Now I don't claim to be that up on Medicom's different ranges, but from what I've seen the 'Real Action Hero' range seems to base its sculpts extremely closely to the actor/character they are based on. Where as the 'stylish collection' is just that, and a little more artistic license is given to the sculptors and model makers. If any one has seen the Medicom Sid Vicious, you'll know what I mean. That said this figure will sit very comfortably along side any other 1/6 scale stuff as it is in no way 'cartoony', merely more designed as an objet d'art. 

Packaging - ***1/2
A nice compact window box, which is an over all blue black colour. There's a photo from the movie on the front of Johnny Depp in character and some of Ed's fancy topiary with snow falling at the bottom. The flap opens up to reveal a 'slashed' effect window box, only a small detail, but a nice one! Inside 'Ed' is held securely in place by a plastic tray with 12...yes 12 annoying twisty ties holding him down. A few too many by anyone's standards. That said as long as you exercise some restraint and a lot of patience it all comes apart cleanly, and should you ever want to sell him on he could be replaced virtually good as new.

Sculpting - ***1/2
Theres a lot of sculpting here. Unlike the McFarlane version which is a solid/rigid sculpt (and a nice one at that!) this guy is clothed in a mixed media 'removable' outfit. I use the word removable with caution as on close inspection you'll see he's actually sewn and glued into this outfit and I can't see anyway of removing it without wrecking it! 

Now as the McFarlane version was a solid/rigid sculpt the degree of detail was fantastic, here as I said it is cloth, rubber etc, making for a much more poseable figure, but they've still pulled off a near perfect match to the outfit. There is far too much detail to go into here, you'll have to look at the photo's which I hope do it some degree of justice. The reason I've included the 'outfit' in sculpting will become apparent when you look at them. As the straps, bolts, gloves, boots and those trademark hands are all very much part of the sculpt. The head is as you'd expect 'stylish' and does bear more than a passing resemblance to Mr Depp. And they've given him real rooted hair, I liked the McFarlane hair sculpt but this looks great, giving him an appearance not unlike Robert Smith of The Cure crossed with a Borg hairdresser, now there's an image to conjure with.

Paint - ***
A nice clean paint job, as always with Medicom. The outfit has lots of little bolts and buckles painted in, and the face is the most 'painted' I've seen from Medicom. They've given him his sallow complexion, darkened round the eye's and picked out his purple lips. The Scissor hands are also beautifully painted with all the necessary details there.

Articulation - ***
As I explained earlier, there's no way I'm ever gonna try and undress this guy to see the body underneath, but I expect it to be a pretty standard Medicom body (see my Medicom 60's + 80's Andy Warhol review for pics of that) which is about as poseable as you can get. He is however restrained by that closely tailored body suit limiting how far knees, elbows, waist etc can be bent.

Accessories - Bupkis
Apart from the obligatory clear plastic stand, big fat nothing, but what could you really give him, he can't hold anything. But his slice and dice hands make up for it in my opinion.

Outfit - ****
This is very closely linked to the sculpt category above, as so much of the outfit is made of sculpted panels and straps that are all sewn and stuck together onto a base leatherette body suit. I don't see how it could be bettered.

Fun Factor - ***
If this wasn't so delicately made, and lets face it 'expensive' it would make a great kids toy. But I find myself asking, would any kid today know who Edward Scissorhands is, let alone want a doll to play with. However in my 'Tim Burton' biased opinion, it's great.

Value - ***
I paid $64 (about £35) on eBay back in March of this year (2004), making it the cheapest Medicom figure I've got to date. And if you can get it anywhere near that price you'd be getting a bargain. I have seen them top the $100 mark, but keep looking as I've even seen them with a 'Buy it now' price tag as low as $70.

Overall - ***1/2
Medicom come up trumps again, will they ever get it 'completely' wrong? That said Japanese exclusives are always on the expensive side. But the only way I can see them coming down in price is if they get sole north American licenses and make them in greater numbers. And lets face it when that happens quality suffers.

SCORE RECAP:
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpt - ***1/2
Paint - ***
Articulation - ***
Accessories - Bupkis
Outfit - ****
Fun Factor - ***
Value - ***
Overall - ***1/2

Where to Buy - 
Try your usual far east importers but on the whole It's gotta be eBay again, they crop up reasonably regularly. If buying from a dealer try not to go over $100 mark, at least not for a few years yet!