Jeff Parker checks in with another terrific Hot Toys review, this time
looking at the Italian Stallion version from Rocky III.
A big thank you to Michael, now back in August of last year he reviewed the first Rocky figure along with Drago from
Rocky IV.
They were, and indeed are two very nice figures, and with Stalone's
re-emergence in the last couple of years, interest in both Rambo and
Rocky is as fanatical now as it was at anytime, perhaps more so in
these mass-media, product driven times! Now I admit, I’m not the biggest Rocky fan on the planet
but I also figured I ought to have at least one in my collection, and
seeing how much the sculpt had improved on this version (coupled with
his ‘super-fly’ yellow boxing outfit) was enough to tip me over the
edge. Packaging:
***1/4 Compared to a lot
of the Movie Masterpiece Series (MMS) this has a lot less frills, gone
is the metallic sleeve, so it’s your basic flap fronted, five panel
box. Inside he’s in a vac formed black plastic tray held down by a
rather excessive six twisties, along side his accessories and stand. So
it’s all ‘reasonably’ collector friendly, but lacks a certain ‘Je ne
sais quoi’.
That said, the soft focus pic of the Rockster on the inside flap is so fey and camp its worth the extra ¼ star!
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Sculpt: ****
The belt, gloves and boots are reused from the previous figures, but
that’s no surprise, as if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and these are
all sculpted beautifully.
But
what we all care about most here is the head, it’s another outstanding
sculpt of Stalone from Yulli; she really does get better at him with
each and every release. She’s captured his features and expression
virtually faultlessly, and there’s some fantastic detail work on the
hair as well. EDITOR'S NOTE: I've learned that this was not
Yulli's work, but rather the work of Kang, another excellent sculptor
for Hot Toys. Back to Jeff... Perfect doleful eyes enhanced by
some sweet paint apps and the general tightness of detail seems
stronger than on the first Rocky, I especially think the work on his
nose seems closer to Stalone, both front on and in profile. My only
slight misgiving is I feel the head could be a few percent bigger, I
haven’t heard anyone else raise this concern so maybe I’m in the
minority… wouldn’t be the first time!
But
that doesn’t infringe on the quality of this sculpt and he will stand
perfectly next to my First Blood- Rambo in his M65 jacket and the
recent Rambo bust.
Paint: ****
This is one
area where he seems head and shoulders above the first version. Now
that old one had some pretty sweet painting done on it, but this
version seems much stronger and far more life-like and subtle,
especially round the eyes. HT seem to have perfected eye painting at
this scale with their last few human releases. Always crisp, with just
the right amount of gloss to catch the light without needing to revert
to a doll dot, and so far I’ve never got a HT figure with a 1000 yard
stare or Marty Feldman eyes. The mouth is painted cleanly and has just
the right amount of colour differentiation without looking like he’s
just left the Max Factor counter at Macey’s. The general skin tone is
also very smooth and has a hint of 5 0’clock shadow without slipping
into Fred Flintstone territory.
His accessories are all
painted crisply as well with no slop at all and the title belt has a
nice metallic gold finish that sparkles like it’s freshly polished. All
faultless, no complaints, just lots of praise!
Articulation: ***
If you already own a HT muscle body you know what to expect. They’re no
where near as pose-able as the True-Type, but that’s outweighed against
the need for these figures to look as aesthetically pleasing as
possible with their clothes off, and in the case of Rocky there is a
lot of flesh on show. You also get a sheet of instructions telling you
the limitations of the basic figure, so you don’t try to push it too
far. I recommend you read this and stick to it, these are not intended
as toys. So
in ‘brief’ish’ you can raise the arms up away from the body by almost
90 degrees like wise the elbows and knees bend about this far
comfortably, the arms can also move up forwards from the shoulder by
about 80 degrees. The hips move pretty freely but he is in effect
wearing a pair of skin coloured rubber tights to give the effect of no
joints. These work well for your general posing, but when you try any
deep stances, with the knees bent too far, they can ruck up a little
behind the knee joints, which kind of spoils the illusion. However
I found that the rubber used is so thick on the trunk and torso, that I
didn’t have any such problems here. Articulation at the wrists and
ankles is very restricted as the boots are pretty solid and the gloves
and bound hands have a cuff that covers the joint making them pretty
immobile. So nowhere near as poseable as most high end figures, but the
aesthetic is so good for a partially dressed character that you’ll cut
them a lot of slack. Now where are those Gladiator and 300 figures Hot
Toys?
