Review of Jake's Na'vi Knife Prop Replica
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Introduction

Avatar was a sensory treat, a feast for the eyes and ears. It wasn't much of a story - it's Dances with Wolves meets the Smurfs - but the designs and CGI work were outstanding.

Noble Collection picked up the license to produce some prop replicas, including some of the adornments of Jake and Smurfette.

This is Jake Sulley's Natenyahu...er, NuttinHoney...fine, I'll look it up...Na'vi knife. They make several others, including a couple generic designs, and all of them are $95 each.

Packaging - *1/2
If the only job of the package is to get the collectible to you safely, then this packaging works fine. If you were expecting something more than a plain white box with a Styrofoam insert (and the cheap foam at that), then you'll be left wanting.

Sculpting - ***
The knife is made from a translucent material with a sculpted, hard handle. While the 'real' version would have had a wrapped rope handle, this actually works better, looking just like the on screen counterpart but less likely to fray or come loose over time.

The blade isn't razor sharp, so cutting up your local industrialist villain isn't an option, but you could stab him - the point is sharp, and the blade quite strong.

It was tough finding screen caps of the actual weapon, but from what I could see by jumping around in my copy of the movie, it's fairly accurate. The best scenes are at the end of course, during the final big hand to hand battle. 

There is one very major exception to it's accuracy. It's only 13" long, which is perfectly fine to fit in my hand. But I'm 5' 9" tall, not 7' tall. These were made to human scale, not Na'vi scale, and that's a big disappointment for me. If this were 30 or 40 percent larger, I would have gone a full four stars in this category.

Here's the weird part - the others (including Neytiri's) are MUCH larger at 19" long. That seems more appropriately scaled to me, but Jake's is certainly the most recognizable of the daggers. Even at 19", I'm not sure they'd really be large enough, but it's certainly closer.

Paint - ****
The paint is used to great effect, giving the handle a realistic, material-like appearance, while adding some burnished roughness to the blade. The underlying translucent plastic in the business end of the weapon adds a nice touch to the overall look, and gives it a bone-like quality. At least when you consider the world of Pandora.

Accessories - ***1/2
Prop replicas usually don't come with accessories, but I'm counting the very unique display stand.

The base itself is painted in very Pandoran colors, with lots of blue, some zebra-like stripes, and a few light/souls/whatevers along one side. On the bottom is the logo, as well as small pads to keep it from scratching the table or shelf.

The Plexiglass stand rests in a slot on the base, fitting tightly. It is clear, with the exception of the carved logo, making it appear as though the knife is floating in the air.

My only complaint is that I prefer some form of wall mount for a weapon like this, and there is no way to use this stand in that manner. It's too bad - I'll have to make something else for myself, and leave this pretty display in the box.

Value - **1/2
It sometimes amazes me how expensive prop replica's can be, and while $95 might seem steep, it's actually a decent value. I've never gotten a Noble replica that wasn't high quality - not always perfect accuracy, but always great quality.

Things to Watch Out For -
I'd avoid dropping it - remember, this isn't a real knife.

Overall - ***
I wish this knife was larger - or that I'd paid a bit more attention and perhaps picked up one of the larger 19" versions.

What I can't complain about is the quality, and this is a very well made, well sculpted,, and well painted replica. Noble Collection is one of the most consistent when it comes to quality, and these are nicest collectibles based on the film we've gotten so far. We'll see what Hot Toys does with the action figure license, but for props, Noble has the win. I may go back and pick up one of the larger versions, just to get something closer to the proper scale.

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

Where to Buy 
When it comes to Noble Collection stuff, I'd avoid ebay. Generally, it all ends up more expensive there than just buying it directly from Noble themselves.

Related Links -
I checked out one of the Avatar action figures early on, and it was Jake of course.

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

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