|
But then I ran across the
Hawkman three pack, with the man (bird)
himself and two Thanagrian Warriors. Hawkman was cool enough in the
package to convince me to pick him up.
You can expect to pay
around $15 for this set - yea, you heard that right. I found it at Toys
R Us, although some lucky Targets may have them in as well.
Packaging - ***
I've
always liked the general DC Universe packaging, and these boxes work
well for the three packs. There's no twisties or rubber bands either,
and I'm all for that. There's also very little waste comparatively
speaking, which I nice as well.
Sculpting - Hawkman
***, Warriors **1/2
These figures are around 4" tall, depending on the character. They fit
in pretty well size wise with other 3 3/4" and 4" lines.
However,
there's some style issues. The big hands are too much for
some
folks, although Mattel has said that they'll be altering that a bit
over time.
I really like Hawkman, even with
the large hands, but
his musculature is very heavy, and he does have a bit of a pin head.
It's a style choice though, and it works for me.
I also like some
of his smaller sculpting details, like the feathering on the wings, and
the cool hawk-like sculpted feet on the front of his boots. The helmet
is a little soft, but it's a good design.
I found that looking
closely as specific areas of Hawkman pointed out more issues, but if
you step back and look at the figure in it's entirety, the style works
much, much better.
I wasn't as happy with his
warrior sidekicks.
The wings are soft rubber, and tend to come out of the package at some
pretty weird angles. There's far less detail in the various areas of
the costume, like the belt or helmet, and they had more trouble
standing on their own without leaning forward,even when the wings
aren't really that heavy
. Their sculpted butts don't allow for the legs to sit back as far as
I'd like, making the limited articulation even less useful.
Paint - Hawkman *1/2;
Warriors **
Unfortunately, the paint work here isn't even up to average mass market
standards. I was disappointed with all three figures, but Hawkman was
the worst.
Different
pieces don't match in color, like the arms, chest and even shoulder
discs. There are plenty of rub marks, lots of slop between colors
particularly on the small details, and even at this small scale, it's
not up to the level of quality you'd expect.
The Warriors are a
big better, with cleaner lines in most areas. Of course, it
also
helps that the Warriors have fewer sculpting details. Less details on
the outfit means less paint detail as well.
Articulation - **1/2
The problem here with the articulation is not that there isn't enough,
but that's what here really doesn't work all that well.
There
are a couple basic improvements they need to make to what's here.
First, instead of a cut neck (or a joint that acts like a cut neck),
they need a ball neck that works well. They have ball jointed
shoulders, but the hips are standard T style, and figures in this scale
can really benefit from ball hips. Finally, there's a cut waist, pin
elbows and pin knees, but no cut wrists or biceps.
Still, even
with the joints that are here, a better design would make them more
useful. As I mentioned, the way the butts are sculpted, the thighs
can't move back far enough to give them the ability to stand straight
up. And pin knees don't do you much good if the rest of the leg
articulation is this limited.
Accessories - Bupkis
Nope, nothing. No weapons for anyone. And they even have gripping hands
just begging to hold SOMETHING.
Value - **
The three packs are a much better deal than the
single pack figures. You aren't going to find too many action figures -
even in this scale - that are just five bucks each. Unless they are on
clearance.
However, there's still two
problems with that price on
this set. First, there's NO accessories, even when they gave you two of
the same figure. Second, the quality of the paint is just not up to
even average standards. I was much more understanding with the first
three packs in this category, but the paint was better and they did
have a couple accessories with the cops.
The single pack figures
are running closer to $7 each at many stores, and that's just
ridiculous. Most of the figures in the line are not good enough to
command that kind of green.
Things To Watch Out For
-
Paint. And you probably want to watch the paint. And don't forget to
pick out the best paint job.
Overall - Hawkman
**1/2; Warriors **
I was ready to be a fan of this line, but poor distribution, poor paint
quality, over priced single packs, and a lack of accessories have
pretty much soured me. I'll pick up the occasional Batman related
character IF I actually see them on the peg someday, but this line has
turned out to be a bust overall for me.
Score Recap:
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - Hawkman ***; Warriors **1/2
Paint - Hawkman *1/2; Warriors **
Articulation - **1/2
Accessories - Bupkis
Value - **
Overall - Hawkman **1/2; Warriors **
Where to Buy -
I found them (finally) at Toys R Us, but Target has been getting some
in as part of the reset. You can search ebay
with the sponsor MyAuctionLinks.com. And you can check Twenga for all kinds of collectible DC figures!
Related Links -
My
only other DCIH review
was the first couple three packs.
Discussion:
Want to chat about this review? Try out one of these terrific forums where I'll be
discussing it!
KEEP SCROLLING DOWN FOR MORE
PHOTOS!
|