Packaging - Guy ****; MWC ****
Guy: Hot Toys has always amazed when it comes to packaging design and the Indiana Jones DX05 is no exception to that.  This is packaging you will want to display as well.  The outer box is huge.  It’s made to look like aged leather complete with the graphic of Indy’s whip and hat on it.  The only thing I disliked was it said “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.”  This is not the title and never was.  Somehow when the films were released on DVD it got this bad title.  It is simply Raiders of the Lost Ark.  

A magnetic closer holds the box shut and like the Ark itself there is wonder inside.  The inner flap has a wonderful silhouette graphic and an explanation of the plot of the film.  There is a cover that lifts to reveal the figure and on that cover is a map.  ‘The Discovery of THE ARK OF THE COVENANT, dated 1936 by Henry Jones Jr.  It is wonderful and caught my by surprise as there was no mention on anything like it in the description when ordering the figure.  A red line across the map illustrates the voyage and discovery.  Wow Hot Toys you do not miss a beat.  When you remove that cover there is the first layer, the figure itself.  Once you lift that off there is a foam tray with cut out for each of his part and accessories, below that, a second foam tray with the pedestal for the fertility idol and his white robe and staff of rah.  After that yes another foam layer to his base and stand and the cardboard backdrops.  This is the best packaging I have seen yet from Hot Toys and cannot wait to see what they will do with the line.  Marion Ravenwood?

MWC: Yep, this is one might sweet package for all those reasons and more. I think it's worth re-iterating the cool map on the first cover. It's removable! Yes, you can take it right off the package, as it is held on with only a couple of those photo corner dealios.

Sculpting - Guy ***; MWC ***
Guy: This is the hardest category to write about for many reasons.  One is that Hot Toys is known for amazing likeness and skin textures, and texture they have on here indeed.  Getting the stubbly beard to not be overdone has failed for so many but on here it is so lifelike.  What is something of a mystery is that even though this is Harrison Ford, there is something off.  His slightly crooked nose, his trademark chin scar, all of that is there and yet something is amiss.  The more I look at him the more I like him yet, Harrison Ford 1981 he is not.  

Lets talk sculpting on things other than the face.  Moving hammers on guns, the small lettering on the headpiece to the staff of Rah, and on both sides, texture felt on his fedora, stitching on his gloves, and the plant life growing on the pedestal for the Idol, all if it is great and dead on.  Yes I own one of the headpieces and yep, those are the right letters.  “Take back one kadam to honor the Hebrew God who’s Ark this is”.

MWC: I gotta agree with Guy here. In fact, when I first pulled this figure out of his foam coffin, I thought he was waaaay off. I didn't expect more than **1/2 for this category, and that was simply because of the usual realism that we see in every Hot Toys sculpt.

But as I was shooting him, working with the costume and the hat, he really started to grow on me. He looked more and more like Indy, especially in the right light or at the right angle.

He's still not at quite the level of perfection of some of the best Hot Toys sculpts we've seen, but he's much closer than I originally gave them credit for.

Of course, there's also all that realism. The finely stranded hair, the soft, subtle skin texture, the perfect stubble and eyebrows...it really is quite impressive.

In fact, the more I worked with him the more I thought the likeness deserved another half star, but for one additional problem. This figure comes with the nifty PERS eye system, which means you can alter the gaze to whatever you'd like. It works great, and I'll discuss it more below, but for some reason the eyes are very deeply set this time, just a smidge too much for my tastes.

Paint - Guy ****; MWC ****
Guy: Not a lot is painted on the figure, the hands and head are but unlike Batman or Ironman his costume is cloth.  The gold on the idol is plated and looks great and the headpiece has the look of old gold with the red crystal and clear writing.  The leather look of his gloved hands is great and not overdone.  Facial hair can always be hard on a figure but here for the first time on an Indy figure in any scale it is done wonderfully.  I don’t need to know “how” they did it, I am simply glad they did.  The hair has very tiny variations that are almost unnoticeable, and the detailed sculpting on it adds to the realism.

MWC: Guy and I aren't disagreeing on a lot here so far. The paint work on the face is outstanding, but we've come to expect that from Hot Toys. Very few companies have the clout with their manufacturers to get this kind of quality any more, and it truly sets them apart.

Articulation - Guy ****; MWC ***
Guy: The Hot Toys True Type you can get no better, until you go DX and let me move the eyes with the Parallel Eyeball Rolling System.  Wow…I loved it in my Batman figure and on the Indy it is just as impressive.

MWC: Guy and I have our first slight disagreement, but our scores aren't too far off.

