Review of Scarlet Witch - Avengers sixth scale action figure

Introduction

As we gear up for Captain America: Civil War, Hot Toys reminds us that they aren't quite done with the previous films yet.  Digging back into the vault with Avengers: Age of Ultron, they've recently released a never before produced character in Scarlet Witch.  We'll be seeing more of her in upcoming films, so we *might* get another version, depending on how popular she turns out to be with fans and collectors.

This version will run you around $230 from most retailers, although you can find deals and save $10 - $15 if you hunt. Or if you just check my Where to Buy section below.  There's no exclusive or special edition on this release.

Packaging - ***
I consider this style the most basic entry level version that Hot Toys currently does. It's a slip cover over a window box, with a plastic tray to hold the figures and accessories. Only one tray is necessary. It's all collector friendly, and the front follows the theme of the previous releases, but it's also a little boring.

Sculpting - ***1/2
As always with Hot Toys portraits, there's an amazing amount of realism to the skin texture, the rooted hair, the lips, the eyes...it's a shrunk down human, and a very attractive one at that.

It's also fairly accurate, although I do think there's something slightly off about the shape of the face. The forehead seems narrower, the eyes closer together, than the actual actress.  It's tough to discern real issues like this at times, because the sheer realism of the sculpt is so hard to ignore.

Like too many of the recent Hot Toys portraits, particularly the females, she does have a bit too much of a dead, glazed look to her, something more akin to a storefront display at Forever 21. It's not atrocious with this particular character, because she wasn't super expressive on screen, at least most of the time. But she still needs a little more squint to the eye, something closer to the box photo.

While the rooted hair continues to improve, it can still remain a bit tricky to get just right.  She comes out of the box with a serious case of 'band head', thanks to not one but two different wraps around the hair and forehead. She's also got some pretty serious curls, and finding the look you want might take awhile.  I found that the more I messed it up, the better I liked it, which is due in part to the look of this particular character. Stray hairs and a wild look work for her, matching up better with her on screen appearance than a cleaner, neater hair style. How much you frizz it out, straighten it out, or keep it neat is going to be a matter of personal taste, but you should have pretty good luck with a little product and some patience.

It's different in some way in just about every photo: sometimes I flattened it out more, other times it was wilder and frizzy, but the biggest difference is how much the top lays across the forehead. For example, look at the next two photos. In the first, it's more of a V shape, sloping down the sides fairly straight. This matches the look on the box a bit more, but I wasn't a big fan.  Then look at the next photo, after the paint section. Here I have more of the face showing, with a rounder line to the sides of the hair. This exposes more of the forehead, and I think it looks quite a bit better.

She's shorter than the male figures, as you'd expect, coming in at just over 11" tall. She stands great on her own, at least in short to medium stances.

Paint - ***1/2
If you've bought Hot Toys figures in the past, you know the math. Hot Toys + paint operations = spooky real. Nothing real surprising with this release, and everything is very realistic. 

Areas like the eyes, lips, and eyebrows are excellent, and the skin tone is clean but 'human' with minor freckling.  Unfortunately, she does seem to have a few stray freckles that don't look intentional, particularly on her right cheek. The darker eye make up matches her look in the film, and the slightly glossy eyes catch the light naturally.

Articulation - ***1/2
The underlying TrueType works great, and can manage natural, flowing poses with just a little effort. The hands swap easily, and all the joints are tight and solid.

Highlights are the ball jointed neck, which allows for plenty of tilt and lean action, and the torso and arm joints, which are quite fluid and can maintain most poses long term.

Only one area is restricted by the design - the ankles. The high top boots are restrictive although it's mostly side to side movement that's lost.  Because of the loose upper and tongue you can get the some forward and backward movement, but the rocker movement, so critical to keeping her feet flat on the ground in medium to wide stances, is quite restricted.

Accessories - **1/2
Here's the one biggest problem for the figure, and the one that also contributes to the only other low category score later on.

She comes with a nice assortment of hands, eight in total. There's a couple extra wrist posts just in case, but swapping was fairly easy, and unlike the male hands on most TrueType figures, the female hands are more in scale to the rest of the body. It's not perfect, and they are still a smidge big, but it's not as glaringly apparent as it is with the male bodies.

Each of these hands have the sculpted jewelry, and five of the eight include translucent fingers of varying degrees of hotness i.e. red color. These work well with fighting poses, particularly with the two included energy blasts.

