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Packaging - ***
Although these are 'collector' figures, DCD keeps missing the mark on
the collector friendly packaging. This time they rely not only on
several twisty ties, but a ton of tape as well to keep the figure and
accessories in place. You'll need to replace some of that tape if you
plan on putting him back in the box at some point, particularly for the
tray of arrows.
Still, the package is attractive, and they skipped the completely
impossible photos of the figure this time around.
Sculpting - ***1/2
In my opinion, this is easily the finest head sculpt DCD has had in
this entire series. While they kept a 'comic book' look to him, they
also gave enough fined detail to the hair, eyes and beard to make him
look very lifelike. While the design is theoretically generic, it does
capture GA perfectly, Some might find the head a bit too small, but I
think that considering the comic book superhero style and pumped up
body, the size is about right.
It's also been sculpted to work with the hat, and yet he doesn't have
too obvious of hat hair. That's hard to pull off, and usually the only
way to get a figure that looks good in a hat is to make the hat part of
the permanent sculpt i.e. no hair sculpted under the glued on under the
chapeau. They managed to make a sculpted head with removable hat that
actually looks great either with or without it on, which is quite the
feat.
In fact, if I were grading this merely on the head sculpt, it would
have gotten another half star, going all the way to the coveted four
stars. I like the head sculpt that much. Unfortunately, I
also include the hand sculpts. The fisted hands he comes wearing are
good enough, but rather than give him sculpted hands to work with the
bow and arrows, they went with those damn, surgical gloves filled with
water, sausage fingered bendy hands. These things were a bad choice for
every figure so far, but for Green Arrow, a character that begs to be
posed with his bow, it's an atrocity. I'll be beating up on this
particular issue more in the Articulation section, but it's the one
feature of an otherwise outstanding figure that truly disappoints.
The other minor issue is around the mask. The head sculpt and mask
sculpt don't work as well together as Nightwing's, where the mask
popped into place perfectly and stayed there. Here, it doesn't quite
match up as well, and therefore is harder to get into place and keep
there once you do.
And before I forget, yes he's just as gargantuan as the others,
standing at about 13 1/4 inches tall. That is an issue that was more
critical back when there were only one or two figures - now, with a
dozen figures for him to hang out with (and almost a full Justice
League), it's not as big of a deal. It's still a little annoying,
particularly if you'd like to mix and match with other supposedly sixth
scale lines, but I'm not as perturbed about it as I once was.
Paint - ***
To top off that terrific sculpt, there's a nice, clean, well executed
paint job. The hair color is blonde without being too white or yellow,
and the skin tone is appropriate and even. The lips are really the only
issue, and they pull down the score a bit. They've got to
learn to lose the lipstick look.
The eyes are clean and sharp, both pointing in the same direction, and
the paint work emotes the same serious but not constipated expression
on the face. This was another solid category, if not for the shiny lips.
Articulation - **1/2
The body is pretty much exactly what you expect if you've been buying
any of the previous releases. Poor ball jointed neck, good ball jointed
hips and shoulders, single pin knees and double pin elbows, obvious cut
joints at the thigh and hip, pin/disc ankles with cut joint just above,
and crunch chest joint with cut waist. Oh, and who can forget the cut
wrists.
In fact, without the craptacular wrist joints, this articulation score
would have been higher. But these damn hands are such a huge
disappointment on a figure with this much potential that they don't
just hurt this score, they hurt almost every category. Not
only do they simply not pose well, the damn things fell off every time
I touched them. Aaaggghh!
If you're particularly
observant, you'll notice that the pinky finger on his left hand was
already splitting at the base from my attempts at getting it to
pose. Gee, I wonder why I hate these things.
Accessories - ***
Another category hurt by the damn bendy hands. Had they gone with
sculpted extra hands, this could have been a potential four star
category.
I already briefly mentioned one of the accessories, his hat. It fits on
his head nicely, and looks great once there. He also has a large hard
plastic quiver, designed to hold both his bow and arrows, and this fits
on his back with the use of a double strap contraption.
