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Packaging - ***
It's the usual attractive Hot Toys packaging, with the outer sleeve
over the inner five panel box. I like that Hot Toys uses an
actual character still for the front of the sleeve, allowing the buyer
to instantly compare their work to the real deal.
I did dock them though and it's
for the same reason that I docked the Hellboy package - twisty ties.
I'm not a fan.
Sculpt - ****
Hot Toys keeps cranking out the exceptional sculpts. It's clear they
have this scale down, and some how they manage to get prototype level
quality out of a production process.
The
skin has the soft texturing we've come to expect, but this time it's a
tad more amphibian than human. The gills and lips have the extremely
fine sculpt work that adds so much verisimilitude (hey, I'm running out
of ways of describing realistic, so expect to see some new words with
Hot Toys reviews), and the large eyes are distinguished enough from the
face as to appear as separate entities.
The neck is covered in a
soft rubber skin, just like the arms. Hellboy got the skin treatment
too, but I think it works a bit better here with Abe. You still have to
take the same precautions, and not over bend or over use the joints,
but the elbows have more a much greater range of movement
than HB, probably due to the slightly thinner rubber.
All four
hand sculpts look great, and the gripping right hand works fine with
the gun. He comes wearing two slightly relaxed posed hands, and the
fourth is in his trademark splayed hand pose. The little 'suckers' on
the palm look great, as does the finger webbing.
Abe is right
about 12" tall, and stands just slightly taller than Big Red. When I
reviewed that figure, I wasn't sure if that was appropriate or not, but
mentioned that knowing Hot Toys like we do, I figured it was. Several
readers were kind enough to send in some useful stills from the movie,
and sure enough, he should be slightly taller.
Paint - ****
Every great sculpt deserves a great paint
job, and we got one here. The eyes are the most impressive, with their
extremely complex pattern. On close inspection they only look better,
something that's pretty rare.
With the 'lightening bolt'
patterns, scaling on the sides of the head, fleshy gills, and random
dots, Abe has quite a bit of variety and detail in his paint job. Even
the rubber skin looks like it would be right at home wrapped
around the meat of an exotic fish.
How Hot Toys manages to get
this kind of high quality paint application out of a production
facility is a secret every collector hopes other high end manufacturer
will to learn. Of course, if your Hot Toys, you're hoping they won't.
Articulation - ***
While
Abe has the usual exceptional Hot Toys body, the rubber suit does tend
to restrict the articulation. It works a bit better than Hellboy's at
joints like the neck and elbows, but the tight wet suit tends to
restrict other joints like the hips, shoulders and knees. You'll be
able to get
some good, natural poses out of him, but it's not going to be anything
extreme.
Accessories - ****
What
you count as 'accessories' and what you count as 'outfit' is likely to
alter how you score these two areas. I'm counting his gun, display
stand, extra hands, goggles and breathing equipment. That leaves the
wet suit, belt and boots as his outfit.
I already mentioned the
extra set of hands, with one hand designed to grip the gun, and the
other with the fingers spread out wide. Swapping the hands was quite
easy, and I never felt like the wrist pegs were in danger.
The
display stand is the usual. Yea, I don't use them, but if you do, it
fits in with the rest. It's also the new style that hangs under his
crotch, rather than around his waist.
Then gun is an excellent
sculpt, scaled perfectly, and has a spring loaded action! The top slide
can move backward and springs forward, adding to the realism. Of
course, the clip is also removable.
Because I added in the goggles
and breathing equipment here, the score goes way up. Both of these are
simply amazing.
There's
an additional rubber neck that goes with the breather. You pop off the
head, slide this rubber piece on over the gill neck, and pop the head
back on. The fit is great, and doesn't restrict the neck due to the
soft nature of the rubber.
EDIT:
as pointed out by a reader, it's also possible to remove the
rubber neck cover with the gills before you put on the black rubber
suit section. It's not necessary for normal display, but if you are
going to have him wearing the collar for a long period, I'd remove the
rubber gil neck. When two pieces of softer rubber are in contact for
any extended period, they can interact and it's never a good thing. END
EDIT.