These two 'balls' of energy are a cool translucent red as well, much lighter in color than flames. They are designed to fit on the hands in particular ways, but you may find getting them in the textbook position frustrating, and resort to simply using them in the way you feel looks best. There's nothing wrong with that, and while the sculpt might be specifically designed for certain hands and certain poses (there's holes and grooves for specific alignment), it also allows for some personal interpretation.

She comes with the heart of Ultron as well, a fitting extra considering the outcome of the film. The sculpt and paint on this one are reasonable, but not particularly eye catching or exceptional.

I'm going to count her two necklaces as accessories, although you could toss them in the Outfit section as well. Pretty basic stuff here, although they both look screen accurate. The longer one has a half metal, half string chain, which is an unusual combo. Remove the head, put them in place once, and you should be good to go.

Finally, she has a basic display stand for those who want to use it. It's a nice add, and provides consistency for those that use them. And that's it. A few hands, two translucent plastic blasts, two necklaces, and the heart. Considering the price point, she's fairly light in this category.

Outfit - ***
The outfit is relatively basic as well, with one exception. BTW, for another excellent comparison of the hair on the forehead, look at the photo just above and the photo just below. Both are similar poses, and even the lay over the hair on the shoulders and back is quite similar, but the shaping around the face is quite different.

The costume consists of her sculpted boots, thigh high stockings, slip, dress, cuffs, and jacket. The materials and tailoring are all good, and the sculpted work on the boots is quite nice.

The dress (and slip) are pretty basic, but the overall quality is the level you expect from Hot Toys. The low point, at least for me, is the stockings, which tend to get stretched out by being fitted tightly over the thighs with no elasticity in the material.  Once you take her out of the package and remove the plastic wrapping on her legs (which means taking off the boots and stockings), you'll forever be pulling them up. Every time I moved her, those damn stockings were down below her knees.  I'm particularly worried because it seemed like the material was somewhat fragile, and pulling them up tight over and over might cause some issues long term.

On the opposite end is her jacket.  The work here is exceptional, and it's easily my favorite part of the otherwise pedestrian work. The stitching, tailoring, and materials are excellent, and they've even included some of the blackening at the sleeves and lower edge. Don't worry and think this is some sort of staining from the dress - it's intentional and screen inspired.

Fun Factor - ***
With so few accessories, there aren't a ton of poses that will really make a lot of sense.  You can swap between several fighting stances, but the energy blasts have a little trouble staying in place with basic handling, so it can be frustrating. If you're into styling the hair, she provides plenty of opportunity, but if you're not...you won't have nearly as much enjoyment working with her.

Value - *1/2
This is where she really takes her biggest hit.  Think Maria Hill, when you think about this category. Maria's another female Marvel figure, very few accessories (even less than Scarlet), and a high price point (but $10 cheaper than Scarlet!). At $230, it's really, really hard to find the value here.  The costume is relatively basic, with the exception of the jacket.  There aren't a lot of accessories. And while the sculpt and paint live up to expectations, they aren't exceptional.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing. You can even do quite a bit to the hair, and with just a little product, get it back to a relatively neat and tidy look later on. I would take a little care with the stockings, since the thin material can get damaged.

Overall - ***
She's solid work, with the sort of sculpt and paint job you've come to expect from Hot Toys. The TrueType works great, and the costume and accessories - what are here - are decent but not exceptional. Ah, but you're paying a pretty stiff premium, ten bucks more than even Maria Hill, and just a wild guess, but I'm betting they produced more Scarlets than Marias.

I'm betting a get a fair share of push back on this one - most people are going to see that pretty face and lose it. But at this price, ten bucks more than we paid for Maria Hill, the entire figure needs to be a home run, and there's enough minor issues here to hold her back.

You can find places where you'll save $10 - $15 off the price, but anything over $200 is really hurting her in the Overall, at least for me.  Your level of price acceptance will certainly vary.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - ***1/2
Articulation - ***1/2
Accessories - **1/2
Outfit - ***
Fun Factor - ***
Value - *1/2
Overall - ***

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Sideshow is also at $230.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
The most recent Marvel Cinematic Universe sixth scale release is Pepper Potts and the MK IV set. Other related characters include Maria Hill, AoU Captain America, the Winter Soldier, Red Skull, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Nick Fury, Agent Coulson, Hulk, and Bruce Banner. I've also covered a ton of Iron Man releases, and one of my favorites is the die cast MK43.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page to find a bunch more Iron Man reviews, and in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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