Accessories: ***1/4 Rocky comes
with all he could need in the ring, he comes with the bound/taped hands
attached in the box, then we get his yellow boxing gloves, a Stars ‘n’
Stripes flag, his title belt and a stand, I note that in the original
specifications it said he’d come with a towel, but no mention of the
flag, mine however came with just the flag, so I contacted my seller
and found out he should have a towel and one is now in the post,
winging it’s way from Hong Kong. I
generally don’t like to use stands, but on this occasion I have.
Rocky’s feet are a tad undersized as Michael mentioned in his review,
and the extra bulk of the muscle body mean that if you’re leaving this
guy on the shelf for any period of time the stand might be very handy
indeed. The gloves are very nicely sculpted with some expertly observed
work on the detail of the laces. This is enhanced by a nice clean
paintjob, and the accurate ‘*ROCKY* BALBOA’ name patches applied. The
flag comes polly-bagged with the articulation instructions to the rear
of the package, the flag is only printed one side but is a nice
addition and works well when wrapped round him. The title belt is a
great piece of work and looks like a lot of work has gone into it,
there’s the big gold crest on the front then four smaller framed
pictures are mounted either side showing Drago, Clubber, Creed and
Rocky himself, it has two buckled straps that do up at the back, fiddly
but satisfying! Judging by the pics in Michael’s review it looks like
this is exactly the same as the last one, but still a very nice
accessory. Lastly there’s the stand, it’s the same configuration as all
the other HT stands and has the movie logo and a ‘ROCKY’ nameplate, he
can stand unaided, but as I said, on this occasion I shall be using
mine. Outfit: ***1/2 He comes with shorts, socks (well,
sock tops, as he has no feet, but pegs that fit into pre-formed cups in
the boots), boots, boxing gloves (as an alternative to the taped fisted
hands), title belt and his robe. I went over a few of these items
above, as they kind of straddle two camps. All the clothing is well
tailored and fits the figure well, but beware of the shorts and robe,
I’ve had no problems with mine and I fully intend not to. But take care
when handling as they are the kind of silky/satiny material that is
likely to pull and snag if you haven’t had a decent manicure recently,
you know what I mean!
The
shorts are yellow with a black elasticated waistband and black side
stripes; they also have ‘Rocky’ printed on the left leg. The hooded
robe is a base yellow with contrasting black collar, cuffs and belt,
there is no ‘Rocky’ printed on the left chest but they’ve done a great
job on the big ‘Italian Stallion’ patch covering his back, so all in
all a relatively simple outfit by HT standards but still expertly
executed.
Fun factor- *** Although he has the
limited articulation we’ve come to expect from the muscle body, it
doesn’t bother me too much, as my figure will just be posed in a
general sparing pose and it’s more than capable of that. He’s a very
solid figure though and if he were ever end up as a kid’s plaything I
think he’d stand up reasonably well. But to your serious Rocky fans and
collectors, and lets face it, that’s who it’s aimed at, he’s like manna
from heaven, if you consider yourself in this category, I figure you’d
give it top marks!
Value: ***
Side show were asking $124.99 so he’s gone up $25 since the first
version, now admittedly he has an improved sculpt, but it’s essentially
the same amount of kit in the box. So a 25% hike in price seems a
little steep. But in the present economic climate with oil prices
spiraling on a daily basis, and plastic being made from the by products
of fossil fuel processing, alongside needing to be road cargoed to
shipping ports then loaded into containers and then shipped half way
round the world, perhaps it’s no great surprise, still hurts the wallet
though.
Overall: ***1/2
I like this figure a lot, the main reason for marking down are price
and his (IMHO) slightly undersized head, but I wanted a Rocky figure to
stand alongside Rambo and I’m glad I waited for this one. I almost gave
him just 3 stars but he’s just too good for that.
Score Recap:
Packaging - ***1/4
Sculpt - ****
Paint - ****
Articulation - ***
Accessories: ***1/4
Outfit: ***1/2
Fun Factor - ****
Value - ***
Overall - ***1/2
Where to Buy -
SST have sold out of this figure with it priced at $124.99, it might be worth trying to get on the wait list or you can try Michaels sponsors below-
Dark Shadow- was $112.50 in stock
Or if you are in the UK try-
Forbidden Planet £99.99 pre order
Apart from these two It’s time to hit eBay where I’ve seen plenty for
between $109.00 to $139.00 with plenty of bits being parted out as
well. You can search using the sponsor MyAuctionLinks.com.
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