Packaging - ***1/2
I've never been a big fan of Disney's packaging, not because of design but
because of wasted space and plastic. This time though, they avoid that
where possible, and give us a striking design as well.
The clamshells are designed to look like the wardrobe, with a nifty
backer card inside with some terrific graphics. The clamshells for the
kids are fairly small too, only big enough to hold the figures and
accessories. For the witch and the lion, Aslan, they are much larger,
but that's due to the large size of the figures. Too bad a few extra
accessories didn't fill up some of that space!
Sculpting - ***
While not stupendous, both sculpts are certainly superior to the figures
from Hasbro (at least the humans).
Peter's likeness is a tad cartoony, and if you saw the head off the body,
all by itself, it's unlikely you'd recognize him. Still, it's a fairly
clean sculpt, with enough personality to make the figure interesting.
Peter's body sculpt is better than the face, with lots of detail,
particularly in the chain mail. They've also used soft rubber shoulder pads,
to allow for a greater range of movement in the shoulders. His overall
body sculpt works better with the articulation than you'd expect.
The White Witch has a more accurate head sculpt, looking very much like
the character as portrayed by Tilda Swinton. I was quite impressed
with the work, and there's also wonderful detail work in the hair and ice
upon her head.
Unfortunately, her body work didn't do as much for me. The arms are
quite plain and toyish, and the body is hollow and lacks the kind of
realistic detail that Peter sports.
The scale on these is pretty big. The Witch clocks in at 7 inches
tall at the top of her head (or 7 3/4 at the tip of the ice), while Peter is
5 3/4". He seems a little short to me compared to the Witch, but
in relation to his siblings and Aslan, he looks pretty good.
Paint - ***
Much like the sculpt, the paint is superior to the Hasbro mass market
release, but not really on par with other specialty market work.
The faces suffer the most. They're are both fairly lifeless and
zombie-like, more an issue with the paint than with the sculpt. Most
of the tones are consistent and even, but there's still a bit of slop around
the edges, particularly on Peter.
The hair on both was nice though, with a clean hairline and good
highlighting. None of it qualifies as bad work, and is more on par to
average or slightly above average mass market paint jobs.
Articulation - Peter ***; Witch **
Peter has a surprising amount of articulation, and is much more posable
than I assumed from looking at him in the package. He has a pin-style
neck that allows for turning, and also for the head to tilt back and
forward. It's not as nice as a ball, where you'd also get some tilt
action going, but it's better than I had anticipated.
He also has ball jointed shoulders and hips, both of which have a greater
range of movement due to softer plastic in the shoulder pads and
tunic. He won't be taking any deep stances, but you can get more out
of them than usual. Also, the ball jointed shoulders have a joint at both
the torso and arm, allowing the arm to turn.
He has pin elbows, knees, wrists and ankles, along with a cut joint at
the top of his calf armor. Some of these joints are a little
restricted by the sculpt, but I was able to find some interesting poses with
a little effort. He can't quite hold the sword in both hands though,
which was a little disappointing. The pins in his wrists are a little
weak, so take some care when using them.
The White Witch fairs much worse though. Instead of a ball jointed
neck, here's is simply a cut joint, and while she has ball jointed
shoulders, the hard plastic dress makes bringing the arms up or out pretty
much impossible. The balls do have joints on both sides again though,
so her lower arms can turn outward.
She also has pin elbows, and wheels on her feet. The wheels work
fine, and add a little play value.
Accessories - Peter ***; Witch **
Peter comes with a fair number, although not all of them work as well as I'd
like.
He has a sword and scabbard of course, and the sword fits well in his
right hand. It also fits in the scabbard nicely, but only one
way. The scabbard has pins designed to fit in holes on Peter's side,
but this doesn't work well at all. They'll fit in, but not stay in,
which will frustrate kids and adults alike. If you really think Peter
needs his scabbard, I'd suggest a little Super Glue to make it a permanent
thing.
Peter also has a shield with the lion crest. This fits over his
left arm, and the hand is sculpted to work with the straps on the back.
The White Witch has two accessories - her snowy shawl and her icy
wand. The sculpts are good, and she can hold the wand in her right
hand nicely. However, at this price point, that's a little
light. How about a fox or beaver to go with her?
Value - Peter **1/2; Witch **
Most specialty market toys are running around $12 - $14 these days, so
the price point on these is in the right area. Considering how
expensive everything Disney sells is, I'm surprised they are on the lower
end of that range, actually. However, the witch doesn't sport many
accessories, and is a hollow figure. While her price is average, what
you're getting for the green isn't, so she falls a little short.
Fun Factor - ***
Kids that love the movie should enjoy these. Unfortunately though,
they aren't really in scale with the non-human figures produced by Hasbro,
so they can't mix and match. I really wish they'd agreed on a scale,
and given the kids a chance to include more figures in their collection that
way. Rumor was that Hasbro was producing these figures for Disney as
well, so it shouldn't be a stretch to assume they could all get their act
together.
Things to watch out for -
Be careful with Peter's wrist joints. They were the weakest of the pins,
and appeared to be fairly easy to break.
Overall - Peter ***; Witch **1/2
I wasn't particularly impressed with any of the Narnia figures that
Hasbro produced. While the Minotaur was decent, the other characters
left a lot to be desired.
The Disney versions are substantially better, especially for human
likenesses. Of course, the price point is also higher, but not by that
much. This set is particularly good if you're looking for the kids,
and the Peter, Edmund and Susan sculpts were all quite nice. Lucy
wasn't quite as well done, but at least scale was fairly decent amongst the
siblings.
Aslan is also very nice, with a ton of articulation. I may end up
going back and picking him up as well, especially if I catch a sale. I
really wish they'd produced some of the other animals and mythical beasts to
go along with these main characters.
SCORE RECAP:
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpt - ***
Paint - ***
Articulation - Peter ***; Witch **
Accessories - Peter ***; Witch **
Fun Factor - ***
Value - Peter **1/2; Witch **
Overall - Peter ***; Witch **1/2
Where to Buy -
The Disney store at your local mall is the place to be. Expect to pay
around $12.50, unless you happen to hit them when they're having a two for
twenty buck sale.
Related Links:
I didn't review any of the Hasbro figures, but I have reviewed some of the
other Disney figures:
- The Incredibles weren't bad, but I didn't think they were as good as some
folks did.
- They've produced a number of figures for park attractions, including Pirates
of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, and Indiana
Jones.
- And they have done a variety of versions of their traditional heroes - one
line was called Adventurers, and one was Heroes.
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