The TrueType is a great body, although I did find the arms a bit tough to work with this time. The rest of the articulation, including the excellent ball jointed neck and all the lower joints, worked great. Things were stiff but smooth, and he can hold just about any pose for long periods of time. Like I said, the arms seem a big more restricted (I couldn't get them across the body as far as usual), but it's a minor nit.

The PERS eye movement system works great, and appears to be a bit re-engineered. It's tougher and sturdier than some previous releases, and the large magnet on top holds the hair tightly in place. There was almost no visible seam with either hair piece, a key to making this feature unobtrusive.

Had the tighter arms been my only issue, I would have dropped him just a half star in this category. They weren't though, and a far bigger issue arose with the gloved hands. The hole for the small wrist post and large wrist ball is very deep in the glove - too deep. It makes it very tough to get the hands fully in place, and once they are it restricts the movement somewhat and makes it too easy for them to pop off. I'll be skipping the gloved hands in my display because of this, going with the much better flesh hands.

Accessories - Guy ****; MWC ****
Guy: Indy comes with 5 pairs of hands, 2 guns, hat, whip, holster, shoulder bag, sand bag, notebook, staff of Rah and headpiece, Fertility Idol, Idol base, separate base and stand and backdrops.  

The hands are an open pair, trigger finger pair, closed fist pair and the last 2 as gloved versions of them.  Indy has both the guns he used in the film: a Smith & Wesson Hand Ejector Model 2 and a Browning Hi-Power.  The chamber revolves and the hammer pulls back and the Browning has a sliding muzzle as well. The holster for the gun and the loop for the whip have magnetic closers that stay closed well. The notebook has real paper pages versus a molded plastic book with a small band around just like in the film.  The fertility idol is plated plastic and not as heavy as the Sideshow version was but it is still great.  Being lighter makes it easier to do poses with him holding it doing the switch.  The headpiece is attached to the staff of Rah and does not come off but maybe the Marion Ravenwood will come with a loose version of the headpiece.  

The whip is made or real leather and has been braided as well as a small thread used for the “cracker” on the end.  What blew me away was his shoulder bag, I own one of the originals and it is a MkVII British Gas Mask Bag and what shocked me was they even included the inside pockets that are in the real one. Hot Toys goes 150 percent for accuracy and that’s what I love as a fan.

MWC: Guy already listed everything out, so I'll just highlight my favorite aspects. As he mentioned, the actual inside pockets are included in the bag (amazing detail!), and the headpiece for the Staff of Ra has the tiny intricate wording. Not only does the cylinder spin on the revolver, it can pop out to the left (take care though!). The magnetic closures on the holster and whip loop do work great, and I was particularly impressed that the holster would stay closed with the gun in place and with normal handling. And that real leather braided whip? It has a wire in the first couple inches to aid in posing!

Playset - Guy ***; MWC ***1/2
I am calling some of the accessories a play set, or you can call it an “environment”, but whatever you call it, it is really neat to have. To get the idol stand from Sideshow you had to get the exclusive Belloq, something I believe angered fans and was one of the reasons so many of the exclusive versions were still available long after the regular edition was gone.  This one is plastic and not polystone as Sideshows was and it is only the tower and not the flooring. I am not discounting how much I like Sideshow's version, I am simply pointing out the difference.  One reason for it only being the tower is so it can sit on the base  with the figure and you can place the temple cardboard background behind it giving you a screen accurate picture.  The backdrop can be swapped to the Map Room if you use the robe and head wrap over your figure and give it a second screen picture.

MWC: This is a deluxe figure, which usually means extra costumes (more on that in the next category) and diorama pieces. Here we get the idol base, as well as a backdrop and flooring for both the idol scene AND the Map Room scene.

The base comes already assembled with the idol room cardboard floor piece in place. If you switch to the Map Room, just pop the cardboard off the plastic base and flip it around - instant desert floor!

Outfit - Guy ****; MWC ****
Guy: He has two outfits and both are stunning.  First, his temple outfit and what we see Indy in almost all the time.  The shirt and pants have been given a subtle wash of dirt and sweat that at first you may not realize is there but on close inspection it is why he looks so real.   The leather on the jacket feels good, not too heavy and unlike Sideshow's, the straps on the back are the same color at the rest of the jacket. The shoulder bag is cloth and should be included here but look under accessories for a detail description of how fabulous that is.  

The shoes.  I have decided to buy a pair for myself so I have done lots of research into them and they got them right for sure. They aged and dirtied the top leather and even painted the white thread stitching on the bottom as well as giving them “real” laces.  Now Sideshow did do the nails on the heel, which I loved and wish Hot Toys had done here, but they are the bottoms of shoes.  The soles of the shoes do look a bit too new and the tan color shines a bit more than shoes wore on so many adventures. 

