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Packaging - ***
They could have just shipped this in a plain white box. That's how
most mail-aways get handled. But instead, they come in a box printed
up to look like a crate - how apropos! The box protect the contents pretty
well, and looks good doing it.
Sculpting - ***1/2
This is a very well done Ark, with nice detailing on the various carved
images. The pseudo relief carvings on the sides look great, and the
detailed work along the top edge of the lid is very, very well done.
There are a few areas where the sculpt seems a little soft. The
'poles' along the sides that allow the Ark to be carried show plenty of
detail, but that detail is softer than some of the other areas, with a bit
more of a generic look.
Inside the Ark is sculpted sand, very close to the bottom. That's a
nice touch of course, but pretty much expected with any version of the Ark.
The scale is extremely good. I was surprised that this Ark is large
enough to fit in very well with the Hasbro Indy. The Sideshow Indy is
a little bigger, but the Medicom versions should be perfectly in scale with
this Ark as well.
This Ark is designed to be displayed with the poles in place. As I
recall from the film, there were metal rings on both sides of the Ark, and
the poles were slide through them by Indy and Sallah to lift the Ark.
Here, you attach the long ends on the poles to the more ornamental sections
of the poles. These more ornamental sections are part of the permanent
sculpt of the Ark. I'll discuss this further in the Design section.
Paint - ***
If but for one issue, this category would have garnered another half star.
The gold plating (do they call it gilding when it's plastic too?) looks
excellent on the exterior of the Ark. It's consistent and very bright,
and it seems to hold up to handling and play pretty well. The
consistency of the coverage is impressive, even with the detailed sculpting,
and the lines or circles created by the manufacturing process are all well
hidden.
The reason the Ark loses a half star here is because the ornamental
sculptures on top are NOT plated. Instead, they went with a gold
colored plastic. That means they do not have the high shine of the
rest of the Ark, and while they did a pretty good job matching the overall
color, it's still very obvious in person that they are not the same.
I'm not sure why they made that choice, but it was a disappointment.
Design - ***
As I mentioned in the Sculpt section, the real design issue here is whether
you have the poles or you don't. Some of the Arks we've seen -
including some of the smaller ones from Hasbro - have not had the poles or
rings at all, some have had the rings, and now we have our first true sixth
scale version with the poles.
I suspect the issue for folks won't be that they got one with the poles,
but that with the poles is the only choice. Has Hasbro placed rings on
the sides and gone with full poles instead, this Ark would have been
perfect. But considering that this is a mail-away, I'm not surprised
in the least that they chose to go with the permanently sculpted poles.
Fun Factor - ***1/2
While this will work with higher end displays, it's first and foremost for
kids. The exterior plating looks like it can hold up to rough play (I
even dropped it on a concrete floor and didn't find any damage), and it can
hold a fair volume of kid provided sand. Let's just hope nobody ends
up with a melted face.
Value - ***
The score here depends on whether you wanted four 12" figures or not.
I did, so getting this guy for $10 is a steal. I'm assuming though
that you had to spend some or all of the $80 on the figures against your
will, thus lowering this value score a bit for the average consumer.
Still, I'm going with the *** because of the comparison with other mail
aways and BAF's that require similar investments. For example, to
build Foom you have to spend $120...50% more than this very cool sixth scale
accessory.
Things To Watch Out For -
Not a thing.
Overall - ***1/2
This guy is good enough to display with my Sideshow Indy figures or your
Medicom Indy figures, and not feel bad about it at all. Sure, there's
a few things I'd fix (and I bet there's a few you would too), but the
overall quality is still very nice, and it makes a great diorama piece.
Score Recap:
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - ***
Design - ***
Fun Factor - ***1/2
Value - ***
Overall - ***1/2
Where to Buy -
Rush out and grab those four 12" figures, and get those stickers sent in!
Related Links -
Since the movie hit, I've reviewed a ton of Indy product:
- the last was the cute little
Adventure Heroes.
- then there's the Kotobukiya
Indy and Professor Jones Sr, the
Blockbuster exclusive DVD case, the 12"
German and Cairo Swordsman, as well as both
12" Hasbro Indy's.
- in the smaller scale, I looked at some of the
deluxe two packs and several of the single
pack figures, with a few more over at
QSE.
- There's a number of cool Lego sets, inlcuding
this one.
- Gentle Giant did a 7" version for the
Disney parks.
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