Actually, before you pop that
head
back on, you should slide the breathing equipment down over the rubber
neck cover. To complete the assembly, there are two metal connectors in
back that can be inserted into the costume at the appropriate spots.
This was a tad tricky, and I found that they tended to pop out too
easily. Fortunately, the metal kept them from being too fragile.
That
doesn't mean this piece isn't fragile, though. I broke off the little
silver handles on the front as I was trying to take the thing out of
the tray! Fortunately, they had simply come loose from the holes they
had been glued into, so gluing them back in was pretty easy, but be
very careful nonetheless.
The detailing on this thing is
really
amazing. It looks just like the film version, with all the small
details necessary to achieve that kind of movie match.
The
goggles attach to the face via a magnet. It's a strong magnet too, so
you won't have to worry about them falling off with normal handling at
any angle. The fit is perfect, and the engineering couldn't have been
better.
Outfit - ***
The outfit is the one area where I had some issues. The good news is
that they may end up being issues that you avoid.
The
boots are about as good as you get, however. They look terrific, with a
great sculpt and paint. If I find a set of these parted out, I may pick
them up to try to find a way to use them with Sideshow's Sara Connor.
The
belt is extremely well constructed, with a nice holster and lots of
leather pouches. The holster has a flap that attaches on the inside,
rather than the outside. I couldn't find a way to get the gun into the
holster without opening the flap, and once you do it's almost
impossible to reattach it.
I also had a ton of trouble
getting a
couple of the pouches to stay closed. This was the same situation I had
with Hellboy, and the pouches have the same small post snaps. However,
on HB the problem pouch was in back - this time it was right up in
front. I'd just get it to close, and it would pop open again. I was
almost tempted to glue it shut.
But these weren't my biggest
issues, just the minor ones. My big issue was with the wet suit itself.
When
I opened the figure, I loved the wet suit. It's amazingly detailed,
with small zippers on the sides and back done right in scale, Abe's
name plate on his breast, and a perfect overall fit. They used the
stretchy type of material that looks like rubber, but fits much better
and is far, far thinner.
Once I started working with it,
my
issue arose. You can see in the photos that below the round, black
plastic piece on his chest, there's a lighter circle. I suspect I'm
going to end up with something similar on the right side as well.
The
reason for this is pretty simple. The plastic 'caps' were glued to the
suit while it was very much at rest on his body. In fact, with the one
on the left, there was even a bit of soft wrinkling under it. When I
started to move the body and the suit stretched, as you expect it to,
the black plastic cap pulled free from part of the suit and took the
color with it. It's annoying enough to me that I'm tempted to send it
back...but I think that because of the placement and size of the caps,
that it will be a more common issue than just this one figure.
Value - **1/2
Yea, he's a hella expensive figure. But with the complex outfit and
accessories, you get the feeling that he's one of those that's actually
worth the price you're paying. You won't feel like Scrooge McDuck, but
you won't feel like you just got stiffed either.
Fun Factor - **1/2
These aren't really toys, although they remain true to their roots. The
collector will have fun posing and displaying, but the average kid
would destroy them in 5 minutes.
Things To Watch Out For
-
As I just said, these are fragile. That's the price you pay for extreme
realism in such a small scale.
However,
the only thing here likely to break is the breathing apparatus. Those
little handles in front are extremely easy to snap off if you put any
pressure on them, so don't.
There's also the usual warnings
about the elbow joints, which are covered by the rubbery skin. Don't
overdo the angles or use.
Overall - ***1/2
Abe ended up with the same score as Hellboy, which isn't what I
initially expected. However, the issues I had with the pouches and
outfit ended up pulling him down slightly. I still think he's a
slightly better figure than HB (and HB is pretty damn sweet!), but I
had enough issues with the costume to keep him from
perfection.
Score Recap:
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ****
Paint - ****
Articulation - ***
Accessories - ****
Outfit - ***
Value - **1/2
Fun Factor - **1/2
Overall - ***1/2
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