I had expected, although there are a
couple nifty innovations.
Hawk has a cut neck and a separate ball
joint going into the torso, which really provides for a lot of poseability
with the head. This joint works great, and shows some creative
thinking on AA's part.
The rest of the body is fairly standard -
ball jointed shoulders, elbows, wrists, chest, waist, hips, knees and
ankles. The elbows, ankles and wrists are more restricted than many
others due to their design, and they are missing any cut joints on the
thighs or biceps. The fingers have some bendy capabilities, and the
knees, while not double jointed, are designed for a wide range of motion.
Some of the joints were a little loose,
which seems to be a big issue across the industry these days. This was
really only a problem in the legs, and I was able to get him to hold most
poses with a little work.
Outfit - ***1/2
The outfit is pretty basic, but is extremely well made. There are
really five basic pieces - the helmet, elbow pads, knee pads, shirt and
shorts. As I mentioned earlier, the shoes are actually sculpted feet.
The work on the shorts and shirt is great,
with good stitching, excellent materials and good tailoring. The
helmet fits nicely, and the rubber chin strap buckles shut. But the
big surprise here are the elbow and knee pads.
Not only are the well made, but they have a
unique design that ensures they'll fit well. The hard pad is sewn to a
lycra sleeve. There are straps around the top and bottom of the
sleeves that allow you to tighten the fit around the arm or leg
easily. If they had used something like this for the armor on the
Hasbro Jango Fett, collectors would have been throwing themselves out of
tall buildings in anticipation of the coming apocalypse.
That means that both the elbow and knee pads
look great AND fit great. Considering how crucial they are to his
outfit, it was wise of Art Asylum to go the extra mile.
Accessories - ***1/2
Tony comes with one major and two minor accessories. The major should
be pretty obvious - what would he do without a skateboard? The minors
include his watch, and a sheet of stickers to customize his board (or
whatever else you'd like to use them on).
The board looks terrific, and the wheels
even spin cleanly. The graphics on the board are flawless, it looks to
be in almost perfect scale, and it is as realistic as you can expect.
The only flaw is the lack of posts - if he had a post or two, with some
holes in his feet, it would be far easier to put him in some unique poses on
the board.
The watch is one of the nicest sixth scale
versions I've seen, although it's just a tad large. Of course, some
men wear huge, manly man watches, so perhaps that's the case here.
The stickers are, well, stickers. They
are attractive, with plenty of color and great designs, and add a lot of
value for kids. As a parent I hate stickers - they're always so damn
hard to get on straight.
Value - ***
I paid less than $15 for this figure at my local Wal-mart, and that's good
for a sixth scale figure. To get something in the ten buck range
usually means a very stripped down Joe, or a basic soldier from the Soldiers
of the World line. Considering this is a licensed figure, paying
another $4 or so is not out of line. It's
not a fantastic value, but is really spot on in terms of price vs. what
you're getting.
Overall - ***1/2
I was pleasantly surprised by most of what I found with this figure.
The only negative was slightly less articulation than I had expected, but
overall it's a solid value for a great looking 12" figure. If
you're a big Tony Hawk fan - or know a kid who is - pick one of these up and
check it out.
Where to Buy -
I picked this up at my local Wal-mart. On-line:
- Amazon
(TRU.com) has them for the slightly higher price of $17. Just search
for Tony Hawk, and you'll see listings for both the black and blue t-shirt
versions.
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