Now, be careful when attaching the quiver. I've heard lots of horror
stories with broken straps, so take your time. I found that it was a
good idea to unsnap the shoulder strap from the belt first (there's a
small snap that holds the two together to your right of the buckle), to
allow you to adjust the belt first. Get that connected around his
waist, and then reattach the shoulder strap to the belt. You may have
to shift the whole harness to the left and up on the quiver, and this
is possible. The paint might be sticking the belts in the loops, but
you can get them free with some care, and then slide the belts freely.
Take your time, and once the quiver is in place, leave it there - this
is not the kind of accessory you'll want to take on and off repeatedly.
The quiver is a bit large and odd looking (since it's hard plastic),
but it does hold both the bow and arrows quite well. And there's plenty
of arrows too, thirty one of them by my count, in 11 different designs.
GA does love his funky, odd arrows, and there's a whole bunch of
different types here for any battle situation - even a boxing glove! I
don't know how they managed to get all the arrows perfectly lined up in
the quiver in that early pre-production photo, but they at least do all
fit inside, albeit a bit haphazardly.
The bow folds up to store neatly, and expands to pop into place. The
elastic bow string could actually be used to pose with an arrow loaded,
if not for those damn bendy hands.
I also already mentioned his hard plastic mask, which doesn't work
quite as well as some of the past masks. I was able to get it into
position with some effort, and it stayed there for the shoot, so it
isn't terrible. Still, nothing comes close to the perfection they had
with the Nightwing mask.
Finally, there's those hands. The extra set are the bendy style, and I
hate them even more with this figure than I've hated them with past
figures. GA needs to be able to hold his bow and arrow - while you can
manage to do it with these monstrosities, it simply looks bad in any
pose.
Oh, there's also a display stand, like the past figures. You won't
really need it - he stands great on his own in any number of leg poses
- but it's there just in case.
Outfit - ***1/2
Finally, a category not hurt by those bendy hands! The outfit is
excellent, perhaps the best overall that DCD has done in this line.
There's only one minor issue holding it back from four stars, which is
saying quite a bit.
The body suit is the usual form fitting lycra, but there are actually
three pieces. The leggings, the tunic, and the inner lighter
green shirt. All are very well done, with high quality
materials and great stitching. Small details are perfect,
like the tiny eyelets and string front, and with the long 'sleeves' for
the gloves, the whole outfit looks terrific. This costume
gets my top marks for the line so far.
Perhaps the best part of this
costume, but the one that actually has an issue, is the boots. Regular
readers know that I disliked the vinyl boots on Batgirl and Robin,
because the material was too thick and goofy looking. With GL, they've
fixed that issue beautifully, using a very, very soft vinyl material
that form fits, feels quite sturdy, and looks absolutely perfect. The
only issue is that this softer, stretchy material allows the heel to
sit back too far over the hard plastic sole. This looks odd from the
side, but not the front. All they need to do in the future to correct
this is provide a hard plastic backing to the heel, curving up from the
sole. Otherwise, this material and style of boot is dead on perfect.
Even the dorky zipper seems smaller and less of an issue!
Fun Factor - **1/2
This is similar to other high end sixth scale collectibles - fun to
pose here and there, but not something designed to handle real play. I
won't be docking the figure for that in my personal Overall, since
that's what I expected, but it's worth nothing in case you're a parent
looking for a good GA toy for your kids. This one isn't designed for
that.
Value - **
SRP on this figure is $80, part of a general price rise for this line
in 2008. I'm betting most LCS' will be charging at least $70 for this
guy, and at that price he's still too much. Fix the bendy hands, and
I'd be happier, but this is really a figure that should be going for
$60 - $65. There are online shops selling him in that price range too
(see below), and if you pay around that you can add another half star.
There's no doubt that this figure is the first (at least since GL) to
be worth the high price tag I paid, but he's still not worth the SRP.
Things to Watch Out For
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The boards have been alive with complaints about breakage with this
figure, everything from the quiver straps to the bow string. I didn't
have issues with either one, but that might be because I was forewarned
by all the other unlucky collectors out there, and knew to take extra
care. Do the same and you might avoid some of the issues.
And of course, try not to have
the fingers begin splitting on yours - I wasn't so fortunate.
Overall - ***
*sigh* This could have been such a fantastic figure, In fact, had the
ONE issue not existed, this figure would have been the shining star of
this line for me, getting higher marks in Sculpt, Articulation and
Accessories, and getting three and a half overall.
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