His Map Room outfit will take some working to get it just right but this is how I will display mine once Sideshow releases the Map Room play set.  This is something we have not seen in a 12-inch figure before except for customs and it done so well. A bit of the dessert sand seems to be in there too.

MWC: This category, along with the Accessories, is where this figure really shines. As guy said, his standard outfit is perfect - every piece is properly tailored, with in scale material and top quality stitching.

With the pants, shirt and jacket, if I had one complaint it would only be that the shirt collar is a smidge too big. I had to work with it quite a bit to get it looking just right, and still it's clearly slightly out of scale. However, I love everything else about the normal costume.

Guy mentioned the boots, but they are worth mentioning again. I think these might be the best looking, in scale pair of boots I've ever seen - they are really that good.

The Map Room outfit is going to take some time to get just right, but the three pieces - head wrap, cloak and belt - work well with the figure, and are simple enough to at least get in the general ball park. Like Guy, I'm going to use this outfit with the upcoming Sideshow Map Room environment, although I'll probably put it on my Sideshow Indy as well.

BTW, Guy pointed out that a great site to use as a reference for accuracy is Indy Gear.

Value - Guy ***; MWC **1/2
MWC: I've seen this playset for $225 - $275, depending on the retailer. The old Toys McCoy version was close to $300 when it was brand new, which might make this seem to be quite a deal. For a more recent comparison, look at Hot Toys last DX, Bruce Lee. He came in at $220, but did include a complete second head sculpt and almost enough (minus a body) to complete not one but two full figures. This Indy, while extremely well outfitted, isn't quite as good a deal, dropping him to an average rating.

Things to Watch Out For -
Guy: There are so many small detail pieces on this figure I suspect you will give him a pose and leave him there for a few months before trying another one.  It is not that his is delicate it is that he is that accurate and detailed and in that scale you need steady gentle hands.

MWC: Remember that switching back and forth on the cardboard base piece is likely to wear out the tabs - I'd pick a look and stick with it.

Overall - Guy ***3/4; MWC ***1/2
Guy: I collect Indiana Jones things, it is my passion and when I saw this I was amazed and could not wait. He is an amazing figure and Hot Toys has brought him to life.  He is for the adult collector, not only due to price but also the delicate nature of Hot Toys figures. Now I cannot wait for Sideshow's base to put him on.  

Indy has had a hard time in the toy field since Crystal Skull.  This strikes me as odd because no matter how much we dislike changes the Star Wars films or hated Episode One and Jar Jar we still ravenously buy up the products.  Does a fridge scene or swinging with moneys warrant writing it all off?    Thank you Sideshow and Hot Toys for keeping it going.  I am sure the fifth movie will be better.

MWC: I can't share Guy's optimism on any more Indy flicks, but I do love this figure overall. The outfit and accessories are simply outstanding, and had they nailed the sculpt, he would have been my figure of the year. Still, the sculpt isn't as bad in person as I had initially thought, and he's quickly becoming my favorite sixth scale Indy. Now if I could have one wish, it would be for Hot Toys to supply us with a Mola Ram - c'mon guys!

Score Recap:
Packaging - Guy ****; MWC ****
Sculpting - Guy ***; MWC ***
Paint - Guy ****; MWC ****
Articulation - Guy ****; MWC ***
Accessories - Guy ****; MWC ****
Outfit - Guy ****; MWC ****
Playset - Guy ***; MWC ***1/2
Value - Guy ***; MWC **1/2
Overall - Guy ***3/4; MWC ***1/2

Where to Buy -
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Sideshow is selling him for $250.

- Fanboy Collectibles has him at $225.

- Capstone Comics has him at $225 as well.

- Big Bad Toy Store has it at $235.

- Urban Collector has him at $278.

- or you can search ebay for a bargain.

Related Links -
I've covered plenty of Indy stuff:

- the most recent was the guest review from Guy on the lastest Disney Indy figure.

- I covered some of the small Disney figures as well.

- if you're looking for something a bit more high end, check out the Indiana Jones or Mola Ram Premium Format statues from Sideshow.

- they also did the exceptional Fertility Idol, but DST has a cheaper yet also awesome version.

- other characters as Indy include the big Mickey, as well as Kermit.

- other figures include Sideshow's Indy and Fridge, the excellent Professor Jones Sr, the German Outfit Indy, Toht (with Ark), Belloq with the Fertility Idol Environment, and ROTLA Indy himself.

- Medicom has released Dr. Henry Jones as well, and Young Indy.

- also in approximately this same scale is the Kotobukiya Henry Jones Sr. statue.

- and Hasbro did several figures, including Indy in German Disguise, Cairo Swordsman and German Soldier, and two versions of Indy.

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