Review of B'Elanna Torres Star Trek Voyager
Sixth Scale Action Figure

Introduction

When it comes to Trek, we are in a golden age. It's not just the sheer volume of shows out there, it's the quality, with entrants like Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks, and Picard carrying on the tradition. And if you want to watch any of the previous shows? It's a few clicks away on just one streaming service, no fuss, no muss.

But if you're a collector of Trek, it gets even better. We are witnessing history. EXO-6 is producing the finest quality sixth scale action figure line based on the license that has ever been produced, and it is highly unlikely we will ever see another company produce anything like it.  They produce figures faster than most small companies, do it at a price cheaper than most, and yet create figures that can hold their own against the big boys.

The breadth and depth so far is already impressive - 22 figures covering characters from 6 different shows in about three years - but it's been with Voyager that they've gone the deepest so far. Janeway, Chakotay, Paris, Kim, Seven of Nine, EMH, Tuvok...and now B'Elanna Torres.

This review is just a bit early, but B'Elanna should be charging and shipping very, very soon. She was originally around $180 - $200, depending on the retailer, and you can still order her directly from EXO-6.

Packaging - ***1/2
She comes packed in the standard EXO boxes, with the outer shipping box including the four plastic corners to protect the inner art box. Inside, everything is packed in a very collector friendly way, and you'll have no issues freeing her and her accessories from their plastic prison.

Sculpting - ***1/2
Torres is not a character that's easy to produce, because beautiful women (and men) have fewer 'hooks' to hang the sculpt on. She does have her forehead ridges of course, and there's that hair - that big, bountiful hair - and EXO-6 takes nice advantage of both these features in creating a very recognizable likeness.

The nose, eyes, and mouth are all quite accurate, and the hair is done in her most common style, although she did change it up slightly over the course of the show. There's no doubt who this is, and any Trek fan will immediate know her.

It's also a very life-like sculpt, with decent stranding in the hair (although there could always be more), and a very nice subtle skin texture. You can't go nuts with texture and wrinkles on a character like this - she didn't have them, thanks to her age.  Again, not having some of these identifying characteristics can make creating sculpts like this much harder, and makes a result like this all the more impressive.

The expression is stern, but not extreme. It will work with the majority of poses, and there is a bit of her curious nature translated through the sculpt.

I do have one minor complaint though, after looking at a whole lot of images of the character online. The forehead is just a smidge too big, with some extra space between the hairline and the top ridge. It's minor, and in hand with this smaller scale, it's not as noticeable, but in macro photos you're more likely to pick up on it.

She stands almost 11 1/2" tall, and I've included shots with Janeway and Chakotay for comparison.

Paint - ***1/2
The paint work is clean and sharp, with a soft, realistic skin tone, and a quality application.

The hairline is realistic but not sloppy, and it folds in under the edge. The eyebrows are soft and realistic, and there's just enough eye makeup around the edges to create a lifelike appearance. The lipstick is clean, and the color looks about right to my eye. The skin has a subtle texture, but it's not overly spotted or freckled. Again, this is appropriate for the character, and any attempt to create a more aged look would have backfired.

The eyes might look slightly crossed to some in macro photos - they are definitely not. They do have a closer focal point than some, which can be noticed. When you look at something far away, your pupils are further apart. When you focus on something closer, say within a few feet, they get slightly closer together. That's what's happening here. Rather than staring off with a thousand mile expression, she's completely focused on something closer, and it works great with the accessories like the PADD or the tricorder.

Articulation - ***1/2
This is the same style body we've seen before from EXO-6, and there's a ton of great joints.

The neck is a bit more restricted with B'Elanna though, due to the longer hair. Even though I'm a big fan of rooted hair, I think this particularl style really did need to be sculpted, but it does mean you'll have a little less tilt and lean with the head.

Everything else works as you'd expect. The arms have joints at the shoulders, biceps, elbows, and wrists, and the double pin elbows have a fantastic range of movement. Combined with the other joints, especially the cut biceps, you can get excellent, natural arm poses. The costume will keep the shoulders from rising too high, but not any more than with an actual human.

The torso can twist and crunch, but if you have other Star Trek figures from EXO-6, you'll know the costume does push back. It's not any different here, so there's no surprises.

The hips, knees, and ankles have good range of movement, and you can create sitting, walking, and fighting poses. The joints are tight, and you can feel confident she'll stay standing even without the display base.

Accessories - ***
She isn't heavily outfitted, but there's a reasonable amount of extras, and all the critical stuff is here.

There's additional hands of course, including three extra sets to go with the relaxed set some comes wearing. There's a set of fists, as well as several hands designed specifically to hold the other accessories. And there's even one right for the  'hand on the hip' pose! These are a bit harder to swap than usual, so you may want to have a heat source handy to warm up the hands (not the posts) when working with them.

Just like the other Voyager team members, she has the PADD, tricorder, and phaser. The detail work on these is amazing, but if you've been picking these up, you already know that. They have the same holsters, and the same magnetic system to hold them to the uniform. The tricorder opens and closes thanks to magnets as well.

Finally, there's always the transporter display base with support gripper and two different covers, as well as the small plastic autograph card, that you can use to get the actress' signature at a con, and add to your display.

Outfit - ****
EXO-6 goes out of their way to create the most accurate costumes possible with the highest quality material, and it always shows.

The Starfleet uniform is extremely well tailored, and looks fantastic on the underlying sixth scale body. Seams are clean and neat, and the entire construction is well done. Worried about a costume breaking down over time? Absolutely no worries here.

Small details like the pips and badge are tightly attached, and look very neat and clean. The sleeves are long enough to cover the wrists in most poses, as long as you pay attention when posing her. They've got the costuming down, and this release continues the three year tradition.

Fun Factor - ****
This is a fun figure that gets even more fun when added to the shelf with the rest. You can set her next to Paris, Chakotay, Janeway...this is a line that gets better and better in your display when you pick up more and more of the characters. Going this deep with characters is what makes this such a historic series.

Value - ***1/2
You can pre-order her right now at EXO-6 for $200, and that's a great price on the current sixth scale market, where toys are going for $250 - $300 regularly.  At several online retailers, it's more like $180, and you're getting a tremendously high quality figure at a rate well below the market right now, and you can't ask for much more than that.

Things to Watch Out For -
As I mentioned, the hands are harder to swap this time. The wrist pegs are very well made, much harder and sturdier than with Janeway (where I had one break), but I'd still recommend using some heat on the hands if you're having any issues.

Overall - ***1/2
If I could only collect one line right now, this would be it. EXO-6 is creating a huge universe of sixth scale figures based on the Trek license, and doing it at a level of quality and consistency it deserves. And on top of it, the price point is where you can keep up without selling a kidney. When other companies are rising above $300 a figure, and shipping those figures one a year, EXO-6 is creating a series that will go down in history as one of the finest ever produced.

We know we are still getting Neelix from the Voyager series, but you can expect a whole lot more in the DS9 theme coming up! We've already gotten Quark and Sisko, but I expect we'll see just as heavy of a rotation into the DS9 characters as we've seen with Voyager.

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

Where to Buy 
EXO-6 still has the pre-order page up at $200. Online options include these site sponsors:

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Other recent EXO-6 Star Trek releases include Quark, Locutus, Archer, and Chakotay.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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