Packaging - **1/2
Meh. The red is nice and vibrant, but with the red suit on Mr.
Incredible, things sort of get lost. It works better for Syndrome, and
particularly Frozone, but in general it's pretty basic. The rounded bubble
will also drive MOCers nuts who want to put it away, since they don't stack or
store well.
Sculpting - **1/2
The sculpts on these are not perfectly on model, but then, they aren't high
end, expensive maquettes either. The work is pretty consistent with the
smaller figures, and for some reason they have that same problem with Mr.
Incredible - he's just way too fit. Still, the general sculpting and
quality is decent.
There isn't much articulation though, so the pose choice is pretty
critical. Here, Mr. Incredible has both hands facing forward, with a
slight elbow bend, as though running perhaps. The arm poses are fairly
limited, and the style just doesn't fit in well with the rest of the body.
I really wish they'd gone with something more in line with the basic 5"
figure, where the hands could rest on the hips in the classic super hero pose.
The arms do turn at the cuffs of the gloves, but the upper arms are too close to the body to bring the hands inward properly.
Syndrome is in a half squat, and his right hand pose allows him to point up
in a classic villain style, or right at you. The cloth cape also has a
wire running through the bottom, similar to the smaller figure, allowing you to
pose the cape a little as well.
The problem with both these figures is that they can't stand. Even with
the included base. Now considering they are 12" scale, and the small
5" versions stand just fine, that's pretty sad.
It doesn't help that Mr. Incredible has skinny ankles, and they used a fairly
soft plastic. And it doesn't help that neither figure has enough
articulation to allow you to really find the sweet spot. But a better
designed sculpt would have helped out the overall situation quite a bit.
Paint - ***
Both figures sport the usual mass market kid's toy paint job, which means the
right colors are in the right general areas, but not a lot of attention is paid
to the little things. There's some bleed and poor definition, particularly
between the black and white of Syndrome's costume, and a little inconsistency
across the red of Bob's uniform. Some of the work is quite nice though,
including the cool red flaming hair of Syndrome, and the small detail work
around the eyes of both characters.
Articulation - **
Considering all the advancements companies like Mezco and Toybiz have had in
rotocast manufacturing, you'd expect a little more from a giant like
Hasbro. Unfortunately, that's not the case.
Mr. Incredible has more joints than Syndrome, with neck, shoulders, cut
wrists at the gloves, cut legs at the boot tops, hips and waist. Still,
keeping him standing is pretty much impossible for any long period.
Syndrome is even worse off, with just neck, shoulders and waist. I
don't know why we didn't get cut joints on the arms and legs, but with this
limited articulation, there won't be much you can do.
Accessories - *1/2
Each figure comes with a base. Yep, just a base. And it doesn't do
much to keep them standing.
Fun Factor - **1/2
The problems here doesn't mean kids still won't get some fun out of
these. The large scale is nice, and they can smack each other around
easily enough. They will get frustrated though with the trouble getting
them to stand.
Value - **
Most decent rotocast toys these days are around ten bucks. These are
running $13, no doubt due to an expensive license and a monster corporation like Hasbro producing them.
Overall - **
I'm being pretty harsh here in my overall, because I really dislike figures
that can't stand on their own. If you're going to make statues, you have
no excuse for not posing them or constructing them in such a way that they can
stand up, since it's pretty much the only thing they can do.
Add to that a price point 30% higher than most figures in a similar style,
with less articulation, and you can see where my frustration is coming
from. If you can look past those issues, your overall will probably be
higher than mine.
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